I never thought it would happen. We all knew gas prices would jump - fifty cents in one day, thirty more the next here in Auburn - but who knew we would run out? Gas stations are closed all over town. Prices have already been remarked at $3.09 for regular for the first shipment, due sometime Saturday or Sunday. Since we have so many guests in town - refugees from the hurricane and insanely rabid SEC football fans - they will likely deplete our resources again before leaving town. Sadly, I have canceled plans to travel to South Alabama to see family and friends. I cannot afford the gas, nor can I afford to be stuck in Mobile on Monday because of a lack of it.
This will be a long weekend.
Home game weekends never cease to show me the bad side of human nature. Alumni and "friends" descend upon the campus, angrily driving their RVs over curbs and onto the grass in search of the best spot to plunder for the weekend. I remember years as an undergraduate here where the University reported having to spend $10,000 to replace grass that had been worn away or torn up by fans and their vehicles. I doubt that the Athletic Department paid for that. Thankfully, the administration decided to "bollard up" the periphery of green spaces on campus. Athough they dot some of the landscape like ridiculous brown Super Mario World-style hills, they are quite effective at 1) keeping RVs and cars off our grass and 2) really destroying front- and back-ends of cars that try anyway. Yes, people attempt it every year. The bollards almost invariably reap victory, and nothing pleases me more than hearing that shrill metal-on-metal sound of an RV's side wall being gouged out or the tinkling clatter of a rear bumper falling onto the sidewalk.
This weekend poses a unique quandry for fans: If they arrive in town and a refugee family still inhabits their pre-paid hotel room, what do they do? Our University President has asked that fans not displace refugees, but he cannot actually prevent it from happening. And we all know it is. In a stroke of journalistic genious, our local NBC affiliate in Montgomery has established a number for displaced refugees to call and report rogue hotels, to be named on air in the evening broadcast, chastised for their indiscretions. After that annoucement, the bickering stopped. Deals were struck. Many beers were drunk. (Yes, drunk is the right word there.) And the people were happy. :-?
Like all things in life (football, classes, football, hapless dating, football, our sham of a federal government, football, and the rescue and rebuilding of New Orleans and Southern Mississippi and Alabama), the game must go on. This time out has lasted long enough. There are no commercials left to air. Wait a minute - we never run out of commercials*.
*bitter, party of one?
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2 comments:
Ha! I can see the stupid mobile home drivers now, trying to run over anything that gets in the way of their precious gameday fun. Well written, Chris. I'm glad to hear you're thinking on the positive now (judging from the bottom of your post). On a related note, I heard an interesting story today on Morning Edition that stated much the same thing. Yes, the devastation is horrible; but things will get better over time if we work at it. More importantly, we need to work at it in style.
Style? Are we able to resurrect any of that at this point? I thought that style was made illegal by the Bush administration. Oh yeah - and class, too.
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