I thought an early morning bike ride would have some romance: sleepy, empty roads, mystic lighting. So I set an alarm and almost got up right away. The Yankee was asleep. The town was asleep. I was asleep. I, like the roads, was also empty.

It was just a bit over an hour in the saddle, and I worked through five timed segments, doing neither particularly well or particularly poorly on any of it. I worked my way through downtown and into the western outskirts. The sun turned from yellow to bright — and there is a difference if you’re awake early enough.

Early enough being a relative term, granted.

Later in the morning, at home, The Yankee read me this story:

After working with a fraternity brother to design her engagement ring, Clayton turned to another friend, an Alabama grad, to brainstorm the perfect proposal.

In the end, only one place in the world made sense for Clayton to ask the most important question of his life.

Nick Saban’s office.

He hid in the bathroom. His fiancee, a hostess, was sent in to polish up bling for some visitors. He comes out with a ring of his own, from the bathroom, where there are apparently snacks and he had some and … people do curious things, don’t they?

She read me the story and showed me the video — of course there is video — and I am chagrined I didn’t think to use Gene Chizik’s office. Of course, he’d only been on the job for just a few days when we got engaged, though, so Chizik’s bathroom snack basket might not have been stocked up yet.

“So I sprang out of the john and said ‘Would you — ‘ and she interrupted and said ‘Does Coach use Lysol or Clorox toilet bowl cleaner?'”

People do curious things.

Football! Auburn was off, and the slate looked uninspiring, but there was a day in front of televisions and, like all of the days that include college football, it turned into something thrilling.

And punting!

And still more punting!

Those two plays happened within moments of one another in the same game. How could you not love college football?

There was a weather day of the Georgia at South Carolina game. So CBS re-played part of the Iron Bowl. Some of the more casual fans found themselves wondering why Alabama and Auburn were playing so early in the year and why it was night in the middle of the day. Everyone else had a nice laugh.

The last item in that list is from someone familiar …

Things to read … because if you read enough anything can become familiar.

Tax credits are a marvelous thing … Alabama named one of the top states for doing business.

Digital First Media’s York Daily Record shuts off power mid-afternoon to save money

Terrible all the way around … James Foley’s Parents Warned Of Prosecution For Ransom Fundraising

And now back to late-night football.