Friday, December 14, 2007

Spread the Cheer

As the Christmas season continues to rush toward us, I began to think about unique and memorable ways to spread Christmas cheer. After all, everyone is putting up their tree, hanging their stockings, adorning their fireplaces…all to add cheer to the Yuletide season. Unfortunately, some people do not feel very cheery this time of the year. In fact, they battle fatigue, depression and hopelessness more in December than at any other time of the year. For those and for the rest of you, let me share a few thoughts on how I like to spread cheer.

First of all, I love the smells of Christmas. Whether it’s pumpkin pie, or hot wassle, or gingerbread, or fresh cut pine…I love the smells. So I say, surround your home with the smells of Christmas. It spreads cheer.

Next, concoct some “seasonal libations”. They don’t have to be of the alcohol kind, but as for me, I prefer a little “nog” in my egg-nog. A little nutmeg on top….oh, man! Or hot chocolate, spiced cider, seasonal coffee…whatever is your “cup of tea”. Makes some. It spreads cheer.

Watch a holiday themed movie. My two favorites are “Holiday Inn” with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid. It just wouldn’t be Christmas for me if I didn’t hear Bing sing, or see Chevy Chase begin to carve a turkey that deflates right before his eyes. These movies spread cheer.

And while we are talking about spreading cheer, let’s not forget Auburn football. For with Tony Franklin as the new offensive coordinator, we are definitely going to the “spread” offense, and he promises that we will have lots of excitement to “cheer” for. He states that “in order to win a championship, you have to be able to number one, play great defense and number two, you have to be able to run the football…..we finished the year 35th in the nation in rushing….but I also believe in spreading the ball around….wide receivers, slot backs, tight ends, running backs, quarterbacks….spread it around and attack the entire field.” Spreading the cheer.

And so, as we share a New Years Eve together down at the Georgia Dome…as we ring out the old, and ring in the new…as we sing Auld Lang Syne….as we say goodbye to the West Coast Offense and say hello to the Spread….take a moment to smell the pine. Take a moment to taste the nog. Take a moment to remember the good times. Toast Al Borges as you sing “should old acquaintance be forgot”. Toast Tony Franklin as you look toward the future.

Spread the cheer. And then let’s cheer the spread.

War Eagle!

WJLaneSr.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

December 29, 1990

Unfortunately, I cannot leave work early on Thursday. Frankly, I fly from New York to Spartanburg and arrive around noon. Then I have to go to my office and fill out some reports and get ready for employee meetings which will begin on Friday. I also have two employees who want to talk with me about their “situations”…. (translated means their recent disciplinary actions taken against them for poor attendance). Such is the life for a Human Resources person. Therefore, I cannot spend the mid-afternoon hours before my television on Thursday.

However, for those of you who can, CSS is replaying the 1990 Peach Bowl. I remember the game well, and I remember how I got tickets for Dad and me. There was a food bank drive being held outside Fulton County Stadium, and if you brought in 10 non-perishable canned goods, you would get two tickets to the Peach Bowl. Such was the demand for Peach Bowl Tickets back in 1990.

Auburn came into the game a respectable 7-3-1, but had lost its last game to arch-rival Alabama. The Tigers limped off Legion Field, having been downed 16-7, and had spent a month licking their wounds. Most prognosticators had predicted that Auburn should win the game big. But most prognosticators hadn’t figured in the weather, mixed with a pretty good Hoosier football team.

Our seats were so low down that we couldn’t see (but what should we have expected…after all, we were in the “green pea donor” section. It was cold and wet, with low hanging clouds and fog hovering all around. I’m not sure anyone on the field ever really saw a kickoff or a punt….it was more like a ball falling from the clouds. Mark Murphy, the editor of “Inside The Auburn Tigers” summed up the day as well as anyone I have ever heard or read: “it was just plain miserable.” We moved and sat in another area of the stadium in hopes of being able to see and stay a little bit dry.

Auburn sloshed around on the infield that day, bogging down much like the dirt bikes and tractor pulls did when they also used old Fulton County Stadium. Running back Alex Smith for Auburn even made the statement that he thought he had found some of the dirt bike ruts when he was trying to cut and run.

Auburn appeared to be in good shape on that day, leading 20-10 with just 11:34 left to play. But Indiana had other thoughts. Coach Bill Mallory’s club wouldn’t give up. With 6:32 left to play, sophomore quarterback Trent Green scored his second touchdown of the day, cutting the Auburn lead to 20-16. The two point conversion failed. And then, with 2:27 left, Green scored again and Indiana led for the first time, 23-20.

Because this was during the days before overtime, if Auburn wanted to win, it would have to score a touchdown. Auburn’s freshman quarterback Stan White did some quick math and came up with the answer. “We had two minutes and three time outs,” White said. “I said in the huddle, ‘Look guys, this is it. This is what it’s all about. We’ve got 80 yards to go and two minutes to do it in.” White ran the Auburn two-minute drill to perfection, scoring on a one-yard bootleg run with 39 seconds to go. Auburn had 440 yards of total offense that day, and Auburn won the Peach Bowl 27-23 over Indiana.

Few of us realized on that day that the next time we would see the Auburn Tigers in a bowl game would be a full 5 years later, when Auburn played Penn State in the Outback Bowl. You can watch the replay of the 1990 Peach Bowl Thursday afternoon, 4:00 p.m., on CSS.

War Eagle!!

WJLaneSR

Monday, December 10, 2007

Lions and Peaches and Chickens, Oh My!!

The Lions Clubs of Georgia are wonderful organizations. Although I am not a Lion, I know much about their work. I know that they have well over 1 million members through their international affiliates, that they do much charitable work with youth and with persons who are vision impaired. I am familiar with their broom and mop sales, their Lighthouse for the Blind, and their walk for diabetes awareness. How do I know all of this? My dad is a Lion.

My father has been a lion for….well….for a looong time. I can’t tell you how many Lions brooms and mops we have had over the years. I don’t know how many chicken and barbeques that he has participated in to raise money for the Lions. Many international youth traveling with Lions International have stayed in my parents’ home over the years. I have seen first hand the good that the Lions Club does.

There is one other thing I know about the Lions Club. From 1968 until 1985, the Lions Clubs of Georgia was the sponsor of Peach Bowl.

The Peach Bowl was originally created as a fund raiser for the Lions Clubs of Georgia. Unfortunately, the games during this period had lackluster attendance and revenue, and even worse media coverage. During this era of the bowl, it was played at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Old Man Winter never seemed to comply with the bowl, and it was always cold, wet, rainy and muddy. The Lions Clubs of Georgia struggled to cover the costs of the bowl.

In 1986, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce took over the bowl, and with the completion of the Georgia Dome, the game was moved indoors in 1992. The attendance began to improve, and the media coverage of the game improved as well. In 1998, Chick-Fil-A joined as a sponsor of the game, and it became known as the Chick Fil A Peach Bowl.

Now, here we are in 2007. The Bowl has once again changed its name to “The Chick-Fil-A Bowl”, and the game between Auburn and Clemson was sold-out in less than 48 hours. It is the only game on television during prime-time on New Years Eve. And the payout to the two schools will be approximately $6 Million total. This is a far cry from the days of the empty, cold, wet, muddy Peach Bowl at Fulton County Stadium.

But maybe the Peach Bowl needed the rain and cold and mud in the beginning, in order to enjoy the healthy success it has today. Those of you who read your Bible will remember that Jesus took some mud and put it in the blind man’s eyes in order to restore his sight. In fact, that’s where we get the phrase “Here’s mud in your eye!” when toasting someone….It’s to their health….to their vision. The main mission of the Lions Clubs of Georgia….the original sponsor of the Peach Bowl.

War Eagle!

WJLaneSr

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Auburn and Clemson

One of my favorite Southern Humorists/Satirists was the late Lewis Grizzard. I have read all of his books, listened to most of his works that are on CD, and was a religious reader of his column when it was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For me, he will always be regarded with the same admiration as other writers of southern literature such as William Faulkner, Sidney Lanier, Pat Conroy, Harper Lee, Mark Twain and Flannery O’Conner.

Lewis Grizzard “cut his writing teeth” as a sports columnist, and it is credited to him with the description that “Clemson is Auburn with a lake”. I am not sure how much Grizzard actually knew about the Auburn/Clemson history, but his assessment was very accurate. Both schools are southern land-grant institutions, both are called “the tigers”, and both had the legendary John Heisman as the coach. During the days of Shug Jordan and Frank Howard, games between Auburn and Clemson were common. However, in more recent history, the two schools with so much in common, may have lost touch with their similarities and, more importantly, their common history. Clemson isn’t just Auburn with a lake, for without Auburn, there would have been no Clemson football.

Walter M. Riggs graduated from Auburn with an engineering degree in 1892, and was a member of Auburn’s first football team. He loved football so much that rather than going into the field of engineering after graduation, he became a graduate assistant coach. In 1895, he was given the task of finding a head football coach for Auburn, and after an extensive search, hired John W. Heisman as the Head Coach of the Auburn Football Team. His negotiated contract (boy isn’t THAT a timely topic!!!) was $500 / year.

Riggs left Auburn in the hands of J.W. Heisman in 1896, and headed for Clemson, South Carolina to start a football program. Clemson had no uniforms, no mascot, no colors…nothing. So what did Riggs do? He brought some old Auburn practice uniforms with him (orange jerseys and navy jerseys) that, because of washboard washings, were no longer navy and orange, but looked more purple and orange. He also brought the name “tigers” with him, and named his brand new football team the Clemson Tigers. He chose orange as the dominant color, because those jerseys weren’t quite as faded as the navy ones. And from that time forward, Walter M. Riggs has been known as the “father of Clemson Football”.

But the story BEHIND the story is….without Auburn, Clemson would never have been Orange and Purple, would never have been “the Tigers”, and would never have begun a football program in 1896. Maybe Lewis Grizzard is right. Maybe Clemson is Auburn with a lake. But Clemson is even more than that. It is the beneficiary of the great, grand and storied history of the Auburn Tigers.

War Eagle! Beat Clemson!

WJLaneSr