Wednesdays with (Oscar) Whiskey: Of dreams, acceptance and clarity

I have had a lot of crazy dreams in my life. I once dreamed I was not a human being, but actually an android, similar to the ones that Philip K. Dick wrote about, in which I possessed the ability to travel back in time by uploading my current consciousness and linking it to myself in the past via some kind of quantum brain wave. I've had dreams in which I am in the midst of a high-speed chase and a dream in which my mom hit a deer and out of frustration, my dad threw the remains in the garbage can, only for me to discover it was still alive. However, one dream I've never had is the type of season our Auburn Tigers are experiencing.

At any moment now, I am waiting to be woken up from this dream. Just something to stir me from my slumber and find out it is Friday morning, Aug. 30, 2013. I wake up realizing there's still a whole season to play and my expectations for Auburn are tempered to an awfully generous 8-4 regular season. There was no miracle catch by Ricardo Louis nor a last-second field goal returned to beat Alabama nor a win at Kyle Field nor beatdowns on Tennessee and Arkansas. Any minute now, "wake up Oscar, the orange-and-blue Matrix has you."

It's kind of funny that after the TAMU game I mentioned how we should keep our expectations under control and dreaming of a "beautiful Southern California sky." I remember writing that and thinking how absurd the idea of Auburn making it to Pasadena this year was. It wasn't that I didn't believe it could happen, but that I didn't want to believe that could happen. That's not saying I don't want our Tigers to play for another national title, rather I just did not want to spend my days believing it could happen again this year.

Won Over

Just over one year ago, Arthur Gustav "Gus" Malzahn III was hired as the new head coach of Auburn Tigers football team. We remember his arrival at the Auburn-Opelika Airport and his follow up presser where he promised that he would bring Auburn Football back to where it should be. I was pretty damn excited and happily welcomed Gus back to the Plains. However, a few of you weren't as on board as I was:

Bud Elliot, Editor for SB Nation's Florida State blog, Tomahawk Nation, chiming in on Gus' hire. What are the odds that one of the folks supporting Malzahn's hire would see his team playing Auburn for the BCS Championship in 2013?

Whatever your opinion was then, I'm pretty sure it is safe to say that the Good Coach Malzahn has won y'all over now.

My Clarity

Probably like most of you, one of my favorite Auburn blogs years ago was The Joe Cribbs Car Wash written by Jerry Hinnen. It was comprehensive, insightful, honest and, at times, humorous and poignant. One of my all-time favorite posts he ever put together was the 2008 A-U Pre-view: 2007 in song. The entry consisted of a series of pictures to be viewed while listening to Beirut's "Scenic World." I loved this post, I loved the song he chose (I would listen to it while standing outside every evening watching the desert sunsets in Iraq) and to me, it summed up Auburn's 2007 season and the anticipation of 2008 perfectly.

I have been wanting to replicate what Jerry did all those years ago, but was never sure how it would be received. I found a song months ago that when I first heard it, it reflected my Auburn fandom to the letter. I don't know if you feel the same way, but bear with me as I'm going to give this my best shot:

High dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life

Fight fear for the selfish pain

It was worth it every time

Hold still right before we crash

'Cause we both know how this ends

A clock ticks till it breaks your glass

And I drown in you again

Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need

Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why

If our love is tragedy

Why are you my remedy?

If our love is insanity

Why are you my clarity?

If our love is tragedy

Why are you my remedy?

If our love is insanity

Why are you my clarity?

Why are you my clarity?

Why are you my clarity?

War Eagle!