I Want To Hear From You!

As you may be aware, we are in the part of the season where very little is accomplished in the world of college football. We’ve just finished spring practice, not too many recruits announce this time of year, and we’ve still got a long summer to go before fall camps start.

So, in the interest of trying to entertain everyone out there, I have decided to see if my readers would like anything new and creative for the summer so we’ll have something to discuss/ keep us busy.

Hopefully you see the poll at the bottom of this post (I’m using PollDaddy.com), so this shouldn’t be too difficult.

The choices are:

Fan Posts- Yes, if you write it, I will post it. Needless to say, I won’t accept spammers or anything of that nature. But I will accept honest fan opinion pieces. All you’d need to do it e-mail me (shown above). I love reader comments and feedback, so don’t feel nervous at all.

Book Reviews- I usually choose to read either faith based books or sports books over the summer, but I’d do mostly sporting books so I could continue this whole sports blogging…. thing without anybody worrying if I’ve gone off the reservation or not. I’d probably poll readers on what books I should read, and I’d probably do one per week/2 weeks depending on my schedule and the book.

Guest Bloggers- I’d find anybody who would be willing to post a weekly/monthly/whatever blog post in order to shake things up a bit. This would be slightly different from the fan pieces since I’d probably try to seek some people who are either better known or already bloggers themselves.

Blog Switch- Similar to the Guest Bloggers, except I would trade a post with another site. This would obviously have to be a blogger, unlike the GB. It would be like a parallel universe almost. WoOoOoO!!!!

Don’t Do Anything- If you don’t care for any of these options, or you like me the way I am, this is your option.

Also, I should add that if you have any other suggestions, either send me an e-mail or leave a comment. Also, if you can’t see or use the poll I’ve inserted, you can also e-mail or leave a comment. POLLING ENDS ON SUNDAY!!!!

My Dream

So yeah…. I doubt I’ll be skipping a night of sleep again. The project has been turned in, after a day of finding ways to keep myself from sitting still for two minutes as to not pass out. I ended up in bed around 8 pm, and after a night of some of the oddest dreams I have ever had, I finally woke up around 9:30 this morning.

When I say strange dreams, I mean STRANGE. The only one worth sharing involves Ron Zook, Boston, and a night of awesomeness. I’m sure that line alone just grabbed your attention.

So in my dream, I had decided to take my girlfriend out for a nice meal at a restaurant I have never seen before in my life (A. Yes, I do have a girlfriend and B. I have no idea if my dream restaurant had a name). This place wasn’t in Tuscaloosa, so how or why we got there was a bit of a mystery. All I remember is being taken to a table that you had to share with your fellow customers. Think Japanese steakhouse, but with a bigger set-up.

There was live music, so I was enjoying myself in this dream world I had concocted. All of the sudden, I hear some voices starting to mumble from the back about “hey look! It’s that guy who failed at Florida!” I, being the college football fan that I am, turned around to see this man in a suit and mock turtleneck:

Have You Ever Seen The Sun Rise?

I’m about to this glorious morning. It’s 5 am right now, and I am still working on a final project due Tuesday evening. Once this bad boy is finished, I’ll probably enter a coma for the rest of the week waiting for my chance to graduate. YEAH, GRADUATION! I’M SO EXCITED! I’M SO EXCITED! I’M SO SCARED! ….zzzzzzz

Just kidding. I’m not one of those pill poppers who takes anything a buddy “recommends” to them. No sir, I am a user of the caffeine. It you could make caffeine patches, they would probably be the biggest seller during finals week. Wait….. copyright!

Was There A Draft This Weekend?

Alabama had zero players drafted. None, nadda, zilch. Yes, for the first time since 1970, the NFL did not draft a single Crimson Tide player. Needless to say, there are Alabama players entering the NFL. Justin Britt, Matt Caddell, Wallace Gilberry, and Simeon Castille have all signed free agent contracts, but this message is loud and clear: Alabama does not have the players that the other SEC schools have…. not yet anyways.

We’ve suffered many setbacks over the years, but this one did come somewhat unexpected. While this was set up to be an extremely uneventful draft for Alabama, I and many other Tide fans were expecting 2 or 3 of our guys to be drafted somewhere towards the end. But, it never happened. I suppose the one positive is that this did remind us of one important fact: You must have the horses in order to run with the contenders.

Make no mistake about it, these 3 out of 4 years of mediocrity were not created from thin air. It feels almost like a perfect storm of bad things for Alabama: probation, coaches in strip clubs, poor coaching hires, and a stronger conference overall. While there were plenty of self-inflicted wounds, many Alabama fans were starting to wonder if there was actually going to be any light at the end of this dark tunnel. Now, under the 2nd year of the Saban era of Crimson Tide football, we’re starting to get an actual sense that our program is actually starting to tread on solid ground, but not without some more hardships.

2008 may prove to be another difficult season with a group of tough road opponents, a thin depth chart, and a new offense to learn. But don’t worry, because for once we don’t have to lie to ourselves that things will turn around. Even when Shula had his 10 win season and the fans were talking like everything was ok, there was a sense of uncertainty following that Cotton Bowl against Texas Tech.

Maybe no outsiders can start to see why Alabama fans are excited about Nick Saban. He knows what qualities are needed, and he knows how to attract the stars of the future. Is he able to turn programs around in a blink of an eye? No, even though many Tide fans tried to get ahead of themselves, not even Nick Saban can make magic. Saban’s best quality, aside from recruiting, is his ability to design and construct a program’s infrastructure…. I’ll probably post my thoughts on this in another post for another day.

Right now, there really isn’t much to be gained from gnashing teeth over this issue. While some will probably try to chuckle, this non-drafting day wasn’t anything to derail what is already taking place. Saban is making a BIG impact around the SEC, and he alone is bringing the changes we need. He cleared out the old blood, brought in fresh faces, and has completely redesigned Alabama’s football structure.

Druid Pictures

While everyone else is discussing Saban’s nifty way of legally recruiting players, I decided to enjoy the Quad on a beautiful spring day. Most of us get to see it during the football season, but rarely are a majority of Alabama fans exposed to it empty and green in the middle of spring…. you know, when the grass isn’t dead because of 90,000 people on top of it.

Click to see the pics!

Super Six Coming Your Way

And by no means am I suggesting anything by posting these two pictures together. Nope, no suggestions here:

A Day on the Crimson Caravan

*Sitting in the driver’s seat of a jumbo sized RV, we find Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore wearing a worn truckers hat while humming along with C.W. McCall’s classic tune Convoy*

Mal: Con-voy! *inhales* Yes sir, the open road has never looked so good! I’m glad I could get out of the office for a few days to enjoy the great state of Alabama. On to Mobile!

*stumbling forward due to a bumpy ride, Nick Saban quickly plops down into the passenger’s seat*

My Gosh, We’ve Sunk So Low….

A friend of mine sent me a link to the following:

Some thoughts:

• I’m afraid of what a McCainiac actually does with their free time
• What, Hill-Rod couldn’t afford another tear down her cheek?
• Barack……………… that was the lamest thing I’ve ever heard. Seriously man, you’re making this dorky white guy feel uncomfortable.
• McCain would’ve won my vote if he had done the following: A) Actually given us a better acting job. B) inserted a random Ric Flair “WOOO!” just before he body slammed Tim Russert through the nearest table.
• Question for Hillary: Is that your toughest looking scarf?
• Barack apparently changed his named to Bareck. I appreciate Senator McCain for informing us all.
• Obama, I’ve given this a lot of thought…… that was STILL the lamest thing I’ve ever heard. You seem like the kind of guy to eat discount corn flakes in the morning in total silence, only to utter “Now for the bran muffin” once you finish your cereal.

Don’t Panic Alabama, The PapaJohns.com Bowl Returns!

Rejoice citizens of Alabama, for today is the day we finally learn the fate of our craptacular wonderful bowl game. The PapaJohns.com Bowl is returning (HT: AL.com)!

Yes, thanks to the public outcry from…. uh, groups, the Papa John’s franchise has decided to support Legion Field and its surrounding areas. Thank goodness, because I was under the impression that absolutely no one wanted anything to do with this bowl.

Where would I ever get such an idea?

The annual match-up between C-USA and the Big East will probably continue to draw low numbers as it grows with time. Still, if ESPN regional is willing to burn spend its money for this event, I guess there isn’t much else to say in this matter.

There aren’t a ton of people outside of the Universities (just a guess) who know what PapaJohns.com is for, much less use it. It’s a nothing bowl with a .com title, which usually lowers the value of whatever it is associated with in the world of sports.

Your Picture of the Day

Even when you try your best, you can’t make this stuff up sometimes. (SOURCE)