Sad but true....

[eagle76 1]

Heard yesterday about a "special" edition SI coming out which features uat and their "history". A supervisor that works for me told me this story. One of his employees asked to leave work early for his lunch break and would probably be late in returning. The employee told his supervisor that he was going to buy the new SI with bammar on it. This guy is a bammar fanatic and wears bammar hats/shirts religiously. This employee has had some financial problems because I know I have signed several payroll advances in the past 6 months. He just upgraded his tranportation by purchasing a flood damaged $600 car. This guy is really a nice guy, though. He came back from lunch an hour late and lost an hours pay. He was tickled to death because he was able to buy 23 copies of this rag.

I have not meant this to demean this individual in any way. It is also not meant to poke fun of his bammar-isms. I'm sure that this expenditure of over $150 is a major setback to him and his family. But the SAD part is that he was bragging to his supervisor about his purchase and how it was a great investment. He plans on keeping these in plastic and in storage until his son goes to college and this will help with the tuition.

SI knows how and to whom to market "special" editions to bolster their profits. SI should be ashamed.

[DKW 86 7,419]

Heard PF for about 15 minutes yesterday two separate times. On both segments he was making fun of 'the ten or so Bama Tradition books coming out this year.'

He was making fun of how they were all basically copies of each other and none had any real new info. Just republished, rehashed, recycled stories that would indeed sell to the same folks year after year. He talked about how it was just that time of the year for all the interviews for the books to come on the show.

[WarTim 3,456]

uat= h-i-s-t-o-r-y

[DCTiger 0]

Is this his $600?

[otterinbham 0]

Well, remember the saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted?" That was a perfect example.

I had an employee once who was similar. Nice guy, did good work. When I hired him, I met his salary request, which was a generous amount compared to market rate.

Three weeks later he marches into my office and says, "You're not paying me enough money." To which I said, "Whoa, Craig. Did you not just 3 weeks ago ask for $XXXXX? And did I not agree to that?"

He stopped and conceded the point. As it turns out, this is how he was spending his money:

1) Membership to a health club that he never attended.

2) He loved a movie so much, that he went to see it five times over the course of a weekend.

3) He always ate out and hit the bars.

4) He was always buying the newest gizmo.

He and I had a heart-to-heart, and he started goiing to a credit counselor.

But people from all walks of life are guilty of the same behavior. Need another example?

We recently bought our house in Mountain Brook. We got it for a steal. Seriously. We couldn't believe the price. We walked in, looked around, and gave them a non-contingent contract. The sellers asked if we could close by June 30th, which was two weeks from our contract date. My wife and I looked at each other and said, "Sure."

As we left the house, my wife said, "Wow. What a deal. I wonder why they're giving it away?"

I waited until we got in the car and said, "Money problems." Because as you walked through the house, you noticed all kinds of expensive toys. Two-year-old cars in the driveway. An Alfa Romeo being restored in the garage. All kinds of golf paraphernalia. Expensive clothes in the closet. Vacation photos from exotic destinations.

Yet, looking at the title on the house, I noticed two mortgages. The second mortgage was 50% higher than the first. They had been in this house in Mountain Brook for fifteen years, and they would get out of it with about $50,000 in equity. And, this very morning, TiitleMax showed up on our front porch, looking for the former owner of the house, evidently looking to repossess his car.

My sister and former brother in law are in the same boat. He's an attorney making $150K. She sells real estate. Yet they were in debt up to their eyeballs at the time of their divorce. And, after ten years in THEIR house, they only had $80,000 in equity to split after the divorce. So what did my sister do with her share? She bought a convertible. And now she's having money troubles. Well, what a surprise.

Now, I have gone into debt before. And we had to claw our way back out again. But our debt was based on a business downturn, not consumption. And while my wife and I do well, we don't go out to eat every week, and she drives a 10-year-old Infiniti. While my Honda was bought new a year ago, I'll be driving that thing for the next decade. And we only take a big vacation after we've saved for it. With a little bit of luck, we can retire in about 10 years.

Every month, we stick a considerable sum of money back. Our credit cards have zero balances. Our children don't have an X-Box. I don't go golfing every weekend. We eat leftovers two nights a week. We've been able to buy commercial property. And, damn, financial security feels good. Far better than any possessions I could possibly buy.

I'm not bragging about what I make--Not at all. I'm saying what happens when one has the financial discipline to not blow every penny. But I'm amazed at how many people, even in the best of neighborhoods, don't seem to understand this simple life lesson.

[AUChizad 0]

Yeah, one of my coworkers passed me in the hall with it and said something like "Better get one of these before they sell out"

I told him the joke I learned on here: "What's the difference between Auburn & Alabama's highlight reels? Alabama's are in black & white"

His face kind of dropped, and he walked on.

[quietfan 233]

I wonder if National Geographic would put out a special commemorative issue on the Roman Empire....they're about equally relevant to 2006 football !

[tigereyes 19]

Poor people engage in behavior that makes them poor and rich people engage in behavior that makes them rich. Thats the bottom line.

[aucanucktiger 1,793]

But this is the evil genius of Bammer's sports information office and nobody outside pro sports (except maybe UK's basketball info office) does it better. They skirt through down years by pumping the past and getting the media (e.g. SI, Mussberger, Bammaham News) to bite. When we have down years, our football self-promotion through the media is either Bo Jackson this and Bo Jackson that, or it's zip, zero, nada. PERCEPTION is half the game and the fact most people don't realize the Tad's average-at-best record since 1979 speaks volumes. That's one of the few things we'll miss w/ Housel gone, he was a master @ manipulating media thought.