Alabama News

Dear Eric: My wife and I have been married for about 10 years. We both love each other very much, but it has been rocky the entire time.

We tried going to counseling a few times, but she said she felt picked on and walked out in the middle of a session.

One evening years ago, while on a family vacation, she said that there was a work event going on at a bar she needed to attend.

She was sharing her location with me from her phone. I casually looked and it appeared that she was at the apartment of a former work friend, John, nowhere near the bar.

For years, she had been pulling away from me. She would sleep on the couch; if I tried to kiss her, she would turn and give me her cheek. We tried to work through this, and I asked her to go back to counseling, but she refused.

Recently, I figured out the password on her phone and read the messages between her and John. It looked like they have been regularly meeting up, even though she says they haven’t. It even looked like they went to a musical together once and went walking by the beach together frequently.

The text messages look like friends chatting, not romantic.

She swears that she never met this guy outside of a group of friends, though she is unwilling to show me proof. She says she went to the musical by herself, for example, even though she bought two tickets and texted John that she would see him at the show. She said she sold the two tickets and bought a single ticket and went on a different day.

She says she loves me and that the real issue is my snooping around.

We are at an impasse, and this has escalated to talk of divorce. But that is not what I want. If I believe her without seeing the proof, am I being naïve? Am I in the wrong for snooping on her phone? Or is she really good at lying to my face?

– Confused

Dear Confused: A couple of things are happening here. The snooping was wrong; it’s an invasion of her privacy and you owe her an apology for that.

At the same time, I’m left wondering what version of your marriage you’re trying to get back.

Putting aside the John of it all, the larger issue for you seems to be the lack of affection and communication. The snooping may be your way of trying to figure out the source of the trouble. But it’s not going to be found externally. It’s between you and your wife.

You owe each other a conversation about what you think this marriage is, how each of you knows it’s working or not working, and what you both need from the union. There’s a reason that you’re both staying. I don’t know that it’s a healthy reason, but from your actions, neither of you seems to want to separate. Why else would she use excuses that seem implausible instead of just telling you that she went to a show with John?

But this is not working as it is. If you can’t have an honest conversation – without surveillance or subterfuge – it will be hard to move forward. So, ask yourself and ask her: why are we doing this? Then ask, how can we make a good faith effort to do it better?

Read more Asking Eric and other advice columns.

Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at [email protected] or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.

Auburn athletics hosted its final AMBUSH coach’s caravan Monday evening to kick off SEC media days.

The Tigers media session with Texas and Georgia is set to begin Tuesday at 9:30 am in Atlanta.

Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze knows his margin of error is very thin entering the 2025 season. During the AMBUSH event, Freeze spoke on the team’s progression and announced the Tigers fall camp dates to members of the media.

“I couldn’t be more pleased. I really couldn’t. I love what I see from our kids. I love what I see from our staff. I try to give everybody a little break over the last two to this week and them it’s time to get going again. But most of our guys show up to watch our team runs anyway if you’re in town,” Freeze said.

“I love the chemistry I see between the quarterbacks and receivers right now. They believe in each other, it’s obvious and hopefully that is shown when we start playing games. Camp starts 29th, I believe it is, Tuesday if I’m right on the date, I know it’s Tuesday. I think that’s the 29th.”

After adding key skill players to its roster over the offseason, Freeze believes this roster is built to compete in the SEC this year.

Having three new quarterbacks on the roster called for intense offseason planning from the coaching staff. When explaining the play-calling duties, Freeze said it’ll be a collective effort.

“Play-calling will be shared, just like always, between myself, Patrick Nix, Ken Hunter. I don’t really care who gets the credit. Whoever has the hot hand, whoever has the best idea at the time, it ultimately all comes through me, and I can veto something,” Freeze said.

“We haven’t waited. We’ve been doing it since February. In the allowed minutes we have with the kids and in our studies trying to make sure we’re installing for them things that we believe are going to help us improve those situations.”

Freeze also added what a glimpse of fall camp would look like this month.

“Each night in camp when we do our walkthroughs, there’s going to be a five-minute emphasis, and a lot of that will be what we weren’t very good at last year, Freeze said.”

“Our main goal is making sure our kids have a clear understanding of situational football and what our plan is for that. I don’t think you need a lot of things. I really don’t. You’ve just got to be really good and execute at what we’re going to do. That will show up in fall camp, for sure.”

Auburn’s fall camp will be one month before the Tigers first game of the season at Baylor.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at [email protected].

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every day until Aug. 29, Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.

Derrick Henry has made a career out of being a workhorse running back, but even he took it to an extreme against Auburn on Nov. 28, 2015.

Henry carried the ball an astounding 46 times for 271 yards and a touchdown in Alabama’s 29-13 victory in the Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, helping the Crimson Tide secure the SEC West title on the way to a national championship. The 6-foot-3, 242-pound junior ran the ball on Alabama’s final 14 offensive plays and on 19 of its last 21 as the Crimson Tide pulled away from upset-minded Auburn.

“We’d really like for someone else to run the ball, but it got tough to take him out and he seemed to get stronger as the game goes on,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “It’s hard to take him out at the end of the game. He’s the go-to guy and he didn’t want to come out. He wanted to go and said that he could, and certainly finished the game like we needed to today. My hat is off to him as a competitor, and he really inspires everybody on our team in the way he competes, plays and the toughness that he runs with. What a spirit.”

The Iron Bowl performance was part of a Heisman Trophy-winning season for Henry, and one of the greatest ever by an SEC running back. In 15 games, he carried the ball 395 times for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns, all school and conference records.

But breaking records was nothing new for Henry, who had set a national high school mark with 12,124 yards during his career at Yulee High School in Florida (the previous record, set by Ken Hall of Sugar Land, Texas, had stood since 1953). As a senior in 2012, Henry ran for an incredible 4,261 yards and 55 touchdowns in just 12 games, averaging 327.8 yards per game and 9.2 yards per carry.

“He’s just making college football look like high school all over again,” high school teammate Dante Owens told AL.com in 2015. “It looks the exact same with him running by people and nobody wanting to tackle him and everybody being kind of scared.”

Henry was a 5-star recruit in Alabama’s top-ranked 2013 signing class, though many recruiting services listed him as an “athlete” rather than a running back. Some analysts were of the opinion he might be an even better prospect as a defensive end or linebacker.

But Saban left Henry at running back, though he played sparingly as a freshman in 2013 as part of a loaded backfield that also included T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake. Henry gave a glimpse of his potential in a season-ending loss to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, rushing for a 43-yard touchdown and catching a 67-yard TD pass from AJ McCarron.

Yeldon and Henry split time in 2014, combining for 1,969 yards and 22 touchdowns in leading Alabama to the SEC championship and a berth in the first College Football Playoff. Yeldon left for the NFL draft after the season, and the running back position was all Henry’s.

Henry began 2015 with 143 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-17 win over Wisconsin, then scored at least one touchdown — and twice topped the 100-yard mark — in the next five games. But as he did in the 2015 Iron Bowl, Henry saved his best for the second half.

He burned Texas A&M for 243 yards and two scores, then hit Tennessee for 143 and two more TDs, before back-to-back 200-yard games vs. LSU (210, three TDs) and Mississippi State (204, two). He played less than a half in a 56-6 rout of Charleston Southern, but still scored twice.

That took him into the Iron Bowl, in which Alabama led just 12-6 at halftime and 19-13 after Auburn scored on a 77-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter. After the teams exchanged punts, Henry took over.

He ran the ball on five of seven plays as the Crimson Tide drove for Adam Griffith’s 47-yard field goal, which put Alabama up 22-13 with 10:04 left. After Auburn punted again, he carried the ball 10 straight clock-killing times before being stopped on fourth-and-1 with 2:46 remaining.

Alabama’s defense forced four straight Auburn incompletions, and Henry provided the exclamation point moments later. He ran the ball four consecutive times, including a 25-yard touchdown to ice the game with 26 seconds remaining.

“It was huge,” center Ryan Kelly said of Henry’s performance. “You know, the guy seems to never get tired. We ran the ball a lot and him getting that touchdown at the very end, it kind of sealed the deal.”

The victory was Alabama’s only one at Auburn between 2011 and 2021. More importantly, it clinched the SEC West after Ole Miss — which had beaten Alabama in September — had suffered a second conference loss to Arkansas earlier in November.

Henry ran for 189 yards and a touchdown on 44 carries in a 29-15 victory over Florida in the SEC championship game on Dec. 5. A week later, he was awarded the Heisman Trophy in a relatively close vote over Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey.

Henry added two touchdowns — and one epic stiff-arm — in a 38-0 win over Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl, then finished his college career with 158 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-40 victory over Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. He somehow lasted until the second round of the 2016 NFL draft, going to the Tennessee Titans with the 45th overall pick.

Henry has proven to be an all-time great at the NFL level as well, with 11,423 yards (19th all-time) and 106 touchdowns (sixth) in nine seasons with the Titans and Baltimore Ravens entering 2025. He rushed for 2,027 yards for Tennessee in 2020, becoming the first player to top 2,000 in a season in high school, college and the NFL.

Henry has shown few signs of slowing down, rushing for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns last season with the Ravens. At age 31 and a decade removed from his epic Iron Bowl performance, he just keeps running.

Coming Wednesday: Our countdown to kickoff continues with No. 45, Alabama’s famous ‘Tin Horn’ game.

Neil Diamond still has it.

Seven years after retiring, the rock icon stunned fans with a liver performance over the weekend during Saturday’s performance of “The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise” in Los Angeles.

The 84-year-old singer, who was sitting in the audience, performed “Sweet Caroline.”

In the video, Nick Fradiani, who portrays Diamond in the musical based on his life, introduced the musician.

In 2018, Diamond said he was retiring from concert touring as a result of the diagnosis.

“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring. I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years,” Diamond said in a statement on his website. “My sincerest apologies to everyone who purchased tickets and were planning to come to the upcoming shows.”

Diamond said he would continue writing and recording music.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that can cause tremors in the hands and arms, rigid muscles and speech changes such as slurring, according to the Mayo Clinic.He made the announcement while in the midst of his “50 Year Anniversary World Tour.”

Diamond – who has been nominated for 13 Grammy awards and won one – will be given the coveted Lifetime Achievement Awards at Sunday’s Grammy Awards. Diamond, who has sold more than 125 million records, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

“My thanks goes out to my loyal and devoted audiences around the world. You will always have my appreciation for your support and encouragement,” Diamond said in the 2018 statement. “This ride has been ‘so good, so good, so good’ thanks to you.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

The buildout at Town Madison is far from over.

Breland Companies President Joey Ceci said the more than $2.2 billion development on the south side of Interstate 565 is between 60%-65% complete.

That’s with dual brand The Courtyard and Residence Inn by Marriott nearing completion just beyond the left field fence of the development’s anchor, Toyota Field. Another hotel nearby, Homewood Suites, is awaiting a ribbon cutting ceremony after opening a few days ago.

And restaurants continue to open on the east side of the development.

The hotels

Counting the Marriott brand as two, Ceci said Town Madison now has seven hotels either announced, under construction or opened with more than 600 rooms.

The Courtyard and Residence Inn will feature 206 rooms. Its completion had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The hotels are expected to open either later this summer or early this fall.

“They are moving furniture in and doing all of their internal finishings,” Ceci said. “They are getting closer.”

Homewood Suites with 100 rooms is open. The $12 million hotel was developed by PHD Hotels, which developed the Hilton Garden Inn and Home2Suites in Town Madison.

Fite Construction of Decatur built the hotel.

It is considered one of Hilton’s upper brands, an extended stay in which every room has a kitchen. The hotel features a meeting space, a swimming pool, a firepit, a business center and a guest laundry.

Restaurants

Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux opened at 121 Outfield Drive in May with a staff of about 100 people. The popular Cajun-themed sports bar and grille features indoor/outdoor seating for more than 200 guests, a state-of-the-art sports bar, over 50 big-screen TVs, a large outdoor patio area, and an atmosphere that caters to both sports fans and families. It features dishes such as Cajundillas, Boudin Balls and Alligator Bites, along with salads, burgers, cocktails, and beers.

Also open nearby is Steam Boys, which offers Chinese comfort food such as dumplings, noodles and soups.

Ceci said Lola’s Cocina will open later this month. It is a collaboration of local restauranteurs Kumar Patel and Phil Sandoval. Ceci describes it as Mexican cuisine with a drive-thru concept.

It is near Patel’s other Town Madison restaurants off Zierdt Road – Five Guys, Super Chix and Prohibition.

The restaurant is named after Phil’s mother.

On the west side of the development, construction is beginning on The ChopHouse, a sister restaurant to Bridge Street’s Connors Steak and Seafood. The steakhouse will open in about a year, Ceci said.

Near it is a construction site for a Whataburger and a second Starbucks, which would give Town Madison a Starbucks on both the eastern and western side of the development. The first Starbucks is open on Zierdt Road.

Ceci said there are 27 restaurants in the development either announced, under construction, or built.

Other businesses

Escapology, an escape room business, is currently under construction on the east side of the development. It is expected to open winter of next year, Ceci said.

Escapology offers immersive escape games where players are gathered inside a themed room and must find hidden clues, crack codes, and solve puzzles before time runs out. There is another Escapology in Huntsville on Old Monrovia Road.

Also opening on the east side is Marx Optical, which will offer eyecare and eyewear services.

Fite Construction is the builder of the 24,162-square-foot Ardent Preschool and Daycare facility that will sit on a 3.23-acre site in the heart of Town Madison at 530 Dunlop Boulevard.

It is being developed by Leeland Ventures. It will be Madison County’s fourth Ardent Preschool and Daycare. Other locations are at Redstone Gateway, Clift Farm, and Jones Valley. The Town Madison site was chosen for its central location and easy access for north Alabama’s growing workforce.

Residential development

Construction is ongoing on both single-family home and multifamily home sites. That includes a single-family subdivision that’s actually in the city of Huntsville that has been before the Huntsville Planning Commission.

The commission a few months ago gave preliminary approval for 138 single family lots. It is on the western side of the development.

Also under construction is the second phase of the Ovation apartments, which consists of cottage style homes. The apartment community also includes townhomes.

Ceci said the opening of the interchange earlier this year near Toyota Field has been beneficial to Town Madison and residents.

“The interchange has helped out a lot,” Ceci said. “The traffic continues to build. It’s helped the stadium a tremendous amount. It’s also bringing a lot more people by the retail businesses, by their front door.”

Other access points include Zierdt Road, Intergraph Way under I-565 to Madison Boulevard and the Wall Triana interchange.

Town Madison is on land that used to be part of the Intergraph – now Hexagon – campus. Breland Companies founder Louis Breland purchased the eastern part of what is now Town Madison. The anchor, Toyota Field, is the home of the Double A Southern League Trash Pandas.

Ashley Cooke’s career has been on the rise, but the country music star has dealt with a serious health issue in the process.

In a TikTok video, she explains she has recently been diagnosed with a heart condition, in addition to her family health struggles.

“It’s a genetic thing called Brugada syndrome,” Cooke told Taste of Country. “A lot of my family members have passed away unexpectedly, very healthy and very young, from it. So it’s very scary.”

Cooke also shared both of her grandmothers died within the past year. Her father battled cancer for the fifth time. Her mother suffered a heart attack.

AS far as Cooke’s health, the singer is working with a cardiologist.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Brugada syndrome is a rare condition that can be life-threatening and there is “an increased risk of irregular heart rhythms beginning in the lower chambers of the heart.”

The condition can cause fainting, as well as sudden cardiac arrest.

“The crazy part is, it doesn’t really impact anything about my daily life,” she explained. “That’s the scary part of Brugada syndrome. It just feels like a ghost around you. Because there’s no warning signs, no symptoms. It’s just one of those things where all of a sudden one day, this certain thing in your heart can just stop, and you’re just gone.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

On Tuesday at 5:09 a.m. a dense fog advisory was issued by the National Weather Service in effect until 9 a.m. for Marshall, Jackson and DeKalb counties.

The weather service adds to be ready for, “Visibility down to a quarter of a mile or less in dense fog.”

“Low visibility could make driving conditions hazardous,” says the weather service. “If driving, slow down, use your headlights, and leave plenty of distance ahead of you.”

Navigating fog: Safety tips by the weather service

When a dense fog advisory is issued for your area, it means that widespread dense fog has developed and visibility can plummet to a quarter-mile or less. These conditions pose challenges for travel, so exercise extra caution on the road or consider postponing your trip if possible.

If you must venture out in foggy conditions, keep these safety tips from the weather service in mind:

Reduce speed:

Slow down and allocate extra travel time to reach your destination safely.

Visibility matters:

Ensure your vehicle is visible to others by using low-beam headlights, which also activate your taillights. If you have fog lights, use them.

Avoid high-beams:

Refrain from using high-beam headlights, as they create glare that impairs your visibility on the road.

Keep your distance:

Keep a considerable following distance to account for sudden stops or shifts in traffic patterns.

Stay in your lane:

Use the road’s lane markings as a guide to staying in the correct lane.

Visibility near zero:

In extremely dense fog where visibility is near zero, the best course of action is to first turn on your hazard lights, then simply pull into a safe location such as a parking lot of a local business, and stop.

No parking options:

If there is no parking lot or driveway to pull into, pull your vehicle off to the side of the road as far as possible. Once you come to a stop, turn off all lights except your hazard flashing lights, set the emergency brake, and take your foot off of the brake pedal to be sure the tail lights are not illuminated so that other drivers don’t mistakenly run into you.

By adhering to these recommendations from the weather service, you can navigate foggy conditions more safely, reducing the risk of accidents and ensuring your well-being.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was visiting a dear friend’s home a few days after her husband died. While I was there, her adult daughter arrived from out of town. I had not met her before. We were introduced, and then I said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

She immediately said, “I hate it when people say that,” and continued to complain about people always saying that.

What was I supposed to say in response? I was speechless.

GENTLE READER: Good. Because you wouldn’t have wanted to upset your friend by offering double condolences — for losing her husband, and also for having a rude daughter.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at missmanners.com, by email to [email protected], or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Auburn football will enter fall camp with a mostly clean bill of health.

Head coach Hugh Freeze was asked about the team’s health at an Auburn AMBUSH event in Atlanta Monday night. Other than a few minor soft tissue injuries, Freeze said the team is set to enter camp without any major injuries.

“They’re kinda limited in some of the workouts but not anything that I think will prohibit them being ready to go for camp,” Freeze said.

The one exception is freshman corner Devin Williams, who tore his ACL during the spring. Williams’ injury creates a similar situation to last season, where another corner, Tyler Scott, tore his ACL during the summer, causing him to miss the 2024 season.

Freeze also announced when Auburn will begin fall camp, setting a July 29 start date. That means the Tigers will begin camp exactly one month before opening the season against Baylor on Aug. 29.

With fall camp now just two weeks away, Freeze said the team has one more week of hard workouts before some rest and preparation for camp.

“We’ll go pretty hard this week with Coach Dom [Studzinski] and our strength staff in our indoor workouts and player-led 7-on-7,” Freeze said. “We’ll go through next Thursday and then let them have Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday off. And then team meeting Monday night where I kinda set our theme and talk about, ‘Here we go and here’s our theme for fall camp,’ and remind them of the standards.”

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m

This is an opinion column.

_____________________

There are blood-lusting winners in the SEC, and then there are losers soon to be sucked dry and without jobs. There are no saints.

There are no Boy Scouts.

There are no values other than money.

There are no morals when it comes to chasing a championship in this league of leagues. It’s a business, and the business, according to commissioner Greg Sankey’s sword-swinging remarks on Monday, is pretty good.

And dripping with the blood of the innocent.

I’m here at SEC Media Days 2025 in Atlanta, and it seems like some of these coaches need a refresher course on the unspoken, unscrupulous rules of engagement.

Oblige, I will.

Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss gets it. So does Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee.

LSU’s Brian Kelly?

Auburn’s Hugh Freeze?

They’re either preening and posturing about the evolution of cheating in the SEC, or they’re positioning themselves this summer to join Nick Saban in retirement.

Auburn coach Freeze interrupts his summertime golf schedule on Tuesday for a visit with reporters at Media Days. Freeze wants everyone to know that he and Auburn are suddenly playing by the rules and are holier than they’re rivals.

On Monday, LSU’s Kelly turned the stage inside Atlanta’s College Football Hall of Fame into a pulpit after being asked about the latest attempt at governance for our beautiful Southern sport of legalized corruption.

“If we start with transparency, and start with the clear communication necessary, and consistency, and approach … look, I know this might not be what you were asking, but it’s got to start with coaches.

“It’s got to start with us.

“I mean, we have to be the stewards of this. There has to be a moral high ground — ethics in this. It starts with us. It starts with coaches.

“I was at a speaking engagement a few weeks back, and every question about the NIL was trying to find a way around it, trying to find a way to bring in revenue in some other way. Sooner or later, we have to take the stand that transparency, consistency, ethics, and morality are at the core of this.”

Spoken like a man who sounds like he wants to be replaced before the start of fall camp. Would Saban consider making his comeback at LSU?

Saban is the coaching GOAT of college football, but he got out because he didn’t want to play this new game of paying players every season. Kelly is the active wins leader (313) among college coaches, but he sounds like the game is passing him by.

Last time we checked, there’s no such thing as moral high ground down in the bayou. In fact, LSU’s football stadium, the highest point above sea level in Baton Rouge, was built thanks to public corruption.

Former LSU governor and U.S. senator Huey P. Long was a man of the people, loved LSU football and found creative ways to funnel money into the program. Long, and all the Kingfisher’s men, would have loved this new SEC, too, and they would have considered it a personal challenge that Tennessee’s state government is playing the game better than anyone.

Earlier this summer, Tennessee governor Lee signed into law legislation that gives the Volunteers and Vanderbilt Commodores a license to operate beyond the latest attempt at rules for college football.

Legalized cheating, in other words.

Under the law, college athletes in the state of Tennessee have no limits on the amount of money they can earn through NIL payments until the federal government says otherwise. Is the new College Football Commission already a joke? We’ll see.

The new commission was set up to govern college football, but I’m guessing that the CFC swung and missed by hiring a former Ivy League-educated baseball executive to run enforcement. Should they have hired someone like Sankey instead?

Sankey isn’t very good at controlling the coaches in the SEC, but at least the SEC’s commissioner understands the game. On Monday, he described the sport as “messy,” said it was backsliding into the “early 1900s” and all but called out Vanderbilt for bringing back quarterback Diego Pavia after successfully suing the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility.

“Literally,” Sankey said, “if you go to the first quarter century, and look at some of the practices around college sports, you start to see the same things that we are seeing today — an older group of college athletes, constant movement without a lot of oversight and questions about whether there are real academic standards that apply.

“As the world changes throughout college sports, we have to hold on to some values that are at the center of what we do on our academic campuses.”

Back at the turn of the 1800s, when college football was an unregulated portrait of the American Dream, football players would go from school to school for the highest dollar. Some of the players were given jobs as teachers. Some of the players were 28 and 30 years old, and everyone called them “scabs.”

There were no rules, which means there was no concept of phony, manufactured morality.

It was football without pretense. It was a juicy, bloody, rare steak of possibility just waiting to be consumed by the masses. Here we are again. The American Dream is alive and well in this new age of college football, and I only have one question.

Why didn’t Auburn pay for Pavia to transfer?

BE HEARD

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”