Well, so much for Ole Miss to beat Alabama. I not only missed that guess, but missed big time. If the Rebels didn’t leave Tuscaloosa after one quarter, it sure looked like they did.

Maybe it wasn’t that bad. After all, that’s football for you. And after all, the Rebels weren’t supposed to win – just play the Tide close. But not 45-7.

Ole Miss did look inept – and was, that’s all there was to it. But LSU was on in a big way, and so was No. 15 Southern Mississippi over in the Conference-USA against old foe Tulane. The Tigers rolled past Kentucky 34-0, and USM smashed Tulane 56-24 without hitting passing gear.

I tell you this football is getting to be something. Although I missed but two games last Saturday (Alabama-Ole Miss and Florida-Auburn), seems like the other four were gimmees.

But I don’t believe this SEC race is over – not by a long shot. Here Alabama is not even ranked but raring up. But the Crimson Tide still has No. 13 State (in the AP Poll; No. 14 in the USA/ESPN) down the road on Nov. 11. But State faces the unpredictable LSU Tigers this Saturday night in Baton Rouge, and you know what that could turn into.

As I take this ugly mug from this Democrat spot for two full weeks of vacation, partly up around Peanut Boyd’s restaurant out of Branson, Mo., I’ll tell you that this Saturday I’m picking Alabama to shade Tennessee; rugged No. 12 Georgia to take Kentucky; Mississippi State to beat LSU; South Carolina over Vandy; and Auburn over La. Tech.

…HURRIED HASH: When the Copiah-Lincoln Junior College Athletic Hall of Fame honored Walter Stampley with his induction recently, the powers-that-be certainly picked a good one to add to their illustrious roll. I go way back with Walter, and I can even tell you that the &uot;mean,&uot; rugged fullback was great at Hazelhurst High, and was even more outstanding at Co-Lin, and then Wyoming U. and USM. I know!

Then on down the line he became &uot;The Bear,&uot; thanks to Vidalia High football player – now VHS coach – Dee Faircloth, whose nickname stuck. The likeable ol’ fullback spent his adult life with the Vidalia school system, climaxed by a 14-year-term on the Concordia School Board. Congratulations, ol’ South Canal neighbor. And friend.

…Jack Foster, erstwhile athlete, has now added storytelling-writing to his list of things done in life. Jack first played football and basketball for the late coach A.I. Rexinger at Natchez High in about 1945-46, I believe.

Recently, though, he has written a book for his children and grandchildren that I really like. Titled &uot;The Legend of Billy and Sam,&uot; Jack spins a really quaint yarn about Billy the lightning half-breed, and Sam the runaway slave, set in the 1800s in Southwest Mississippi.

Jack has been to all the places he describes in his Billy and Sam book. I know his children enjoyed it. I did.

…About the late Dr. David Steckler I’ll say simply this: No greater community servant ever walked the streets of Natchez than David Steckler! It was so reassuring to see just a few months after his death that the Natchez Chamber of Commerce &uot;Natchezian Award&uot; has gone to the wonderful doctor and caring philanthropist who was for Natchez and Adams County all the way.

Duncan Park might still be a 9-hole golf course had it not been for Dr. Steckler. And that’s just for starters with regards to his benevolence and plain genuine concern for his hometown, which he loved.

As the old saying goes, &uot;I’ll take him anytime.&uot;

Glenvall Estes is a longtime sports columnist for The Natchez Democrat.