Crimson Tide Football and Other Alabama Sports Musings

Yikes, this game is scary When the Tide and Tigers run onto the field at Bryant Denny for a 2:30 kickoff on November 26 it will the 81st Iron Bowl. I've lost count, but I think it might be my 20th game in person since taking my bicycle to a game in 1972 when a student at Samford and buying a student ticket for $2 and talking a gate keeper into letting me in without an ID. That was before transferring to Alabama in 1973. And getting hooked for life on this football team. It happened to Virginia when we attended The Kick in 1985 for her first game. When that 52-yard field goal sailed through she was hooked too. Just like that first game I attended, this game isn't a sure thing. You may recall the Dec. 1, 1972, game is known as the Punt Bama Punt game. Bama was ranked #2 in the nation and 14-point favorites. You'll recall that Bama led by 16 with ten minutes, when Shug Jordan called for a field goal and was booed when the score became 16-3. Auburn fans because it seem...

Yikes, this game is scary When the Tide and Tigers run onto the field at Bryant Denny for a 2:30 kickoff on November 26 it will the 81st Iron Bowl. I've lost count, but I think it might be my 20th game in person since taking my bicycle to a game in 1972 when a student at Samford and buying a student ticket for $2 and talking a gate keeper into letting me in without an ID. That was before transferring to Alabama in 1973. And getting hooked for life on this football team. It happened to Virginia when we attended The Kick in 1985 for her first game. When that 52-yard field goal sailed through she was hooked too. Just like that first game I attended, this game isn't a sure thing. You may recall the Dec. 1, 1972 game is known as the Punt Bama Punt game. Bama was ranked #2 in the nation and 14-point favorites. You'll recall that Bama led by 16 with ten minutes, when Shug Jordan called for a field goal and was booed when the score became 16-3. Auburn fans because it seeme...

As Alabama begins to set its sights on the Iron Bowl and Atlanta, they have a  week where even Coach Saban thought a Monday off might be good for the troops. The Tide will suit up against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga "Mocs" for a 6 p.m. central kickoff on November 19. The game in Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa will be on ESPN2. By the way, do you know what a Moc is?  Let me take a moment to explain how our world of political correctness has created a twisted and tortured journey to arrive at this mascot. First, going back to the 1920s, the team was represented by a snake and was obviously the Moccasins. At some point over the next 50 years an Indian came to represent the team and the moccasin became, of course, a shoe. Then, as teams began to be embarrassed by the political correctness police the school realized that the state bird was a Mockingbird, so they could keep their name and shorten the name to the Mocs. And the new symbol would be, of course,...

Morning games need to start differently I thought I'd share this memory of the morning pre-game ritual atop our hotel in Phoenix before the historic shootout between Bama and Clemson earlier this year. This will be the table fare before Mississippi State for those friends who join me before the game. The game will be in Bryant-Denny Stadium with an 11 central kickoff to be featured on ESPN. A quick look back Last week watching the LSU game reminded me how fickle the game can be, especially with a young QB. All year I kept saying we may see the freshman show up in one game. We did, but he is so talented he overcame his own weaknesses, with help from an incredible defense. Here's the final paragraph from last week that now looks accurate:  All said and done, I see the Tide winning in close a game that is never out of reach for either team. Bama should be careful with the ball. Final score sees Bama  pulling away late by 10. The match-up against the the Bulldogs ...

Will LSU's voodoo work this time around with a night game in Baton Rouge?  Last week the analysis proved accurate and I'll give it an A on the prediction. This week was much harder. The stats say Bama by two or three scores, but the momentum of LSU says different. If you believe the team and its coach, the season started over when Miles left. And the scores of 42-7, 45-10 and 38-21 over the past three weeks of the Coach Ed Orgeron era suggest that may be true. It certainly made me worry about the stats being irrelevant. The team feels like it is 3-0. I tend to believe them. With LSU's revived offense and the return of Leonard Fournette, I had to take a look at how Bama might handle that running game that so decimated Ole Miss. And don't overlook the fact that Guice gains 8 yards a carry for LSU--the same as Fournette. This was one of the two games I circled prior to the season as the place we might see Bama suffer a loss, as I expected not to pass the gauntlet o...