The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Starting with the football season of 2014, a four team play-off was initiated by the NCAA to determine the real national champion on the football field, replacing the original two team BCS. The SEC has won or played in the last eleven play-offs. This four team play-off will not satisfy the football fans of American very long. Many are interested in an eight team play-off. Mark my word! That is the next step for the NCAA and the American Football Coaches Association. It won't be far away! Let's...
It has been heartbreaking to me as a football fan to watch some of the teams in the south who have moved up to Division I football over the last decade. Teams like Troy, UAB, South Alabama and Georgia State were probably correct in the assessment of moving into the top class of college football with the plethora of bowl games available, the promise of more money in the coffers due to expanded crowds and fan bases. Also the alumni were stuck in what they considered the oblivion of Division 1-AA...
Coach Paul Bryant had many “sayings” as he called them. One of them was “the harder you work, the luckier you get.” So, using this little bit of wisdom from The Coach, it is my belief that Alabama and Clemson playing in a rematch of the national championship game last year is not even remotely a result of luck. Coach Nick Saban learned the basics to coaching football from Coach Don James at Kent State. Saban played for James and later coached for James at Kent State. Don James, who was an assi...
Most of the pundits had Alabama as a prohibitive favorite in the first bowl game of the year, the Iron Bowl. The Vegas line was 17 - 18 points. Many Auburn and Alabama friends of mine wanted to know what I thought would happen Saturday, November 26. My reaction never waivered. I believed that Auburn could make it close if Alabama had at least two turnovers in the game. If not, then I saw Alabama winning by 14 points. They had two turnovers in the first half and Auburn only trailed by four...
Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn has been coaching for over twenty-five years. He has been a head coach in college for four and one-half seasons, one at Arkansas State and three and one-half at Auburn. This year, after losses to Clemson and Texas A&M in the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium, Coach Malzahn announced to the world that he would be giving up his play calling duties to Offensive Coordinator Rhett Lashlee. Lashlee has been with Malzahn for all of his college career and during...
It has been a weakness of mine over the years to give people second chances, and sometimes third chances. That may be admirable, but it is not good for your reputation, if one is keeping track of your winning percentage. Some second chances work out, third chances hardly ever. Nevertheless, I will probably not change. For fifteen years, I have been publishing my “Top 40” college pre-season football teams. It’s kind of like drawing to an inside straight in another game of chance. If you want...
Contrary to popular belief, soccer is not the fastest growing sport in America. College football is. In the last four years, thirty-six football programs have been started or re-started at NCAA, NAIA or independent institutions. There are now almost 130 Division I teams competing among NCAA member institutions alone. The success of professional football is also at an all-time high. This includes the National Football League, the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League. In the sout...
The following is an in-depth look at the pre-season positions of the fourteen teams that make up the Eastern and Western Divisions of the SEC, and where we think they will stack up at the end of the regular season: Western Conference ALABAMA - It is hard not to put Nick Saban’s team at the top of the West again. Even though the quarterback situation is still unsettled, fear not! In Saban’s system, a great quarterback is not required. He is only looking for the guy that can lead the team, mak...
In December, 2014, my column was devoted to the concept of certain college football teams moving their NCAA classification from Division IAA to Division I. The reasons that these schools make this move is based on a false premise that by playing the "Big Boys" it will bring them prestige, thereby attracting more students from more locations in the country. This is not a totally incorrect theory because the names of these former IAA teams will be in the news more. This could possibly attract some...
We entered the “hallowed halls” of Lanier in September, 1953 with some trepidation. The massive structure looked more like a college than a high school. There were approximately 2,000 of us milling around, trying to find the right place to be. We had come from smaller junior high schools which served certain sections of Montgomery. But this? This was out of our comfort zone. This was an amalgamation of all sections of Montgomery; Baldwin area, Cloverdale area, Capitol Heights area, Dal...
The 60th reunion of the class of '56 enjoyed a wonderful meal at a great facility inside the Wynn Lakes Country Club April 16, 2016. It was so special to see 78 year old friends acting like teenagers, that is, those who could stand up without assistance. Some even tried to dance to the sounds of the '50's'. Not many danced very long. There were no oxygen tanks in the room. After me and my wife Betty tried to dance "The Panama City Bop", we were glad to hear the end of Chuck Berry's "Long Distanc...
Alabama fans are in a state of anxiety again this spring. “Who will be our quarterback?” This question is asked of me almost every day. Everybody loved Blake Sims two years ago, but he could not deliver the prize. Nobody wanted Jake Coker last year. All he did was go 14-0 as Alabama’s starting quarterback and hand the unbelieving Tide fans another national championship. “Really, who will be our quarterback this year?” As long as Nick Saban is the coach, there will be an adequate quarterback! Bef...
A 6'-5", 235 lb. quarterback that never lost a game in college (14-0) did not receive an invitation to compete in the NFL Scouting Combine. He also led his team to the 2015 NCAA National Championship. From my vantage point, he was the MVP of the championship game. So, what's the problem? It is that Alabama's Jake Coker was not on any scouting lists in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012. Why? He had never started a game since his senior year in high school, that's why. The chemistry on this 2015 team was...
Every year, there is always change that comes to each sports team. Some of the times, coaching changes are made for the better or for the worst. The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers are no strangers to coaching coaches. For these heavy rivals, there are huge similar coaching changes that have transpired so far in the 2016 offseason. Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart left Alabama to be the head coach at Eastern Divisional rival the Georgia Bulldogs. Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp left Auburn to be the head coach at Eastern Divisio...
Levi Stadium in San Fransisco could be "Peyton's Place" on February 7, 2016. Two months shy of his 40th birthday, Peyton Manning will start the 50th Super Bowl with a determination to end his remarkable career with a win for the Denver Broncos over Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. This is a contrast between the past of one of the greatest quarterbacks in history (Manning) and the new breed of quarterback (Newton) which may define the future. Peyton will be the oldest quarterback to start a...
Starting with the football season of 2014, a four team play-off was initiated. This may or may not be better than what we had with the BCS Championship Plan with only the top two teams participating. The football world has been anxious to come up with any plan that will keep the SEC from dominating the national championship play-off. The SEC has won or played in the last ten play-offs. This four team play-off will not satisfy the football fans of American very long. They are only interested in...
As the 2015 football season winds down, the talk centers on what four teams will make the National Championship Playoff, which teams will fill the 40 bowls. (The NCAA needs 80 teams to fill the record high 40 bowl games), and of course, who will win the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman Trophy was originally created to honor the best college football player in America. For the last 65 years it has been presented to the best quarterback or running back in America. The award is named for a former...
In the State of Alabama, football is the most dominant sport. Most male high school athletes go to play collegiate football. Once in a while, a player will come from no where and achieve a high level of success where he will play for a top basketball collegiate program. Then he will proceed to the NBA where he will considered one of the best in the world. There are three players from of Alabama that have done so and are hoping to make a name for themselves for the upcoming 2015-2016 NBA season. Those players are starting Sacramento Kings Center...
This column should be praising the resurgence of Alabama. However, I don't consider them ever being down. This Alabama team is the most physical in years. It is no surprise to me that they are headed toward the Final Four. On the other hand, the demise of Auburn is a national Shakespearian Tragedy! Every pre-season poll had the Tigers ranked in the top ten and some in the top four including your's truly. And, why not? After all Coach Gus Malzahn had hired the "best defensive mind in college...
The top teams in my "Top Forty" started the 2015 season well. Alabama smoked Wisconsin 35-17, Auburn got up 24-0 on Louisville then had to hang on as Bobby Petrino's team came roaring back. Ohio St. dug the hole a little deeper for Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech, 42-24. TCU handled Minnesota on the road 23-17. Georgia did a number on La-Monroe, 51-14. UCLA treated Virginia gingerly, 34-16. USC busted Arkansas St., 55-6 only to lose to Stanford two weeks later 41-31. Baylor started their...
In sports, there are always times when a player can get sidelined by a situation that they can not control, like an injury. There are also times when players get sidelined for reasons beyond sports. That is what happened to star Kansas City Chiefs Safety and former Tennessee star, Eric Berry. His NFL career was almost ended prematurely. After suffering from a high ankle sprain in the 2nd week of the 2014 season, Berry played four more games starting on November 2nd against the New York Jets....
Picking the top college football teams for the 2015 season was more difficult than in most years. The top four teams will of course qualify for the 2015 National Championship Play-Offs. The obvious choice for number one is the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes from last year. They don’t lose any key missing parts. Coach Urban Meyer is a proven commodity. He now has three national championship rings, two from Florida. He has built successful programs at every stop-Bowling Green, Utah, Florida...
It was cold. It was wet. It was miserable. It was November. It was 1967. It was Birmingham. It was Legion Field. It was the Iron Bowl. It was late in the second half. It was Auburn 3- Alabama- 0. I was huddled with my date under one of 40,000 umbrellas in the stadium. Ken Stabler takes the snap. He's running the option right. Alabama's right guard "tackles" Auburn's nose guard, Gusty Yearout. Stabler cuts inside, breaks right and sloshes through the Legion Field mud for fifty-seven yards. It...
"There's a time to be living...a time for to die." Montgomery and Troy lost a favorite son on the last day of April this year. Coach Pat Garner lost a somewhat short battle with lung cancer and bone cancer. He was 77. Coach Garner certainly knew how to live. He also knew how to die. His life was so full of activities that he never got bored with daily living. His faith in God was strong enough to carry him through the death of his first wife Jane Marie Helms Garner, (the mother of his five...
In the December issue of The Alabama Gazette, the most successful monthly newspaper in the state, my column dealt with the dilemma that UAB, Troy, USA and other colleges have gone through by moving from D-I AA to D-I in football. Unfortunately, this upward and onward quest has not provided the desired results. The struggles that my friend Larry Blakeney has gone through in order to make this work at Troy has not escaped my attention. In consultation with Coach George "Snoozy" Jones my attention...
