This Election is Stressing Me Out

Man, am I ready for October 7 to come and go (municipal election day). Moreso, though, November 4 can't get here fast enough (or, should I say, November 5).

I'm not going to be one of those journalists who tells you who I'm going to vote for - that's not my job, and it's unprofessional. Too many media people do that these days.

I'll leave it at this -- my mind is made up, and it's an easy choice for me on each of the races (presidential, congressional, and mayoral).

I will say all the news coverage is stressing me out. Campaigns are nasty this year. Candidates may say they're going to keep on the "high road" but that went out the window months ago for a few of them. They'll do anything it takes to win these days.

Whoever you vote for - just vote. Get registered now. Don't put it off. And don't whine when you have to wait in line for a few minutes (or more) on election day. Don't let that discourage you from voting, either. It's a beautiful thing to see the polls packed on election day. It means people want change, and they're willing to do something about it.

And no, I didn't give away my presidential choice there. Aren't both candidates preaching that these days?

New Picture of Nick

Here's a new picture of our son, Nicholas Joseph Aiello ("Nick"). He's almost 4 months old now!
No, he's not named after Nick Saban. Joey and I just both like the name. More pics soon.. I've got my digital camera back, thank God.

Who's the Man? Saban's the Man!

Today, another post about why I love Nick Saban. No, not because he led the Crimson Tide to victory this past weekend over Clemson. That was nice, by the way.

I love that Saban speaks his mind. Namely, he's not afraid to bring fans, alumni and others in the UA establishment back down from Cloud 9 and tell them to chill out.

"It's one game. You know, confidence can screw you up, confidence can be a good thing, but what our players need to understand, what our fans need to understand, what everybody needs to understand, it's one game. It's one game. Alright? And we need to keep playing better, and we need to improve, and our players need to have the focus to improve, and remember how they got where they got, rather than think we can just show up now and think we can beat whoever we play, because we have a tendency to think that way around here, instead of just kicking people's a** like you're supposed to, and working to do it. Alright?"

Then, the clincher... "So when you ask me those kind of questions, it really pi**es me off."

Saban then told the reporter he wasn't ticked off at him for asking it, just the mentality of it.

Watch all of Saban's post-game comments here.

So... did the media listen? Hell no. Look what hits the newstands a few days later:

This isn't going to help one bit. I wish the national sports media would just ignore us till about game 5 or 6 in the season. If we're doing well by then, GREAT.. give us some good coverage.. bring the ESPN College Gameday crew.. but doing this stuff early in the season just sets us up for failure.

Our football fan base has been drooling for another national championship since 1992. And every year, they get their hopes up when we beat a big team early on, and then wonder what happened to our golden run when we lose to a team like Louisiana-Monroe.

I quit getting my hopes up in the late 90s, and ever since then, I've been a realist. It's good to enjoy an Alabama win, but if we don't win every weekend, my life will still go on. We'll live to see another day. The world won't fall apart.

I tell you, though, I don't envy the sports reporters who have to ask Saban questions after the game. That takes courage.

Off the subject, I finally saw "The Dark Knight" this weekend. It rocked.

Peace!