Filed under: Sports
I could give my review….but this pretty much sums it up for me. I’m a proud Bama fan today, that’s for sure.
Youthful Crimson Tide rising ahead of schedule
By Ivan Maisel
ESPN.com
ATLANTA — Alabama coach Nick Saban wanted to play No. 9 Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic for several reasons. He wanted the national prime-time exposure of the opening Saturday night. He wanted his No. 24 Crimson Tide to have a presence in this recruiting hotbed. He wanted his young team that has 14 freshmen on the two-deep to play in a bowl-like atmosphere.
In sum, Saban wanted his team to play this game so he could prepare for a future when it would be ready to contend for championships. In the wake of Alabama’s 34-10 victory, that might have been Saban’s only miscalculation.
Future? The future is now. If Alabama continues to play as well as it played Saturday night, the Crimson Tide will play in the Georgia Dome again this season — in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Saban doesn’t trust success. He sees complacency in every compliment. It’s not that he can’t get no satisfaction; he just doesn’t want it.
“I am really proud of this team and how it competed,” Saban said. “It was a great win for our team. I’m happy for our team. But we got to learn how to play with consistency.”
However, a few minutes later, after someone suggested the adjective “unbelievable” to describe Alabama’s dominance, Saban said softly, “It really was.”
That adjective might have entered the mind of Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, too.
“We got whipped about every way you get whipped,” Bowden said. “… I don’t think we’ve been beat that bad physically probably in three years.”
Season openers are littered with mistakes, even for highly ranked teams. That’s what made Alabama’s performance so compelling. The calendar said it was late August. Alabama said it was late October. Here’s how:
• Alabama had 80 snaps to Clemson’s 48 and held the ball for 41:13.
• Alabama ran the ball 43 times without losing a yard, a streak that lasted into the game’s 52nd minute. The Tide finished with 239 rushing yards on 50 carries.
• Alabama committed no turnovers and forced two.
• Alabama held Clemson’s rushing game, which featured James Davis and C.J. Spiller, to zero rushing yards.
• Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson, rarely pressured, completed 22 of 30 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns.
“We kept hearing, ‘Best team in the ACC,’” said Alabama tight end Nick Walker, who caught seven passes for 67 yards and a touchdown. “It didn’t faze us at all.”
Instead, Walker fazed the Tigers. “Maybe we can cover that [No.] 88 by next week sometime,” Bowden said, referring to the 6-foot-5, 248-pound senior.
The offense installed by new coordinator Jim McElwain didn’t resemble anything newfangled. Alabama has two good tight ends and a veteran offensive line. Together, they knocked Clemson backward. Big plays came at a premium, as Alabama had one run of more than 20 yards and only two touchdown passes. But the Tide moved forward steadily, inexorably — like, well, the tide.
“It’s a feeling you can’t explain, I guess,” said junior Mike Johnson, who started at guard and played tackle after preseason All-American Andre Smith suffered a knee sprain. (Saban said he didn’t know Smith’s prognosis.) “… We told ourselves that nobody is going to be more physical than us. Nobody is going to beat us off the ball. Nobody is going to touch our quarterback. That’s pretty much what we accomplished tonight.”
Clemson All-ACC wide receiver Aaron Kelly did not catch a pass until 2:42 remained in the first half and finished with five catches for 28 yards.
Three Tigers starters left the game with injuries in the first half and did not return.
That last one may sound callous. But Alabama won the collisions and won them early. The Tide knocked the Tigers off their stride in the first half and never let them back in the game. After C.J. Spiller returned the second-half kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, Alabama responded two possessions later with a 14-play, 67-yard drive. Wilson threw a four-yard touchdown pass to freshman Julio Jones, Mark Ingram added a two-point conversion, and the Tide led 31-10.
“Those are the kind of things,” Saban said, referring to the kickoff, “that maybe we would melt down on the past. Maybe something bad would happen. People would flatten out. … When you respond to adversity like we did tonight, that’s the sign of being a good competitor.”
With 11:20 to play in the fourth quarter, after Ingram (17-for-96, one touchdown) rumbled 28 yards down the right sideline, Alabama fans began chanting “SEC! SEC!” That’s the same cheer that reverberated throughout the Louisiana Superdome in January when LSU defeated Ohio State, 38-24, in the BCS National Championship Game.
There were no cheers of “ACC!” ACC!” Maryland and North Carolina struggled to put away FCS teams. NC State lost 34-0 to South Carolina. And a parachutist trying to deliver a game ball to the Tar Heels at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., landed at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham. It might get worse for the ACC, but it’s hard to imagine how.
It might get better for Alabama, but that’s hard to imagine, too.
“I would say our team played well for an opening game,” Saban said.
He has set his sights on Atlanta. The team already has commitments from three area high school seniors to sign with Alabama in February. That’s why Saban campaigned to play in this game, and that’s why officials with the game and at the university say it is all but certain that Alabama will return to this game in 2009 to play Virginia Tech.
Watching the Tide roll away Saturday night, it is fair to suggest that Alabama may be here this December, too.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I’m in need of a DVD projector for a few hours on Sunday, September 7. If anyone has one, or knows anyone who has one that I could borrow, PLEASE let me know ASAP.
Thanks!
Filed under: Uncategorized
I just finished watching Barack’s speech from the DNC last night and I thought he did well. I also enjoyed Michelle’s speech as well as Hillary, Bill & Joe Biden’s speeches. It makes me proud to be a democrat this year.
I’m a little disheartened at how judgmental many are being simply because Obama is black…or even more because he has a Muslim heritage. My mother is guilty of this. My grandmother is guilty of this. And that saddens me. Do your research people! Why should his father being Muslim (which he was only raised as…his father was an atheist as an adult) be held against him? He wasn’t raised by his father and his father wasn’t very much a part of his life. My father wasn’t a part of my life at all…does that mean I should be judged based on my father’s beliefs as well? I’m getting off on a tangent here. My apologies. My point is – I wish people could open their minds a little. Just a little.
You know, I really don’t dislike McCain. As a person, he seems like a generally nice human being who genuinely cares for this country. I just don’t see him being able or willing to make the changes that we so desperately need at this moment. We’re in trouble and we need someone who is capable and willing to do what it takes to pull us back from the brink, and for me, Barack is that man. I still probably would rather have had Hillary as our nominee, but I’m confident that we’ve picked the right person in the end.
I urge everyone reading this to do your research and vote in November. Whoever your candidate of choice might be – show up on November 4 and exercise this privilege that we’ve been given and vote. And, of course, if you’re voting for Barack….well, that’s all the better.
Filed under: Film
We saw Hamlet 2 this weekend. I had actually really been looking forward to this movie because the trailer (http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/hamlet2/) was just so absurd that it had to be funny. It didn’t disappoint. It was funny…and heartwarming at times…and did I mention funny?
It’s about this washed-out, wanna-be actor who ends up teaching drama to a class full of misfits at a high school. His specialty is putting on ridiculous play adaptions of various films (Erin Brockovich anyone?) and they’re always horribly reviewed…and after getting the news that the school is doing away with the drama department, he decides to put on his own original play called Hamlet 2, based on his childhood relationship with his father and somehow also involves Hamlet going back in time with Jesus in a time machine to stop everyone from killing themselves at the end of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The play is offensive, and crude and well, just hilarious.
It’s a good watch. Definitely a fun time to be had by all at the movies. Go see it.
I think that’s it for the summer movie season. I still want to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona pretty badly. Even more than that: Burn After Reading on September 12.
I took a little vacation last weekend. My mom, being the lucky person she is, takes off every August (yes, the whole month) for vacation and goes to our (her) house in Gulf Shores. My beach time has gotten significantly less over the last few years and I had only been one other time this year, so this was my last opportunity before summer comes to an end. So, I took off Thursday & Friday and headed down to the beach, just me & Raimi.
I felt like an old person. First off, I had been up until 3am Wednesday night trying to finish something that I was supposed to take to my mom, so by the time I got down to the beach that afternoon I was just exhausted. I did nothing Thursday night. Friday mom & I headed for the beach. I really wanted to take Raimi, but there isn’t a dog-friendly beach anywhere along the AL Gulf Coast. My friend Britt told me about this one place where the locals take their pets, so we drove down there and sure enough, there were no pet signs everywhere. I was assured that everyone takes their animals there so we unloaded the dog and started walking toward the beach. Luckily, as we got closer we found another couple who were taking their dog, so I felt much more comfortable. Although there was this one smartass who pointed out the “no pets allowed” sign to us and told us if the ranger caught us we’d be fined $500. My mother, in her best smartass voice, said “well then we’ll just pay it.” I think she really wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but she refrained.
So we spent about 2 hours on the beach. Raimi got to chase his frisbee, only it was so hot that he really could only go “fetch” about 10 times and he’d be overheated and would have to lie down. We had this little shade area set up behind our chairs for him, but instead he chose to bury himself under my mother’s chair every single time. Which wasn’t very comfortable for her because it pushed her ass up in the air and him panting made her stomach vibrate. Kind of like those machines that are supposed to shake the fat off of you, but on a much smaller scale. Here are a couple of pictures:
View from my beach chair
Raimi buried under my mom's chair
Another one. Mom's going to kill me for posting this one
After we were sufficiently fried and Raimi sufficiently tired, we headed home. Now…my aunt Linda bought a kayak. This, in essence, means that everyone else wants to go buy a kayak, my mother included. She had been talking about this kayak nonstop and as soon as we got back from the beach, she wanted us to go kayaking down the river right behind our house. So, we did. Raimi included. He didn’t particularly like the fact that I was out in the kayak and kept trying to swim out to me, so I pulled back up and put him in and Raimi and I kayaked around the river. It was so much fun. I wish that we would’ve gotten pictures of Raimi in the kayak, but we went camera-less down to the water so we didn’t. I did get pictures of him swimming though – not that anyone cares – but he never liked the water until last weekend and now he’s a swimming expert of a dog.
More pictures:
Kayak!
Raimi swimming!
More swimming!
And more swimming!
Friday ended with me, Jenna & her new boyfriend Tim, and my friend Britt going to Biloxi to see Better Than Ezra for free at some casino. We got there late and missed 30 minutes of the show, but it was a fun outing nonetheless.
Pictures:
Me & Jenna
Jenna & Tim
Me & Britt
Afterwards we went back to Fairhope to some little pizza place that was open late to have a drink and Tim ended up befriending some crazy person named Brent who apparently had a drink named after him – “the B bomb” – and he wanted to buy one for us all, but we declined and headed home.
Saturday: After having gotten to sleep really late Friday night/Saturday morning, I was so tired all freaking day, plus it was raining and gross so mom & I went to see The Dark Knight – my 4th time and her 1st – and afterwards we met some family & friends at Lulu’s for dinner. http://www.lulusathomeport.com/ Lulu’s is owned by Jimmy Buffett’s sister, Lulu Buffett (worst name ever) and everyone I know goes there and it’s been hyped so much. Honestly, the atmosphere was cool, but I don’t see the hype. It was just a restaurant. Decent food…good atmosphere…nothing extremely special though. That was about it for Saturday because I was so tired that night and fell asleep at 8:00…again – felt like an old person.
Sunday: My last day. I decided not to leave until later in the day in the hopes of getting in some more beach time but when I woke up and it was cloudy, we just decided to do some shopping. There’s a new “Summit” type mall at Malbis, which is located right outside of Daphne on I-10 so we decided to go up there and then meet Jenna for lunch before I headed back. But….before we went to Malbis, mom wanted to go to Daphne to check out this new store. As soon as we got there we realized what a mistake we made. Yes, folks, I drove around trying to find a parking space for 10 minutes for the grand opening of the…………………….wait for it………………………Bass Pro Shops.
It’s every redneck’s dream come true. They were coming in flocks to this thing. The parking lot was overflowing into the JC Penney parking lot ACROSS THE STREET. It was the single most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in my life – ever. Hands down. You’d think these people were at Disney World. Granted, it’s not a store that you typically see in Alabama, but I’ve been in one before so I wasn’t in awe of the waterfalls and fish tanks and trees. It feels like being at the Rainforest Cafe (mmmm) at Downtown Disney (or one of the many other locations) without the good food. So we fought and pushed our way through this store only to come out to find TWO…count them, TWO police officers directing traffic in the parking lot and then we waited for 15 minutes to get out of the lot. I felt like I was sitting in concert traffic. RIDICULOUS. Absolutely ridiculous.
That’s pretty much the end of my story because sadly, after that, I had to drive home and get back to reality. This is pretty much the most pointless, most anti-climactic post yet – I mean…the Bass Pro Shops grand-opening is how I ended my vacation. Pathetic, yes?
