Another year has gone by, and as we reminisce about the happenings in sports let’s take a little bit closer look.

Alabama picked up 10 wins this year, and made the trip to Hawaii to play the Rainbow Warriors. Less than a week after they returned from Hawaii they lost their coach to Texas A&M. That’s when things got really interesting, and the University got a little embarrassed. After searching high and low (and getting turned down by a couple) for a suitable replacement, they finally stole a coach of their own. They picked up Mike Price from Washington State, and while most of the Tide faithful are glad to have him, others are skeptical. Hey they should just be glad someone said yes, and roll on.

Auburn had a pretty good year in football, and they even went into Bryant Denny and pulled of the big upset. Except for the loss against Florida, Arkansas, and Southern California it was a pretty good year. The Tigers will even be playing on New Years day in the Capital One Bowl. Now the Tigers had some coaching problems of their own, even though it wasn’t as bad as the Tides it was bad enough. They lost offensive coordinator Bob Petrinio to Louisville when he left last week to be the Cardinals new head coach. He will be missed, but let’s face it losing a coordinator is not quite as bad as losing a head coach.

No one should forget that the Tide basketball program has accomplished something this season that no other Tide team before them has been able to do. They are #1 in the country, and undefeated. Mark Gottfried has turned the program around with the help of players like Erwin Dudley and Mo Williams. Even though all the Tide faithful are excited lets see what happens when they hit SEC play.

That’s enough about college let’s take a look at what some of the high school teams around the area have been able to accomplish. We have had football teams that were supposed to be in rebuilding years, turn around and have fantastic seasons. Their has been teams that are traditionally good have losing seasons, and mediocre teams that stayed mediocre.

Central Christian Academy turned a rebuilding season into a region championship, and they were one win away from the state championship. Head coach John Niblett accomplished amazing things with a team that didn’t know the meaning of the word give up.

Dallas County High outscored most opponents by tremendous margins this season, and were undefeated until they met with Demopolis late in the year. They mad into the play offs, but lost in the second round. The whole coaching staff and team at DCS should be commended for the season that they had.

Wilcox Academy was another one of those teams that was supposed to be in a rebuilding year, but managed to prove everyone wrong. They defeated #1 Monroe Academy in a game that no one gave them a chance in. They made it to the play offs, but were upset in the second round by Marengo. Chris Burford the head coach at Wilcox Academy is not only a good coach, but he is also a stand up guy and his players are better for having played under him.

Morgan Academy was the home of the &uot;Cardiac Kids&uot;, and they rightly earned the name coming from behind to win most of their games. The Senators made it into the play offs, but lost in the first round. Watch out for this team next year, head coach Robert Gartman will have them ready to play ball.

Selma also saw something last year that hadn’t been around these parts for a long time professional baseball. The Cloverleaf’s found a home in Selma, and Selma found a new pass time in the Cloverleaf’s. They brought out the kid in everyone, and we should all be so lucky as to have them here for along time.

If next year is anything like this year we should all be in for an exciting year in the world of sports.