There but for the grace of God go I. And you. And everyone but Carleton Tinker.

Yes, this is breaking news. Tinker is the Alabama Crimson Tide football parent, that guy, the one. He is the unfortunate soul who on Saturday last touched the crystal football the Crimson Tide won for the 2011 BCS Championship before the trophy fell off its pedestal and shattered.

And all there is to say is that if one parent had to shoulder the burden of embarrassment that comes with destroying the most coveted bauble in college sports, coach Nick Saban did another good recruiting job.

Five days later, Tinker, who lives in Tennessee, can laugh about it. And once you get past the wave of nausea that hits all of us as we consider standing in his shoes, it is pretty funny.

Alabama's $30,000 crystal BCS trophy shattered into little pieces on Saturday when Carleton Tinker, parent of Tide long-snapper Carson Tinker, tripped on a rug and knocked over the display table. Andy Lyons/Getty Images

"I'm not really sure how the thing fell off," he said.

Carleton and his son, Carson, the Tide's senior long-snapper, stood along with several other people in the second-floor lobby of the Mal Moore Athletic Facility on Saturday admiring the new trophy, the eight-pound Waterford crystal football valued at upwards of $30,000. Alabama played its A-Day Game on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium, a half-mile or so down Paul W. Bryant Drive.

Carleton Tinker watched several Alabama recruits pick up the trophy to see what it felt like. How could you not? How many people have that opportunity? When the American Football Coaches Association, which awards the trophy, sends it on tour during the season, the trophy has two minders: They allow fans to ogle it, and to have their picture taken with it. But touching is not allowed.

"I didn't walk away with it," Tinker said. "I set it back down on the stand and turned to walk away, and had my back away from the trophy when I heard it tumble. So I looked back at it."

What happened next is a script for one of those old "Wanna get away?" ads that Southwest Airlines ran.

"In my mind, it was slow motion," Tinker said, "as it rolled off the top of the trophy case onto the table onto the floor. I'm not sure if I bumped the table when I turned around, or if my foot caught on the large tablecloth they had draped and puddled on the floor. That's exactly what happened."

Tinker can say that because he has seen it happen over and over again.

"At night, as I went to sleep, every time I closed my eyes," Tinker said, "I kept seeing it roll off and hit the floor. That marble floor in the trophy room -- it wasn't going to be a soft landing. It shattered. It spread out all over the place."

The recruits and other parents in the room scattered. Assistant coach Mike Groh went for help, if not a broom. Tinker, having turned away and turned back, kept saying, "I think I broke the trophy."