Last night's Crimson Caravan was absolutely outstanding. The guys at Bama on the Bluff (the local Alumni chapter) did a wonderful job, and we hope to have many more events like this in Memphis in the near future.
Coach Saban is an absolutely magnificent speaker. His talks fire you up and get you motivated more than anybody that I've ever heard. It's almost mesmerizing. Funny thing is, he's preaching the same things that I've been taught my whole life. Simple things like the following:
1) Do your job. Be accountable and handle your responsibilities to the best of your ability. Be disciplined.
2) What happens to everyone else should not affect what we do or how we work. The scoreboard doesn't matter.
3) Be a leader.
4) Stay positive and always give your best effort.
5) Be classy.
6) Don't just be "good enough." Dominate all the time.
It's things like that that I've been taught by my father from the time I was born. It's good to hear it coming from the Capstone again. That stuff comes straight from the book of Bear Bryant. Always has, always will.
I was kinda curious why Coach Mal Moore was not there last night. Not sure what happened with that. The Dean of the College of Engineering was outstanding. That guy's a motivator, and is incredibly high energy to be a Dean. Haha. The Volleyball coach was outstanding as well, along with the head honcho of the National Alumni Association. Eli Gold did a much better-than-expected job as emcee of the event.
Overall, a very good night. I got to meet Chris Wallace, GM of the Memphis Grizzlies. He and Lionel Hollins, the head coach of the Grizz, were there with their wives. Also met Warren St. John, author of Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer. Everyone was incredibly nice. Made me want football season to be here even more. Haha.
I'm sure I'll have more to post soon enough. Have a great hump day!
¶ 8:55 AM1 comments
The Crimson Caravan rolls through Memphis tonight, and I'll be there. Trust me, if you're showing up, you're going to have to talk to me. Haha.
I think there may be a couple of tickets left, so I would suggest calling and ordering asap, before you try to just walk in and pay.
I'm sure I'll have plenty of updates for you guys tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get to mingle with some of the crew from Tuscaloosa.
Adding Michigan State to the schedule in 2016-2017 looks like a good addition to me. Good team...not great..and it will help us with more national exposure. These games are great for the fanbase and the team. Prepares you better for a tough conference slate.
Y'know, listening to Finebaum's show the past few days has been very interesting. Listening to Nick Saban's talk last Saturday after A-Day should piss off a lot of fans, like myself, that really were excited about the Sugar Bowl. I spent a lot of money and a lot of time to go down there and support the team. And somehow, I'm not angry at him because I treated it like it was a guaranteed win. I took that game for granted, and I feel like the players did as well. Oh well.
If you're in Memphis, there are only a few tickets remaining for next Tuesday night's Crimson Caravan at the Peabody. Please check out BamaontheBluff.com for ticket information. Get yours now before it sells out!
Scarbinsky tells his side of the story about Auburn turning down the chance to play UCLA. I agree with him. That's the reason Auburn will always be the red-headed stepchild. Read more here.
ESPN.com has the mock draft rollin - and there are a lot of Bama players that should get drafted on the first day this year. Quite a difference from last year's total of ZERO. Read more here.
¶ 9:26 AM0 comments
Wow. One helluva weekend. I gotta tell ya, it was definitely fun. Phone died midway through the day on Saturday, so for those of you who left me messages, I apologize.
The QBs didn't look as good to me as they did to everyone else, including McElroy, even though he was clearly the best of the group. All of them made some bad decisions with the football, and tried to put it in places it shouldn't go. Which would explain why they ended up with some interceptions. On the deep pass to Julio Jones in the first quarter, I was the only person in my section that was up yelling at Robby Green. Yes, Julio and McElroy did well on the play, but if Robby Green had read the play correctly, he would've had it for a pick. Lord knows Rashad would have. Haha.
The running back corps didn't look particularly good by any means. They averaged a lil over 2 ypc. Not good. One thing that people can look at as good or bad is the fact that William Vlachos held his own pretty well against Mount Cody. Now, does that mean that Vlachos played well...or that Cody is degressing? We'll have to see.
Marquis Maze is a player. Straight up. He IS Tyrone Prothro. Now, if he can just catch the balls that hit him in the hands. Haha. His reverses were phenomenal. The kid can just flat out see the field extremely well. He'll be our version of Percy Harvin this year. Definitely good to have Maze, Arenas, and Julio all as possible return men - you didn't see Maze back there, but you can bet he's an option. You always want guys that have the possibility to break a play open for a touchdown when the ball's in their hands.
The defense looked good. I just don't know how long Robby Green can keep a hold on his spot. He's playing really well, but he's just undersized by about 3 inches and about 15 pounds for that position. He may prove me wrong, but I'd look for somebody else to take over that spot in the fall.
The offensive line was shuffled quite a bit, but held up pretty well against what looks to be one of the best front sevens in college football.
I'm going to go back at some point this week and rewatch the game - or at least what ESPN showed of it - and come back with some more game notes.
¶ 8:47 AM1 comments
Awww yeah. It's so close I can smell it. Haha. I'm ready for gameday. And Dreamland. And the Bryant Museum. And everything else that I enjoy about Tuscaloosa.
I'm pretty sure we've come to the decision that we're goin to check out Lynam at Rhythm & Brews late Saturday after the game. Hope you guys head out there as well.
Finebaum's latest article is his preview of the 2009 season for Alabama. Read it here. He has us rolling again. I think I can dig that. Don't like who he's got us losing to, though.
I went back and watched the Iron Bowl from November. If you haven't done that yet, do it before Saturday. It'll make ya feel good. Haha.
¶ 2:43 PM0 comments
...this weekend was a lil bit blah. Rained on Easter Sunday. Spent most of the weekend just being lazy as crap. But...it was a good weekend. :-)
I caught Death Cab for Cutie on Saturday night. They were absolutely phenomenal, and that's putting it lightly. They blew me away, man. You should definitely catch them if you get the chance.
Other than that, I spent yesterday watching the Georgia spring game. I love ESPN's coverage of spring games. They give you a lot of background knowledge, etc, for the team. It's basically a 2 hour national advertisement for your football program. We're lucky that they'll be in T-Town this weekend. Don't forget...last year they setup shop in Gainesville on this weekend, and the Gators went on to win the national title. I'm not saying anything...I'm just saying. :-)
The baseball team played well, but the bullpen got em beat in two of the 3 games. Gotta find some relievers. Period. Of course, LSU is a pretty good team. But regardless of that, we gotta have somebody that can get an out.
There's a pretty good article about how Coach Saban already has as many commitments from the stage of Georgia as Georgia Tech, and more than UGA has to this point. Read more here.
The Bleacher Report has a pretty good article about how Coach Saban gets "the best 11 players on the field." Pretty interesting stuff.
Don't forget -- A-DAY IS THIS WEEKEND! Get everybody and yo' mammy to come out and support this team. I'll be there with 3 good friends of mine, so make it happen!
Also, for you fellas in Memphis, don't forget to get your tickets to the Crimson Caravan coming through the Peabody on Tuesday, April 28th. Check out Bama on the Bluff for more information.
¶ 9:11 AM0 comments
Not a whole lot going on today. Outside the Sidelines has a great rundown of what's gone on during spring ball so far this year over at RollBamaRoll.com. He always has great information.
How many of you guys are going to A-Day? I'd like to try and meet some more people like I did last year. Leave a comment if you'd like to meet up.
Other than that, I'm gonna get out of here for the day. Work beckons.
¶ 10:07 AM1 comments
Ok, so you've all heard about the Bobbie Massie story by DeepSouthSports.net. Well, Ian, always the actual reporter who checks the actual sources, found out it wasn't true at all. So there ya go.
Greg McElroy looked great in yesterday's scrimmage, from what everyone is telling me. Star...not so much. And the bad thing is that I don't really know who was playing against which defense. If Star had to play against the 1st team defense, and G-Mac played against the 2nd team, that could kinda skew the numbers, don't ya think?
A little basketball news -- Philip Pearson will not be retained by Anthony Grant. I can totally understand this move. You don't want two voices, or the kids taking sides incase of any differences of opinion. Definitely a good move by Grant, although I hate it for Pearson. We wish him the best of luck in finding a new job.
Back to football, we now have our 4th commitment in Prattville's Nick Perry. Check out more about that here. This is a big pickup.
I'm getting the feeling that, by the fall, Robby Green will be starting where Rashad Johnson was last year. The kid is a beast and is picking up everything very very quick. From everything I'm hearing, he's looking like he'll be the best safety we have on the team. He understands the position.
That's all for now. Not a whole lot goin on. Have a great weekend!
¶ 10:56 AM0 comments
Well, I was waaay off regarding the Calipari to UK thing. It just doesn't make sense to me...and I know that's weird coming from an Alabama football fan. Kentucky basketball is the same as Alabama football. But what I don't get is the fact that Memphis went above and beyond for Coach Cal and made sure that he had EVERY possible resource. They made sure he was on the same level with the Kentuckys, UCLAs, and North Carolinas of the world as far as facilities, pay, staff pay, etc. And Kentucky was still a more attractive job.
But so be it - that's the lure of a championship program. He can be a savior up there the same way Nick Saban is a savior to us. The guy knows how to win. And he's going to win there. Guaranteed.
And to everybody that keeps e-mailing me with this crap about "Hell, if Cal was available for the taking, why didn't we go after him?" Yeah, stop it. Seriously. Kentucky just paid more for a basketball coach than we're paying our football coach. Not to mention the fact that Memphis counter-offered over $5 million for him to stay and he turned that down. The only jobs that Calipari would have taken from Memphis were Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina or UCLA. Period. Alabama isn't even on the radar.
Now, there is something good that could come out of this.
Yeah. That's DeMarcus Cousins. The #2 player in the country. He's from LeFlore, AL. And yes, Alabama is now an option. If Anthony Grant could pull that kid off. Yeah. There ya go.
The biggest reason that I dig Anthony Grant is that he brought in the team that won the National Championship at Florida. He was the head recruiter. The big time. Notice that since he left, the year before their first national title, they won a second title with his players, then they all left and Donovan's recruits have been to two straight NITs. Yeah. You putting two and two together in your head now? Haha.
John Michael Boswell moved from tackle to guard. And I can totally understand that move. Mike Johnson says it's not as big a deal as everyone makes it out to be. I'm curious about Tyler Love and some of the other guys that were supposed to be huge gets for the offensive line - I still haven't heard of 5 guys that are standing out in practice, and we're 6 practices into spring.
From what I'm watching on the practice videos, Greg McElroy is going to be the quarterback this year. His release is just so much quicker, and he puts such a zip on the ball that it'll be tough to keep him off the field. I think Star looks good, but I haven't seen anything NEARLY as impressive as McElroy. G-Mac is putting the ball exactly where it needs to be - and Star is still missing a few here and there. I'd be shocked if it's not McElroy.
¶ 9:10 AM0 comments
