This is an opinion column.

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People got downright feisty this week in the mailbag. Let’s get to it.

The hangover from Nick Saban’s retirement party continues to linger into February. The latest reason to worry is a report out of the NFL that former Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb might not join old coach Kalen DeBoer in Alabama after all. Grubb is out recruiting for Alabama at the moment, but now his name is being linked to the offensive coordinator position for the Seattle Seahawks.

Coaches are fed up with college football’s current state of uncoupled psychosis, so we can’t really blame Grubb if he’s thinking about taking his talents back to Seattle. That would be a blow to DeBoer’s staff, though. Saban tried to hire Grubb back for the 2023 season, but Grubb spurned the Tide and stayed loyal to DeBoer at Washington. Here’s hoping DeBoer can convince Grubb to stay in Alabama. With the way Auburn is surging with coach Hugh Freeze, DeBoer is going to need all the help he can get.

The shakeup at Auburn in the wake of Saban’s retirement was the subject of my column on Thursday. Freeze took a page out of Saban’s playbook, replacing beloved Auburn assistants Carnell Williams and Zac Etheridge with coaches Freeze believes can help transform the Tigers into a national power on the level of Alabama and Georgia. Auburn is closer than people think.

Readers sounded off.

THE GOOD

John Forshee writes:

Brother, I want to applaud you on your article: “Suddenly, Auburn is more Saban than Alabama.” It is 110 percent dead on. Yes, I’m an Auburn fan but I really feel like Bama has had its time, but now I really, truly believe that Auburn is about to have a long run of very good football teams. And JABA is a long gone thing! War Eagle!

ANSWER: Brother in Ball, belief is a powerful thing in the SEC … but so is moonshine. Both can make you go blind.

Reta McKannan writes:

I enjoy reading your stuff. You have good insight and interesting takes. Thankfully, you don’t expect us to agree with you. If what you’re describing is what Coach Freeze is doing, I guess we will see whether it’s borne out in results. I don’t know why changes happen and I have heard plenty about the reasons for the “resignations.” But that didn’t endear Coach Freeze to a lot of us. But then, when has anyone ever worried about the fan base?

ANSWER: We’ve all heard the rumors. Let’s not be naive, though. The selective conscience of college football finds a reason to get rid of one coach and higher another.

THE BAD

Douglas Patterson of Savannah, Ga., writes:

Keep wishing Goodman that Auburn is finally on a par with Alabama and Georgia!! Keep wishing, but won’t happen, even with Saban retired!

ANSWER: Georgia better hope Kirby Smart doesn’t underestimate Auburn like some of these readers.

Tom Cannon of Asheville, N.C., writes:

Freeze is undoubtedly a great football coach; his on-field record at Ole Miss and Liberty make that plain. But his off-field behavior at both schools tells me Freeze and Auburn are in a race between football success and reputation disgrace.

Bottom line; it will end in tears and recriminations. Maybe not soon, but that destination will be reached, no matter how long a pier Freeze and Auburn walk before they reach the water.

Mr. Goodman, I really enjoy your columns; they invariably contain far more to think about than just yards gained and passes caught.

ANSWER: This feels like wishful thinking. Keep the pirate metaphors coming, though. Freeze is positioning Auburn for sustained success. As we all know, the balance of power in the Iron Bowl can change quickly.

THE UGLY

Chris Hall writes:

The revolution is upon us and it’s due to people like you. It can’t even be stopped at this point because of [r******] like you who don’t really know what you’re talking about and don’t know their history, but they do!

Congratulations for screwing up the most wonderful country in the history of the planet and it’s not even remotely close. Never has a country offered more opportunity to more people of more races and religions in the history of the planet of the United States of America. The greatest nation in the history of the planet. Congratulations for destroying it turd face.

ANSWER: Vive la révolution and stay hydrated, America.

UPDATE ON WILLIE MAYS

Fans are excited about the Major League Baseball at Rickwood Field on June 20. The game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals is being called MLB at Rickwood: A tribute to the Negro Leagues. Here’s my recent column on the updates to Rickwood and the developments surrounding the game.

Bill McCrary of Montgomery writes:

2 questions :

Is Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid, healthy enough to attend and throw out the first pitch? Now that Rickwood will host a MLB game, the next logical step is to schedule Auburn and Alabama in an exhibition classic there. Rivalry meets history! The game was played in Montgomery for several years and was a huge hit. Think it was dropped for scheduling reasons.

Can it be brought back to Rickwood?

ANSWER: Bill, I like the way you think. I’d love to see Alabama and Auburn play a game every season at Rickwood. I think it would be a massive hit. Miles College plays its home games at Rickwood and I’m looking forward to catching some games this season. Rickwood Field has an amazing history. Willie Mays played at Rickwood with the Birmingham Black Barons, but, after pouring over old microfiche at the Birmingham Library, I discovered that Mays played at Rickwood before his debut with the Black Barons. The game was an All-Star exhibition of players in the Industrial League to raise money for the Black community suffering from tuberculosis.

Unfortunately, based on everything I’ve heard, I don’t think Mays is going to be able to attend the game.

UAB VS. SAMFORD

UAB had an uneven start to the season, but the Blazers are on a tear. On Sunday, UAB upset No.19 Memphis at Bartow Arena. It was an incredible victory, but UAB then followed that game up with an upset of North Texas on the road. The overtime victory against UNT was UAB’s first Quad 1 victory of the season. Here’s my column about how UAB basketball can take the next step to becoming a mid-major powerhouse. The column led to one educated reader asking an important question.

Gil Simmons writes:

Current NET rankings:

Samford: 85

UAB: 135

Those two schools should play EVERY year – home and home – maybe during the week between Christmas and New Year. It’s a no-brainer. No travel expense for either team. Better crowds than you currently get against the types of teams that are normally scheduled during that week. What could possibly be reasons why these games are not played?

ANSWER: Great question, and I couldn’t agree more. Efforts have been made in recent years to schedule a game between UAB and Samford, but it hasn’t worked out so far. I remain hopeful. If Birmingham wants to be a legitimate college basketball town, then UAB and Samford need to play every season. I’d love to see a game played over the holidays at Legacy Arena. UAB coach Andy Kennedy and Samford coach Bucky McMillan are both city treasures. Samford is currently 19-3 overall and 8-1 in the SoCon. Fingers crossed that Samford, UAB, Alabama and Auburn all make the NCAA Tournament this season.

CATCHING STRAYS

Because we needed some comic relief in our day, a group of frisbee golfers are angry with a line in my column about Major League Baseball bringing a game to Rickwood Field. Here’s a reaction to the piece that I found on Facebook:

Art Meripol writes:

I’m thrilled about this event and hope to be there. But it wasn’t “frisbee-golf freeloaders” who ruined the chances for the Major League space at George Ward. And for a writer like you to denigrate us disc golfers by name calling is really shameful. Are we not a good enough sport for you?

I supported the MLB space at George Ward and truly regret its loss. And I was one of the original people involved in the George Ward Disc Golf course going in. If you had ever been in George Ward before the Disc course went in you’d understand how much improvement we made in the safety of the park.

Before the course that area was a homeless camp. If only we ‘freeloaders’ had the power you attribute to us. How exactly did you determine we don’t live in the city? Can you specify what makes us freeloaders? If you were to check you’d find most all of us are hardworking professionals or tradespeople.

Wherever you got your ideas and prejudices you need to question that source. Frankly I can never trust another story by you Joseph Goodman.

ANSWER: First things first, frisbee golf isn’t a sport. It’s an activity. I have thrown frisbees at George Ward Park from time to time. At this very moment, I could walk out of the course and embarrass you in front of all of your friends with a frisbee in my right hand and a cold one in my left paw. Maybe you can take pictures while it happens. I know plenty of people who throw frisbees at George Ward Park who don’t live in the city … and some even live in Hoover. Frisbee golfers ruined a great thing for the city’s children. Tough legacy. The city should start charging a daily fee for everyone outside the city who wants to throw frisbees at George Ward Park.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the controversial fan-favorite book about Southern culture and Nick Saban’s reign at Alabama, “We Want Bama”.