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It was a perfect day for football in Tuscaloosa; a huge game, sunny and 85 degrees, no SportsCenter in town to jinx us and Corso picked Florida to win.
I spent Friday night with the Bices and John Ed from Rammer Jammer, checking out the town, which was hopping. I live in New York, where there's little to complain about in terms of entertainment options, but even the Big Apple can't contend with Tuscaloosa on a Friday during football season for amazing music. Walk in one place, there's a funk band; next door there's some old time country rockers; a door down from that a rootsy jam band. And suffice it to say folks were enjoying themselves and in the best of moods.
I was overly ambitious in my social planning on Saturday, so I didn't see everyone I wanted to, or even most of the people I wanted to. There were some unexpected sightings along the way: Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC guy (a Bama grad I'm told) and Robert Horry. The signing at the Supe Store was great -- lots of friendly enthusiastic folks, like Joel, who brought me this cool shirt.
If your Hebrew is rusty, it reads "Alabama," or so Joel tells me.
There was this guy:
And certainly the highlight of the pre-game festivities was meeting "Orson Swindle" and "Stranko Montana" of EveryDayShouldBeSaturday. Orson, in keeping with his Gator heritage, wore a Hawaiian Gator shirt and jean shorts. The guys here have doctored their photograph to preserve their anonymity -- a clumsy effort, I'm guessing, at keeping their jobs.
EveryDayShouldBeSaturday: here's why.
It was cool to meet some fellow BlogPoll members, and all the moreso to find out that the guys are as winning in person as on their blog. I got the sense that Orson had about as much fun as possible on a day when your team loses 31-3, and would say that the atmosphere in Tuscaloosa was pretty intense. Orson, jean shorts and all, braved the crowds at the Bryant Museum; he writes a bit about it on EDSBS; some photos of his visit, including a shot of some interesting local hair styles, are here.
So that's the word. For the purposes of this post, I'm not getting into the Prothro disaster. More on that later, if I can bear to write something about it. I should have a few other pics by tomorrow too, including a shot of myself at the wheel of a customized, street-legal $11,000 golf cart capable of 30+mph. Keep an eye out.
October 2, 2005 11:44 PM
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I want...no NEED...one of those shirts that say "Alabama" in Hebrew. I'm not Jewish, I don't speak Hebrew, but those are amazing!
If you can't bear to say it, I'll say it. Mike Shula should be sued for the value of Prothro's now-disappeared future NFL earnings for calling that play on fourth down. You're up 31-3 in the fourth quarter with nine minutes to go, your defense has throttled Chris Leak all day -- WHY ARE YOU PASSING AT ALL, MUCH LESS ON FOURTH DOWN! And then Shula goes for it on fourth down again two-and-a-half minutes later! And the dim-witted TV analysts praise him for it! (They said he was doing it to run out the clock. But the clock stops on a loss of downs, and you could have gotten three points out of the same play and run out as much time.)
Between what happened with Prothro and what happened to Brodie Coyle last year, if I'm a rival school I'm telling skill players not to go to Alabama, because Shula, however smart he may be otherwise, is going to make some dumb decision that will get you maimed.
Too bad this happened. Alabama had played a hell of a game.
Congrats on the win, Warren! Looks like you guys had a great time down in T-Town.
Bob,
Couldn't disagree more. If you remember 10 years ago Florida had Florida State down 31-3 in the fourth, let up, and Fla State came back to tie the game. I liked the aggressive play calling. Freak accident... that's all. It is football and injuries happen. Coach Shula was trying to put the game away. You are right about one thing though... Alabama did play a hell of a game and Mike Shula was the one that had them prepared. Get well soon Prothro! Roll Tide!
Jay...
A Bama/Notre Dame bowl game would be pretty cool don't you think? I'd be there....
Warren -
Bama/Notre Dame needs to happen, but not this year. With the meteoric rise in the polls the past 3 weeks, Southern Cal and Pasadena are within reach.
My wife Maria and I made the trip from Carlsbad, CA to take in the atmosphere, see a great game and reunite with family and friends.
Since the UCLA game in 2001, my great friend Richard has made the drive down from North Carolina to catch up, joke around, drink just a little Jim Beam and ginger ale, and cheer on the Tide. We've always managed to sit together, but up to Saturday always in witness to a losing effort: UCLA (17-20), Oklahoma (13-20), South Carolina (3-20). This year we made the trip without tickets in hand and ended up on opposite sides of the stadium - he and his son Tal in the South end zone and Maria, my Dad Jim, brother Jake and I in the North end zone amongst the Florida, uh, fanimals. Richard is convinced that it was the intersection at the line of scrimmage of our intense "concentration beams" that caused the Gators to burst into flames. I'm afraid we'll never be able to sit together as one group again.
Whatever it takes.
Jay Jones
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I want...no NEED...one of those shirts that say "Alabama" in Hebrew. I'm not Jewish, I don't speak Hebrew, but those are amazing!
Posted by: Nico at October 3, 2005 10:00 AM