What the hail?

Golf ball-sized hail from a storm in Marion, Arkansas

What an odd past few days it has been. I didn't manage to get a Razorbacks-related post up last Friday, which is just as well considering the 38-14 humiliation that the Alabama Crimson Tide handed to the Hogs football team two days ago. Most people thought Arkansas would get beat by the Tide, but I don't think many people who follow the Hogs thought they would get shut down as thoroughly as they did. Nick Saban's defense is for real this year, that's for sure.

Full disclosure: I was going to optimistically predict a 31-21 upset victory for the Hogs. (I know, I know, it's a little embarrassing to admit.) So I'll factor that losing prediction into my season record when I get back to the weekly game preview with this Saturday's contest against Texas A&M.

But the strangest thing that happened in my world wasn't the Razorback letdown on Saturday. It was the storm that hit eastern Arkansas on Sunday night. I plucked the hailstones in the photo above from my backyard. Now I've seen hail all my life. And I've always heard about "golf ball-sized hail." But other than the occasional big hailstone in the midst of a pedestrian shower of hail pebbles, I've never really encountered anything that could qualify as truly golf ball-sized.

The hail this past weekend was every bit as big as golf balls. In fact, looking out my back door while the storm was going on, it almost seemed as if there were a crowd of people standing on my roof throwing golf balls by the hundreds into my backyard.

The sky was crying that day, my friends. Maybe even crying for my Hogs. Crying big, frozen, golf ball-sized tears that maybe next year will be different. Alabama blech.