Most folks, likely anyone who is not a devotee of the Alabama Crimson Tide, yawned at the news of Alabama receiving 52 of the 61 first-place votes in the Associated Press' preseason Top 25 poll, which was released Monday.
Coach Nick Saban's juggernaut was preseason No. 1 last year, too -- it finished No. 2 -- and has been picked No. 1 five times in the past nine seasons.
Don't blame Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman for this redundancy.
Bohls, in fact, was proud to declare that it has been five years since he voted the Crimson Tide preseason No. 1, and it has nothing to do with lack of respect for Saban or inbred hatred of the Crimson Tide.
"Part of my reluctance in putting Alabama in the top spot is, well, it's akin to voting for the Taj Mahal as your favorite Mahal," Bohols writes. "Where's the fun in that? I approach my ballot a little differently and come at it with the idea of which teams might be able to give Nick Saban's team a game this year. Makes it more of a challenge."
It's not like Bohls kicked Alabama out of the top 10.
"To find Alabama on my ballot, you have to go all the way down to, well, No. 2," he writes.
Just behind Florida State, Alabama's season-opening opponent.
In fact, he's picking Florida State and Alabama to meet twice in the same place -- Atlanta's new Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- on Sept. 2 to kick off the season and again in the national championship game on Jan. 8 to conclude it.
"So pay close attention when FSU and Bama tee it up because the winner will have the inside track to return to Atlanta four months later," Bohls writes. "Who knows, we could have the first glorious rematch since that terrific -- oh, wait -- Alabama-LSU debacle to decide the 2011 title. Hmm, maybe I should rethink this."
In the dark
Does it really surprise you that South Carolina football Coach Will Muschamp shrugged his shoulders in disbelief when asked recently if he scheduled the Gamecocks' practice Monday around the solar eclipse.
Even with South Carolina's Columbia campus squarely in the path of totality, Muschamp, as well as many of his colleagues, don't have time for such frivolity, not with two weeks left before the Gamecocks' season opener.
Count Marc Tracy of The New York Times as one of those who was not surprised by Muschamp's response.
It "inadvertently pointed to a larger truth the eclipse has revealed: There may be no other job in the United States in which sheer monomania -- the kind where a rather cool and potentially once-in-a-lifetime event like the continental solar eclipse does not even qualify as an afterthought -- is tolerated the way it is in a football coach. For Muschamp and others, these crucial weeks of August camp are the time to get the team ready for the dozen-plus games they will play this season.
"Stopping for even a minute or two to consider an eclipse won't help you beat Clemson."
Girly guys
University of Wyoming nose tackle Sidney Malauulu and a group of other Wyoming defensive players are sporting hair with a blondish-orange hue to help keep things light-hearted during fall camp.
The players bought dye at Wal-Mart in Laramie and did the coloring themselves, with one hiccup.
"It took too long," he said. "Maybe next time we'll get to the salon or something. We'll all sit in the chairs and get our toes done or something crazy like that, I don't know."
Anything to get them through the August grind.
"It's football, football, football," Malauulu said. "You've got to have a little fun on the side. You've got to come in, get people's spirits up and get them ready to play ball."
No one will ever know, unless they take the field in sandals.
Sports on 08/22/2017