Mr. Dizzle's Neighorhood

Two bits of youtube awesome

2009-12-13T13:37:00.004-05:00

First:

Second:

I was hoping for TEBOW SMASH, all I got was TEBOW CRY

2009-12-06T03:28:00.005-05:00

Also, check this out:

**UPDATE: This bit of awesome is via Tomahawk Nation

Reasons for slight optimism in the Iron Bowl

2009-11-25T01:02:00.006-05:00

I'll be honest, I hate the Iron Bowl. Yes, it's the greatest rivalry in college football, bar none. Yes, beating those inbreds from T-Town for six straight years was incredibly awesome (Never losing to your most hated rival in four years at Auburn? Priceless). Yes, Iron Bowl week brings out the best from the Auburn blogosphere. I realize all these things. I hate the Iron Bowl because so much rides on the damn game.

When Auburn loses, there is an enormous pit in my stomach that is the realization that we'll have to put up with 365 days of Bammer trash talk ("trash" is modifying talk, not Bammer. That would be redundant.) and hope we can end it the next season. When Auburn wins, I feel excitement, but I also feel relief. Jerry at WBE has already expressed this sentiment much better than I could ever hope to here, but I differ from him in one respect: I'm still not "psyched" (his term, not mine) about this year's game. Starting around Thanksgiving dinner through about Black Friday dinner, I will undoubtedly be a nervous wreck. Even knowing that I'm expecting Auburn to get trounced (not as bad as last year, mind you) I still feel sick at the thought of losing to UA-Tuscaloosa. I felt sick after last year, and that was the best Alabama team in 15 years playing the worst Auburn team in 10 years. I guess it just comes with the territory of spending 13 years in public schools in the state.

As far as the game is concerned, if you read the title of this, you may think I believe Auburn has a fighting chance in the game. I've put this on facebook and Track 'em, but this video from one of my favorite movies sums it up quite nicely:

SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THERE'S A CHANCE!

Anyways, there is a chance. There's always a chance. Ask Michigan about whether Appalachian State had a chance against them in '07. So what are some reasons to be slightly (1 in a million) optimistic heading into Friday?

1. This is Alabama's first real road test: The stadia that Bama has visited include Commonwealth Stadium (capacity 67,606), Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (capacity 60,580), and Davis Wade Stadium (capacity 55,082). I'm not counting their season-opening trip to the Georgia Dome to face Virginia Tech, as tickets were distributed evenly between the two teams. Trips to Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State don't strike fear into the hearts of opposing teams. However, a trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium (capacity 87,451) does intimidate most opponents. Not only is this the team's first real big road game, but more importantly this is also going to be the largest crowd of opposing fans Greg McElroy has ever played in front of. If Auburn wants to come out on top on Friday, the noise will have to affect his (and his teammates') play.

2. Auburn has performed better against power backs in 2009: There is no doubt Alabama will try to run Mark Ingram for a career day in this year's Iron Bowl. He's on the short list of Heisman favorites and has recently been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated:

Defensively, Auburn needs to key in on Ingram and hold him in check if we want to have any chance in this game. Fortunately, Auburn's two previous run-ins with "power backs" were being one of three teams this season to keep Mississippi State's Anthony Dixon under 100 yards and bottling up LSU's Charles Scott to 20 yards on 10 carries. UAT would most likely have more success running the football by featuring Trent Richardson more, but given the aforementioned Heisman talk, the Tiger defense can expect a steady diet of Ingram, Ingram, Ingram.

3. Auburn has nothing to lose, Alabama has everything to lose: So those were the only two tangible reasons for optimism for Auburn going into the game, and though I already said I don't share Jerry's view of the game, I felt like I needed to have a third reason for optimism. Auburn has wrapped up a bowl bid, and is most likely headed to the Outback, Chick-fil-A, or Music City. A win over Alabama may vault us to the Cotton, but is that really that much of an improvement? Traditionally, yes it is, but that gain is a small one compared to what the Tide would lose if they were to drop this game: namely, a shot at their 13th* national title. Given this, Alabama should come into this game a little tight, and Auburn should come into this game very loose. The fact that the game is in Auburn should help this as well.

Win, lose, ~~or draw,~~ War Eagle!

*Asterisk for no real reason. Consider it like Roger Maris' asterisk on breaking Babe's record or Barry Bonds' asterisk on breaking Hank's record.

SEC Power Poll and Picks

2009-11-20T17:31:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lack of content this week. Been a busy one. Here's the poll and picks:

SEC Power Poll

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Louisiana State
4. Mississippi
5. Arkansas
6. Georgia
7. Tennessee
8. Auburn
9. South Carolina
10. Mississippi State
11. Kentucky
12. Vanderbilt

Picks:

Mississippi State 23
Arkansas 40

Chattanooga 0
Alabama 35

Florida International 7
Florida 48

Louisiana State 19
Mississippi 17

Vanderbilt 6
Tennessee 24

Kentucky 20
Georgia 31

Sometimes I hate being right

2009-11-16T10:42:00.002-05:00

Over at Dawg Sports, I offered this bit of "analysis" before the game, which I have repeated to many people (though usually not in written form):

It seems like recently every Georgia team has had some major flaw that gets corrected just in time for the Auburn game; in 2006 it was Stafford’s inexperience and in 2007 and 2008 it was a defense that loved to give up points. That trend being noted, I fully expect Auburn to lose the turnover battle by 3 on Saturday night. If we can keep from giving the ball away, I like our chances (even with a suspect defense). If Cox and Co. protect the ball and Martinez’ defense takes the ball away from our offense a few times, it may mean a presidential term’s worth of consecutive victories for the Red and Black.

Final turnover margin:

Auburn 2
Georgia 0

And once again Willie Martinez finds his magic just in time for the Auburn game (albeit a quarter late this time). If we played Georgia in September instead of mid-November, I'm positive we wouldn't be oh-for-our-last-four against the Bulldogs. Possible wins include: 2006, 2007 and 2009. Not saying we'd have won three of those four, maybe only one, but in '06 and '07 Georgia started slow and finished strong, and in '09 Auburn started strong and finished poorly. It's not out of the question to say that Auburn playing Georgia when, say, South Carolina always plays them would have an effect on the outcome of the games.

Bitterness aside, Auburn currently is on a very bad trend. Look at our current streaks against all other SEC teams (in alphabetical order):

Alabama: L1
Arkansas: L2
Florida: W2
Georgia: L4
Kentucky: L1
Louisiana State: L3
Mississippi: W1
Mississippi State: W2
South Carolina: W4
Tennessee: W5
Vanderbilt: L1

We currently own losing streaks against six of the other eleven SEC teams, and in two weeks (barring the upset of the year) will have losing streaks of at least two games to our three main rivals: Alabama, Georgia, and LSU. I'm getting tired of not beating our rivals.

Oh well, 7 wins this season is beyond my expectations. The future looks bright in Auburn. Hopefully Tyrik Rollison turns out to be the real deal. War Eagle, and beat Bama!

Weekend predictions

2009-11-12T23:03:00.002-05:00

Well, I was going to write up a brief Auburn-Georgia history of all of the coaches of one team that played or coached at the other, but it appears several other websites have beat me to that punch. I also had an extended telephone conversation back home and began cleaning and doing laundry for my 348 visitors this weekend. Anyways, here's some predictions:

Tennessee 17
Mississippi 20

Kentucky 34
Vanderbilt 14

Florida 33
South Carolina 10

Auburn 27
Georgia 20

Louisiana Tech 13
Louisiana State 41

Alabama 26
Mississippi State 8

Troy 27
Arkansas 45

It's Auburn-Georgia week! Wednesday

2009-11-11T20:25:00.002-05:00

1996 was Jim Donnan's first season in Athens, and the Bulldogs limped into the Auburn game with a 3-5 (2-4) record. He was still dealing with the mess that Ray Goff left behind, but would improve the program to at least decent status over the next few years. Auburn, meanwhile, was beginning to feel the slide in the Terry Bowden regime that came with lackluster recruiting, but they came into the game at 7-2 (4-2) and fighting for the team's first SEC Western Division title. The '96 game was similar to the '99 game in that it marked the up-and-coming coach with the worse team (record-wise) picking off the older coach whose program was on the downside. Unfortunately for Auburn fans, it was the Tigers on the short end of the stick.

This was a memorable game in the series for two main reasons. First, one of the most iconic pictures in college football history was taken at this game when Georgia's mascot, Uga V, lunged at Auburn wide receiver Robert Baker after he reeled in a touchdown pass. If you've never seen this picture, you've probably never watched Auburn or Georgia or college football period:

You know what would be even better? If we had a live tiger on the sidelines and it lunged at A.J. Green after a touchdown on Saturday! (I'd rather Green not score, but this would be some consolation) Baker's touchdown helped Auburn to a 28-7 halftime lead, and they seemingly had the game in hand. Of course, followers of this rivalry know that Georgia would come back in the second half to tie the game at 28 on the last play of regulation (marking the second consecutive trip the Bulldogs made to Auburn that ended tied after regulation), and thus the second thing that made this game so memorable occurred: Auburn and Georgia were involved in the SEC's first overtime game. Not only that, but at four overtimes it was the longest college football game in history until an Ole Miss-Arkansas tilt a few years later. This game also single-handedly caused the NCAA to change its overtime procedure to force teams to go for two after touchdowns starting in the third overtime. It truly was a historical game!

I still remember watching the game in a Knoxville hotel room (remember, this was during the time in my life when I went to many UT games and mostly rooted for the Vols) with two of my Auburn friends from school. When Dameyune Craig was stopped short on a 4th down in the 4th overtime, my friend Brian ran out of the room, screaming "Oh God, we're going to the weed eater bowl!" I'll never forget that moment, even if I didn't have a dog (pun intended) in the fight. Hopefully Saturday night's game turns out a little bit better for the Auburn faithful.

Not sure what I'll write about tomorrow, but check back and check it out! WAR EAGLE.

It's Auburn-Georgia week! Tuesday

2009-11-10T21:20:00.002-05:00

In 1999, first-year Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville started his career on the Plains with a 3-0 record after victories over Appalachian State, Idaho, and Louisiana State. However, an injury to starter Ben Leard caused the Tigers to lose their next five games in a row before a homecoming victory over Central Florida left them at 4-5 (1-5) going into the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. Georgia's fourth-year head man, Jim Donnan, had his Bulldogs at 6-2 (4-2) with losses to UGA's main SEC East rivals, Florida and Tennessee (this would be a theme in his time in Athens). Even though Leard's injury hurt Auburn in the middle portion of its schedule, he would suit up for the game against the Dawgs.

I don't know all the details about this game, but I have to imagine that even though the home team hadn't won in the series since a 37-27 Georgia win in Athens in 1991, the Bulldogs would be the favorite in this game, and probably by a pretty decent margin. In many respects, the 1999 game was similar to the 2009 matchup. Georgia's program was beginning to feel the heat from its fans over its inability to beat Tennessee and Florida, and the general downward trend the program was on; Auburn, behind a first-year head coach, was trending upwards (even despite taking some in-season lumps) after the disastrous end to the previous regime. We can only hope Saturday night's game turns out as well as the 1999 version.

Auburn jumped out to a 31-0 lead at halftime before cruising to a 38-21 victory between the hedges. Leard set the Auburn single-game passing yardage mark with 416, and Auburn picked up some much-needed momentum heading into the Iron Bowl. They would finish the season at 5-6, but finished the following regular season at 9-2 and in the SEC Championship Game before ultimately finishing 9-4 with a Citrus Bowl loss to Michigan. Georgia, on the other hand, would finish the season at 8-4 after a win over Mississippi, a loss to Georgia Tech, and an Outback Bowl win over Purdue. Donnan would be fired after posting another 8-4 season in 2000 with losses to rivals South Carolina, Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech.

Check back tomorrow (especially if you're a Georgia fan) as I chronicle the 1996 game! WAR EAGLE.

This is super cool

2009-11-10T12:21:00.002-05:00

It's Auburn-Georgia week! Monday

2009-11-09T17:34:00.004-05:00

The Auburn-Georgia rivalry is a special one for fans of both teams, for many reasons: the two schools have shared a number of coaches and athletic directors, Auburn gets many of its students and athletes from the state of Georgia, the teams have met every fall since 1898 with the exception of one year when the country was in a war, etc. The rivalry is a special one for me personally for a couple of reasons: a good portion of my family is from Georgia and as such are die-hard Bulldog fans, and I have attended both institutions. I got my bachelor's from Auburn in 2007 and will be getting my master's from Georgia in six months. I still root hard for Auburn in every single game (if you've ever read anything on this blog ever you should know that), but the intense hatred I used to hold for UGA has subsided to just a general dislike since I started here. In the past two years since I've lived in Athens, for example, LSU has passed Georgia on my "most hated" list.

The game is extra special for me this year, as it represents my alma mater coming to visit me, rather than the other way around, as it usually is. I get to spend some time with some old friends from Auburn, as well as see all of my current friends at Georgia. I am borrowing a friend's student ticket to the game, so my orange and blue-clad self will be in the belly of the beast, but I trust that the folks I attend the game with will help keep me out of too much trouble.

Anyways, what I'd like to do once per day this week is take a look at some great moments and memorable games from this rivalry. I'll spare you a sappy introduction the rest of the week and cut right to the chase. Today, I'm profiling the 2005 Auburn-Georgia clash in Athens, which is the last Auburn victory in the series.

***

I have already said that this game is my second-favorite Auburn game to attend (only behind 2006 Florida). It was a back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until John Vaughn booted a 20-yard field goal with six seconds left. I may even say that this game was the most well-played game by both teams I've ever seen. There was a little bit of everything: offense, defense, special teams. All in all, it was a special night for an Auburn fan to be in Sanford Stadium. Here's the obligatory video:

If you're a betting man (or woman), it may be safe to bet that the 61 total points mark in the 2005 game will be eclipsed in the 2009 edition. Both teams have featured suspect defenses this season, and both have performed at least decently on offense.

I'll be back tomorrow with another moment (that has yet to be decided) from this series, and hopefully give a little more in-depth detail on it (more detail on the '05 game can be found at the post I linked to a few paragraphs up). Until then, WAR EAGLE.

SEC Power Poll

2009-11-08T19:06:00.002-05:00

As far as the Auburn-Furman game is concerned, only the first half really matters as far as Auburn's performance goes. We had over 400 yards of offense and 42 points, and held the Paladins to 60 yards and three points. It doesn't matter that we gave up 28 points in the second half to them, because most of the people who played on defense in the second half wouldn't even start for my hometown Alabama A&M Bulldogs. That's about all the pixels I'm going to use talking about that game.

This week, I'm going to have daily posts with great moments from Auburn-Georgia to get everyone in the mood for the first leg of Amen Corner. I hope this feature will be a good one, but I make no promises. I'm excited and apprehensive about the game; on the surface, I think we should win, but at the same time, it seems like every single year Georgia has a major flaw that they fix just in time for the Auburn game. That said, I fully expect the Bulldogs to never turn the ball over against us. More on that game in the upcoming week, here's the power poll:

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Tennessee (playing better than LSU right now)
4. Louisiana State
5. Arkansas
6. Auburn
7. Mississippi State
8. South Carolina
9. Georgia
10. Mississippi
11. Kentucky
12. Vanderbilt

Week 10 SEC Picks

2009-11-06T00:00:00.002-05:00

Pretty easy week for picks this week, only two games that may go either way. Auburn gets its second string a ton of work and rests its starters for Amen Corner. LSU comes close, but a controversial call keeps Alabama undefeated. Arkansas puts the final nail in Spurrier's career at South Carolina (he'll step down after this season).

South Carolina 22
Arkansas 31

Tennessee Tech 14
Georgia 49

Eastern Kentucky 6
Kentucky 65

Furman 7
Auburn 45

Louisiana State 10
Alabama 13

Memphis 3
Tennessee 20

Vanderbilt 10
Florida 33

Northern Arizona 13
Mississippi 59

East Carolina's "Pirate-Out" is coolest "____-Out" ever

2009-11-05T19:31:00.004-05:00

Check out East Carolina's midfield design for tonight's game against Va. Tech:

Pardon my French, but that is fucking awesome. Hat tip to EDSBS for posting the pregame view seen above. I don't think ECU is asking their students to dress in any particular color, just to show up like a pirate. That's awesome. If I could be anywhere in the world tonight, Greenville, North Carolina may be at or near the top of that list. This idea is, in a word...

SEC Power Poll

2009-11-02T20:25:00.002-05:00

I had Auburn ranked last in last week's Power Poll, and they followed that up with a complete team victory over ranked Ole Miss. Obviously they'll jump up in this week's edition, but how high? How much do I dock Ole Miss for a less-than-stellar effort at Auburn? How much do I jump Tennessee for their convincing win over South Carolina? How much do I dock them for those uniforms? Well, check it out:

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Louisiana State
4. Arkansas
5. Auburn
6. Tennessee
7. South Carolina
8. Mississippi State
9. Mississippi
10. Georgia
11. Kentucky
12. Vanderbilt

How on earth did we lose to Kentucky?

This is incredibly awesome

2009-11-01T21:46:00.003-05:00

A possible explanation for Auburn's 3-game swoon

2009-11-01T20:01:00.004-05:00

When Auburn went up 24-7 in the 3rd quarter against Ole Miss yesterday on Walt McFadden's insane pick six, I texted my friend that the game was much more fun than any of the previous three. He accused me of potentially jinxing it (about the time Ben Tate ran half the field for a touchdown and a 24-point lead), but I knew that might be the case. I wasn't afraid of a jinx because even if we had blown the game and lost, it was still more enjoyable than the previous three weekends. The offense returned to ludicrous speed, Todd threw some deep balls, and the defense showed up in a big way. That seemed like a game from the 5-0 Auburn, for sure.

However, I feel (along with some of my Auburn brethren, I'm sure) a little frustrated by the game. Had we played like that during our three week swoon, we could be 7-2 or 8-1 right now with our sights firmly on a New Year's Day Bowl and possibly in control of our destiny in the SEC West. So what changed from the first five games to those three to the Ole Miss game? I am pinpointing it on one thing: offensive tempo.

During our statement 26-22 victory in Knoxville, I noticed that the offense was running at a slower pace than we had seen in the first four weeks, but I attributed that to the fact we were playing on the road for the first time, in a loud stadium. We needed to get more signals from the sideline presnap in order to get into a positive play. However, we continued to employ this strategy more and more in the next three games and it bit us.

What we saw yesterday was a return to Malzahn's preferred ludicrous speed. We actually got a delay of game penalty called because we snapped the ball too soon. I have never seen that in my 20 years of watching football games. Gustav was running the offense the way he originally envisioned, and it worked. We scored more points, gained more yards, and wore down Ole Miss' defense. It certainly was a 5-0 Auburn-esque performance. So that leads to the question, "Why did we slow it down so much?" And I think the answer is simple: lack of depth on defense.

Auburn's depth issues (especially on defense) have been well-chronicled this season. When you run an offense that tries to score in as little time as possible, that wears on a defense, and a defense whose depth chart probably has the team waterboy as 2nd string in a few positions is a scary thing to have wear down. I imagine that Chizik and company looked at the defense and injury reports and decided as a team to tone down the offense. Seeing the on-field results for the previous three weeks, however, Chizik decided to go back to what worked, knowing he would be risking giving up tons of points and yards on defense, and it was a gamble that paid off. I would wager that we see the offensive tempo we saw from 5-0 Auburn the rest of the season because it worked out well against Ole Miss, and we are at a point in the season where every team has guys banged up and worn down players.

What more did the Ole Miss win do for Auburn's program? Well, for one, we're bowl eligible, and in the running for an upper-tier bowl. In ESPN.com's most recent Bowl Projections, both Mark Schlabach and Bruce Feldman pick Auburn to represent the SEC in the Outback Bowl against Wisconsin (Another bowl game against the Badgers? Be still, my beating heart!). If we end up at 7-5 or 8-4 with a New Year's Day bowl game, the 2009 season can be labeled nothing less than an unequivocal success for Gene Chizik and his coaching staff. The three-game losing streak left some sour taste in Auburn fans' mouths (self included), but Mean Gene and company have done a fine job with our Tigers this season. War Eagle!

SEC Power Poll and Picks

2009-10-29T20:14:00.002-04:00

I'm late with my polls this week, and don't feel like putting together a top 25. Sue me. Here they are:

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Louisiana State
4. Mississippi
5. Arkansas
6. South Carolina
7. Tennessee
8. Georgia
9. Mississippi State
10. Kentucky
11. Vanderbilt
12. Auburn

Pickz

Mississippi 27
Auburn 13

Georgia 10
Florida 28

Eastern Michigan 7
Arkansas 55

Mississippi State 26
Kentucky 17

Georgia Tech 31
Vanderbilt 7

South Carolina 23
Tennessee 16

Tulane 15
Louisiana State 33

Hilarious

2009-10-26T01:46:00.002-04:00

Well, that sucked

2009-10-25T02:13:00.005-04:00

I posted a fanshot over at Track Em Tigers about how I felt about that debacle. I'm not surprised that LSU beat Auburn, nor am I surprised that they won by double digits. What was surprising to me was how easy we made it for them and how many of the mistakes from last week were not corrected. Another false start on 4th-and-1 (although, I think he may have been drawn off by the defender), more inability to move the ball through the air, and of course, absolutely futile special teams play. That's all I'll write on the subject for now. Auburn is going to be #12 in my SEC power poll whenever I get that up because I honestly believe Vanderbilt would beat us right now.

And now, for something completely different, here's one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in a long time, Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset" (Parts 1 and 2 combined). Sorry that the audio is so staticky, but it's the only non-live version I could find on Youtube that had both parts combined. Particularly part 2 (which starts at about 5:30 of the video below) is gorgeous. I hope you enjoy as much as I do:

Week 8 SEC Predictions

2009-10-22T23:37:00.003-04:00

Is Arkansas winning at Ole Miss an upset? If so, that's the only one I'm picking. If Vandy had any semblance of an offense, I'd pick them for the upset because this is the type of game Bobby Johnson has won at Vandy. Instead, I'll just say South Carolina wins sluggishly as they begin their yearly season-ending slide.

Arkansas 34
Mississippi 20

Tennessee 10
Alabama 27

Louisiana-Monroe 17
Kentucky 31

Vanderbilt 6
South Carolina 17

Auburn 20
Louisiana State 24

Florida 45
Mississippi State 17

The most thought-out and gayest proposal of all-time

2009-10-22T01:43:00.003-04:00

(Not that there's anything wrong with that)

First of all, I can't imagine proposing to a girl after dating her for a single year. Second of all, how can she say no if he went to all this trouble? She's screwed if she really doesn't want to. Do they finish the number if she says no? Do they have an alternate song and dance? Inquiring minds!

Good historical news for Auburn

2009-10-19T19:44:00.005-04:00

Auburn and LSU started playing every year in 1992, when Arkansas and South Carolina joined the SEC and forced the league into divisions; Auburn and LSU were both put in the Western division. Since that date, Auburn has had three new head coaches (not counting the interim Bill Oliver games), and all three head coaches started their Auburn careers in an odd-numbered year: Bowden (1993), Tuberville (1999) and Chizik (2009). Every odd-numbered year, Auburn plays LSU in Baton Rouge. You would think that this would be a sure loss for each coach, but you'd be surprised.

1993: Auburn 34 Louisiana State 10

Auburn travels to Baton Rouge and beats LSU in Tiger Stadium for the first time since FDR was president (1939). It was Auburn's third game of the season and helped propel the Tigers to an 11-0 season. While LSU wasn't nearly the power it is today, this still marked an important victory in Terry Bowden's first season at Auburn.

1999: Auburn 41 Louisiana State 7

The cigar game. Tommy Tuberville's first Auburn squad came into this game off of back-to-back seven point wins over noted walkovers Appalachian State and Idaho. LSU was also 2-0 with a close win over San Jose State and an emphatic 52-0 stomping of North Texas. Auburn's resounding victory started an eight-game losing streak for the Purple Tigers, which led to Gerry DiNardo's dismissal as head coach. The 1999 game also gave us this:

Now, I'm not trying to predict a 50-point win in Baton Rouge this weekend. I'm just pointing out that the last two first-year head coaches Auburn has had traveled to Baton Rouge in their first season, and both found great success. Here's hoping history repeats itself on Saturday night; it certainly would help repair some of the pain caused by losing to Kentucky!

Week 8 Top 25 and SEC Power Poll

2009-10-18T22:51:00.002-04:00

Here they are. You'll notice the nosedive Auburn took out of my top 25 and out of the top half of the Power Poll. Losing to Kentucky will do that to you. After giving it some thought, though, I'm not quite as upset with the loss as I was immediately after Chris Todd's 4th-and-11 pass fell to the turf. This is a rebuilding season; we started 5-0 and everything was awesome, but we just need to get back in the mind frame that we're building for the future. Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe in Nick Saban's first season in Tuscaloosa. The next season they ascended to #1 in November. I'm not saying to expect Auburn to get so good so fast, but the difference between 2009's and 2010's teams should be huge. We just have to stick it out for the team this season.

Top 25

1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Florida
4. Cincinnati
5. Boise State
6. Miami
7. Southern California
8. Texas Christian
9. Iowa
10. Oregon
11. West Virginia
12. Virginia Tech
13. Louisiana State
14. Georgia Tech
15. Houston
16. Penn State
17. Kansas
18. Brigham Young
19. Oklahoma State
20. Utah
21. Pittsburgh
22. South Carolina
23. Texas Tech
24. Arizona
25. Idaho

SEC Power Poll

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Louisiana State
4. South Carolina
5. Arkansas
6. Kentucky
7. Tennessee
8. Mississippi
9. Auburn
10. Georgia
11. Mississippi State
12. Vanderbilt

This is the only positive thing that came out of watching Auburn lose to Kentucky on ESPNU

2009-10-18T00:54:00.005-04:00

Who knew that Steve Nash was this funny? And 50 Cent's part is awesome, too. "I smell like the vault man!"

Week 7 SEC Predictions

2009-10-15T23:53:00.002-04:00

Here they are. Planning on writing up a recap of the Cardinals' sweep by Los Angeles and Tigers' destruction at the hands of Arkansas tomorrow. No promises, though. Here's some picks:

Georgia 24
Vanderbilt 13

Mississippi State 36
Middle Tennessee State 24

Arkansas 20
Florida 41

Alabama-Birmingham 19
Mississippi 35

Kentucky 27
Auburn 38

South Carolina 9
Alabama 27

Week 7 Top 25 and SEC Power Poll

2009-10-14T12:43:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of content lately. I've been busy drowning my sorrows over the Cardinals being swept out of the NLDS and Auburn getting beat down by Arkansas (more on that in an upcoming post). Here's my rankings:

Top 25

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Cincinnati
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Miami
8. Southern California
9. Texas Christian
10. Kansas
11. Iowa
12. Nebraska
13. Oregon
14. West Virginia
15. Louisiana State
16. Ohio State
17. Georgia Tech
18. Houston
19. Penn State
20. South Florida
21. Brigham Young
22. Auburn
23. South Carolina
24. Oklahoma State
25. Utah

SEC Power Poll

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Louisiana State
4. South Carolina
5. Arkansas
6. Auburn
7. Tennessee
8. Kentucky
9. Mississippi
10. Georgia
11. Mississippi State
12. Vanderbilt

Week 6 SEC Score Predictions

2009-10-08T20:04:00.002-04:00

Currently watching the Cardinals in game 2 against the Dodgers. Gotta hold on to this one. Here's my weekend picks.

Auburn 37
Arkansas 34

Vanderbilt 24
Army 10

Georgia 23
Tennessee 10

Houston 41
Mississippi State 27

Kentucky 20
South Carolina 23

Alabama 28
Mississippi 17

Florida 21
Louisiana State 20

The MLB postseason post

2009-10-07T01:38:00.003-04:00

It's that time of year again. Time for the leaves to turn from green to varying shades of yellow and red, time for college football to hit the halfway mark, and time for playoff baseball. Playoff baseball is so much more fun for me when the Cardinals are involved. However, this year I just don't see it happening for my beloved Redbirds. Despite having the best 1-2 pitching punch in Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, and the best hitter on the planet in Albert Pujols, I'm just not convinced the supporting cast can help the club get past the Dodgers. I'd obviously love to be proven wrong, but here's my guess about the playoffs:

LDS

Dodgers in 4
Phillies in 4
Yankees in 3
Red Sox in 5

LCS

Phillies in 6
Yankees in 5

World Series

Yankees in 5

All that having been said, GO CARDINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 5 Top 25 and SEC Power Rankings

2009-10-07T00:34:00.002-04:00

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Cincinnati
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Miami
8. Louisiana State
9. Southern California
10. Kansas
11. Texas Christian
12. Oregon
13. Iowa
14. West Virginia
15. Georgia Tech
16. Ohio State
17. Auburn
18. Missouri
19. Houston
20. Nebraska
21. Brigham Young
22. Penn State
23. Wisconsin
24. South Florida
25. South Carolina

SEC Power rankings

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Louisiana State
4. Auburn
5. South Carolina
6. Georgia
7. Mississippi
8. Mississippi State
9. Kentucky
10. Arkansas
11. Tennessee
12. Vanderbilt

Week 5 SEC Score Predictions

2009-10-01T14:22:00.002-04:00

Here they are. Nothing to say, really. Hopefully will have better stuff next week.

Alabama 37
Kentucky 6

Louisiana State 27
Georgia 24

Mississippi 33
Vanderbilt 17

South Carolina State 3
South Carolina 45

Texas A&M 27
Arkansas 31

Georgia Tech 25
Mississippi State 17

Auburn 31
Tennessee 22

Week 4 Top 25 and SEC Power Rankings

2009-09-30T17:43:00.002-04:00

Not alot to say here. I've had a pretty busy week. Here's my stuff.

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Cincinnati
5. Boise State
6. Houston
7. Virginia Tech
8. Louisiana State
9. Miami
10. Kansas
11. Texas Christian
12. Southern California
13. Oregon
14. Oklahoma
15. Iowa
16. Georgia Tech
17. Ohio State
18. West Virginia
19. Missouri
20. Auburn
21. Oklahoma State
22. Nebraska
23. Penn State
24. South Florida
25. UCLA

SEC Power Poll

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Louisiana State
4. Auburn
5. South Carolina
6. Georgia
7. Mississippi State
8. Mississippi
9. Tennessee
10. Kentucky
11. Arkansas
12. Vanderbilt

...and 19

2009-09-24T16:30:00.003-04:00

If you're an Auburn fan reading this blog, I'd like to indulge you today. If you're not, you can probably skip this post, because it's not going to be interesting to you. Take a moment and think back on the moment you found out Auburn had hired Gene Chizik to replace Tommy Tuberville as head coach. Think about where you were, and what your initial reaction was. I can still remember thinking it was all a hoax; a mean prank played by some Alabama fan media type. Once several of the major media outlets started reporting the news as fact, however, most of Auburn nation went into meltdown mode.

While you probably weren't quite as vocal or as angry as this fellow, you probably were extremely disappointed by this hire at the time. I know personally I thought that Auburn would be entering a sort of dark ages that would take years to recover from. I've heard about the Barfield days, but wasn't alive at that point. I thought Auburn would be an awful program fighting it out for the cellar of the SEC West year-in and year-out, and this was a quite depressing prospect.

Then, something funny happened. Chizik hired the man who coordinated the nation's number one offense for the past two years.

He hired Curtis Luper and Trooper Taylor, two of the nation's finest recruiters, away from Oklahoma State. He hired former Auburn player and Outland Award winner Tracy Rocker away from Ole Miss. Things started looking better for the program, but the one overlying phrase that kept being thrown about was "5-19."

Gene Chizik went 5-19 at Iowa State, therefore, he couldn't possibly be a good head coach. Football is the one major American sport where coaching matters the most. Look at what's going on in major league baseball right now. Jim Tracy, largely thought of as a poor manager because of his stints in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, has turned the Rockies around from 18-28 when he was hired, to an 86-66 record as of the time of this writing; the club has a record of 68-38 with him at the helm this season. If you put me in charge of the most talented teams in the four major professional sports leagues in America, I'd imagine the baseball team would perform the best and the football team would perform the worst. Why? Because baseball is a team sport filled with individual performances, while football is a team sport that completely relies on the team. That's why hiring someone with a 5-19 record was viewed as such a blunder.

However, everything Chizik has done at Auburn so far has worked. He brought in a top 20 recruiting class after giving the field several months' head start. He (and his staff) continue to impress recruits nationally. While Lane Kiffin grabbed all the headlines up in Knoxville for running his mouth and committing secondary violations, Chizik quietly went about his business and got work done.

Probably the thing that has most endeared Chizik to the Auburn faithful thus far is his desire to completely embrace the Auburn essence. He "believes in work, hard work," and he distills the notion in his team that they "can only count on what they earn." In many of his interviews, he has referred to his players as "Auburn men." He understands Auburn. He embraces Auburn. He loves Auburn.

And that is why Gene Chizik, despite all of the naysayers (self included) in the immediate aftermath of his hire, has turned out to be the right man at the right time for the job. He's made shrewd hires, he's put a major emphasis on recruiting not just locally, but also nationally, he's embraced the university and community, while getting them excited about their football team again after the boredom found at the end of the Tuberville era, and put in hours upon hours of hard work while letting his actions and his team speak for themselves. So here's to you coach, and here's to your team keeping the "and 19" at the end of your record there as long as possible. War Eagle.

Week 4 SEC Predictions

2009-09-23T21:55:00.002-04:00

Here are my score predictions for this weekend's game. Two upsets on the board. Comments and critiques welcome as usual.

Mississippi 24
South Carolina 27

Louisiana State 33
Mississippi State 25

Arkansas 17
Alabama 31

Florida 40
Kentucky 14

Ball State 13
Auburn 52

Arizona State 27
Georgia 20

Ohio 7
Tennessee 28

Vanderbilt 26
Rice 17

Week 3 Top 25 and SEC Power Rankings

2009-09-21T17:50:00.005-04:00

Before you read my top 25, allow me to explain a few things:

That's right, I have a team that I didn't rank last week who lost by 11 points to a team that was ranked last week ahead of the team they lost to. I truly believe that the winner of the Auburn-West Virginia game wasn't the better team; just the team that got the most breaks and capitalized on mistakes. The only team in the country that can stop West Virginia is West Virginia (Okay, and maybe Florida, Alabama and Miami). Auburn doesn't move up because I'm still not convinced we're better than anybody in slots 1-21.
I'm sold on Miami. Their offense looks legit, and they have enough talent on defense to get it done this season. I am expecting them to go undefeated and play for the national championship game (as long as they can get past Virginia Tech and Oklahoma the next two weekends, which I think they will).
LSU finally starts playing like the team I expected them to be this season, and thus moves ahead of undead Ole Miss in the top 25 and the SEC Power Ranking. Arkansas drops significantly for letting Georgia's offense go 11-on-7 (this may not actually be true; I just assume it is since I didn't get to watch the game).
Washington and Michigan still aren't ranked because all they have to hang their hats on are home upsets over overrated teams. I'll rank Washington before Michigan as it stands right now, and Notre Dame will have to win out for them to sniff my top 25.
I'm not putting Georgia back into my top 25 until Kyle from Dawg Sports gets over his Auburn hatred and puts the Tigers into his top 25 (or when I feel that Auburn doesn't deserve to be in the top 25). What's that worth? Probably nothing, but it seems like something I should point out (and maybe it will somehow get my blog some more traffic!)

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Miami
4. California
5. Texas
6. Cincinnati
7. Penn State
8. Boise State
9. Houston
10. Louisiana State
11. Mississippi
12. Oklahoma
13. Southern California
14. Virginia Tech
15. Kansas
16. North Carolina
17. Texas Christian
18. Ohio State
19. Brigham Young
20. West Virginia
21. Missouri
22. Auburn
23. Oklahoma State
24. Georgia Tech
25. Nebraska

SEC Power Poll

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Louisiana State
4. Mississippi
5. Auburn
6. Georgia
7. South Carolina
8. Arkansas
9. Tennessee
10. Kentucky
11. Mississippi State
12. Vanderbilt

Major post on Gene Chizik coming later this week, get excited!!!

Week 3 SEC Predictions

2009-09-17T17:09:00.003-04:00

The third weekend of the college football season sees some of the more intriguing SEC games of the season: Disappointing Georgia travels almost halfway across the country to face improved Arkansas; Lane Kiffin gets his payback for running his mouth at Florida all off-season; Auburn tries to get revenge on West Virginia for the 2008 Morgantown beatdown, while silencing critics of their early-season success. Personally, I'm very nervous about the West Virginia game. Before the season, I had this pegged as an almost sure loss, but now I'm leaning toward Auburn winning and I break into a cold sweat just thinking about the game. We really need to win this game. If you're going to be in Auburn on Saturday, get there early, stay late, and BE LOUD!

As for my weekend score predictions...

West Virginia 29
Auburn 34

Louisville 19
Kentucky 27

North Texas 13
Alabama 34

Tennessee 9
Florida 45

Louisiana-Lafayette 10
Louisiana State 31

Mississippi State 20
Vanderbilt 24

Florida Atlantic 7
South Carolina 38

Southeast Louisiana 10
Mississippi 52

Georgia 13
Arkansas 24

AUBURN CAN HAZ OFENZ?

2009-09-16T18:06:00.002-04:00

My very first animated gif

2009-09-16T00:25:00.002-04:00

So I spent the last hour or so trying to make an animated gif out of Jon Gruden saying "ridonkulous" on that Monday Night Football commercial with Adrian Peterson. I think I've got it. Check it.

Week 2 Top 25 and SEC Power Rankings

2009-09-14T14:22:00.002-04:00

Once again, for my five readers' entertainment, my view of the country in ranking form, with SEC rankings as well.

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Southern California
4. Texas
5. California
6. Brigham Young
7. Miami
8. Penn State
9. Cincinnati
10. Boise State
11. Houston
12. Mississippi
13. Georgia Tech
14. Kansas
15. Louisiana State
16. Ohio State
17. Oklahoma
18. Virginia Tech
19. Nebraska
20. Arkansas
21. Utah
22. Auburn
23. Missouri
24. Oregon State
25. Texas Tech

Bullish on: Alabama, BYU, Miami, Cincinnati, Houston, Auburn
Bearish on: Notre Dame, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma State

SEC Power Rankings

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Mississippi
4. Louisiana State
5. Arkansas
6. Auburn
7. Georgia
8. Kentucky
9. South Carolina
10. Tennessee
11. Vanderbilt
12. Mississippi State

Week 2 SEC Predictions

2009-09-10T18:30:00.002-04:00

On the weekend where we get the rematch of last year's pillow fight of the year (2008 AU-MSU), we may be treated to 2009's pillow fight of the year (UGA-SC). I'm not going to predict 5 total points in that game, but given their first week performances, I'm not taking the over, that's for sure. I wouldn't put any money on these picks; I'm already in last place in my Yahoo! Pick'Em league.

Mississippi State 20
Auburn 31

Troy 20
Florida 58

UCLA 17
Tennessee 26

South Carolina 6
Georgia 10

Vanderbilt 13
Louisiana State 28

Florida International 7
Alabama 45

Week 1 Top 25 and SEC Power Poll

2009-09-09T17:15:00.002-04:00

One blogger's (likely horrible) opinion of how the nation and the SEC shake out. Comments and criticisms welcome as always.

Top 25

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma State
5. Southern California
6. Brigham Young
7. California
8. Miami
9. Penn State
10. Boise State
11. Mississippi
12. Louisiana State
13. Ohio State
14. Georgia Tech
15. Virginia Tech
16. Kansas
17. Oklahoma
18. Cincinnati
19. North Carolina
20. Nebraska
21. Missouri
22. Arkansas
23. Utah
24. Oregon State
25. Georgia

SEC Power Poll

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Mississippi
4. Louisiana State
5. Arkansas
6. Georgia
7. Auburn
8. Tennessee
9. Kentucky
10. South Carolina
11. Vanderbilt
12. Mississippi State

My whirlwind, spontaneous, 24-hour trip to Auburn and back

2009-09-08T19:29:00.002-04:00

The first weekend of college football is a bit like a child's Christmas to me. When you're six months away, you know you can't wait for it, but you don't think about it non-stop. However, once you get up to about 3-4 weeks before the first kickoff, time seems to slow down. Weeks feel like months. Days feel like weeks. The anticipation is almost unbearable. Once the time finally gets here, the feeling is unmistakable: relentless joy. As I get older and Christmas doesn't feel like it quite used to, college football season gets more and more enjoyable for me. All of that is to say that this past weekend was about as good as it gets for me, even in spite of the sloppy, boring games we kicked off the season with on Thursday night.

Anyways, my plan all along was to do nothing on Saturday but lay on my couch and watch football until my eyes exploded; any game from Navy-Ohio State to Alabama-Virginia Tech. The thought of traveling down to Auburn for the Tigers' opening game against Louisiana Tech had never really gained any steam in my head; that is, until I received a phone call at around 2 PM from one of my old frat brothers who was in Auburn. He said he had a ticket for me if I wanted it, and I could have a place to stay Saturday night. Although at first I tried to talk my way out of it, I started to think about the logistics of such a trip: Athens-to-Auburn is a 3 hour trip, I'd get into town two hours before kickoff; The game would be over at 9 PM or so, and I could meet up with some old buddies and hit the bar scene; I could wake up at a decent hour on Sunday and head back to Athens. So I packed up a backpack with a change of clothes, took a shower, and sped my way down I-85 to the Loveliest Village.

As expected, I got into town about ten minutes before 4 PM CDT, and immediately parked behind a long line of cars on Wire Road near Shug Jordan across the street from the Hardee's and started walking. I got my ticket in hand about 5:15, chugged a few beers, sipped on some champagne straight from the bottle, and headed to Jordan-Hare. Once I started seeing all the burnt orange and navy blue clogging up the intersection of Donahue and Roosevelt, I knew I had made the best decision of the day.

After fighting for 12 seats in the student section, we ended up pretty much 10-15 rows directly under the right edge of the jumbotron. There was still an hour or so before kickoff, but we passed the time by eating on some $4 (!) hot dogs and generally catching up. Once warm-ups were over, it was time for the eagle flight.

From our vantage point, it appeared as though Tiger (I think that was the one that flew) left the stadium, only to fly back in and go right through the field goals on the way to its target. That's usually the cue for the marching band to start its festivities, and the stadium was rocking. When the band started up "War Eagle" on its way away from our section, I'm not going to lie, I got a little choked up; this was my Christmas, the moment I look forward to the most every single year, regardless of whether Auburn is predicted to win the West or finish fifth in it.

We watched the game, which was thoroughly enjoyable (a more in-depth post is coming), and headed out. I met up with a couple of my other friends, and we pregamed a little bit before a late night of shot bussing at the War Eagle Supper Club, went to bed, woke up around 11, drove back to Athens, and arrived home around 3 PM.

It was a whirlwind trip, and the game was as enjoyable as any since the Chick-fil-A Bowl win over Clemson on New Year's Eve, 2007. I don't know if I will make it back to Auburn for any home games this season, but I do know I'll be going to Knoxville for our game with the Volunteers, and of course I will be in Sanford Stadium for the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. No matter what this season holds, I'll always have a Labor Day weekend quick trip to my alma mater, in my favorite place to be on a Saturday night. War Eagle.

J.D. goes to bed out of boredom from 19-8 game, misses dude getting jacked in face

2009-09-04T16:14:00.004-04:00

About midway through the fourth quarter of last night's Oregon-Boise State ~~game~~ suckfest, I decided I'd watched enough crappy football for the opening Thursday night in college football. Disappointed, I turned off the television and went to sleep, only to find out this morning that I missed LeGarrette Blount (the guy who was talking mad trash to BSU before the game) lose his mind and punch a BSU player, shove around one of his teammates, and need to be restrained from entering the stands. That doesn't mean I wasn't able to watch it on video:

Dude got jacked. Of course, the expected happened, and sports media everywhere rushed to condemn such a cowardly act. I'm not going to say that Blount should have punched Hout, or that he shouldn't be reprimanded; what I will say is that the media tries way too hard to feign disgust and disbelief that a player in such a violent and emotional sport would do such a thing. I feel the same way when ESPN/FOX/ABC/etc. personalities get on their high horse about excessive celebrations in the NFL or any other league. Let Joe Horn plant a cell phone near a goal post and pretend to call someone on it after a touchdown; don't be shocked when a football player reacts negatively to some trash talk after the complete decimation of his team.

To be honest, I giggle a little bit every time I see Hout's face directly after the punch, because...

They're comin' to my cittaaaaayyyy?

2009-09-03T11:15:00.002-04:00

My handwriting in font form

2009-08-31T23:00:00.003-04:00

So I was pointed to a link by Viva El Birdos user spants in which you can create a font from your own handwriting. It takes a little bit of work, but I thought it turned out pretty good. Here's what mine looks like.

For those of you familiar with my handwriting, what's the verdict?

2009 SEC predictions

2009-08-30T22:03:00.004-04:00

OK, so I started doing this a few weeks ago with the hopes of producing scores and recaps of every SEC game this season. I got through Alabama, Arkansas and Auburn before I got lazy and let other things get in the way of finishing it. I know I wouldn't get nine of these done in the next four days (before the South Carolina vs. North Carolina State game on Thursday night), so here are all of the SEC games, with scores (no recaps). SEC standings and bowl predictions after the scores. Any criticism or praise is more than welcome in the comments section.

Alabama Crimson Tide (10-2, 7-1)

vs Virginia Tech L 13-24 (0-1, 0-0)
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL W 37-6  (1-1, 0-0)
NORTH TEXAS  W 41-3  (2-1, 0-0)
ARKANSAS  W 21-17 (3-1, 1-0)
at Kentucky  W 30-10 (4-1, 2-0)
at Mississippi  W 22-13 (5-1, 3-0)
SOUTH CAROLINA  W 26-8  (6-1, 4-0)
TENNESSEE  W 28-7  (7-1, 5-0)
LOUISIANA STATE  L 13-20 (7-2, 5-1)
at Mississippi State W 20-3  (8-2, 6-1)
CHATTANOOGA  W 45-0  (9-2, 6-1)
at Auburn  W 20-12 (10-2, 7-1)



Arkansas Razorbacks (9-3, 5-3)

MISSOURI STATE  W 45-7  (1-0, 0-0)
GEORGIA   W 20-16 (2-0, 1-0)
at Alabama  L 17-21 (2-1, 1-1)
vs Texas A&M  W 27-10 (3-1, 1-1)
AUBURN   W 33-20 (4-1, 2-1)
at Florida  L 23-48 (4-2, 2-2)
at Mississippi  W 26-18 (5-2, 3-2)
EASTERN MICHIGAN W 49-0  (6-2, 3-2)
at South Carolina W 27-14 (7-2, 4-2)
TROY   W 31-17 (8-2, 4-2)
MISSISSIPPI STATE W 34-9  (9-2, 5-2)
at Louisiana State L 22-26 (9-3, 5-3)



Auburn Tigers (6-6, 3-5)

LOUISIANA TECH  W 24-20 (1-0, 0-0)
MISSISSIPPI STATE W 20-10 (2-0, 1-0)
WEST VIRGINIA  L 13-31 (2-1, 1-0)
BALL STATE  W 28-10 (3-1, 1-0)
at Tennessee  L 24-27 (3-2, 1-1)
at Arkansas  L 20-33 (3-3, 1-2)
KENTUCKY  W 35-17 (4-3, 2-2)
at Louisiana State L 10-24 (4-4, 2-3)
MISSISSIPPI  W 17-15 (5-4, 3-3)
FURMAN   W 41-7  (6-4, 3-3)
at Georgia  L 20-24 (6-5, 3-4)
ALABAMA   L 12-20 (6-6, 3-5)



Florida Gators (12-0, 8-0)

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN W 59-10 (1-0, 0-0)
TROY   W 48-21 (2-0, 0-0)
TENNESSEE  W 55-6  (3-0, 1-0)
at Kentucky  W 37-12 (4-0, 2-0)
at Louisiana State W 27-18 (5-0, 3-0)
ARKANSAS  W 48-23 (6-0, 4-0)
at Mississippi State W 39-10 (7-0, 5-0)
vs Georgia  W 40-19 (8-0, 6-0)
VANDERBILT  W 44-7  (9-0, 7-0)
at South Carolina W 38-14 (10-0, 8-0)
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL W 51-3  (11-0, 8-0)
FLORIDA STATE  W 33-17 (12-0, 8-0)



Georgia Bulldogs (8-4, 5-3)

at Oklahoma State L 17-31 (0-1, 0-0)
SOUTH CAROLINA  W 20-13 (1-1, 1-0)
at Arkansas  L 16-20 (1-2, 1-1)
ARIZONA STATE  W 28-10 (2-2, 1-1)
LOUISIANA STATE  L 13-24 (2-3, 1-2)
at Tennessee  W 25-23 (3-3, 2-2)
at Vanderbilt  W 34-14 (4-3, 3-2)
vs Florida  L 19-40 (4-4, 3-3)
TENNESSEE TECH  W 38-3  (5-4, 3-3)
AUBURN   W 24-20 (6-4, 4-3)
KENTUCKY  W 30-16 (7-4, 5-3)
at Georgia Tech  W 22-13 (8-4, 5-3)



Kentucky Wildcats (6-6, 2-6)

vs Miami (OH)  W 28-13 (1-0, 0-0)
LOUISVILLE  W 23-9  (2-0, 0-0)
FLORIDA   L 12-37 (2-1, 0-1)
ALABAMA   L 10-30 (2-2, 0-2)
at South Carolina L 13-23 (2-3, 0-3)
at Auburn  L 17-35 (2-4, 0-4)
LOUISIANA-MONROE W 37-14 (3-4, 0-4)
MISSISSIPPI STATE W 29-21 (4-4, 1-4)
EASTERN KENTUCKY W 50-7  (5-4, 1-4)
at Vanderbilt  W 20-14 (6-4, 2-4)
at Georgia  L 16-30 (6-5, 2-5)
TENNESSEE  L 20-26 (6-6, 2-6)



Louisiana State Tigers (11-1, 7-1)

at Washington  W 38-6  (1-0, 0-0)
VANDERBILT  W 34-7  (2-0, 1-0)
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE W 47-7  (3-0, 1-0)
at Mississippi State W 31-10 (4-0, 2-0)
at Georgia  W 24-13 (5-0, 3-0)
FLORIDA   L 18-27 (5-1, 3-1)
AUBURN   W 24-10 (6-1, 4-1)
TULANE   W 31-3  (7-1, 4-1)
at Alabama  W 20-13 (8-1, 5-1)
LOUISIANA TECH  W 35-10 (9-1, 5-1)
at Mississippi  W 17-10 (10-1, 6-1)
ARKANSAS  W 26-22 (11-1, 7-1)



Mississippi Rebels (8-4, 4-4)

at Memphis  W 36-10 (1-0, 0-0)
SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA W 40-7  (2-0, 0-0)
at South Carolina W 21-18 (3-0, 1-0)
at Vanderbilt  W 24-13 (4-0, 2-0)
ALABAMA   L 13-22 (4-1, 2-1)
ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM W 41-7  (5-1, 2-1)
ARKANSAS  L 18-26 (5-2, 2-2)
at Auburn  L 15-17 (5-3, 2-3)
NORTHERN ARIZONA W 59-0  (6-3, 2-3)
TENNESSEE  W 28-13 (7-3, 3-3)
LOUISIANA STATE  L 10-17 (7-4, 3-4)
at Mississippi State W 25-10 (8-4, 4-4)



Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-9, 0-8)

JACKSON STATE  W 42-7  (1-0, 0-0)
at Auburn  L 10-20 (1-1, 0-1)
at Vanderbilt  L 20-21 (1-2, 0-2)
LOUISIANA STATE  L 10-31 (1-3, 0-3)
GEORGIA TECH  L 13-28 (1-4, 0-3)
HOUSTON   W 24-21 (2-4, 0-3)
at Middle Tennessee W 28-26 (3-4, 0-3)
FLORIDA   L 10-39 (3-5, 0-4)
at Kentucky  L 21-29 (3-6, 0-5)
ALABAMA   L 3-20 (3-7, 0-6)
at Arkansas  L 9-34  (3-8, 0-7)
MISSISSIPPI  L 10-25 (3-9, 0-8)



South Carolina Gamecocks (4-8, 2-6)

at North Carolina State L 20-31 (0-1, 0-0)
at Georgia  L 13-20 (0-2, 0-1)
FLORIDA ATLANTIC W 38-7  (1-2, 0-1)
MISSISSIPPI  L 18-21 (1-3, 0-2)
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE W 41-3  (2-3, 0-2)
KENTUCKY  W 23-13 (3-3, 1-2)
at Alabama  L 8-26  (3-4, 1-3)
VANDERBILT  W 24-14 (4-4, 2-3)
at Tennessee  L 20-23 (4-5, 2-4)
at Arkansas  L 14-27 (4-6, 2-5)
FLORIDA   L 14-38 (4-7, 2-6)
CLEMSON   L 17-24 (4-8, 2-6)



Tennessee Volunteers (8-4, 4-4)

WESTERN KENTUCKY W 37-7 (1-0, 0-0)
UCLA   W 27-21 (2-0, 0-0)
at Florida  L 6-55 (2-1, 0-1)
OHIO   W 35-13 (3-1, 0-1)
AUBURN   W 27-24 (4-1, 1-1)
GEORGIA   L 23-25 (4-2, 1-2)
at Alabama  L 7-28 (4-3, 1-3)
SOUTH CAROLINA  W 23-20 (5-3, 2-3)
MEMPHIS   W 30-18 (6-3, 2-3)
at Mississippi  L 13-28 (6-4, 2-4)
VANDERBILT  W 27-16 (7-4, 3-4)
at Kentucky  W 26-20 (8-4, 4-4)



Vanderbilt Commodores (4-8, 1-7)

WESTERN CAROLINA W 38-10 (1-0, 0-0)
at Louisiana State L 7-34 (1-1, 0-1)
MISSISSIPPI STATE W 21-20 (2-1, 1-1)
at Rice   W 28-23 (3-1, 1-1)
MISSISSIPPI  L 13-24 (3-2, 1-2)
at Army   W 32-10 (4-2, 1-2)
GEORGIA   L 14-34 (4-3, 1-3)
at South Carolina L 14-24 (4-4, 1-4)
GEORGIA TECH  L 10-31 (4-5, 1-4)
at Florida  L 7-44 (4-6, 1-5)
KENTUCKY  L 14-20 (4-7, 1-6)
at Tennessee  L 16-27 (4-8, 1-7)



Eastern Division
Florida   8-0
Georgia   5-3
Tennesssee  4-4
South Carolina  2-6
Kentucky  2-6
Vanderbilt  1-7

Western Division

Louisiana State  7-1
Alabama   7-1
Arkansas  5-3
Mississippi  4-4
Auburn   3-5
Mississippi State 0-8



Bowl Games:
Florida  BCS National Championship
Alabama  Sugar Bowl
LSU  Capitol One Bowl
Arkansas Cotton Bowl
Georgia  Outback Bowl
Mississippi Chick-fil-A Bowl
Tennessee Liberty Bowl
Auburn  Music City Bowl
Kentucky Independence Bowl

**EDIT: Hmm, format fail. Oh well, should be readable enough.**

Go Memphis!

2009-08-28T17:15:00.002-04:00

(HT: EDSBS)

Top 25 Songs of the Aughts

2009-08-25T18:06:00.003-04:00

Before I begin, I want to make sure everyone knows this idea is shamelessly stolen from friend of the Neighborhood jrs at A Lifetime of Defeats. Here's a link to his top 100 songs of this decade. In that post he links to Pitchfork's top 500 songs of the decade. Since I'm not nearly the musical connoisseur jrs is, my list is only 25% the length of his, and since neither of us are being paid for our musical opinions, our lists are 5% and 20% the length of theirs. So, without further ado...

25. "Gold Digger" - Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx
24. "A-Punk" - Vampire Weekend
23. "Doesn't Remind Me" - Audioslave
22. "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" - Dropkick Murphy's
21. "B.O.B." - Outkast
20. "New Slang" - The Shins
19. "Stan" - Eminem ft. Dido
18. "Crazy" - Gnarls Barkley
17. "Jesus Walks" - Kanye West
16. "Punkrocker" - Teddybears STHLM ft. Iggy Pop
15. "One More Time" - Daft Punk
14. "Rehab" - Amy Winehouse
13. "Don't Panic" - Coldplay
12. "Don't Stop the Music" - Rihanna
11. "Flashing Lights" - Kanye West ft. Dwele
10. "Mr. Brightside" - The Killers
9. "King Without a Crown" - Matisyahu
8. "Digital Love" - Daft Punk
7. "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows (Interlude)" - Justin Timberlake
6. "The Real Slim Shady" - Eminem
5. "Hurt" - Johnny Cash
4. "Stronger" - Kanye West
3. "Feel Good Inc." - Gorillaz ft. De La Soul
2. "Knights of Cydonia" - Muse
1. "Hey Ya!" - Outkast

Yes, I think four of the best songs of the past decade were by Kanye West. Sue me.

Making lists...Love/Hate

2009-08-24T23:35:00.007-04:00

When I moved into my apartment here in Athens and ordered my cable, I decided to get the sports package. At the time it came with a few Fox (FSN) sports channels and ESPNU. Since then, it's expanded to include CBS College (CBSC) Network and MLB Network, two networks that I have found to be awesome. Recently, CBSC has been feeding the hunger for football that is so prevalent when there are less than two weeks until the first game by showing replays of classic SEC games that were originally televised on CBS. Several of the FSN channels have shown various random games from many years ago, and even ESPNU has recently gotten in on the act. Needless to say, I've been taking advantage of the programming and watching as much college football as my schedule will allow. A few games I've seen in the past week or so include 2002 Mississippi-Florida, 2005 Tennessee-Florida, and most recently (an hour or so ago) 2008 Auburn-LSU. I only got in on the 2008 Tiger Bowl at the start of the 2nd half, so I got to watch the worst part. I forgot that ESPN showed several crowd shots of the LSU section in Jordan-Hare, and I had also forgotten how obnoxious LSU fans are. So basically, this entire paragraph has been a prelude to me making a list of my least favorite college football teams. It's been awhile since I've posted a new Top 5, so here goes...Mr. Dizzle's official top 5 least favorite college football teams:

5. Louisiana State: Many Auburn fans (self included) would contend that LSU has overtaken Georgia for #2 on Auburn's rivals list. The Tiger Bowl has been one of the closest yearly rivalries in college football over the past decade, and the winner of the game has represented the SEC West in the SEC Championship Game six out of the last nine years. The fact that LSU has stolen two gut-wrenching victories from my Tigers in the past two seasons makes the hatred even greater. Add in the fact that LSU fans are generally the worst and totally smell like corn dogs, and you have what makes LSU my fifth most hated team.

4. Florida State: If you had asked me to rank my least favorite teams about eight years ago, FSU would have ranked even higher. I always hated FSU because they played in a patsy league, won 10 or 11 games, made it to a high-profile bowl, then choked it away. The fact that the Seminoles have faded away has lessened my hatred for them a little bit, but I still root against them in almost any circumstance.

3. Ohio State: Consider them the FSU of the late-aughts. After winning* the BCS National Title in 2002 over Miami (asterisk for bogus pass interference call in OT), Ohio State has basically owned the Big 10 and choked in bowl games. They have played in and lost three straight BCS games (including two ass-whoopings by SEC teams). They have no problem beating up on the weak sauce that is the Big 10, but cannot compete with the better teams from other major conferences. Even after they've been destroyed in big games year after year, it seems like they're a top 5 team preseason every year. The love ESPN has for the Bucks makes them simply unbearable.

2. Oklahoma: Consider them Ohio State South. They won an ugly BCS National Championship game against Florida State in 2000 and have generally been the class of the Big 12 since. However, like their Buckeye counterparts, they continually choke in the big game. They aren't known as Choklahoma for nothing! The Sooners have played in five BCS games in the last six years and lost all five! And yet, like clockwork, they are a preseason top 5 team year after year after year. What separates the Sooners from the Buckeyes in my heart, though, is the OU team from 2004. To set the scene (Auburn fans may want to just go ahead and skip down to #1) Oklahoma was one of four undefeated teams at the end of the 2004 season, along with USC, Auburn and Utah. The year before had seen the greatest BCS controversy to that point: USC was ranked #1 in the polls but were left out of the BCS national championship game by the computers, which opted for LSU and OU instead. LSU beat the Sooners soundly (if not by a great margin) and USC stomped Michigan to leave the country with a split national championship. After getting jobbed in 2003, USC was a lock to make the title game; the real debate came down to OU vs. Auburn. OU was ranked #2 to start the season, and Auburn was ranked #15. Despite beating four top 10 teams in the season, Auburn could not push past the Sooners in the polls or computers. Oklahoma did not face nearly as difficult of a schedule as the Tigers. They promptly were humiliated by the Trojans in the Orange Bowl while Auburn had to "settle" for a Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Oklahoma continues to get rated highly preseason despite getting stomped in bowl games year after year by their real competition. This enormous paragraph should describe just how much I hate this team. They would be a runaway #1 if it weren't for...

1. Alabama: Who else would it be? As someone who graduated from Auburn and lived in Alabama from age 5 to 23, there is no other team to hate. I would root for the Chicago Cubs over Alabama (and trust me, that's saying something). I'm not going to spend a bunch of sentences explaining this, as it should be pretty obvious. How about some pictures?

Now, for a very special bonus list, here's how I rank the SEC teams from most loved to most hated. I decided to do this since only two SEC teams made the above list, and you may be curious how Georgia didn't make the list. (Going there for graduate school may have softened me on the Dawgs)

1. Auburn
2. Tennessee (grew up rooting for them, still have a soft spot...despite Lane Kiffin)
3. Vanderbilt
4. Kentucky
5. South Carolina
6. Mississippi State
7. Arkansas
8. Mississippi
9. Florida
10. Georgia
11. Louisiana State
12. Alabama

I don't think I'm going to get through the last nine SEC teams as far as game-by-game breakdowns go, so I'll probably just consolidate it into a giant post with every SEC game predicted by score. Have a nice week!

SEC College Rankings

2009-08-20T18:58:00.002-04:00

The U.S. News and World Report 2010 college rankings have come out. Auburn came in tied for 88th in the country overall, and tied for 39th in national public universities. How did we fare against our conference brethren? Check the results, with overall rank and score in parentheses:

1. Vanderbilt University (17, 80)
2. University of Florida (47, 57)
3. University of Georgia (58, 51)
4. Auburn University (88, 42)
5. University of Alabama (96, 41)
6. University of Tennessee (106, 39)
7. University of South Carolina (110, 38)
8. Louisiana State University (128, 33)
8. University of Arkansas (128, 33)
8. University of Kentucky (128, 33)

Ole Miss and Miss State not ranked

#4 in the conference is pretty good, and anytime we can rate ahead of Alabama in anything, that's definitely good. How did the athletics-first SEC fare against the academics-first ACC? Here's their rankings:

1. Duke University (10, 90)
2. University of Virginia (24, 73)
3. University of North Carolina (28, 70)
3. Wake Forest University (28, 70)
5. Boston College (34, 63)
6. Georgia Tech (35, 62)
7. University of Miami (50, 55)
8. University of Maryland (53, 53)
9. Clemson University (61, 50)
10. Virginia Tech (71, 46)
11. N.C. State University (88, 42)
12. Florida State University (102, 40)

In other words, the worst ACC school would place sixth in the SEC in academics. Auburn would be tied for 11th with NCSU. Florida, the SEC's 2nd highest-rated school would be 7th in the ACC. The only thing I can say about these results is....

NERDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hwat

2009-08-20T17:14:00.004-04:00

Why is Ben Tate on the front page of ESPN.com?

I'll read the article and maybe get back to you

Oh Raiders

2009-08-17T22:41:00.002-04:00

Growing up, I considered myself a Raiders fan. No reason really, I just didn't have a natural team to root for. The Titans were still in Houston and the Falcons were a giant bag of suck. I kind of just picked the Raiders, and for awhile it was fun. The Raiders were mostly a good team from 1991 (the first year I actively followed sports) to 2002 (when they went to the Super Bowl). Since then, the Raiders franchise has been the laughingstock of the league. They've made bonehead move after bonehead move, and Al Davis clearly has no idea how to run an NFL team in this day and age. I've heard he's said he'll retire as soon as the Raiders win another Super Bowl, but somehow I think he'll die first. Anyways, the most recent example of the Raiders' embarrassment involves Head Coach Tom Cable punching an assistant in the jaw. Stay classy, Raiders.

GO FALCONS!

Chris Todd named Auburn's 2009 starting QB

2009-08-13T22:36:00.002-04:00

As reported by Jay G. Tate, Gene Chizik told the team that Chris Todd will be Auburn's starting quarterback for the season-opening Louisiana Tech game. Some money quotes:

"Kodi felt like he could help this team somewhere on offense. We can use him in the Wildcat. We can put him over there at wide receiver. He's very athletic and we're going to give him every opportunity to help this team." - Gene Chizik

Burns stood up at a players-only meeting and asked the team to rally behind Todd. "He said he had my back. It took a lot for him to go up there and say that," Todd said.

Glad to hear Kodi's taking this well (at least on the outside). I hope the team heeds his advice and rallies behind Todd. We won't do squat this season if the players aren't all fully behind Todd.

You stay classy Cubs fans

2009-08-13T12:47:00.004-04:00

**EDIT: The youtube link has been removed. There are still some videos up online, but I'm not going to keep posting them after MLB removes the old ones. Here's a page with several animated gifs about the incident.**

**EDIT #2: You stay classy, Mexico**.

2009 SEC Season Precictions: Arkansas Razorbacks

2009-08-11T23:59:00.003-04:00

For the next installment of this series, I'm going to the so-called Natural State. 2009 will be the second installment of Petrino ball at Arky. How will it work out?

Arkansas Razorbacks (9-3, 5-3)

The 2008 version of the Arkansas Razorbacks were an intriguing team. They started off the season by almost losing to Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe, then were bludgeoned by three top ten teams. The Hogs looked like an awful team for the most part. Then, a funny thing happened; they went to Jordan-Hare and knocked off preseason SEC West favorite Auburn and started turning their season around. They finished 5-7 (2-6), but were probably the most improved team in the league in 2008. I fully expect that momentum to carry over into 2009, especially with transfer QB Ryan Mallett taking the reins of Bobby (spit) Petrino's offense.

Sure wins: Missouri State, vs. Texas A&M, Eastern Michigan, Troy, Mississippi State
Sure losses: @Florida
Toss-ups: Georgia, @Alabama, Auburn, @Mississippi, South Carolina, @Louisiana State

Game-by-game:

Arkansas 45 Missouri State 7: Arkansas shouldn't have as much trouble with its FCS opener in 2009 as it did in 2008. The Hogs roll over the first MSU and start 1-0 (0-0).

Arkansas 20 Georgia 16: Georgia could be a very good team in 2009. They could also be very mediocre. I've already said that I thought Arkansas will be a very good team in 2009, and because this game is in Fayetteville, I'll give the nod to the Hogs. They move to 2-0 (1-0).

Alabama 21 Arkansas 17: See my previous entry on Alabama's season to see a description of this game. Arkansas drops to 2-1 (1-1).

Arkansas 27 Texas A&M 10: This game will be played in Jerry Jones' behemoth of a new stadium in Arlington, in a sort of throwback to the old SWC days. Mike Sherman has the Aggie program in disarray. A&M shouldn't give Arkansas any trouble, even in their home state. The Hogs roll to 3-1 (1-1).

Arkansas 33 Auburn 20: See my previous entry on Auburn's season to see a description of this game. The Razorbacks improve to 4-1 (2-1).

Florida 48 Arkansas 23: The Gators are the most consensus SEC/national champion in a long time. Tebow and company should have no problem getting back to the SEC championship game and the BCS national championship game. Arkansas won't pose much of a threat, and Arkansas won't be able to stop Urban Meyer's offense. The Hogs drop to 4-2 (2-2).

Arkansas 26 Mississippi 18: The overrated Rebels will drop this game to Houston Nutt's old employer in Oxford. Arkansas turns in a dominant performance and wins a game that's not as close as the score indicates, rising to 5-2 (3-2).

Arkansas 49 Eastern Michigan 0: The Eagles are a FBS team, but they aren't a good FBS team. Arkansas rolls over another weak opponent, becoming bowl eligible at 6-2 (3-2).

Arkansas 27 South Carolina 14: The Gamecocks travel a long ways to Fayetteville (Google maps says 914 miles) and come away empty handed. Arkansas should have no trouble with Spurrier's 'Cocks. The Razorbacks solidify themselves as 2009's Ole Miss by improving to 7-2 (4-2).

Arkansas 31 Troy 17: The Trojans are a decent team, even for a Sun Belt team. In recent seasons they have upset Missouri and Oklahoma State at home, and come close to beating LSU in Death Valley. Arkansas better not take Troy lightly, and won't. They earn a solid 14-point victory, moving to 8-2 (4-2).

Arkansas 34 Mississippi State 9: This game will be another in a long season of growing pains for Dan Mullen at State. Arkansas should have no trouble with the Bulldogs in Fayetteville, and will get their ninth win of the season in impressive fashion. Arkansas improves to 9-2 (5-2).

Louisiana State 26 Arkansas 22: This game will determine whether Alabama or LSU represents the SEC West in the SEC championship game. The Hogs stunned the Purple Tigers in Fayetteville last year thanks to some late Casey Dick heroics, but expect the Bengals' defense to be much improved with John Chavis as defensive coordinator. Arkansas won't give in without a fight, but LSU will come away with a hard-fought win. Arkansas finishes at 9-3 (5-3).

Arkansas will be 2009's version of 2008 Ole Miss. A Cotton Bowl berth should be an accomplishable (is that a word?) goal for this team, and an SEC West Title isn't outside of the realm of possibility either.

Plan your first Saturday in September

2009-08-06T12:27:00.002-04:00

Inside USC with Scott Wolf, as linked by EDSBS has given the full run-down of all games that will be on TV on opening day for college football, 2009. What will yours truly be doing that day? My tentative football watching schedule:

10:00-12:00 College Gameday
12:00-12:21 Navy @ Ohio State
12:21-15:21 Western Kentucky @ Tennessee
15:21-15:30 Restroom break
15:30-18:30 Georgia @ Oklahoma State
18:30-19:00 Middle Tennessee State @ Clemson (or maybe dinner break)
19:00-22:00 Louisiana Tech @ AUBURN!!
22:00-23:00 Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
23:00-01:30 Louisiana State @ Washington

Four weeks from today is the first Thursday night game. Can you feel it?!

2009 SEC Predictions: Alabama Crimson Tide

2009-08-06T00:47:00.004-04:00

For the second installation in my season predictions for the SEC, I'm traveling up U.S. 280 and down I-59/20 to Tuscaloosa, to preview the defending SEC West champions. The Tide had a magical season in 2008, reaching the #1 ranking before bowing out to Florida and Utah in the SEC Championship Game and Sugar Bowl, respectively. 2009 would figure to be a reloading year for the Tide, but Saban has them in "We don't rebuild, we reload" mode in only his third year. So what does 2009 hold for the Elephants? Let's see...

Alabama Crimson Tide 10-2 (7-1)

The Tide loses a three-year starter at the most important position in quarterback John Parker Wilson. He may have completely sucked for the first two years he was a starter in Tuscaloosa, but he was rock solid for the Tide last season. Behind a veteran line he led Alabama to its first SEC Championship game in nine years. But he (and stalwart LT Andre Smith) are gone, and Alabama will be replacing two key members of its offense. They figure to take a step back as a new quarterback learns the system and SEC defenses adjust to Jim McElwain's offensive system. Let's get on to the schedule:

Sure wins: Florida International, North Texas, @Kentucky, @Mississippi State, Chattanooga
Sure losses: none
Toss-ups: Virginia Tech, Arkansas, @Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana State, @Auburn

Game-by-game:

Virginia Tech 24 Alabama 13: For the second consecutive season Alabama will travel to Atlanta to face an ACC foe in a neutral site game in Tha Dome. I don't think Alabama will fare quite as well as they did in their 2008 opener against Clemson. Virginia Tech will be a very good team in 2009 and will be ready for the Tide. Alabama will keep it close for three quarters, but the game will end similarly to Alabama's last trip to Atlanta. They start the season at 0-1 (0-0).

Alabama 37 Florida International 6: Not much to say about this game. Alabama overpowers FIU in a laugher. Maybe a brawl will break out and a dude on crutches will fight some Tide players. The Tide bounces back to 1-1 (0-0).

Alabama 41 North Texas 3: Seriously, can you think of a lamer first two home games than FIU and North Texas? This is worse than Auburn's first two of Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Miss from a year ago. Alabama wins another laugher, this time over the Mean Green, going away, improving 'Bama to 2-1 (0-0).

Alabama 21 Arkansas 17: Last season, Alabama pick-sixed Arkansas to death in Fayetteville, rolling to a huge road SEC win. However, they certainly will not be playing the same Razorback team in 2009. Bobby Petrino figures to have his Hogs ready to contend for the SEC West title. The Hogs play Alabama close in Tuscaloosa, before finally falling by four, as Alabama wins its first SEC contest, improving to 3-1 (1-0).

Alabama 30 Kentucky 10: This is a litle bit of a trap game for Alabama, between a home tilt against the Razorbacks and a road trip to the Grove. Fortunately for them, Kentucky will experience some growing pains in 2009 after successfuly 2007 and 2008 campaigns. Alabama should roll over the Wildcats in Lexington. The Tide moves to 4-1 (2-0).

Alabama 22 Mississippi 13: Ole Miss may be the trendy pick to win the SEC West in 2009, but I'm not buying it. I see Alabama rolling into Oxford and coming out with a solid, if unspectacular, victory over Houston Nutt's Rebels. This victory will thrust the Tide into the forefront of SEC West championship talks at 5-1 (3-0).

Alabama 26 South Carolina 8: This is the closest game of Alabama's "toss-ups" I came to putting in the "sure wins" category. **EDIT: Please forgive the horrid grammar of the previous sentence. I hope it makes sense to you.** People may think that the Gamecocks have underachieved under Steve Spurrier, but it has actually been (the other) USC's best four-year run. That tells you more about the Gamecock program than Steve Spurrier. Anyway, Alabama should come out with a reasonably easy victory in Tuscaloosa against the Cocks (tee hee). With the win, Alabama moves to 6-1 (4-0).

Alabama 28 Tennessee 7: Since Nick Saban took over in Tuscaloosa, Alabama has owned the two games against the Volunteers. Of course, UT has a new coach in Lane Kiffin, and the previous two victories were against Phil Fulmer, but the Vols should experience growing pains in 2009 and the game will be played in Tuscaloosa. Look for Alabama to roll over Tennessee once again in 2009. This will be the Tide's seventh consecutive victory after the season-opening loss to the Hokies, pushing their record to 7-1 (5-0).

Louisiana State 20 Alabama 13: In my opinion this game will determine the SEC West champion. That it's being played in Baton Rouge and the fact that the Purple Tigers will have a (slightly) more experienced quarterback make me think that they will come away victorious. Either way, Nick Saban's return to the Bayou will be a hard-fought, close affair, and I see Alabama dropping to 7-2 (5-1).

Alabama 20 Mississippi State 3: After an emotionally draining loss in Louisiana, Alabama returns home to face the Bulldogs from Starkville. Though Alabama should cruise to victory, I forsee this being closer than it could be because Alabama will be deflated after a close loss. Alabama sleepwalks through a 17-point victory, improving to 8-2 (6-1).

Alabama 45 Chattanooga 0: Nothing to say. Alabama beats the Mocs handily in preparation for the Iron Bowl. They now sit at 9-2 (6-1).

Alabama 20 Auburn 12: See my previous entry on Auburn's season to see a description of this game. Alabama finishes the season at 10-2 (7-1).

Honestly, I wanted to give the Tide a worse record than that. It may be the Auburn fan in me showing, but I couldn't find any other losses on the schedule. Yeah, they may lose to Ole Miss, or Tennessee, or even Auburn, but I just don't see it. Saban has Alabama in position to be an SEC contender for years to come, whether Auburn (or any other SEC team) fans like it or not.

Braves LOLcano

2009-07-31T19:32:00.001-04:00

The Braves have essentially traded

Elvis Andrus
Jared Saltalamacchia
Casey Kotchman
Neftali Perez
Matt Harrison
Beau Jones
Mark Teixeira

for

Stephen Marek

Great youtube

2009-07-31T00:14:00.002-04:00

I saw this video thanks to a post on facebook from Auburn's bet 6-fingered basketball player, Frank Tolbert. Enjoy.

2009 SEC Season Predictions: Auburn Tigers

2009-07-22T23:45:00.004-04:00

Today I'm going to introduce a new feature I'll have here for the next few weeks: Season predictions. I'm going through every SEC team and giving a game-by-game score prediction along with a brief preview for each team and brief recap of how I think the game will go down. The first team I'm doing is none other than my beloved Auburn Tigers; start with what you know. After that I'll be going alphabetically through the rest of the SEC. So, without further ado, here's my preview of Auburn's 2009 season...

Auburn Tigers (6-6, 3-5):

When I think about Auburn's first season with new head coach Gene Chizik, I have an incredibly hard time getting a feel for how it's going to go. Of course, this shouldn't tell you anything, because last year I had Auburn going 12-2, losing to Georgia in November and Florida in the SEC championship game, and winning the Sugar Bowl. We all know how wrong that turned out to be. But honestly, I could see Auburn winning anywhere from 1 to 12 of its games this year. Let me rephrase that; the only team on the schedule I couldn't fathom Auburn losing to is Furman, and there isn't a team I think we couldn't beat. To narrow it down a little bit, the real likelihood of win total is somewhere in the four to eight range. The SEC is just too brutal for a team with little depth, a brand new coaching staff (including a new-ish offensive philosophy) and no real quarterback to go undefeated.

After watching Auburn's spring game, I feel confident saying we have no real quarterback; Kodi just doesn't have the ability to throw the ball consistently, and Neil Caudle just doesn't have the athleticism to run Malzahn's spread. I hope Caudle sees most of the snaps this season, given his performance in the A-Day game; he throws the ball a little better, and he's not completely devoid of running ability (like, say, Chris Todd or Brandon Cox). He also seemed to control and move the offense better.

On defense, Auburn should be an upper-tier SEC team once again. While the Tuberville regime left Chizik and Co. virtually nothing in terms of offensive talent, the defensive cupboard is pretty full. We don't have a ton of depth, but Ted Roof (as well as head coach Gene Chizik) should be able to continue Auburn's recent history of excellent defense.

As far as the new coaching staff is concerned, it's just too much of a mystery to be able to have any idea about what will happen this season. Chizik was the hot name on the coaching scene after being defensive coordinator for Auburn's 2004 13-0 squad and Texas' 2005 13-0 national champion squad, but his tenure at Iowa State did nothing but diminish his perceived value. Of course, it was Iowa State, where even Bear Bryant would only win eight games a year; how much can we really judge Chizik on his 5-19 record there? That's the million dollar question. The way I see it, Chizik assembled an incredible group of assistant coaches; if he doesn't micromanage and just lets them do their job, we could be a very solid team (if not this year, in the near future). If not, we could be looking at dark times in Auburn's football history. Only time will tell.

Sure wins: Furman
Sure losses: None
Toss-ups: Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State, West Virginia, Ball State, @Tennessee, @Arkansas, Kentucky, @LSU, Mississippi, @Georgia, Alabama

Game-by-game:

Auburn 24 Louisiana Tech 20: Auburn faces a very tough opponent in Chizik's first game. Derek Dooley (son of long-time UGA coach/AD Vince Dooley) has La. Tech playing some pretty decent football. They beat Mississippi State to start last year, and they'll be thirsty for more SEC blood this season. I see Auburn coming out and running the ball pretty well, playing solid defense, and holding on in the end. The kicking game will be vital. Auburn opens 1-0 (0-0).

Auburn 20 Mississippi State 10: A rematch of the game of the 2008 season (the 3-2 battle in Starkville), this game will hopefully be a little more entertaining than last year's version. State is also breaking in a new coach, and they don't have the luxury(?) of installing the spread to a similar offense that they ran the season before (it's hard to type that without laughing). Dan Mullen will experience some growing pains in his first season as a head coach in Starkville. Auburn plays solid D, does nothing spectacular on offense, and gets by with a 10-point win, pushing them to 2-0 (1-0).

West Virginia 31 Auburn 13: This will be the first loss of the Gene Chizik era, as a loaded West Virginia team comes to Jordan-Hare and runs away from the Tigers in the second half (despite being coached by Bill Stewart). Fans will start to question the new version of the spread, and the defense will struggle with West Virginia's speed. Auburn is now 2-1 (1-0).

Auburn 28 Ball State 10: I came close to putting Ball State in the "sure wins" category above because I think they'll fall off a cliff after last year's magical season, but just couldn't do it. We should beat Ball State since they lost their all-everything QB (name escapes me and I'm too lazy to look it up) and head coach. Their performance under their new coach in the bowl game (against Gus Malzahn-coached Tulsa) was pathetic. I expect them to regress badly in 2009. This should be a comfortable victory for Auburn, pushing the Tigers to 3-1 (1-0).

Tennessee 27 Auburn 24: This is one of the games that I'm predicting Auburn to lose that I think we could win very easily. UT is in a very similar situation to Auburn, with a new coaching staff coming in. I'm absolutely not sold on Lane Kiffin, and as someone who follows the Raiders (I stop short of calling myself a fan until Al Davis retires or dies, whichever happens first), I know his limitations as a coach. I'm also not sold on Monte Kiffin as a college defensive coordinator; his players won't have as much time to study film and learn the defense as his pro players did. That being said, Chizik will drop his first big SEC road game, and Auburn drops to 3-2 (1-1).

Arkansas 33 Auburn 20: I'm expecting big things out of the Hogs this season. They improved by bunches between the first game last season and the last, and now have a stud quarterback in Ryan Mallett at the reins. Bobby Petrino is a hell of a coach, despite being a greasy guy. Auburn will make too many mistakes in Fayetteville to come out with a win, and drops to 3-3 (1-2). Auburn fans begin to grow restless.

Auburn 35 Kentucky 17: Auburn rebounds from two tough road losses with a solid thrashing of Kentucky. The offense has its best game of the season (after steadily improving in the first six games). Auburn fans relax a little bit as the Tigers improve to 4-3 (2-2). Kentucky fans still can't wait for John Calipari to coach their basketball team to greatness.

LSU 24 Auburn 10: This may be the game I was closest to putting in the "sure loss" category, but the series has been just too bizarre to do that. (Spoiler alert!) LSU is my pick to win the SEC West this season, so this will be no cakewalk for the real Tigers. Auburn keeps it close for a half, maybe three quarters, and plays inspired defense, but in the end LSU has too much talent for Auburn to snatch a victory. Auburn falls to 4-4 (2-3). A bowl game is in serious jeopardy at this point.

Auburn 17 Mississippi 15: Ole Miss was undoubtedly one of the surprise teams in the nation last season, and one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the SEC. However, if there's one thing Houston Nutt knows, it's how to fail to meet lofty expectations. Jevan Snead is certainly a fantastic quarterback, but the Rebels aren't sneaking up on anyone this season. Auburn's defense plays its best game of the season, creating multiple turnovers, and the offense does just enough to pull a home win out. Auburn improves to 5-4 (3-3).

Auburn 41 Furman 7: Nothing really to say about this game, we're playing a ~~1-AA~~ FCS team, should be a cakewalk. Auburn becomes bowl eligible with the win at 6-4 (3-3).

Georgia 24 Auburn 20: This may be the hardest game for me to predict; Auburn will have a new coaching staff and Georgia will have a new quarterback. I could see either team surprising everyone and winning a bunch of games, and I could also see either team falling on its face and missing a bowl. I gave UGA the advantage because the game is played in Athens (the "road team always wins" theme is dead). Auburn drops to 6-5 (3-4) and Georgia fans hold up four fingers to remind us how many times in a row they've beaten us.

Alabama 20 Auburn 12: Alabama won't be as good as they were last season, but they'll still be a solid team. Auburn is playing catch-up with the Tide right now in terms of talent and recruiting, but we'll be there one day (hopefully soon). Auburn may be the home team, but Alabama is just too good to not come out victorious in this Friday afternoon (spit) affair. Auburn fails to win either leg of Amen Corner for the second straight season, and finishes the regular season at 6-6 (3-5).

I was torn between giving Auburn a 5-7 record or 6-6 record, and I eventually came around and gave the Ole Miss game to Auburn. I could also see Auburn easily beating Tennesee and Georgia (which, if all three happened, would get the Tigers to 8 wins). We also have a shot against West Virginia, Arkansas and Alabama. LSU is the longest shot in the schedule. No matter what the final record looks like this season, I am not judging how successful a campaign it was based on wins and losses, but on how much the team improves over the course of the year. I'm looking to 2010 and 2011 for when Auburn should be ready to compete for the SEC.

Quick Update

2009-07-15T23:43:00.003-04:00

I apologize to my faithful readers (all three of you) for the lack of content lately. I've been taking maybe the most difficult class of my life this summer, and the fact that this class is packed into eight weeks isn't making anything easier. The last week or two has been a sleepless, work-filled adventure for yours truly. Needless to say, I haven't had much free time, and updating my blog isn't the number one priority I have when I do have free time. I promise I'll come up with more content in August (after this course ends), including team-by-team predictions for the entire SEC (my next project on the blog).

Of course, this is Open Championship week, so while I have too much other stuff to do, I'm going to keep my eye on the scores from Turnberry. I don't have any in-depth analysis this time, but I will list five players to keep an eye on (obviously aside from Tiger Woods):

1. Lee Westwood - He's probably Great Britain's best player (Justin Rose may have a case as well) and he's played some pretty decent golf lately. Just call it a gut feeling.

2. Ernie Els - He hasn't done much lately, but when Easy E is on his game, he's tough to beat. It seems like most of the most recent majors have had a former great come out of nowhere to contend on Sunday, so Els is my pick for this one.

3. Zach Johnson - He hasn't really done much since winning the 2007 Masters. He's too good to stay off the big stage for long. What better time to jump up the world rankings than now?

4. Jim Furyk - One of my favorites, no other reason.

5. Adam Scott - The Aussie was supposed to challenge Tiger's supremacy, but hasn't quite lived up to that billing just yet. Can he get his first major title in Scotland? Call it another hunch.

Don't pick Padraig Harrington (even though he's the two-time defending champ), his play has been abysmal this year.

Happy Fourth

2009-07-03T14:59:00.002-04:00

Enjoying my weekend festivities in Memphis with ribs and beer. Hope you have a great holiday yourself!

Another post about soccer?

2009-06-26T17:28:00.007-04:00

Jerry, over at the Car Wash, linked over to my recent post about the United States' recent 2-0 win over Spain in his post today. In the same paragraph, he also links to this post by friend of the Neighborhood JRS at A Lifetime of Defeats. While I agree with the sentiment of JRS' post (namely that seeing USA soccer do well is awesome and Colin Cowherd is an unrelenting douchebag), I respectfully disagree with the following quote from said post:

"[The U.S.] didn't get lucky either...they just went out and outplayed them."

I actually belive that we were very lucky to come out on top in that match. I know I said in my previous soccer post that I wouldn't give any soccer analysis, but I'm going to try to do just that to prove a point. Namely, that the U.S. was fortunate to beat Spain, when looking at some of the numbers.

First of all, I think one of the most important statistics in soccer is possession percentage. Spain held possession of the ball for 56% of the game (meaning the U.S. had it for 44%, naturally). Taking out stoppage time (because I don't have the time or the inclination to look up how much time was added) that means Spain held the ball for roughly 50 minutes compared to our 40 minutes. That's an additional ten minutes they had to score. Several minutes of googling doesn't seem to turn up any results on team records when winning the possession percentage battle, but I'd bet all my Star Wars collection figures that the team that has the ball for longer in a game wins more often than not. (Except Boba Fett. No matter how sure I am, I never bet the Fett man.) So that having been said, just looking at possession percentage, we've already defied the odds; now let's look at the shot distribution.

Looking at the stats at the bottom of the match report, Spain had 18 total shots, 8 of which were on goal; the U.S. had 9 total shots, 2 of which were on goal. To shoot the ball 18 times, 8 of which caused the goalie to deflect or catch the ball, and not have the ball go in? To me that just screams bad luck. I'll liken it to a statistic in baseball that I just love: BABIP (batting average on balls in play). Basically this is a statistic that measures just how lucky a batter has been. It takes away strikeouts and homeruns from the equation, and measures his batting average on balls that were fielded. If your favorite player is on a "hot streak," it's probably because the balls he's hitting are finding holes in the defense. Let's look at an example.

Here's a look at Oakland's current second baseman, Adam Kennedy. He played in St. Louis for the past two seasons, and generally stunk up the joint. He played so poorly that GM John Mozeliak cut ties with him a year before his contract expired, effectively wasting $4 million of payroll. The A's picked him up, and when their usual 2B (Mark Ellis?) went down with an injury, they plugged him in. From the moment he first started for the A's, on May 9, to the end of the month, his batting average (AVG) was .390, his on-base percentage (OBP) was .462 and his slugging percentage (SLG) was .622. These incredible numbers were accompanied by a ridiculous BABIP of .424. His batted balls (giggle) couldn't find an opponent's glove. *As a quick aside, BABIP is generally thought to stay steady over a player's career. It's a function of line-drive percentage, but I won't go into all that ugly detail.* Kennedy's career BABIP is .313. The .424 was unbelievably lucky. Fast forward to current day. His numbers from June 1 to June 24 are .213/.278/.337 (AVG/OBP/SLG). His BABIP in that time period? .223. Incredibly unlucky.

So what was all that mathematical garbage supposed to mean? It means that a team that has 8 shots on goal would beat a team with 2 shots on goal more often than not. Sometimes, you shoot the ball, and it clanks off the goalpost and into the stands. Sometimes, you shoot the ball, it ricochets off the goalie, clanks on the correct side of the goalpost, and hits the back of the net. Luck. Pure and simple.

Spain also had 14 corner kicks to our 3. Outside of penalty kicks, corners seem to me (a soccer n00b, remember) to be the best chance at scoring a goal. The fact that Spain had that many more corner chances than we did, and still came away empty-handed, also screams luck to me.

So what can we tell going forward based on this information? Not a whole lot. Just because we were lucky in one game doesn't mean we'll be completely unlucky in the next. Just because Albert Pujols goes 5-5 with 3 HR one day doesn't mean he's due to go 0-4 the next. But if we want to have a chance at beating the Brazilians, we'll have to do a better job of holding onto the ball and keeping the pressure on their defenders and goalie, as well as hope that their shots miss the mark just as well as Spain's did. I'll be glued to the TV on Sunday afternoon, hoping and praying that we pull away with a victory. My better judgment says we fall to the Brazilians 3-1. But hey, a second-place finish, including a victory over the world's number one team, in a tournament as big as this one is still a huge deal for American soccer. We should vault into the top 10 of the FIFA World Rankings.

Now let's go beat that Brazilian ass (mmm...Brazilian ass...) and make JD eat crow!

RIP Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T18:36:00.005-04:00

Sad day today, as both Fawcett and Jackson passed away. Fawcett's death wasn't too entirely surprising, as she's been battling anal cancer for several years. Jackson's, however, was mostly a complete shock. The only thing keeping this from being a complete shock is the fact that he's undergone so many weird surgeries and mental stress from a tough family life and being in court. Here's some video in memoriam.

Michael Jackson - Thriller
Uploaded by GGG40. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.

Jackson's Thriller has to rank near the top of my favorite albums of all time. His Dangerous was the first CD I ever had, got it for Christmas from ~~my Mom~~ Santa Claus. I don't really have a whole lot to say about Fawcett, because by the time I was old enough to pay attention to the entertainment business, she was past her prime. She was a beautiful woman, though, that's for sure.

RIP.

USA beats Spain 2-0

2009-06-24T23:12:00.004-04:00

The biggest win ever for USA soccer? Biggest since I've started watching, for sure. There's lots of analysis on the internet on how we managed to beat the #1 team in the world, a team that hadn't lost in 3 years, especially when we were outshot by 20 shots. You can find it if you know how to use google. You probably don't want to even see me try to do any real soccer analysis, but I'll just say I doubt we'll repeat this performance against the Brazilians. I will, however, be cheering like hell come Sunday.

The biggest thing I noticed about this game, being the soccer fan novice and movie aficionado I am, is that the guy who played Mitch in Dazed and Confused has grown up and now plays soccer for Spain. Check it out:

I was wondering what happened to him!

Albert Pujols is really really good

2009-06-19T14:05:00.002-04:00

Not that anyone reading this blog didn't already know that, of course. Check out this article by Tim Kurkjian. Every single person he asks would like to see Pujols in an AB. I love Albert Pujols.

Also, I'm a little surprised that Gary Sheffield didn't pick himself.

RIP Georgia Theatre

2009-06-19T12:43:00.002-04:00

Quick update. Head over to A Lifetime of Defeats to see more pictures like this one of the carnage in downtown Athens.

Tiger +4 after one round of the U.S. Open. My winner pick, Anthony Kim is -2 after 6 holes and tied for the lead. Sweet.

U.S. Open Time

2009-06-17T17:46:00.003-04:00

We're on the eve of one of my favorite sporting events in the year: The U.S. Open in golf. This year the PGA returns to the Black course at Bethpage, which was the site of one of the most memorable Opens in recent years in 2002. Tiger Woods held off Phil Mickelson, winning the tournament at -3. He was the only player under par, while Mickelson shot even par. Add in the fact that your typical raucous New York crowd was into every shot all four days, and this was a site to behold. So what's going to happen this year? Well, here's one hack's answer to a few questions:

1. Tiger or the field? Anyone who answers Tiger would likely lose a bunch of money in mere minutes in Vegas. Obviously, if the question were "Who would you bet would win the Open?" the answer would be Tiger. But the question, as posed, is "Tiger Woods or any of the other 154 golfers in the field this weekend whose name isn't Tiger Woods." Vegas currently has Tiger at 5/2 odds, meaning they give him a 28.6% chance of winning. This is by far the best chance for an individual player, but that means the field would have a 71.4% chance.

Not only does Vegas say the field is favored, but so does history. Tiger has won 14 majors in his career. He has started 47 majors since turning pro in August, 1996. That means he wins about 30% of the majors he starts. That is a phenomenal number, but that doesn't mean he's favored over everyone else. In fact, starting at the 1999 PGA Championship, when he went on his roll of 4 straight major titles, he's gone 13-for-36, a 36.1% winning percentage. Again, mind-boggling, but not 50+%. Looking just at U.S. Opens since Tiger turned pro, he's 3-for-12, a 25% winning percentage. Phil's jealous, but the field isn't.

Hopefully these little math/history lessons have helped you understand why it's not wise to pick Tiger against the field. If your friend says "I'll bet you $20 that Tiger wins the Open," you take that bet every time. If your friend says "Let's each pick one golfer in the Open; whoever's golfer finishes higher, wins $20. I pick Tiger Woods." You don't take that bet. Unless he lets you pick first, then you take Tiger.

2. What will the winning final score be? Last time they played here it was -3. One guy was under par. That same guy is back, but he's still recovering from knee surgery. He says it's harder this time around. I'm going with +4, 284. Call it a hunch.

3. Who will be the winner? After I just told you to bet on Tiger over every other individual golfer (not the field, remember!), I'm not going to pick him. He's had flashes of absolutely brilliant golf since coming back from his knee injury, but he's not totally there. He just hasn't been (FJM (RIP) alert) consistent enough. Bethpage Black is a beast of a course. He can't afford to be inconsistent. Just like with my final winning score, I'm going from the gut. I'm taking young Anthony Kim to come out on top this weekend. A complete hunch. We'll see how it turns out.

Other possibilities? Stewart Cink (finished well last time it was there, time's running out for him to win the big one), Geoff Ogilvy (Open winner 3 years ago) and Padraig Harrington (he's been the best golfer in the world for the past 12 months). Don't bet on: Phil Mickelson (his mind will be elsewhere, and rightfully so) and Sergio Garcia (New York fans really let him have it last time he was at this course).

Enjoy the Open!

No words

2009-06-10T22:10:00.003-04:00

EMBED-Biggest dork ever - Watch more free videos

He's sort of a wild and crazy guy.

Tony Franklin speaks

2009-06-07T18:32:00.005-04:00

It's been a week since I've posted on my blog, so I figured it would be time for an update.

Going to see The Hangover in about an hour and a half, and I can't wait. Should be an awesome movie in the mold of other movies like this one, this one and this one, all three of which are some of the funniest movies I've seen.

Anyways, the purpose of this post is to point you to this article about Auburn's former offensive "coordinator" Tony Franklin. It's a little long, but it's certainly worth the read if you've got a little time. It's an interesting view of the inside of the Auburn athletic department, and sadly, none of it is too surprising.

If you ask me, Auburn's a pretty successful athletic college. We're generally a top half SEC team, with division championships and conference titles sprinkled in throughout the years in football. However, the atmosphere the administration, board of trustees and athletic director have created is not one that is conducive to productive work. The board of trustees is far too involved in the goings on of the athletic department, and the hand-picked athletic director appears to be a boob who serves as a puppet for the board of trustees.

Unfortunately, you can't fire trustees, so we just have to wait until the ones currently on the board are gone, and hope that their replacements have more of a laissez-faire attitude with regards to the athletic department. And of course, we all hope Jay Jacobs is relieved of his duty very soon.

Top 5 sports moments of my lifetime

2009-05-31T17:27:00.005-04:00

It's been awhile since I've given any sort of a real update, so I thought I'd post the other sports-related top 5 I mentioned awhile back. This time, I'm going through my top five favorite sports moments of all time, in any sport. I was born in 1984 and didn't really start following sports until the early '90s, so all the moments I'm listing have occurred in the time frame from about 1991. Here's the list.

5. Boise State vs. Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl, January 1, 2007:

When anyone asks me what's the best football game I've ever seen (only on TV, for this one), I tell them this WAC-Big 12 matchup without even thinking about it. Not only was this a great game, but it had a great storyline to it. The Davids from Idaho vs. the Goliaths from Oklahoma. An undefeated season on the line, as well as a chance to prove their program belongs. Boise State ran out to a huge lead, but Oklahoma kept chipping away and away until they finally tied it late in the fourth quarter. Boise State got the ball back with a chance to win with just over a minute left, but Jared Zabranski threw a crippling pick-six on the first play of the drive to give Oklahoma a 35-28 lead. It seemed like the clock was striking midnight on Boise State's Cinderella season, especially when they faced a 4th and 18 at midfield with seconds to play. That's when Boise State scored a touchdown on one of the wildest plays I've ever seen, a beautifully drawn-up hook and lateral that tied the game and sent it into overtime.

On the first play of overtime, Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson ran for a 25-yard touchdown to put Oklahoma up 42-35, and on Boise State's ensuing possession, they once again faced 4th down, this time a 4th and 2 from the 6. This time, Chris Petersen drew up a halfback pass that connected for a touchdown to make the score 42-41. Boise State opted to go for the two point conversion and the win. Cue the video (includes highlight of hook and lateral):

4. St. Louis Cardinals win NL Pennant, 2004:

2004 was a magical sports year for me. The Cardinals got hot in May and never looked back, and Auburn went undefeated, winning the SEC Championship and Sugar Bowl along the way. After St. Louis won 105 games and the NL Central, they moved on to the playoffs. Since Tony La Russa took over as Cardinals manager in 1996, only once had they made the playoffs and I felt good about their performance, in 2001. In 1996, St. Louis led Atlanta three games to one in the NLCS, only to choke the series away. In 2000, the Cardinals fell in 5 games to the Wild Card-winning Mets in the NLCS. In 2001, the Cardinals fought hard in a losing cause, in five games to eventual World Series champs Arizona. In 2002, they lost in 5 games to the Giants. The 2004 NLCS had a similar feel, after Houston had won games 3 through 5 to take a 3-2 series lead. In extra innings, Jim Edmonds blasted a walk-off two-run homerun to send the series to game 7, but the pitching matchup did not favor the Cardinals. Houston sent Roger Clemens to the hill to face off against Jeff Suppan. I was happy the Cardinals didn't roll over and die in game 6, but I didn't feel too confident about game 7. After the top of the third, Houston led 2-0, and that felt like 25-0 with Clemens pitching. However, in the bottom of the third, St. Louis scraped a run across to cut the lead to 2-1, where it stayed until the 6th. On consecutive pitches in that inning, Albert Pujols tied it on a double and Scott Rolen gave St. Louis a 2-run lead on a homerun! Cardinals fans could feel it. After putting up another run in the 8th, Jason Isringhausen worked a 1-2-3 ninth to give St. Louis its first pennant in 17 years. I probably annoyed my entire apartment complex to death with my screaming. Unfortunately, I can't find any youtube video of this series (other than a Jeff Kent walkoff homerun in game 5, grr) but I'll post some photos of Jim Edmonds doing his thing:

3. Duke vs. Kentucky, Elite Eight 1992:

If you don't instantly know what I'm talking about, you either have lived in a cave for 20 years or were born in the 1990s. Even though I was 7 (almost 8) years old, I still have such a vivid memory of this shot. I was in a beach house in Gulf Shores, Alabama with my family for Spring Break. My Mom was pulling for Kentucky, while my Dad was pulling for Duke. I was pulling for Kentucky, probably for SEC reasons, and my 4-year-old little brother was "pulling for" Kentucky, probably because I was. Overtime. Duke down by one. Grant Hill inbounding the ball. 2.1 seconds left....

I love how after Laettner hits the shot, Jim Nantz just yells "YES!" and shuts up, letting the moment speak for itself.

2. Auburn football 2004:

I can't really pick a particular moment from this season; the whole year was awesome (except for the BCS picking show...grr). I've already mentioned two games from this season in my Top 5 Auburn games attended post, so if you want to read more about the season, check out that post. Anyways, this Auburn team was the most dominant team I've ever followed, and possibly the best I've ever seen. It's a shame we didn't get to see how they would have fared against USC or Oklahoma. For the record, I think we would have beaten OU by double digits. I'm not sure we would have beaten USC, but we would have played them much better than Choklahoma (see what I did there?). The way Auburn's "hard-fighting soldiers" came out and spanked every team it faced after LSU was amazing. The fact that this happened less than a year after AU administrators tried to oust Tommy Tuberville made the season that much more of a storybook season. We need a montage:

1. St. Louis wins 2006 World Series:

The early-to-mid 2000s Cardinals teams were incredible. They made the playoffs every year except one from 2000 to 2006, winning the division five times in seven years. However, despite all their regular season success, they had always met postseason failure. As mentioned earlier, the 2000-2002 teams all met early exits. The 2004 team won the pennant, but was swept in the World Series by Boston. The 2005 team was nearly as good as the 2004 team (maybe better), but lost the NLCS to Houston in 6 games. Once the team started to fall apart in large stretches in 2006, it looked like the Cardinals had missed their chance to win a title in the prime of Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen. The Cardinals almost blew a 7 game lead with 12 games to play. By the time they limped into the playoffs, they had gone 83-78, and only one ESPN analyst predicted they would even win the NLDS, much less go all the way. But St. Louis beat San Diego in 4 games to win the NLDS, then defeated the heavily-favored New York Mets in an epic 7 game series to go to the World Series. Once there, nobody gave St. Louis a chance. Bob Nightengale of USA Today picked Detroit in Three. Rookie Anthony Reyes, who had gotten shelled in Game 4 of the NLCS, took the bump in Game 1 against Justin Verlander. Even Cardinals fans were wondering how many games it would take Detroit to beat St. Louis.

Then something funny happened.

Reyes pitched a beautiful 8-inning game in game 1 to give St. Louis a 1-0 series lead. Detroit won game 2 behind Kenny Rogers' -- ahem -- dirty hand to tie the series up. Chris Carpenter pitched one of the best games I've ever seen in game 3 to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead. The Cardinals came from behind to win game 4 behind the bat of David Eckstein and take a 3-1 lead. Jeff Weaver dominated Detroit for eight innings and Adam Wainwright closed out the 9th to give St. Louis a World Series championship in five games. I erupted with joy and yelling. Best sports moment of my life.

Honorable Mention:
Mark McGwire hits his 62nd HR
Josh Hamilton goes off on the 2008 HR derby
George Mason makes the Final Four
Raiders go to Super Bowl in 2002 season

Adventures in white people dancing

2009-05-26T17:39:00.004-04:00

Baseball. America's national pastime. You pay $10 or so for a mid-level conference tournament ticket, maybe buy a beer or two, maybe a hot dog, sit around and chat with your friends. Then, a rain delay comes. What a bummer, right? Unless you're at this particular game. Then you're in for a treat.

I hope Auburn and LSU football players do this in the middle of next year's Tiger Bowl.

**Thanks to commenter cardsgirl95 at Viva El Birdos for pointing me to this video.**

Quick Update

2009-05-21T14:02:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone. Just thought I'd throw a real quick post up before Memorial Day weekend comes and goes with zero posts from yours truly. I'm going to Memphis tomorrow evening (as is usually family custom) and will be back on Monday night. I don't have anything useful to post, other than these two awesome videos shamelessly stolen from The FYC. Enjoy, and have a great Memorial Day!

Entirely too early College Football Top 25

2009-05-18T23:30:00.005-04:00

Hey, if Athlon and Lindy's can do it, why can't I? Of course, I haven't spent every work day (and probably more) since the end of the National Championship game preparing my notes for this moment, but here goes anyways. I'll list all the teams, with a short sentence or two explaining the pick (or something that's hopefully insightful about the team). Come back in late September to see how wrong I was!

1. Florida - If you gave me even money on Florida vs. the entire field for who would win the national championship, I'd take Florida every time; anybody who doesn't have them as #1 at this point is a fool.

2. Texas - The team that deserved to be in the national championship game last year gets its shot at Florida this year, with McCoy and company coming back for more.

3. Ohio State - I cannot stand anything about this team, except that Terrell Pryor is the most baller shit ever!! As a true freshman last year he played like Vince Young did in the 2005 Rose Bowl, so I suspect great things from him going forward.

4. Oklahoma - The one team I may hate more than Ohio State for my #2 (outside of UAT, natch) least favorite team, they'll be good again; they're talented enought again to probably win all games outside of the Red River Shootout, then choke again in a BCS bowl game.

5. Virginia Tech - Call it a hunch, but I see good things from the Hokies this year, starting with an ACC payback game in tha Dome versus Alabama. Tyrod Taylor will continue to improve, and Sean Glennon won't be around to Daniel Cobb things up for Beamer's bunch. Expect another Orange Bowl victory for the Hokies.

6. Louisiana State - Ole Miss is the trendy pick for SEC West champion, but to me, LSU is the team to beat. Jordan Jefferson asserted himself as a solid starter in LSU's waxing of Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, and with John Chavis taking his defensive prowess down to the bayou, expect the Purple Tigers to bounce back in a big way.

7. Southern California - Maybe I should have put them higher, but losing an entire LB corps and Mark Sanchez will hurt the Trojans. They still figure to be the class of the Pac-10, and will probably win their 27th (accurate number) Rose Bowl in a row. Aside: You probably won't find a bigger USC (or Pac-10, for that matter) sympathizer than me this side of the Mississippi/Mason-Dixon.

8. Mississippi - Houston Nutt took Ed Orgeron's recruits and worked his Nutt magic to a New Year's Day bowl win over previously once-beaten Texas Tech. Many people think the Rebels, with ace QB Jevan Snead, will win the SEC West; I'm not buying it. Houston Nutt is a good coach, but he's ten kinds of crazy, and not in a good way when he's predicted to be good. They'll lose a game or two that they should win (hmm, Auburn maybe?????), and Miss out (see what I did there?!) on the program's first trip to Atlanta.

9. Oklahoma State - Mike Gundy will be 42 pretty soon (if not already), and he's a pretty solid coach. Not national champion or even Big 12 champion material, but good enough for 8-10 wins a year. With Zac Robinson coming back to the Cowboys' explosive offense, expect another high-scoring, zero-defense year from the Pokes from Stillwater.

10. Alabama - I had to fight off my hatred for this team (to a certain extent) to give them a fair ranking. Some people will have them in the top 5, where I see a team with no QB with starting experience, and holes to fill on the offensive line. They'll be good, no doubt, but probably not good enough for better than 3rd in the SEC West.

11. Boise State - The little team that keeps on winning. Chris Petersen is in charge of a fantastic small-school program, and don't be surprised to see them back in the mix for a BCS bowl game with an experienced QB and a weak conference slate.

12. Oregon - The Ducks have turned into a solid #2 Pac-10 team. It will be interesting to see how the transition from Mike Belotti to Chip Kelly goes, but I have a hunch that the explosive offense we've seen from this program won't be going anywhere with the regime change.

13. Georgia Tech - Paul Johnson proved that the triple option can work in the weakest BCS conference. With another year of practice an experience, can it translate into an ACC title? I say no, but he's getting there; unfortunately for the Jackets, most skill position recruits won't want to come play in that offense, so we may be seeing the best of the Paul Johnson years right now.

14. California - Jahvid Best is a beast. Jeff Tedford could probably get ten San Francisco Chippendale dancers to fill out the rest of the offense and the Golden Bears would still make a bowl game.

15. North Carolina - Butch Davis was the coach I wanted Auburn to replace Tommy Tuberville with more than any other, because he is a beast of a recruiter and has a fantastic defensive mind. Imagine if we'd hired him, then still gotten Malzahn, Trooper Taylor, et al. We'd feel much better about the upcoming season, no doubt. Anyways, Davis should have UNC back in ACC title contention in 2009.

16. Georgia - No Stafford and no Moreno equals growing pains between the hedges for the Bulldogs. Expect Joe Cox to be the starter for the first few games, but the reins will be handed over to Logan Gray a la Tereshinski III/Stafford in 2006. This will be a rebuilding year for the Bulldogs, but still a solid 8- or 9-win campaign.

17. Penn State - Joe Paterno is still doing a fantastic job "coaching" the Nittany Lions; not bad for someone who lost in a run-off to William Henry Harrison in the 1840 general election. At least you outlived him, JoePa! Expect the Lions to compete for the Big 10 crown again this year.

18. Brigham Young - These white boys know how to play some football. With Utah taking a step back after graduation losses, BYU will step to the front of the MWC and challenge for a BCS berth. I personally hope they make the Sugar Bowl, so I can go and see a Mormon's expression when he sees his first flashing on Bourbon Street.

19. Kansas - Mark Mangino said he'd eat me if I didn't put the Jayhawks in my top 25. Expect the Jayhawks to win the Big 12 North and get beat by triple digits in the championship game by Texas' third string.

20. Michigan State - I don't know why, but something about Mark D'Antonio makes me believe he can build MSU up into a top-tier Big 10 program. Chalk this pick up to random optimism.

21. Florida State - ~~Jimbo Fisher~~ Bobby Bowden is turning around the Seminoles' program, one felon at a time. They'll challenge for a New Year's Day bowl.

22. Iowa - The loss of Shonn Greene will hurt the Hawkeyes, no doubt, but expect them to continue to be a solid team.

23. Arkansas - I thought the Razorbacks were the most improved team in the SEC from week 1 to bowl season, and I expect that improvement to continue into 2009. The same team that started the year with near upsets to Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe came back to beat Auburn and LSU later in the year. There's no doubting that Bobby Petrino is a fantastic college coach; the only question is, how long will he stay in Fayettenam?

24. North Carolina State - This was another team that improved throughout the year last season, starting with the offensive offensive (redundancy on purpose; if you saw them play South Carolina last year, you know their offense was offensive in that game) performance in Columbia, and finishing with a bowl game. Tom O'Brien is a solid, if not spectacular, head coach, and he has the Wolfpack headed in the right direction.

25. Oregon State - I really wanted to include Auburn in this ranking, if only because it's something I want to see, but my better judgment told me that the Tigers aren't a top 25 team this year. I hope I'm proven wrong, but until then, the last spot in this top 25 goes to the ~~midget~~ little person-filled Beaver squad from the Pacific Northwest.

Gene Chizik is no good at golf

2009-05-15T15:59:00.005-04:00

Check out this video from al.com:

Gene Chizik, Bo Jackson putt around

Even though the results are there, his putting stroke is just horrible. Once upon a time, I was pretty good at golf, so I know when someone has no idea what he's doing when I see it. Chizik's putting stroke isn't as bad as Chuck Barkley's full swing, but it's not any good. He has too much movement in his body and wrists; he doesn't have the pendulum stroke like Tiger Woods.

Anyways, the best thing to take from this, as Goldberg notes in the blog post I'm taking this stuff from, is that Bo Jackson is taking a more prominent role with Auburn than he had. He spoke at graduation last week, and he's appearing with Chizik, having fun. This can only be a good thing for our rebuilding program.

I kinda wish they had shown Bo's stroke, though.

Top 5 Auburn games attended

2009-05-13T23:11:00.006-04:00

As promised in my last post, I am going to give the top five Auburn games I've seen live. Before I get to the list, I must offer this bit of biographical information:

I was born in the quaint town of Johnson City, Tennessee to a mother whose entire family was from Memphis and a father who spent much of his childhood and younger adult life in the hills of East Tennessee. As such, I was raised a Tennessee fan; that is, until I started at Auburn in August, 2003. While UT still holds a special place in my heart, I mention this to explain the fact that the five games on this list occurred in this decade.

Now, without further ado, J.D.'s top 5 Auburn football games!

5. Auburn 34, Tennessee 10 - October 2, 2004, Knoxville, TN

The 2004 Auburn Tigers were a great team; perhaps the greatest I've ever watched, and without a doubt the greatest I've ever followed. However, Auburn fans didn't realize that something special was happening that season until this crisp October night on the banks of the Tennesseee River. In four games up to this point, Auburn had handily beaten three also-rans and edged defending national champion LSU by one point -- while only scoring ten -- at home. The trip to Tennessee was the first big road test for the veteran Tigers squad, with new offensive coordinator Al Borges. The Vols, on the other hand, were 3-0 behind waxings of two also-rans and a last-second, 50-yard field goal to beat Ron Zook's last Florida team in Knoxville. UT featured two true freshman QBs in Erik Ainge (the thrower) and Brent Schaeffer (the runner). Most analysts predicted that the home crowd would be too much for Auburn to handle, but Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams had the last laugh:

Auburn would run out to a 31-3 halftime lead, and leave Knoxville with an emphatic 34-10 victory. This would be the point in the season where Auburn went from "Hey, they're pretty good" to "Damn, this team is nasty."

4. Auburn 10, LSU 9 - September 18, 2004, Auburn, AL

As mentioned in the AU/UT recap above, Auburn edged LSU by one point behind some last-minute heroics by Jason Campbell, Courtney Taylor and Junior Rosegreen. Earlier in the week, the game was in danger of being postponed due to Hurricane Ivan; Auburn let class out for Wednesday through Friday of the week, and Ivan hit hard on Thursday. However, by game time on Saturday, the weather was warm, muggy, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. LSU came in on the heels of winning the program's first national title since 1958 in 2003, but with two green QBs: Marcus Randall and JaMarcus Russell. The purple Tigers were 2-0 with a close, should-have-been-a-loss win over Oregon State (OSU's kicker missed like 30 field goals and 15 extra points) and a laugher over Arkansas State. Auburn was also 2-0, and had yet to be challenged. LSU came out and took an early 9-3 lead (thanks to a missed (or was it blocked?) extra point following their lone touchdown); from there, it would be a battle of the punts (and an unsuccessful 4th and goal attempt from Tommy Tuberville). On Auburn's final drive, Jason Campbell completed 4th-and-long and 3rd-and-long passes to Courtney Taylor to tie the game, then John Vaughn gave Auburn the lead on his second extra point try (LSU was penalized on Vaughn's first try, which was a miss). Junior Rosegreen intercepted a late Russell pass, and the celebration was on. Enjoy this, which may be my favorite Auburn game montage on youtube:

3. Auburn 28, Alabama 18 - November 19, 2005, Auburn, AL

Alabama started 2005 9-0, and were supposedly "back." Auburn started the year off with a loss to Georgia Tech, and was seemingly out of the SEC West race with an overtime loss to LSU in mid-October. However, by the time this game was starting, Alabama had lost a heartbreaking overtime game to LSU in Tuscaloosa, and Auburn had quietly gotten on a post-LSU roll (including a certain game that may appear next in this list...what could it be??). On a cool, overcast day, Auburn started the game by forcing a 3-and-out (including two sacks), outscored Alabama 21-0 in the first quarter, and the outcome was never in doubt after that. Brodie Croyle was sacked eleven times in the game. Here's the highlight package:

2. Auburn 31, Georgia 30 - November 12, 2005, Athens, GA

Georgia was a win away from a trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. Auburn needed some help and to win out to make the trip. Georgia was the heavy favorite, though Auburn had put together a quiet run of nice wins. In a game that was back and forth the entire time, Auburn came out with a miracle victory thanks to a 4th-and-15 completion from Brandon Cox to Devin Aromashodu and a last-second chip shot field goal from John Vaughn. Coming down the stretch, it was apparent that the last team to have the ball would win the game; this was true, excepting for the few seconds Georgia had the ball after the Vaughn field goal. Poor clock management by Mark Richt could have cost the Bulldogs the game, however; Georgia scored a touchdown to take a 29-28 lead, and while deliberating going for two (what's to deliberate?!), Georgia took a delay of game penalty, then another, before finally opting for the PAT from the 13 yard line. **EDIT: I was mistaken. The PAT/2-point conversion mistake occurred when the score was 21-20. Going for 2 would have made it a 28-21 game, but the extra point only made it 27-21.** The only thing to remember from this game, though, is "Are you kidding me?!"

1. Auburn 27, Florida 17 - October 14, 2006, Auburn, AL

This was hands down the most fun football game I've ever attended. When Auburn blocked Florida's punt early in the third quarter and Tre Smith recovered it and flipped into the end zone, Jordan-Hare was louder than I've ever heard any football stadium, and it was literally rocking. After Florida dominated the first half en route to a 17-8 lead, Auburn took the opening drive of the second half and kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 17-11. **EDIT: Auburn kicked the field goal right before halftime, not right after. It was 17-11 at halftime, and I believe Florida actually got the ball first in the second half.** After a Gator 3-and-out, the magical punt block occurred, putting Auburn ahead 18-17. Florida would not score another point in this game, as Auburn used four John Vaughn field goals, a safety, a special teams touchdown and a game-ending defensive touchdown to fell the Gators. This would be Florida's only blemish on their 2006 national championship team. Charles Barkley's 21-17 prediction would have been exactly right were it not for the last defensive touchdown; I'm sure he could have paid off some of his gambling debt with that kind of prediction. Enough talking, here's the awesome video:

You can always tell how big of a touchdown it is by how crappy the Auburn band sounds playing "War Eagle" afterward. Listen to how out-of-tune the band is after Smith's touchdown.

Honorable Mention:

AU 23 Clemson 20 - 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl
AU 24 Georgia 6 - 2004
AU 28 Alabama 23 - 2003

The last one is my first Iron Bowl experience. The very first play of my very first Iron Bowl:

I can't imagine a better way to get your feet wet in the biggest college football rivalry.

Special thanks to Auburn youtube-maker extraordinaire autiger96 for putting together several of those videos, and to the makers of the other videos.

Viva Huntsvegas

2009-05-09T02:53:00.012-04:00

Well, my spring 2009 semester has come and gone. I'm not sure what to expect on the grades front, but grad school grades don't matter, right? I guess I'll find out in the next few days. The statistics final was kinda tough, but not as bad as it could have been. That having been said, I slept three hours last night, drove for five today, and it's now almost 2 in the morning (central time) and I'm wide awake. What's up with that?!

Anyway, as a reward for finishing up my semester, I'm spending the next several days in Huntsville, the town I grew up in (The town in which I grew up....er....the town, up in which I grew? Whatever. Insert "preposition" scene from Beavis and Butt-head Do America.). Our house is undergoing some major renovations so that it can get on the market soon, so my bathroom is out of order. If I want to take a shower, I have to go down two flights of stairs to the basement. That's not going to be a hassle through Wednesday, not at all! At least I can use the toilet. Not sure what kind of trouble I'll get into these few days, but Mother's Day is on Sunday, and I told Mom I'd take her out to a nice dinner and a movie afterward (since I make money now!).

Also, Tuesday is my 25th birthday (barf). It's amazing how from year to year I get less and less excited about my birthday. When I was around four or five years old living in Charleston, WV, I actually remember having like a 100-day countdown to my birthday. It was a big deal. When I was in my elementary school years, I used to itemize everything I wanted, from the newest video game to legos to even a typewriter (okay, so that was Christmas; sue me). Now, I'm just looking at what I need as far as birthday presents. I'm honestly hoping to get a new duffle bag, because the one I've been using for the past ten years is falling apart. Imagine my joy, when I open a present on Tuesday, look inside, and scream "Yes! Luggage!" Cooooooool.

I bought myself a little "birthday" present (hell, I guess it was just an "I need new t-shirts" present), too. I'll be stylin' and profilin' rocking this bad boy around. Check out this retro Montreal Expos tee!

I also have already gotten one of my actual presents from somebody in the mail, a new iPod shuffle from my younger brother. Yes, I'm the last person in America to get an iPod, but before I started working in the lab and trying to get some exercise, I really saw no use for having one. I have all of my music on my computer, and when I'm driving, I'll be listening to XM or CDs. I don't take public transportation or travel by air much, so really it would have been a waste. Now, I'm using it all the time. I've got my "Chill Out" mix for work or just -- go figure -- chilling out, my "Rock Out" mix for when I'm working out or in an angry mood, and all the rest of my music at my disposal. The only complaint I have about this gadget is that I can't select the next song that will play; since there isn't a screen display, I can only make the iPod choose a random song from the playlist. The thing is about the size of my pinky finger, and aside from the earphones hurting my ears, the sound quality is incredible. When I got home tonight, I showed Mom and had her listen to the various features. I said, "I hope nothing embarrassing comes on." She was bobbing her head to the music, then she made kind of a funny face. When she gave it back to me, I put in the earphones, and found out the random song she chose was this nice little ditty (Warning: The song is vulgar and inappropriate for anyone who's younger than 13, older than 30, anyone with little kids nearby, a boss nearby, etc. You've been warned.)

If you'd like to see a demo of how this little baby works, check it out below:

Lastly, I'd like to give a little preview of my next top 5 installment. I said in my first post that I'd opine about a number of things, and the first thing on the list was sports. All I've given as far as sports info goes are some pictures of the Hawks game (Aside: Before the Hawks/Cavs series started, I thought the Hawks would make it an interesting 6- or 7-game series. After having watched most of the first two games, I say they'll be lucky to make it back to Cleveland. This LeBron fella is pretty good, have you heard of him?); not that that wasn't great or anything, but maybe something with a little more substance would be nice. So the next top 5 will either be my top 5 favorite Auburn football games or my top 5 favorite sports moments. I haven't decided, but both of those top 5's will make an appearance in the near future.

Have a great weekend.

Procrastination

2009-05-07T23:01:00.004-04:00

Statistics final tomorrow. Studying? DO NOT WANT. Looking for something to kill time...

Perfect.

Top 5 Arcade Games

2009-05-06T18:58:00.006-04:00

If you're like me, and you spent your elementary school years at the skating rink, patiently biding your time in line to spend maybe a minute and a half getting your ass kicked by the fourteen year old whiz kid at Mortal Kombat, then you undoubtedly remember arcade games. Whether you preferred a circular, yellow, uhhh thing chasing after different-colored ghosts, or just liked to put your quarters in for relentless bloodshed, you probably wasted hours of your life with a joystick in one hand (mind out of the gutter please) and an A and B button in the other. I would like to own any or all of the five games I'm listing below, as well as several others that didn't quite make the cut (Golden Tee Golf, I'm looking at you). I hope you enjoy the second installment of my Top 5, for arcade games!

5. Galaga

The object of this game is simple. Shoot down a number of different enormous insects before they crash into your spaceship. At least, they look like insects, although their flight pattern synchronicity suggests their brains are more developed than Earth insects. Either way, this game was fun for about four minutes, when you would inevitably lose all three of your spaceships before reaching level 5. Even though the description of this video says "NES" (which, I've never even heard of the NES version of this game; eBaying in 20), the gameplay is exactly the same as the arcade version.

4. Cruis'n USA

The ultimate in racing arcade games, Cruis'n USA gave my mother nightmares when she watched me play just before turning 15 and getting my learner's permit. It proved that you could survive a head-on collision with an oncoming car while going around 200 MPH, which is totally lifelike. And trees? Pfft. I'll just knock them down with my sports car. You also apparently had a female riding shotgun with you during these races, as determined by the whoa's heard when you're about to plow into a semi. The best part of the game was racing in different locales around the U.S., although it seems like the game was a little "west-coast-centric" since half of the race courses were in California. Oh well, time for some video.

3. Street Fighter 2

Number three in this top 5 is actually shared by two similar-style games: Street Fighter 2, and Mortal Kombat. The reason Street Fighter 2 gets the nod for the title game in #3 is because I liked it a little more. What's that? I don't know what I'm talking about? Well, it's my blog, and it's MY LIST. Tough cookies.

Anyways, Street Fighter 2 was great because you could beat the game with a few characters by having a seizure. Blanka, E. Honda and Chun-Li were almost unbeatable just because you could rapidly press the buttons down and effectively put up a forcefield; Blanka's was electricity and the two Asian characters were a flurry of fists and kicks, respectively. Another great aspect of the game was the freaks involved. The aforementioned Blanka could electrocute his opponent, and Dhalsim could extend his limbs past their normal threshold! Unreal. Cut to the video.

2. NBA Jam

NBA Jam was the first intentionally unrealistic sports game that came out (as far as I know). John Stockton could jump 20 feet in the air and bring down the house with a 360 dunk. You could throw your opponent away from the ball and nothing would be called. The best part about this game, however, was the announcer. To this day I still use "He's heating up," "Is it the shoes?" and "BOOM SHAKA LAKA!!!" in my everyday vernacular. Even though this video says SNES in the title, the gameplay appears to be the same.

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Just as #3 was (sort of) a tie between Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat, #1 is a three-way tie between three similar games: X-Men, The Simpsons and TMNT. I picked TMNT because even now, as a 24-year-old male, I get excited thinking about this game. The graphics were ground-breaking. The characters were from the TV series that had taken the youth of the country by storm. The karate was sick. You and three of your friends (or three complete strangers) could fight the foot clan at the same time. It really was the recipe for the perfect game. Every kid I knew was super excited when Konami announced they were going to come out with a Nintendo version of the game, but it was such a disappointment compared to the arcade classic. If I owned a TMNT arcade box in my apartment right now, I'd fail out of school. Same could be said for X-Men and The Simpsons. TMNT gets the nod because I was such a nerd for the Turtles. TURTLE POWER!!

Cowabunga!

Hawks/Heat in pictures

2009-05-04T22:22:00.006-04:00

So as I promised late last night, here are some pictures from my trek to Atlanta for game 7. The game 7 of the worst 7-game series in the history of 7-game series. Every game in this series was decided by double digits. There were no lead changes after the first inning in any of the seven games. When the Hawks took a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter, I turned to my friends and jokingly said "well, I guess we can go back to Athens, this one's over." I didn't realize how right I would be. The Hawks took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Heat 29-18, and never looked back after that. Even though the final margin was only 13, the game wasn't nearly that close. With about eight minutes left in the game, the Hawks led by 29 points.

It was nice to see the Hawks come through in the clutch in the first game 7 in Philips Arena history. It was also worth the short drive, MARTA passes, and price of admission and a couple of beers. I had a great time. Here are the pictures:

Our view of the court. Mezzanine level, not too shabby

Jermaine O'Neal warming up

ZAZA!! (on the right side)

Warmups, Heat side

One of the Hawks' mascots with some dudes near us

The Hawks lineup gets announced with a drumline playing, getting CRUNK

Action shot

Final score!

That's right baby!

Also, near the end of the game, they played this awesome Zaza montage to pump up the crowd. Needless to say, it worked. Watching it by myself didn't do it the same justice as being in the crowd coming down the stretch of a game 7. Enjoy, and have a nice Tuesday!

Quick Update, GO HAWKS

2009-05-04T00:51:00.006-04:00

Today I went down to Atlanta with a couple of friends from UGA to watch the Hawks ~~defeat~~ demolish Dwyane (shouldn't it be pronounced dwy-yane with that spelling?) Wade and the Miami Heat. It was my first NBA game experience, and it was an enjoyable one. Joe Johnson really impressed me with his range and defense, especially after a lackluster first quarter. I'll get another post up probably tomorrow with pictorial evidence that I actually attended this game and give a little more in-depth analysis, along with a brief preview of the ~~LeBron~~ Cavaliers series. GO HAWKS!!

Top 5 Commercials

2009-04-29T17:15:00.004-04:00

Today I'd like to introduce a new feature I'm going to have here at the Neighborhood. A top five list. I like making lists. People like reading lists. This seems like a match made in heaven. Plus, I'm working hard on an incredibly difficult programming assignment and I'm reaching an impasse, so finding a way to kill some time is a great idea.

The first top five I'd like to share is my favorite commercials of all time. I'm going to count down in reverse order, so that I build suspense up to my number one. Enjoy!

5. "This is Sportscenter" - Steve Irwin vs. the Florida Gator

The "This is Sportscenter" marketing campaign from ESPN has been a hit for probably more than ten years. While Sportscenter is turning to shit, the commercial levels have not dropped off. It was tough to pick a favorite (the Y2K test was a close 2nd, but I didn't want a Y2K overload in this list). Most of them are hysterical. Check it out.

4. "Man Fights Bear" - John West Salmon

I have to admit, I've never seen this commercial on TV, except for maybe on a show that chronicles the best commercials of all time. I watched this commercial for the first time probably somewhere near my first few years of college, right when I first got personal DSL+ strength internet, and found viral videos. Any commercial that features a bear with boxing moves gets my vote.

3. "Y2K Jogger" - Nike

I alluded to the fact this list would have more Y2K in it in my "This is Sportscenter" description. This commercial for Nike was directed by Spike Jonze, and if my memory serves me correctly, aired before the turn of the millennium. The commercial shows what amounts to be almost a worst-case scenario of the Y2K crash, while a jogger keeps his cool and goes about his daily routine. Although I am not a jogger, nor do I pretend to be, I love this commercial.

2. "Drumming Gorilla" - Cadbury's

If you want a commercial with a zany idea, featuring a song that takes me back to 1988, and a gorilla, then this is your commercial. I don't really know how to describe this commercial, other than to say it's almost the perfect commercial.

1. "Glenn" - Starbucks

A running theme in my favorite commercials is picking a cheesy song from the 1980s and parodying it. The fact that Survivor, the band who wrote "Eye of the Tiger" agreed to do this commercial just raises the awesome factor twentyfold. Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself...

Honorable Mention, favorite commercial of this year: "Beer Closet" - Heineken

Beer commercials usually deliver the laughs. I've always enjoyed Heineken's commercials. The Holiday 5-pack is a good one. This one takes a tried-and-true method, projecting female characteristics or actions on males. An instant classic.

Hope you enjoyed my inaugural top five list. Have a great day!

Best. Lab Meeting. EVER.

2009-04-28T21:56:00.004-04:00

Every Tuesday at 3:30 our lab group meets to discuss how our research is coming along. It's usually an extremely boring meeting that drifts from tangent to tangent, leaving me ready to decapitate myself and feed my severed head to the nearest dog. Or drink heavily. Whichever is easier. However, today we did something different. Everyone in the lab brought a six pack of beer or other beverage, and several people brought snacks and desserts. We relaxed out on the CCRC patio, where the weather was perfect; upper 70s, and we were in the shade. A light breeze kept things from overheating. In order to keep cold, we stored our beer and assorted soft drinks in the cold room until the meeting, which, while hilarious, was also dangerous, in that any other researchers using the cold room could have easily come in and taken the liquid booty. And knowing most of the rest of the CCRC personnel, it would have taken maybe ten minutes.

Needless to say, while our range of topics in typical lab meetings are usually xylan structures in certain land plants, glycosyl transferase activity and genes, today we discussed cheap wine tasting, Mad Dog 20/20 (incidentally, I always thought Mad Dog was a malt liquor; I guess you learn something every day), the pros and cons of Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger in their respective Joker roles, and encounters with the cops my P.I. had under the influence of whatever he was under the influence of when he was in undergrad.

Like the title said, this was the best lab meeting ever.

When Professors Attack!

2009-04-26T19:04:00.011-04:00

Something interesting happened in Athens this weekend; it was something that actually made national news. Professor George Zinkhan, "an endowed marketing professor at [UGA's] Terry College of Business," murdered his wife and two other people involved in a local community theatre. Of course, this is a very tragic incident for the town I've called home for almost a year and half, and I hope and pray that justice is served to Zinkhan, and my heart goes out to the families of the victims. However, this whole story seems a little weird. First, is the story I heard from my friend's brother's friend's cousin's dog's cousin's owner's brother-in-law's hamster about how he came into class on Friday, told the class there was a change in plans and there would no longer be a final, asked all of them to submit their final papers early, and told them their final grades would be given later that day. Weird. **UPDATE: This rumor actually seems to have some legs. Link** Second, look at this guy:

Anybody with that facial hair style (not just the goatee, but the goatee with wings, as far as I can tell) should raise all kinds of red flags as someone just a little off his rocker. Finally, before the website blocked his profile, his Rate My Professors page was hysterical. An example of one of the ratings I read yesterday, if I can remember it at all (in other words, not an exact quote):

"Dr. Zinkhan is a pretty good teacher. His tests aren't too bad, and he's generally helpful outside of class. One time, he murdered three people. Other than that, I would recommend this class to all of my friends."

Comedic gold. Even still, you can see that some of the pre-yesterday ratings include quotes such as "he demonstrated himself to be cold hearted and just plain nasty when I needed help. Stay away from this man," "creep," and "he is a little quirky." Now, I've been called "creep" more times than I can remember, and a little quirkiness could do us all good, but to me this just sounds like a recipe for disaster.

One time when I visited the site yesterday, there were probably thirty ratings that had been added that day. I imagine that before the website blocked his page, they were trying to remove new ratings as fast as possible in order to maintain any sort of professionalism on the site, and new ratings were pouring in by the bucketload. They've probably never had to do anything like this to their site before, which is why it took so long.

Needless to say, this is something that is quite out of the ordinary in a quaint college town like Athens. The aftereffects are still being felt all over town. The university will operate under a normal schedule this week, even though Zinkhan hasn't been caught yet. Hopefully, this whole thing will be over soon, Zinkhan will be thrown in prison for the rest of his life, and things will return to normal. That's the best we can hope for.

Welcome!

2009-04-24T20:14:00.000-04:00

If you've happened upon my blog, then welcome! I decided to start one up on somewhat of a whim; been thinking about it for awhile, figured I might as well go for it. I'm not planning on updating daily or even on any periodic schedule, but hopefully I'll be able to get around to it enough to make it interesting. A couple of things about me and what I hope this blog does:

I'm 24 years old (25 in May) and a graduate student at the University of Georgia getting my master's in bioinformatics
I got my bachelor's degree at Auburn University, and thus, I am very passionate about Auburn athletics (particularly football); I'm also very passionate about the St. Louis Cardinals and somewhat passionate (I guess fairweather) about the Oakland Raiders
I figured out that my life is so exciting, people wouldn't be able to resist reading my random ramblings and musings about the world!
Usually, I'll opine about different topics: sports, music/entertainment, science, news, and occasionally politics

Hopefully, you'll enjoy this enough to keep coming back. Although I am using this as a way to express my outlook on life and the world, I hope that I get people to stop in and read. Plus, I'm always looking for a new blog or website to waste my time on, so if you've got one of those for me, I'll be happy to take a gander at it myself. Well, I guess that does it for now, happy blogging!

P.S. If you're wondering about the title of this blog, it's pretty simple and didn't take long for me to think of. When I was at Auburn, most of my fraternity brothers got in the habit of calling me J-Dizzle (I guess ebonics for J.D.). One time, my parents were coming into town for a little while, and we were all going to have a big dinner one night. Afterwards, one of my fraternity brothers told me he had to resist the urge to call my parents "Mr. and Mrs. Dizzle." I guess he would think of Mr. Dizzle as my dad, but I figured since dad would actually be Mr. Rizzle, I could take Mr. Dizzle for myself.