The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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With all of the SEC spring football games completed, one can better make a determination as to who is improved, who has digressed and who remains relatively the same. All spring games are for basically three reasons. First the coaches need to look at some of their younger players in a game situation as similar as possible to a regular football game. Remember, many of these players have not played in a game in two years in some cases. The coaching staff likes to evaluate their performance in...
The greatest rivalry in college football is without question the annual Auburn - Alabama game. It is known around the country as the "Iron Bowl." The game was just another game when the Alabama State Legislature passed legislation that would force the two schools to renew the rivalry after being dormant for four decades. So, in 1948 Auburn and Alabama began playing again in Birmingham's Legion Field. Alabama won the first game. Auburn won the second. Then Alabama reeled off four straight wins...
Last month thousands of “football people” converged on Indianapolis, Indiana for a most important week. Thirty-two NFL teams will have had at least six representatives move into hotels and motels near Lucas Oil Field, the site of the 2015 NFL Combine. Over 300 players from college teams are annually invited to participate in their first “audition” for the best job that they will ever have. Depending on how well they perform, they will become instant millionaires if they are drafted high enough...
JOINER On Sunday, February 1, 2015, the last vestige of the glory days of Sidney Lanier High School came to an end. Legendary basketball coach Bill Joiner fittingly passed away as the half-time of the Super Bowl began at the age of 83. What a fitting way for him to go. As the coach in the pressbox for Coach Bobby Wilson's great football teams of the same era, Bill would scramble down the stadium steps as fast as his old bad knee would allow in order to give Bobby and the rest of the Lanier...
The proliferation of bowl games has been a favorite of mine. There are too many and next year there may even be more. The NCAA sanctions every bowl game played. ESPN will televise any bowl game within a thousand miles of the Continental United States. Why? ESPN makes money. The NCAA makes money. The participating schools make money for themselves, and for their affiliated conference. The independent teams like Notre Dame and Brigham Young really make money. The professional gamblers in Las...
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-A 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 of colleges who were stuck in what they considered the oblivion...
In the spring of 1955, a new high school was being born on Ann Street in what was then East Montgomery. At the time, Sidney Lanier High School, which had been an intellectual bastion of excellence and an athletic power in the state of Alabama, was bulging at the seams, with over 2,000 students. This was somewhat confusing news to nineteen Lanier football players that would be eligible to transfer to the new school, which would be named Robert E. Lee High School. We had all grown up hoping to...
In the spring of 1955, a new high school was being born on Ann Street in what was then East Montgomery. At the time, Sidney Lanier High School, which had been an intellectual bastion of excellence and an athletic power in the state of Alabama, was bulging at the seams, with over 2,000 students. This was somewhat confusing news to nineteen Lanier football players that would be eligible to transfer to the new school, which would be named Robert E. Lee High School. We had all grown up hoping to...
The battle for number one begins August 28 with the SEC contest between Texas A&M at South Carolina. South Carolina could be a contender but Coach Steve Spurrier can not afford to lose to Coach Kevin Sumlin’s Aggies in the opener. Auburn and Alabama kick off the season on the following Saturday. They both will be in the mix to go to the “final four”. However, Auburn plays at least eight teams that could beat the Tigers. Alabama only plays two teams with a legitimate chance to beat the Tide,...
The Auburn road back to the national championship to redeem a lapse of the mind on defense against Florida State last year, became muddy at best just before the SEC Media Days in Birmingham in mid-July. THE LEADER of the Auburn offense was stopped in Georgia for having his windows tinted too dark, which is a traffic violation in Alabama and Georgia. Before completion of a warning ticket, the alert police officer smelled something "funny". It wasn't so funny to Nick Marshall, the Heisman T...
The truth is that all three are very important. But another factor in the success of a football team is injury luck. That means if the team has good coaching, good talent and a favorable schedule, but don't lose any key players during the course of the season, the talent level will not drop below good. This is called injury luck. Then there is the other major factor, schedule luck. Take the Auburn Tigers for instance. They play a formidable schedule in 2014 which includes Kansas State, LSU,...
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17). When I was a young boy, I always wanted a brother, but, it was not to be. One day in the eighth grade at Capitol Heights Junior High School, my life changed in a way that I could not have predicted. My blue and white bicycle with the fenders off, and blue and white stripes on the wheels, was my only means of transportation at the time. One of the members of the football team had a Florida drivers license, which...
The state of Alabama has sent some very good football players to the National Football League, some drafted in the first round. Roman Harper (DB), Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram (RB), Trent Richardson (RB), third in the Heisman voting, Rolando McClain (LB), Corey Lemonier (DE) and Nick Fairley (DT) just to name a few. Most have not lived up to their draft status. The only player from Alabama that is actually starting or contributing to the success of his team is 2013 "Rookie of the Year",...
With spring training winding up for most college football teams, the players will be elated, the coaches will be either happy or deeply concerned and the fans will be delirious after watching the spring games. That event usually indicates that the grueling spring football is over. It is never over for the coaches. They must spend the next week grading the spring game and the entire spring practices. They want to come out of spring with a good idea of who the number ones are, but just as...
It seems that the NFL Combine has been a part of football all my life. That really can not be true because it has only become an important event in professional football for a few decades now. And, it is important, for the players, the coaches, the general managers and the owners. It is not uncommon to see owners in the stands with note pads or stop watches. There are more stop watches at the NFL Combine than there will be at the Summer Olympics. What is "The Combine"? It is an enormous...
Montgomery will officially be one of the four new destinations for a Division 1, NCAA approved college football game for the season of 2014. The "Camellia Bowl" will be held in Montgomery's historic football stadium, Cramton Bowl. Montgomery has been promoted down through the years by the exposure that the "Blue-Gray Game" provided with its national television network affiliations. The Camellia Bowl will take up Montgomery's banner and promote the city in the same manner. The game itself will...
"Oklahoma has a 'pretty good football team', but we will win because we're Alabama". This was the general consensus of the majority of Alabama people heading to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl this year. That attitude was reflected by the football team and the Alabama coaches as well. Some were concerned being down 31-17 at the half, but Alabama would come back with a vengeance in the second half and pull out the victory in Alabama style...Well it didn't happen! Why?. The rest of this column...
For 59 minutes and 47 seconds Auburn outplayed the number one team in the nation in the 2014 BCS Championship Game in the Rose Bowl. But Jamies Winston earned his Heisman Trophy by taking his Florida State Seminoles 80 yards in one minute and six seconds to complete a two yard pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left on the game clock, tearing the heart out of the Auburn Nation. Trey Mason had just put Auburn back in the lead 31-27 with a brilliant 37 yard run where he had to break several...
On November 30, 2013, the football world was shocked into reality and the BCS race to the national championship was shaken to its knees as the underdog Auburn Tigers miraculously pulled another miracle out of "Malzahn the Magician's" hat. A new but similar bumper sticker will proudly adorn millions of Auburn cars after the Tigers' Chris Davis returned a missed 57 yard field goal attempt by Alabama's Adam Griffith, from nine yards in his own end zone, for the touchdown that ripped the heart out...
There are many optimistic Auburn fans who are prepared to go to Jordan-Hare Stadium on November 30th to witness the game which will determine the champion of the Western Division of the SEC, with the winner going to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. This of course depends on three things; Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia. The Arkansas thing will be decided on November 2nd in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Tennessee thing will be decided on November 9th in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Georgia thing...
Starting with the football season of 2014 a four team play-off will be initiated. This may or may not be better than what we have with the BCS Championship Plan with only the top two teams participating. The football world is anxious to come up with any plan that will keep the SEC from dominating the national championship play-off. The SEC has won the last seven championships. The good news for the SEC is that in 2014 it is conceivable that two SEC teams could be in the four team play-off. This...
