Tuesday 'tubing: listen to the voices

One of my new favorite youtube obsessions is bamafanzone, who (or which) turned all 12 wins from the '08 season into breathtaking music videos. 
My favorite (and it will soon be yours) is the LSU game. 
Listen closely after you press play — the voice you will hear belongs to Nick Saban. 



I don't know about you, but I just did a lap around the house for the 18th time. Gawd ... is it still only July?

snap back to reality

My name is will, and I'm a mac. Now, officially. 

In any case, I owe everyone on my loyal reader list a real-life update, or at least some kind of excuse as to why you haven't heard from me since ... sheesh, last Tuesday? Really? There's no excuse for that, is there?

Well, if there is, I think this qualifies — I've had a 10-year reunion and Music & Arts Week, an exercise I can't promote highly enough and intend to continue doing so throughout the year. And since MAW takes place in a land time forgot (no cell phone service and only limited Interwebz), there wasn't much chance to blog or anything like that. 

In any case, we're back now, and there should only be a few interruptions between now and the start of football season (Media Days is a mere two weeks away, folks). In fact, just for fun, let's play a football video (h/t: RBR). 

That was fun. And with that, let's take a look at some of the things we missed from this week.

• Obviously, the biggest story around the sports world today is the death of Steve McNair, one of those "holy crap!" moments that life throws us from time to time to remind us of how fleeting this ethereal plain really is. 

The country's best writers are and will continue to put McNair's life and career into perspective, as this excellent post from Dr. Saturday will attest. I'll always remember McNair as the old guy in the pickup game: he never appeared to be moving very fast, nor throwing the ball very hard, and he was always nursing some kind of injury that would sideline the best of us under normal circumstances. But he kept coming, kept coming, wasn't fazed by much of anything ... and he won. And he kept winning. I have no idea what kind of guy he was, but he was a HELL of a football player and he'll always be one of my favorites. 

On to less serious things ...

• A pair of fantastic posts from Smart Football, both of which will make Peter von Herrmann smile: first, a look at Nick Saban's defense; second, the maddeningly simplistic stylings of Paul Johnson. The guy knows his stuff and makes me feel inadequate. 

• Speaking of Saban, you've no doubt heard that he keeps rolling up commits for his recruiting class of 2010, removing all the suspense from the process, in the words of Cecil Hurt. In a sense, this is consistent with the way Saban's teams play football, as well — they work harder and execute better than everybody else, essentially removing all the drama from games, as well. Obviously, even with all that, sometimes you'll still lose ... but not because you didn't do everything you could and cover every angle. 

If you're into recruiting for '10 — and I try not to be, but it's hard — RBR has you covered. Gentry Estes has a good look at the attrition for the program, also. 

• RBR also tackled another big issue this week: the phenomenon of the second-year improvement. Not surprisingly, the outlier in this study is Houston Nutt, something to think about before you go jumping on the Ole Miss bandwagon. 

• Things only tangentially related to football: Tower has the story of a potential curse on BDS; 8Box tackled the important subject of which coach you'd hire, fire or destroy; EA Sports has a look at virtual stadiums across the country; and here's a gut-wrenching story that will make you stop hating Tennessee for a minute. 

• Other stuff: Rapaport sits down with Anthony Grant; Buster looks at potential trade partners for the suddenly alive Braves. 

Tuesday 'tube: just wastin time

I can't urge you strongly enough to stop whatever it is you're currently doing and watching the College World Series final, currently showing on ESPN. Game 1 is currently in the 10th, and tomorrow night (Tuesday) is Game 2. It's definitely worth the watch, if you like great college sports.

In the meantime, here's an advanced look at a summer feature everyone loves: EA Sports' NCAA Football.

notable, quotable Monday

As I write this, Phil Mickelson and his glorious, Ric-Flair-type chest are making a valiant charge toward a possible US Open Championship. It's totally worth annoying my co-workers by turning it on. Totally.

Anyway, as always this Monday is a busy one, so here are some quick links to keep you entertained till quitting time.
— First up, the dominant Web story of the weekend: Nick Saban vs. recruiting Web sites. The money quote, at least for me:

"That should be addressed by somebody and should be brought to bear. If people are just covering recruiting with honesty and integrity, [there's no problem]. But all those guys that work out there for [recruiting sites] are for the school. Everybody roots for a team. And they get information for a team."

Naturally, many of the writers for these sites have responded predictably — Nick Saban is easy to loathe, and objectivity isn't a desirable trait for team-specific sites anyway. 8Box wonders if Alabama is prepared to fight these guys.
— Scheduling, obviously, remains a hot topic. Moon thinks we as fans deserve better, although he made the curious decision to lead his column by calling us all "suckers." Cecil agrees with his assessment, calling for 'Bama to renew its old rivalries.
— Other 'Bama-related stuff: RBR examines how Julio Jones stole AJ Green's spotlight (Peter von Herrmann likes); UA picked up three more commitments over the weekend.

— Tidesports.com has a top 25 of all-time college football programs. No, Alabama isn't on top.

— Some Auburn links: the O-A is reviewing the Teagles' 09 opponents, today with Kentucky; Auburn is also planning a game against JSU, which, like our game against Bill Curry and Ga. State, will inevitably lead to a series of stories/blog posts/message board arguments about Jack Crowe.
Hold on, let's relive one of coach Crowe's best moments:



That was fun.

— Finally, the finals of the CWS start tonight. TCBB is your one-stop shop for all preview needs.

for the record, Dad's great

I said a "blog-free" weekend, and I meant it. Since it's Father's Day on Sunday, I'm being a self-promoter and pulling an old Father's Day column from a few years ago.

Thanks everybody, and have a good one.

Dads pass on more than love of sports to children

Will Heath

Nearly everyone remembers the night they fell in love for the first time. For me, it happened in elementary school. I know most people can't fall in love in elementary school; most people aren't even sure what love is in elementary school.

Still, that's what happened.

Back then, my dad and I were going to football games every Friday night in the fall at old Senior Stadium in Eufaula. I'm almost positive they don't use that place anymore. Which is really too bad.

Anyway, back in those days, Eufaula's head coach was a guy named Wayne Woodham, and its biggest rival was the vexing Smiths Station. Both of them always found a way to ruin Eufaula's season every year.

The best player in those days was a do-everything cat with a surprisingly generic name: Fred Smith. Some Auburn fans (although probably only the real die-hards) might remember Smith, vaguely. He played four unremarkable seasons on The Plains, mostly as a nickel back (if I'm not mistaken, he ran back an interception for a TD against LSU in 1994 … then again, so did everyone in the stadium).

At Eufaula, though, Smith was unequivocally the man. He played quarterback, ran back punts, played all over the field on defense, sold popcorn at the concession stands and directed the band at halftime. If I'm not mistaken, he showed up to every game on Friday with a giant cape on his back, which he used to drag his teammates all over the field.

Fred's greatest moment - and one of the greatest moments of my young life as a fan - was the night I fell in love. With football.

See, Fred separated his shoulder that night in Eufaula against Smiths Station, with the area title on the line. Dad says he can still remember seeing Fred holding his arm up in the air between plays, trying to relieve the pain.

The game went to overtime. There was a sense of fear and trepidation from our seat in the bleachers. Smiths was going to win. They always won.

Still, I can see Fred trotting out onto the field to start the extra period, left arm hanging limply at his side.

As I've grown older, him staying in the game becomes more unbelievable. How can anyone compete with that kind of pain?

But Fred did. In fact, not only did he score the go-ahead touchdown in overtime, he intercepted a Smiths Station pass on the Panthers' possession to preserve a victory.

I think we skipped home that night.

You could say that I'm sitting at this desk now because of that night.

I owe that to my dad. Back in those days, we didn't have any relatives on the team or anything like that. In fact, the only connection I had to any of the football players was that my first girlfriend's older brother was the backup quarterback. I think, anyway.

Still, we were there every Friday night we could be. And we watched every Saturday as well. I can still remember nearly hitting my head on the blades of the ceiling fan after my dad lifted me up in the air when Philip Doyle connected from 50 to beat Tennessee.

We're nearly 20 years and several towns removed from those nights at Senior Stadium in Eufaula. But we still talk on the phone a lot. And nearly every conversation winds up being about sports (even if it's after we've discussed things like mortgage payments and whole life insurance).

I learned nearly everything about how to be a sports fan from my dad.

I learned that it's OK to be passionate, to live and die with your favorite teams, but that's it's never OK to let that passion define you as a human being - the games are fun, but they're not life.

For that, I can only thank him. Hopefully I can pass that down to my kids someday.

Friday notes: Webb, Bill Curry and so forth

Just staring at the subject line is funny enough on its own, right?

Today's Derek Webb entry: "Wedding Dress," the most publicized and most controversial song from our boy's first solo album.



Ohbytheway, there's something of a controversy surrounding Webb's new album, detailed here on his Web site. The controversy, as much as anything else, is whether this actually IS a controversy, and not just a well-planned publicity stunt.

A few links to move you through the rest of your Friday:
-- First, the unpleasant: Alabama did indeed announce its intention to appeal the NCAA's ruling from last week, something that, as Cecil said, isn't a huge surprise to anybody who's actually been following the situation. Because OTS is arguably the best 'Bama blogger in the business, he has a (massively) in-depth post on the sanctions from this week. A number of things could have gone terribly wrong with this thing and somehow we dodged all of them. Jeebus.
-- One of the biggest lightning rods this week has been Mal Moore, because he's been the boss through all this. Finebaum, of course, took the biggest step, calling for him to step down in his Tuesday column. And Alabama responded predictably, by figuratively telling him and the rest of the state's press to go suck a lemon.
-- On to actual football: this week we found out that Alabama had solidified its 2010 schedule with a home date against San Jose State, and will play the newly founded football program at Georgia State as well ... which means, yes, a date with Bill Curry. I'm sure when we get closer to it we'll have to read a number of stories on this issue, so I won't belabor the point now.
I will, however, post a cool video from that era of 'Bama football. Be sure to note Curry's terrible sweater in this one. It was a trend.



-- More actual football: Smart Football -- one of my new favorites -- has an exhaustive look at the Gus Malzahn offense. In a nutshell: Gus' offenses will actually run the ball, which is good since that's how this Auburn team is built.
-- The guys at 3sib decided to indulge in a little sado-masochism this week by posting some personal memories of terrible losses, from the Vol and the Tide side. And since I'm into pimping myself for no good reason, here's a similar post I constructed two summers ago -- it pre-dates the Monroe game, but everything else still stands.
(Incidentally, the Monroe game definitely falls into the "this-can't-be-happening" category, easily.)

-- Bama Hoops checks in with an outsider's perspective on the Grant era. Say, did you hear our new coach is already getting some new facilities?

-- Only barely related to sports: the country's best bars, courtesy Redshirt Files; and Jerry gives us a look at how cool soccer can be.

Here's to a quiet, blog-less weekend for all.

wednesday conversations: killin' time

Editor's Note: With the summer dragging at an oppressive pace already, we at the DP decided to kill some time by bringing back one of my favorite segments from two summers ago: email conversations with my cousin's husband (cousin-in-law?) Jamie Cooper, an Auburn fan from the cradle. At best, it's thought-provoking; at worst it's time-consuming. Not a bad way to pass the time, regardless. I encourage everyone who stumbles upon this gem to get involved: that's why the comment button is there. Discuss, please, discuss.

Without further ado ...

will: Since the Braves are quickly slip-sliding away for another summer and the College World Series isn't providing a ton of entertainment — more of Erin Andrews' butt shots, ESPN! — I figured this would be the best way to while away the hours until camp gets here in August.

Since the first text you sent me several weeks ago, a number of people have jumped on the "this-rivalry-is-getting-too-nasty" meme, with even Mike Bolton penning a column on the subject this week. Those opinions, of course, have spawned an equal tidal wave of opinion the other way, also — this is the way the Internet works, and that's why we love it, obviously. It seems we've really hit on something here.

So let's not belabor that point any further if we can help it. What about actual football? Since the Chiz was officially announced as Auburn head coach, opinion of the fan base (I'm using conjecture here since I'm not actually one of them) has gone from "oh-no-holy-crap-we-effed-up" to "maybe he's not all that bad" to "y'all keep sleeping on us guys — we'll bust your asses this fall."
So I'll ask: in your opinion, what is a (and here I invoke a word too often thrown around for Alabama fans) reasonable expectation for Auburn in 2009?
I tend to look at them the way we looked at Georgia Tech in 2008: at first glance, they don't appear all that dangerous, but you don't want to really play them on a bad day, either. Like Tech, they have an offensive system nobody really wants to prepare for; and also like Tech, they could pull a complete no-show on a bad day and get beat 41-0. The wild card here is that defense: they could carry them through some of those early-season nailbiters and set the stage for an upset or two down the stretch.
But then there's that whole "first-year head coach" problem: basically, when you have a first-year head coach, everybody on the team is a freshman. And freshmen tend to fail in clutch situations because they don't totally trust themselves/the system they're in. You'll probably also see some personnel oddities in '09 too, like how Saban's unit buried Jimmy Johns with little to no explanation in 2007 (and oh, how right he turned out to be).
How do you see it?

Other questions:
— Do you have a sleeper picked out for 2009 in the SEC? Mine right now is UGA, a team that everyone (including me) is burying for '09 because they don't have Stafford/Moreno (even though they never won much with either of them). Certainly, playing in the same division as Florida will hurt them, but ... what if AJ Green flourishes as the new focal point of the offense? What if they get by South Carolina (a traditional pest for them) and start rolling? What if Mark Richt does what Mark Richt always does: win 10 relatively unremarkable games and beat all the teams he's supposed to beat? What if they're undefeated (or close to it) going to Jacksonville in November? I think that team has more potential than people realize.
— Like every offseason, this one is filled with talk about cream-puff scheduling. Who are your top 5 dream matchups for Auburn in non-conference regular season? Any old rivalries (a la Ga. Tech) you'd like to see renewed?
— Finally, what's your vision for the ideal postseason college football postseason format?

===========================================================================

Jamie: Since we are slow, I'll jump right on. As for reasonalbe expectations for Auburn, I think 7-5 is a reasonable W/L projection. We had one of the worst 2 teams last year since Doug Barfield and had 4 plays inside the 10 to beat Ark, 2 inside the 10 to beat UGA (though that would have been a once in a hundred win), were on our way to trouncing Vandy until we decided to stop running the ball, were up on Ole Miss in the 2nd half, and lost to LSU in the last 1:43. We were also tied with Tenn Tech in the 4th quarter, beat UT by 2, MSU by 1 so it goes both ways. I feel confident that Malzahn actually has a plan rather than calling plays like you're playing playstation (although I feel Tony Franklin got a raw deal in some ways) so I have confidence we can score enough to be competitive, but will depend heavily on the QB play. Defensively we'll be fine on the first line. Late in the game or late in the season depth could be an issue that loses a game or two. So, I say we bottom out at 7-6 (bowl loss) and top out at 10-3 (bowl win). We are really only outmanned by LSU, AL, UGA and maybe Ole Miss. On par with Ark, WV, UT, and UK and better than MSU
and the OOC's.

Sleeper pick is Arkansas. Ryan Mallet > Casey Dick and Petrino can move the ball on most anybody. Their defense got better after the Bama game last year which was the single worst defensive performance I can remember. If the D can be competitve, I think they could finish in the upper half of the division.

Dream Matchups: I am really anticipating the Clemson series and I think it that would be a fun one to continue. Others would include Georgia Tech, Texas, and Penn St.

Ideal postseason is a 4 team playoff. If you are the 5th team, you likely lost at some point at which case you have no argument to be in. Also having only 4 teams still gives high priority to the reg season. Your locations for possible BCS games would be Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Cap 1, Whatever is in Detroit (I'll explain) and a location with a dome on the east coast and maybe Seattle. The top 2 seeds play at the venue closest to campus i.e. #1 seed USC would play #4 seed Ohio St in Pasadena, Florida would play in Orlando you get the picture. If your venue does not host a playoff, it would revert back to the natural bowl. I just made this up in the last 17 minutes, so I'm sure there are holes, but it's only an email right?

- SEC coaches: How many are still at their current jobs next year?
- Who will be the POST season All SEC Offensive and Defensive players of the year?