The engineer of LSU's ascension to college football royalty, Nick Saban, returns to Tiger Stadium for the first time since leaving the Tigers after the 2004 season. Saban's No. 1-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide enters Saturday's game 9-0 with one of the nation's best offensive lines and defenses.
We are grateful for what Saban brought us in 2003, and his role in resurrecting the program from the depths Gerry DiNardo and others left it in. However, Saban could have stayed in Baton Rouge as long as he wanted, perhaps winning national championships in 2006 and 2007.
He chose to leave for the Miami Dolphins.
Then ... he arrived in Tuscaloosa.
The Hat shall not greet him hospitably. Nor shall his team, the Fightin' Tigers of LSU, come 2:30 p.m., Saturday, November 8, 2008.
I'm a writer. Well, I try to be a writer. I'm paid to be a sports writer, and I enjoy writing about sports. However, I try not to limit myself to that genre, mainly because my few years as a sports writer have partially killed my will to write, or redefined "writing" for me. I liked old things: Old sports uniforms, old music, old cooking methods, old church songs (hymns, not "Christian rock"), old manners i.e. chivalry. I believe every day is one big blessing comprised of countless smaller blessings from The Good Lord, so I try not to take things for granted.