Around the world in 10 minutes

I have ten minutes to write this post. Here goes:

Today I am heading down in the general direction of Starkville to catch the Cats tomorrow night. This year's road trip features my football fanatic son, 7 year old Ethan and my fun loving Uncle Scott, who just decided to come with us a couple of days ago.
We are 6.5 point dogs in this game. This seemed high until I saw a pretty harrowing stat this week. We have given up 26 touchdowns this year. Mississippi State has given up 6. Kentucky's opponents are basically playing on an 80 yard field as we have essentially no red zone stops all year.

That said, I think we have a fighting chance in this game if the D can hold its ground just a few times. The Dawgs barely beat UAB last week, so it isn't as if they are infallible. Also, with King, Matthews and Cobb all ready to go, I just don't see them holding us down completely. The Cats will get to the mid-twenties at least. Where it goes from there is anyone's guess.

Tonight we are staying in Birmingham, AL so that I can drive through Tuscaloosa tomorrow on my way to Starkville. Though I spent parts of my childhood in Kentucky and most of it in San Diego, I lived in Tuscaloosa for four or five years while my Dad was at the University of Alabama. It was a good time in my football fan development as he took me to the games in the 1979 championship year, and I can also remember Alabama's shared national championship year in 1978.

So even though we aren't playing Alabama tomorrow, I am going to replicate our walks to the game with my son, snap a picture at Denny Chimes, drive by my old house and get on the road to Starkville.

When I asked my friend this week what there was to do in Starkville he replied, "Watch Football". I am not sure what we'll do when we get there but we'll have fun doing it.

After the game Saturday we'll make a tired hour long trek to Tupelo where there is a musty Howard Johnson's bed waiting for me.

*Anyone think you'd ever hear a radio show talking about Mike Hartline's draft status? I did today. What a great story Hartline has been.

*The bowl picture in the SEC is going to get a lot clearer after tomorrow. This is probably the Cats' last chance to rise above the Tennesse bowl scene. Also, the World's Largest Cocktail party will be huge for the winner, who'll have an inside track at a New Year's Day Bowl despite the fact that neither team has had much of a year.

*I am putting Auburn on upset alert. Even setting aside that the #1 has lost three weeks in a row, the Tigers trip to Oxford has all the trappings of a spit the bit game. If Auburn loses, there is a creeper of a chance that the SEC will not get two BCS bids. That would be bad for other SEC teams, espectially one that might only get to 6-6.