Chris Stewart Sports

4:15 p.m. HST (8:15 p.m. CST) - SEC Football is still fun.... even from 4,300 miles away.

It's weird waking up at 6:45 in the morning, turning on the TV, and catching the END of College GameDay. It's also pretty odd to watch Michigan and Ohio State kick off at 7!

Nonetheless, it's great to be able to watch football LITERALLY from the time you wake up. Okay, when I was in college, that used to happen almost EVERY Saturday morning....but I digress.

Rain, rain....what are you doing here?

I didn't feel like an idiot staying in my hotel room in Maui, and watching football virtually all day long, because it has been raining since I first woke up. Steady rain is a rare occurence here, according to the locals, but it is forecast for tomorrow, as well. The showers actually stopped about 30 minutes ago, and more people are heading out to the beach and nearby shops. I may venture out at halftime of OU/Texas Tech. 

The Crimson Tide basketball team had practice today, a study hall session with academic advisor Lance Walker, and a couple of tournament functions. They will have more of the same tomorrow, and then it will be ready to open tournament play Monday night against Oregon. I'll have more on our first round opponent tomorrow.

Just a note on a past opponent. Maybe we shouldn't feel so bad about our season opening loss to Mercer, after all. Three days after upsetting Alabama, the Bears went to Auburn and beat the Tigers. Today in Macon, Ga., Mercer never trailed in regulation, blew an 18-point lead with 12 minutes to play, and lost in overtime to Georgia Tech by a score of 82-76.

A couple of notes on today's college football games:

I think the implosion of LSU Football has officially begun. Don't get me wrong. Ole Miss is a good football team. They almost beat Alabama, and could easily be just a one or two loss team. However, the Tigers have clearly seen their three-year stretch of good luck run out. I'm not saying they haven't been good the past two seasons, but they have also caught every break imaginable - including losing twice in one season and STILL winning a national championship.

They won't fall off the college football map - or even that of the West - but they are no longer the team that everyone is afraid to play.

Also, I mentioned earlier the Ohio State/Michigan game. When you go to church tomorrow and thank God for your many blessings, don't leave out the fact that Rich Rodriguez is NOT at Alabama.

I'm still not adjusted to the time zone change. How could I be....it's a four hour difference!

Today the team took it easy for the most part. In addition to some practice, the team also got the chance to rest up from the grueling travel from the day before. Tonight our travel party got to enjoy a 2.5 hour cruise into the Pacific. It was an incredible experience. Some of the pictures are included in this post. 

After the team meal, we've called it a night. Even though it's only 9:30 p.m. here in Maui, it's 1:30 back home. To put it in perspective, if I wanted to watch "College Gameday" on ESPN, I would have to wake up at 5 a.m. locally! It will be afwully strange watching college football at 7 a.m.....but I like the idea.

Have a great night. I'll have more tomorrow.