Soon fellow sports reporters Bob Holt, Tom Murphy, Brandon Marcello and this scribe will load up the minivan, pick up Earlene Prince at her mom’s and be on our way home from SEC media days.

Earlene’s unofficial title in the editorial department of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is daily operations commander-in-chief. Whenever we drive to Tuscaloosa for anything we offer her a ride home.

One thing that has been different about these football meetings than those in the past is there was not a press conference so compelling it changed the way the media was going to vote for All-SEC and the conference standings.

Florida and Alabama are almost automatic choices to win the East and West and face each other in Atlanta for the SEC championship, although this season it would be the second time they meet.

They rotate onto each other’s regular season schedule on Oct. 2 in Tuscaloosa.

By the time we leave here we will have sat through approximately 15 hours of interviews with head coaches and players, and had dinners at Superior Grill, Cajun Steamer and Jim and Nick’s Barbecue.

The restaurants are highly recommended and the interviews weren’t bad.

Well, as you’ll see in Sunday’s column, Gene Chizik was as boring as a prom date with your sister.

Most, if not all, of next week’s columns will be on SEC teams but early Friday morning Shawn Arnell and your trusty scribe are taking the Shawn and Wally radio show on the road.

Very early next Friday we are flying to San Antonio for Dallas Cowboys media days and training camp.

Admittedly, the passion isn’t quite as intense these days, but I became a Cowboys fan when Cliff Harris played for them.

Cliff wasn’t given much chance of making the Cowboys roster coming out of Ouachita Baptist University, but he was a head-knocking tackler in camp and every answer included a “sir,’ and the combination made a lasting impression on Tom Landry.

Undrafted in 1970, Harris won the starting job his rookie season but he missed half the games because of a military obligation. He returned to play in the Super Bowl VI victory.

Nicknamed “Captain Crash,” Cliff played for the Cowboys 10 years, had 29 interceptions, 18 fumble recoveries, 418 yards in punt returns, 1,622 on kickoffs and countless bell ringing tackles.

He played in five Super Bowls, six Pro Bowls and is a member of the Arkansas Hall of Fame as well as the Cowboys Ring of Honor.

How could that type of career, not to mention all the great publicity he brought his home state, not make you a Cowboy fan?

Going to camp will be fun, and there will be columns from there.

Very high on the priority list will be to get to Mi Tierra’s, my favorite restaurant in the world.

Now, though, there are a lot of miles to cover. It is time to go home sweet home.

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