Ponderings by Dan Ponder

I stayed up until the bitter end of Monday night’s National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs. However, when Alabama came within 10 points in the second half I already knew the outcome. No one feels the pain of the Dawg Nation more than an Auburn Tiger fan. We have…

My grandfather was younger than I am now when he first told me “the older you get the faster time goes by”. It was one of the most absolute truths he ever shared with me.   I just reread the annual columns I have been writing for almost a decade on the first of the…

Some said this may have been the best Christmas in years. Folks sat around the dinner table literally for hours telling stories of past Christmases.They ranged from my Mother’s own childhood memories, to the spirited banter between the first and second cousins of the Ponder/Beall side of our family.  All were all present and accounted…

To most people I know, this is a season of giving.  Whether or not one celebrates Christmas for its religious origins, this time of year has become the time of long lines, heavy traffic and non-stop advertising of every kind.  Christmas sales represent one-sixth of all retail sales in the United States. Unfortunately for some…

George Patton once wrote “For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade … A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.” That might adequately describe what an Auburn fan felt…

What a week!   I was able to experience one of the most exciting sporting events of my life.  Auburn beat Alabama . . . BAD.  If you grew up in Alabama, as I did, during the heyday of the dominance of Paul “Bear” Bryant then you know that any win over the Crimson Tide is…

I walked into Quik and Handy to get breakfast this morning (a shameless plug for a friendly competitor) and got into line behind an old friend from my peanut days.  I asked how he was doing and in response he said enthusiastically, “I am GREAT!”   Just that quick, he changed my thoughts about the coming…

This is not the column I had intended to write this week.  Mary Lou and I attended a panel discussion in Auburn on Thursday night. The topic was North Korea. It was much more interesting than you might suspect and I left feeling encouraged that perhaps there was hope for a positive outcome.  Unfortunately, I…