Driving from Atlanta to Spartanburg this afternoon, I listened to Sporting News Radio, ESPN, and one other satellite sports radio. Finally, I got tired of hearing the same regurgitated message over and over, albeit from different mouths. They were all drinking the same Kool-Aid, eating the same food, and salivating over the same game. You’d think there was no other ballgame on Saturday besides the Florida – Alabama game.
Rather than puking my own version of their shows and feeding it to you like a mommy bird does, let’s just say that the major news media are star-struck with Saban, Ingram and Richardson, and no one other than Mike Leach gives Florida a fighting chance.
But I digress.
There are, in fact, other games to be played on Saturday. Some of these “other” games have a great deal of significance. Because the national media refuses to seriously acknowledge the magnitude of them, I therefore take it upon myself to be the chief informer of the “other” games implications. Besides, I want to rid myself of that nauseating feeling one gets when too much syrup has been ingested with the pancakes. And might I say, sports radio was pouring the Aunt Jemimah on thick this afternoon.
The first “other” game of significance: Georgia at Colorado. Mark Richt cannot afford to lay a Rocky Mountain egg in Boulder. The death nail may already be in the executioner’s hand, but if the Dawgs get avalanched, the hammer will surely hit the nail.
“Other” game #2: Miami at Clemson. Although the ACC has taken it on the chin outside the conference, both of these teams still have a legitimate shot at their conference title. The winner has a huge leg up, and the loser goes home only dreaming about what might have been.
“Other” game #3: Oklahoma at Texas. The Red River Rivalry (too many “r’s” there…used to be the Red River Shootout, which was much easier to say) had some luster removed last week due to the surfing crowd’s invasion of Austin. However, the Big XII title is still reachable for both.
“Other” game #4: Tennessee at LSU. Although this one should be a no brainer with LSU winning easily, nothing is a “no brainer” when the mad hatter is involved. If Tennessee slips into the bayou and steals the stripes off the Mike the Tiger, the SEC west becomes a two team race.
“Other” game #5: Notre Dame at Boston College. O.K., who around here cares? However, I do respect the Pope and therefore the Catholic brawl makes my list.
FINALLY..”other” game #6: Stanford at Oregon. Two diametrically opposed philosophies clash in a PAC 10 showdown. Although no one east of the Mississippi cares about this game, an eyeball should stay on this one. Why? Because the winner might just slip into the BCS National Championship Game.
Well, there you have it. The other games that actually have some significance this week. Oh, and lest I forget, the Warhawks of Louisiana Monroe have breakfast at Auburn. This should be a non-event and hopefully the first team Tigers will get some well earned rest.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Living on a Prayer
It was midway through the 4th quarter on Saturday night. The Auburn University Marching Band struck up that world-famous 1986 single from Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” album. Most of the 15,000 students sitting in the southeast corner of the endzone weren’t even born when the quarter-century old song began. Yet that song, which has topped the Hot 100 pop list for more than a decade was sung loud and strong by the student section, and it caused me to stop and reflect.
“Whooah, we’re half way there…..whooah, living on a prayer”…….
Then it dawned on me….we ARE almost halfway there. We are entering week # 5 of the college football season. WEEK # 5!! Half the season is almost done! Can you believe it?!?
Maybe that’s why some of us love college football so much. Maybe it’s because, unlike the NFL, we only get a taste. Just enough to make us want more. And then the regular season is over. Just when we get started good, we're halfway there!
No pre-season. No 14-15 game season. No multi-game post season playoff (and no, don’t get started on the debate….that’s not the purpose of this blog. Maybe another one one day).
“Whooah, we’re half way there….”
And the song also made me ponder the season we are in the midst of. Let’s touch some key "halfway there" topics:
#1. The Georgia Bulldogs. Who would have thought that they would be 0-3 in the SEC at this point? Driving home yesterday, one station on Sirius Radio was predicting that because of the loss to Miss. State, followed by another late-night jail-cell phone call to Coach Richt, that his days were indeed numbered. They predicted that a loss out on Rocky Mountain High this weekend would send Richt down an avalanche in Colorado.
#2. Arkansas might have a great quarterback in Ryan Mallet, but they haven’t learned how to win. When you have the reigning national champions down 20-7, you don’t just try to hang on. If you do, you’re going to get a double dose of run over…which is what happened. What happens now to Petrino’s hawgs?
#3. The Gators are starting to come around. After figuring out how to take a snap (the Boiling Springs Pee-Wee league could have taught the mighty Gators something in this regard back a few weeks ago), they seem to be getting stronger and stronger. This week’s showdown with Bama might spell trouble for the pachyderms, because Florida is better than Arkansas.
#4. South Carolina’s defense isn’t as good as everyone thought. Is this because the teams they played prior to Auburn (Southern Miss., Georgia and Furman) weren’t very good offensive teams?
#5. Mississippi State would probably be 4-0 at this point had Cam Newton gone to the spotted bulldogs instead of Auburn. Instead, Miss. State is just a noisy gonging bell.
#6. Tennessee is worse than we thought. When a Vol celebration breaks out like it’s 1986 because UAB is defeated in overtime, something is BAD wrong. Does anybody fear the Vols anymore?
#7. Kentucky, with all it’s improvement, is still a basketball school. They will not contend for the SEC East.
#8. Vanderbilt may have gotten their signature win for the season against Ole Miss, but this year Ole Miss is the Old Maid of the conference.
#9. Speaking of Old Mrs., the Nutt-house seemed to put it together this past week against Fresno State. But that says nothing. The Rebels (or did they change their mascot to the Reb-less) are to the West what Georgia is trying to become in the East…..Irrelevant! Who would have thought on both accounts?
#10. Alabama’s running game may be better than it was last year, but their defense is not. They are a very good football team, but championships are won and lost on defense. I just don’t see a repeat.
#11. LSU continues to be schizophrenic and will be as long as a madman is at the helm. They have glimpses of greatness….glimpses of worse than mediocrity……great play calling…..poor play calling…..and the team just doesn’t seem to be in sync. In most cases, Less is More, but at LSU, Les is less. A loss to Bama, which will probably happen, to Auburn, which seems more than a 50% chance now, and to Arkanses, which I also think will happen, turns the heat up on Les….even More.
#12. Where would Auburn be without Cam Newton? I’m sure glad I don’t have to know. He is a one man wrecking machine. Having said that, Auburn has won 2 games late, coming from behind, and shown a resilience that I didn’t expect. This is the stuff that CAN separate a good team from a great team. Auburn is NOT a great team………yet. But they have a chance. They, like the Gators, seems to be getting better each week. Auburn is a little beaten up, and with La. Monroe this week, they should get a little rest before resuming conference play.
A few non-sec comments: NC State is a very good football team, Stanford is a team I wouldn’t want on my schedule this year, Michigan might just upset Ohio State this year, Arizona may be the pac-10 spoiler, and I guess a longhorn never met a Bruin it could hook. You think Muschamp slept well Saturday night after his defense was shredded?
Well….that’s it for the “almost” midpoint. We’re halfway there, and some teams are just living on a prayer.
“We’ve got to hold on, ready or not…..you live for the fight when it’s all that you got….whooah, living on a prayer…..”
“Whooah, we’re half way there…..whooah, living on a prayer”…….
Then it dawned on me….we ARE almost halfway there. We are entering week # 5 of the college football season. WEEK # 5!! Half the season is almost done! Can you believe it?!?
Maybe that’s why some of us love college football so much. Maybe it’s because, unlike the NFL, we only get a taste. Just enough to make us want more. And then the regular season is over. Just when we get started good, we're halfway there!
No pre-season. No 14-15 game season. No multi-game post season playoff (and no, don’t get started on the debate….that’s not the purpose of this blog. Maybe another one one day).
“Whooah, we’re half way there….”
And the song also made me ponder the season we are in the midst of. Let’s touch some key "halfway there" topics:
#1. The Georgia Bulldogs. Who would have thought that they would be 0-3 in the SEC at this point? Driving home yesterday, one station on Sirius Radio was predicting that because of the loss to Miss. State, followed by another late-night jail-cell phone call to Coach Richt, that his days were indeed numbered. They predicted that a loss out on Rocky Mountain High this weekend would send Richt down an avalanche in Colorado.
#2. Arkansas might have a great quarterback in Ryan Mallet, but they haven’t learned how to win. When you have the reigning national champions down 20-7, you don’t just try to hang on. If you do, you’re going to get a double dose of run over…which is what happened. What happens now to Petrino’s hawgs?
#3. The Gators are starting to come around. After figuring out how to take a snap (the Boiling Springs Pee-Wee league could have taught the mighty Gators something in this regard back a few weeks ago), they seem to be getting stronger and stronger. This week’s showdown with Bama might spell trouble for the pachyderms, because Florida is better than Arkansas.
#4. South Carolina’s defense isn’t as good as everyone thought. Is this because the teams they played prior to Auburn (Southern Miss., Georgia and Furman) weren’t very good offensive teams?
#5. Mississippi State would probably be 4-0 at this point had Cam Newton gone to the spotted bulldogs instead of Auburn. Instead, Miss. State is just a noisy gonging bell.
#6. Tennessee is worse than we thought. When a Vol celebration breaks out like it’s 1986 because UAB is defeated in overtime, something is BAD wrong. Does anybody fear the Vols anymore?
#7. Kentucky, with all it’s improvement, is still a basketball school. They will not contend for the SEC East.
#8. Vanderbilt may have gotten their signature win for the season against Ole Miss, but this year Ole Miss is the Old Maid of the conference.
#9. Speaking of Old Mrs., the Nutt-house seemed to put it together this past week against Fresno State. But that says nothing. The Rebels (or did they change their mascot to the Reb-less) are to the West what Georgia is trying to become in the East…..Irrelevant! Who would have thought on both accounts?
#10. Alabama’s running game may be better than it was last year, but their defense is not. They are a very good football team, but championships are won and lost on defense. I just don’t see a repeat.
#11. LSU continues to be schizophrenic and will be as long as a madman is at the helm. They have glimpses of greatness….glimpses of worse than mediocrity……great play calling…..poor play calling…..and the team just doesn’t seem to be in sync. In most cases, Less is More, but at LSU, Les is less. A loss to Bama, which will probably happen, to Auburn, which seems more than a 50% chance now, and to Arkanses, which I also think will happen, turns the heat up on Les….even More.
#12. Where would Auburn be without Cam Newton? I’m sure glad I don’t have to know. He is a one man wrecking machine. Having said that, Auburn has won 2 games late, coming from behind, and shown a resilience that I didn’t expect. This is the stuff that CAN separate a good team from a great team. Auburn is NOT a great team………yet. But they have a chance. They, like the Gators, seems to be getting better each week. Auburn is a little beaten up, and with La. Monroe this week, they should get a little rest before resuming conference play.
A few non-sec comments: NC State is a very good football team, Stanford is a team I wouldn’t want on my schedule this year, Michigan might just upset Ohio State this year, Arizona may be the pac-10 spoiler, and I guess a longhorn never met a Bruin it could hook. You think Muschamp slept well Saturday night after his defense was shredded?
Well….that’s it for the “almost” midpoint. We’re halfway there, and some teams are just living on a prayer.
“We’ve got to hold on, ready or not…..you live for the fight when it’s all that you got….whooah, living on a prayer…..”
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
#1 vs #1
The internet is full of “Dyer vs. Lattimore” game fodder this week. “The State” newspaper in Columbia, S.C. has an article by that title. Bleacher Report, ESPN’s SEC blog, and the Anniston Star feature articles with the same theme. The story lines wiggle between which running back was REALLY #1 coming out of high school, to what “might have been” had Lattimore chosen to team-up with Dyer at Auburn as opposed to choosing his home state Gamecocks. The buildup of these two kids facing off against one another is such a major theme for the Auburn-South Carolina football game this week that you’d think it was Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed…….but which one is which?
Simply looking at the statistics, through the first three games the two backs compare as follows:
Mike Dyer: 39 attempts / 212 yards / 5.4 Yard Average / 1 touchdown
Marcus Lattimore: 70 attempts / 333 yards / 4.8 Yard Average / 5 touchdowns
What do these statistics tell us? On the surface, not very much. But just beneath the surface, they tell us a lot.
First of all, on the surface these statistics tell us that Lattimore is getting, and will get, more touches of the ball than Dyer. One had only to watch Carolina’s game with Georgia to see how Lattimore is fed the ball. For old-fashioned SEC aficionados, it felt very pre-1990’s…
And then Steve Spurrier came on the scene and (virtually) single handedly changed the college football landscape. He brought the fun and gun offense to Florida, won and won big with it, and his passing attack bred the offshoots found all around the country: Run and Shoot, West Coast, Spread, Pistol….
Which is why the “beneath the surface” story is so fascinating. For you see, it is that same Steve Spurrier who is now running the football as though he were taking a page out of Vince Dooley or Pat Dye’s playbook.
What changed? Well….Spurrier has a very good running back in Lattimore. AND, Spurrier still doesn’t completely trust quarterback Steven Garcia.
Dyer, on the other hand, isn’t getting the number of touches Lattimore gets. But, rather than just under 5 yards per carry like Lattimore, Dyer is getting almost 5 ½ yards. For each touch he gets, he’s producing more yardage.
Auburn seems to be bringing Dyer along a little slower than Lattimore, but as the season rolls on that will certainly change. Also, unlike Lattimore for South Carolina, Dyer is not the leading rusher on his team. Big Cam Newton is.
So what can we glean from all this? Well, let’s just say that Spurrier is Spurrier.
I always liked the analogy that Tommy Tuberville used about Steve Spurrier. He and Spurrier were golfing buddies, and Tuberville would say “if you get Steve on your home course, and just kind of stay close to him…..when you get on the back nine and see that short 335 yard par 4……YOU know that you pull a 3 wood out and just lay it up. But Steve is going to pull out that driver. He can’t help it. He gets impatient. He feels the need to put you away. And many times, when he does, he pushes the ball way out of bounds and opens the door for you to beat him. And he does the same on the football field.”
Moral of the story? Spurrier will try to run the ball using Lattimore. Auburn needs to keep it close. Maybe even get a lead. Spurrier is going to get impatient and put pressure on Garcia to make something happen. And when that pressure comes, Garcia is prone to make mistakes. And THAT will be Auburn’s big opening.
My prediction: Dyer rushes 15 times for 105 yards, Lattimore rushes 25 times for 110 yards and Auburn wins: 21 – 17.
WJLaneSR
Simply looking at the statistics, through the first three games the two backs compare as follows:
Mike Dyer: 39 attempts / 212 yards / 5.4 Yard Average / 1 touchdown
Marcus Lattimore: 70 attempts / 333 yards / 4.8 Yard Average / 5 touchdowns
What do these statistics tell us? On the surface, not very much. But just beneath the surface, they tell us a lot.
First of all, on the surface these statistics tell us that Lattimore is getting, and will get, more touches of the ball than Dyer. One had only to watch Carolina’s game with Georgia to see how Lattimore is fed the ball. For old-fashioned SEC aficionados, it felt very pre-1990’s…
And then Steve Spurrier came on the scene and (virtually) single handedly changed the college football landscape. He brought the fun and gun offense to Florida, won and won big with it, and his passing attack bred the offshoots found all around the country: Run and Shoot, West Coast, Spread, Pistol….
Which is why the “beneath the surface” story is so fascinating. For you see, it is that same Steve Spurrier who is now running the football as though he were taking a page out of Vince Dooley or Pat Dye’s playbook.
What changed? Well….Spurrier has a very good running back in Lattimore. AND, Spurrier still doesn’t completely trust quarterback Steven Garcia.
Dyer, on the other hand, isn’t getting the number of touches Lattimore gets. But, rather than just under 5 yards per carry like Lattimore, Dyer is getting almost 5 ½ yards. For each touch he gets, he’s producing more yardage.
Auburn seems to be bringing Dyer along a little slower than Lattimore, but as the season rolls on that will certainly change. Also, unlike Lattimore for South Carolina, Dyer is not the leading rusher on his team. Big Cam Newton is.
So what can we glean from all this? Well, let’s just say that Spurrier is Spurrier.
I always liked the analogy that Tommy Tuberville used about Steve Spurrier. He and Spurrier were golfing buddies, and Tuberville would say “if you get Steve on your home course, and just kind of stay close to him…..when you get on the back nine and see that short 335 yard par 4……YOU know that you pull a 3 wood out and just lay it up. But Steve is going to pull out that driver. He can’t help it. He gets impatient. He feels the need to put you away. And many times, when he does, he pushes the ball way out of bounds and opens the door for you to beat him. And he does the same on the football field.”
Moral of the story? Spurrier will try to run the ball using Lattimore. Auburn needs to keep it close. Maybe even get a lead. Spurrier is going to get impatient and put pressure on Garcia to make something happen. And when that pressure comes, Garcia is prone to make mistakes. And THAT will be Auburn’s big opening.
My prediction: Dyer rushes 15 times for 105 yards, Lattimore rushes 25 times for 110 yards and Auburn wins: 21 – 17.
WJLaneSR
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Toilet Game
I am finally recovering from a looong weekend in Auburn. With the sweet aftertaste of a glorious come-from-behind overtime win against those South Carolina felines, I have finally taken a deep breath to clear my mind.
Now, what to blog???
Frankly, after this weekend I just couldn’t keep John Lennon out of my mind. After all, the weekend WAS a little Helter Skelter, especially there at the end.
But that isn’t the reason I have had the late Beatle singing in my ears.
No. Rather, it is because our regular tailgating spot has (at least temporarily) closed their bathrooms to the paying public. That’s right….although we pay to park in their lot and have been able to use their facilities for the past 8 years while doing so, with no warning, the bathrooms are now off limits. Closed, go away, this is a no wee-wee zone.
Where to go when nature calls? I mean….where to go when you gotta go??? Cross legged tailgating ain’t much fun! Not to mention that you don't really BUY adult cold beverages, you RENT them!
Did someone say Clemson has a lake and Auburn needs one?
After much fussing and debate, we were finally able to use the bathroom for a short period of time. I have to say, though, that a tailgate without a toilet is like a dam during a flood. Something's gotta give!
I’m sure the founding fathers meant for us to have Life, Liberty, Toilets and the pursuit of Happiness!
Heck, there was a time on Saturday afternoon that I was even willing to put down the seat without having to be reminded for just a little bit of relief…
Which brings me to John Lennon.
Lennon wrote a song entitled “Imagine”. As I was trying to figure out where I was going to use the bathroom, the song just kind of came to me, albeit with different words:
Imagine there’s no bathroom
It’s easy if you try
No stalls to hold us
Makes us want to cry
Imagine all the people
Peeing in the street
You may say just try and hold it
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday they’ll reopen
So our tailgating can return to fun!
‘til next time,
WJLaneSR
Now, what to blog???
Frankly, after this weekend I just couldn’t keep John Lennon out of my mind. After all, the weekend WAS a little Helter Skelter, especially there at the end.
But that isn’t the reason I have had the late Beatle singing in my ears.
No. Rather, it is because our regular tailgating spot has (at least temporarily) closed their bathrooms to the paying public. That’s right….although we pay to park in their lot and have been able to use their facilities for the past 8 years while doing so, with no warning, the bathrooms are now off limits. Closed, go away, this is a no wee-wee zone.
Where to go when nature calls? I mean….where to go when you gotta go??? Cross legged tailgating ain’t much fun! Not to mention that you don't really BUY adult cold beverages, you RENT them!
Did someone say Clemson has a lake and Auburn needs one?
After much fussing and debate, we were finally able to use the bathroom for a short period of time. I have to say, though, that a tailgate without a toilet is like a dam during a flood. Something's gotta give!
I’m sure the founding fathers meant for us to have Life, Liberty, Toilets and the pursuit of Happiness!
Heck, there was a time on Saturday afternoon that I was even willing to put down the seat without having to be reminded for just a little bit of relief…
Which brings me to John Lennon.
Lennon wrote a song entitled “Imagine”. As I was trying to figure out where I was going to use the bathroom, the song just kind of came to me, albeit with different words:
Imagine there’s no bathroom
It’s easy if you try
No stalls to hold us
Makes us want to cry
Imagine all the people
Peeing in the street
You may say just try and hold it
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday they’ll reopen
So our tailgating can return to fun!
‘til next time,
WJLaneSR
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Auburn with a lake?
It's Auburn-Clemson week. SEC vs. ACC. ESPN gameday crew coming to the Plains. National recognition for both schools. Similarities abundant. A renewed rivalry that ended in the early '70s. And it reminds me of one of my favorite writers.
The late Lewis Grizzard ranks alongside my all-time favorite southern writers. His genre was journalistic satire and humor. He was an award winning syndicated columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and was thrilled when he moved there from the Chicago Tribune. To use his words, he had been “held hostage as a prisoner of war” in the frozen north until Atlanta called him home.
Grizzard began his profession as a sports columnist, and is often credited with the description that “Clemson is just Auburn with a lake.”
Grizzard’s analysis would be correct if one only looked at the similarities. In fact, it is very difficult to describe the two schools WITHOUT looking at the similarities. Both are State Land Grant Institutions. The schools have comparable architectural design. The layout of each school is extremely similar. Then, to top it off, both schools use the Tiger as it’s mascot with orange as one of it’s predominant colors.
While it is true that both schools have these analagous commonalities, including counting John Heisman as one of their early coaches, Grizzard’s analysis is incorrect.
Clemson is NOT Auburn with a lake. Fact is, without Auburn, there would be no Clemson football.
In 1892 Walter M. Riggs graduated from A&M College of Alabama (later to become Auburn University) with bachelor of science degree in engineering. Being class president, director of the school glee club, and member of Phi Delta Theta, Riggs was a campus leader. He was also a member of the school’s first football team.
Riggs became a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater rather than pursuing a career in mechanical engineering. He was so competent and enthusiastic about coaching the Tigers from Auburn that in 1895, he was assigned the duty of finding a new head football coach. He found John W. Heisman (of the Heisman Trophy lore) growing tomatoes in Texas and brought him back to The Plains for a salary of $500 per year.
The following year, Riggs left the Auburn Football Team in the capable hands of Heisman, and accepted the job of beginning a football program in Clemson, South Carolina. The college had no mascot, they had no colors and they didn’t even have any uniforms. Auburn agreed to help out the upstarts from South Carolina, and they gave Riggs some practice jerseys (some orange and some navy) to take with him. The jerseys had been washed so many times using Number 2 washtubs full of lye soap and washboards that the navy jerseys looked more pale purple than blue. Because the orange didn’t fade as easily as the navy when washed, Riggs chose orange as the dominate color for his new team.
Riggs brought the Tiger name with him, and called his new football club “the Clemson Tigers”.
Without Auburn, the Clemson football club would never have been orange and purple. It never would have been the Tigers. It probably never would have begun a football program in 1896, and John W. Heisman would have never left Auburn to coach at Clemson.
Historians have noted that Walter Riggs is the “Father of Clemson Football”. If that be so, then Auburn is the grandfather of Clemson Football. And that’s a heck-of-a lot more than just Clemson without a lake!
The late Lewis Grizzard ranks alongside my all-time favorite southern writers. His genre was journalistic satire and humor. He was an award winning syndicated columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and was thrilled when he moved there from the Chicago Tribune. To use his words, he had been “held hostage as a prisoner of war” in the frozen north until Atlanta called him home.
Grizzard began his profession as a sports columnist, and is often credited with the description that “Clemson is just Auburn with a lake.”
Grizzard’s analysis would be correct if one only looked at the similarities. In fact, it is very difficult to describe the two schools WITHOUT looking at the similarities. Both are State Land Grant Institutions. The schools have comparable architectural design. The layout of each school is extremely similar. Then, to top it off, both schools use the Tiger as it’s mascot with orange as one of it’s predominant colors.
While it is true that both schools have these analagous commonalities, including counting John Heisman as one of their early coaches, Grizzard’s analysis is incorrect.
Clemson is NOT Auburn with a lake. Fact is, without Auburn, there would be no Clemson football.
In 1892 Walter M. Riggs graduated from A&M College of Alabama (later to become Auburn University) with bachelor of science degree in engineering. Being class president, director of the school glee club, and member of Phi Delta Theta, Riggs was a campus leader. He was also a member of the school’s first football team.
Riggs became a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater rather than pursuing a career in mechanical engineering. He was so competent and enthusiastic about coaching the Tigers from Auburn that in 1895, he was assigned the duty of finding a new head football coach. He found John W. Heisman (of the Heisman Trophy lore) growing tomatoes in Texas and brought him back to The Plains for a salary of $500 per year.
The following year, Riggs left the Auburn Football Team in the capable hands of Heisman, and accepted the job of beginning a football program in Clemson, South Carolina. The college had no mascot, they had no colors and they didn’t even have any uniforms. Auburn agreed to help out the upstarts from South Carolina, and they gave Riggs some practice jerseys (some orange and some navy) to take with him. The jerseys had been washed so many times using Number 2 washtubs full of lye soap and washboards that the navy jerseys looked more pale purple than blue. Because the orange didn’t fade as easily as the navy when washed, Riggs chose orange as the dominate color for his new team.
Riggs brought the Tiger name with him, and called his new football club “the Clemson Tigers”.
Without Auburn, the Clemson football club would never have been orange and purple. It never would have been the Tigers. It probably never would have begun a football program in 1896, and John W. Heisman would have never left Auburn to coach at Clemson.
Historians have noted that Walter Riggs is the “Father of Clemson Football”. If that be so, then Auburn is the grandfather of Clemson Football. And that’s a heck-of-a lot more than just Clemson without a lake!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Cowbells Tolling
Robert Jordan was assigned to blow up the bridge. He knows, when he receives his assignment, that he might not survive it. But he also knows there is camaraderie when facing an enemy in hostile territory. He knows the need to surrender oneself for the common good of his fellows. To do “as all good men should” means to be willing to sacrifice self. It means laying it all on the line. For Robert Jordan, it meant death over defeat.
I don’t know if Nick Fairley ever read Ernest Hemingway’s novel about Robert Jordan. He certainly played as if he did. After all, the junior defensive tackle had one interception, one fumble recovery, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. He played as if he were a cloned mixture of Reggie White and Darrelle Revis. While the offense was sputtering in a bell-acious hostile environment, Fairley’s assignment from defensive line coach Tracy Rocker was simple: sacrifice yourself for 60 minutes and don’t let the bell-hounds out your grasp. Do it for your team. They will be there to drag you off the field of battle when it’s over. Surrender self for the common good of the team. Rocker asked Fairley to be like Hemingway’s hero.
Hemingway borrowed a line from John Donne and used it as the title of his novel. Most people think the line came from a poem entitled “No Man is an Island”, but actually Donne wrote it as prose in a piece entitled “Meditation No. 17”. Those memorable first words of the Meditation are: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of a continent, a part of the main.”
Certainly Donne’s words were taken to heart by the men of the orange and blue on Thursday night. No one particular player was able to beat Mississippi State. It took a team. Not just the offense….in fact one might say “not the offense”, but also the defense. Not just Cameron Newton, but also the Nick Fairley led defense (here I insert a shade-of-memory shout-out to Wayne Hall, Auburn’s defensive coordinator during the Pat Dye era, as Scarbinsky did today in the Birmingham News) won the game in a manner reminiscent of his coach and mentor’s days on The Plains. No man was an island in Starkville.
Mississippi state circled September 9 as the turning point for their program. It was the first SEC game where the cowbells were legal. It was Thursday night on ESPN. It was against an SEC West opponent. It was their opportunity to gain respect. The cowbells would move them over the hump from that dreaded left side of the SEC bell curve. They had everything to win. Auburn had everything to lose. Even the prognosticators had pointed to this as a “trap game” for Auburn.
But State forgot one thing. They forgot to read Hemingway’s novel. Or even Donne’s Meditation.
The last line of Donne’s Meditation No. 17 reminds us of a bell. It reminds us of a bell we cannot escape. Certainly that is what every Stark-vegas Bulldog was thinking as they entered Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. They must have been thinking, "Auburn....this is a bell you cannot escape!!"
That famous and often quoted last line reads “…for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee”. Hemingway took part of this line for his novel: “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. Donne spoke of it as a death bell.
But as much as the maroon clad bulldogs rang their cowbells in an effort to confuse, frustrate and finally get the Auburn Tigers to roll over and die, it didn’t happen. Rather, Donne’s words came hauntingly back…..”For whom the bell tolls……it tolls for you.”
I don’t know if Nick Fairley ever read Ernest Hemingway’s novel about Robert Jordan. He certainly played as if he did. After all, the junior defensive tackle had one interception, one fumble recovery, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. He played as if he were a cloned mixture of Reggie White and Darrelle Revis. While the offense was sputtering in a bell-acious hostile environment, Fairley’s assignment from defensive line coach Tracy Rocker was simple: sacrifice yourself for 60 minutes and don’t let the bell-hounds out your grasp. Do it for your team. They will be there to drag you off the field of battle when it’s over. Surrender self for the common good of the team. Rocker asked Fairley to be like Hemingway’s hero.
Hemingway borrowed a line from John Donne and used it as the title of his novel. Most people think the line came from a poem entitled “No Man is an Island”, but actually Donne wrote it as prose in a piece entitled “Meditation No. 17”. Those memorable first words of the Meditation are: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of a continent, a part of the main.”
Certainly Donne’s words were taken to heart by the men of the orange and blue on Thursday night. No one particular player was able to beat Mississippi State. It took a team. Not just the offense….in fact one might say “not the offense”, but also the defense. Not just Cameron Newton, but also the Nick Fairley led defense (here I insert a shade-of-memory shout-out to Wayne Hall, Auburn’s defensive coordinator during the Pat Dye era, as Scarbinsky did today in the Birmingham News) won the game in a manner reminiscent of his coach and mentor’s days on The Plains. No man was an island in Starkville.
Mississippi state circled September 9 as the turning point for their program. It was the first SEC game where the cowbells were legal. It was Thursday night on ESPN. It was against an SEC West opponent. It was their opportunity to gain respect. The cowbells would move them over the hump from that dreaded left side of the SEC bell curve. They had everything to win. Auburn had everything to lose. Even the prognosticators had pointed to this as a “trap game” for Auburn.
But State forgot one thing. They forgot to read Hemingway’s novel. Or even Donne’s Meditation.
The last line of Donne’s Meditation No. 17 reminds us of a bell. It reminds us of a bell we cannot escape. Certainly that is what every Stark-vegas Bulldog was thinking as they entered Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. They must have been thinking, "Auburn....this is a bell you cannot escape!!"
That famous and often quoted last line reads “…for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee”. Hemingway took part of this line for his novel: “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. Donne spoke of it as a death bell.
But as much as the maroon clad bulldogs rang their cowbells in an effort to confuse, frustrate and finally get the Auburn Tigers to roll over and die, it didn’t happen. Rather, Donne’s words came hauntingly back…..”For whom the bell tolls……it tolls for you.”
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Is it Christmas Eve?
It’s Christmas Eve.
Not really, but almost.
Although tomorrow isn’t Christmas Day, it does begin another season of NCAA college football. With the Thursday night kickoff, the Southeastern Conference jumps right in with South Carolina taking on Southern Mississippi.
Later this weekend, the rest of the conference joins in and it looks like this:
Alabama hosts San Jose State
Arkansas hosts Tennessee Tech
Auburn hosts Arkansas State
LSU and North Carolina meet at the Georgia Dome
Mississippi State hosts Memphis
Ole Miss hosts Jacksonville State
Florida hosts Miami of Ohio
Georgia hosts Louisiana Lafayette
Kentucky visits Louisville
Tennessee hosts UT Martin
Vanderbilt hosts Northwestern
With most of the SEC playing scrimmage games this week, rather than predict winners and losers, I will go out on a limb and give predictions regarding each team’s Head Coach. You can hold me accountable for my predictions at the end of the season. If you have any comments, concerns or questions, feel free to chime in.
MY PREDICTIONS
The NCAA will not reverse their decision that the only Jeremiah the Right Reverend Houston Nutt will be able to preach from this year is found in the Good book, not the Mug Shot Book.
During the heat of a game, Bobby Petrino will cuss out and then fire an opposing team’s ball boy for wearing a team logo hat.
Lawyer turned Coach Derek Dooley will invoke the attorney-client privilege during all Vol team meetings.
Joker Phillips will find that having no returning starters on the Kentucky offensive line is no joke.
The hot seat that finally gets Mark Richt is the bench his team uses at the Clark County Jail.
Urban Meyer will continue to suffer from Esophageal Reflux from eating too much crow and having no Tebow steaks in his diet.
The Ol’ Ball Coach Steve Spurrier will find that his name is the only thing with a “spur” in it, as his tame roosters cause him to finally move out of a Columbia hotel also.
Les Miles will…..well…..be Les Miles.
Robbie Caldwell will take over for Jeff Foxworthy on “who wants to be smarter than a turkey farmer?”
Nick Saban’s statue will have the “s” missing from his name, but it will have more charm and personality than the Rain Man himself.
The bells Dan Mullen will hear ringing at the end of the season won’t be from Starkville cows, but rather BellSouth….as bigger programs come knocking on his door.
Gene Chizik will find himself neck deep in a post season recruiting battle for one of college football’s most prized recruits……Gus Malzahn.
That’s how I see it. What about you?
WJLaneSR
Not really, but almost.
Although tomorrow isn’t Christmas Day, it does begin another season of NCAA college football. With the Thursday night kickoff, the Southeastern Conference jumps right in with South Carolina taking on Southern Mississippi.
Later this weekend, the rest of the conference joins in and it looks like this:
Alabama hosts San Jose State
Arkansas hosts Tennessee Tech
Auburn hosts Arkansas State
LSU and North Carolina meet at the Georgia Dome
Mississippi State hosts Memphis
Ole Miss hosts Jacksonville State
Florida hosts Miami of Ohio
Georgia hosts Louisiana Lafayette
Kentucky visits Louisville
Tennessee hosts UT Martin
Vanderbilt hosts Northwestern
With most of the SEC playing scrimmage games this week, rather than predict winners and losers, I will go out on a limb and give predictions regarding each team’s Head Coach. You can hold me accountable for my predictions at the end of the season. If you have any comments, concerns or questions, feel free to chime in.
MY PREDICTIONS
The NCAA will not reverse their decision that the only Jeremiah the Right Reverend Houston Nutt will be able to preach from this year is found in the Good book, not the Mug Shot Book.
During the heat of a game, Bobby Petrino will cuss out and then fire an opposing team’s ball boy for wearing a team logo hat.
Lawyer turned Coach Derek Dooley will invoke the attorney-client privilege during all Vol team meetings.
Joker Phillips will find that having no returning starters on the Kentucky offensive line is no joke.
The hot seat that finally gets Mark Richt is the bench his team uses at the Clark County Jail.
Urban Meyer will continue to suffer from Esophageal Reflux from eating too much crow and having no Tebow steaks in his diet.
The Ol’ Ball Coach Steve Spurrier will find that his name is the only thing with a “spur” in it, as his tame roosters cause him to finally move out of a Columbia hotel also.
Les Miles will…..well…..be Les Miles.
Robbie Caldwell will take over for Jeff Foxworthy on “who wants to be smarter than a turkey farmer?”
Nick Saban’s statue will have the “s” missing from his name, but it will have more charm and personality than the Rain Man himself.
The bells Dan Mullen will hear ringing at the end of the season won’t be from Starkville cows, but rather BellSouth….as bigger programs come knocking on his door.
Gene Chizik will find himself neck deep in a post season recruiting battle for one of college football’s most prized recruits……Gus Malzahn.
That’s how I see it. What about you?
WJLaneSR
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