SB Nation User Blog: 5026

Serious Rose Bowl Parking Question

5026 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:10:40 -0000

Ok, I know there is a post about going to the game etc. so maybe this is not the place. But I'm looking for some help. I know some folks who frequent this web site have been to the Rose Bowl so any insights you have would be helpful.

Yesterday I got my tickets and they came with some info about parking etc. Apparently parking for the Rose Bowl is limited. At least they made it seem like you could be in trouble on parking. From their info they basiclaly had three parking options. The first was by the stadium in a golf course, which was first come and opens at 8am. I'm not likely to get there early enough for that. The second option was a parking garage type situation called Parsons with a free shuttle. I think you can reserve a space here, but a parking garage just seems hard to get out of once the game is over etc. A third option they gave was to ride a rail line. Never having been in LA the rail line thing seems like a good choice, but I don't know how it works etc.

My prefered plan would be to park in someone's yard for about $25, but I don't know if that kind of thing is even available.

Anyway, any parking experience any of you have would be helpful to me and probably several others.

Shula's All Americans?

5026 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:34:38 -0000

Ok, several Aubies I know are claiming that Saban is just winning with Shula's players and once they are gone Bama will start losing. Someone even went so far as to say "Yeah you had 6 All Americans but those are Shula's All Americans."

Well again this is just plain dumb. Our 2010 team does have many players recruited by Shula. But, the depth of the team is clearly the players Saban has brought in. And, Saban's influence on Shula's players is undeniable.

So, take a look at our 6 All Americans and you see something pretty interesting.

Mike Johnson: Mike Johnson is a Shula recruit and the truth is he would likely be at least be All SEC if Shula were still coaching. But in the case of Mike Johnson, the off season program that has been instituted by Saban has made all the difference. In the 2005 media guide where it talks about the 2005 recruits (including Mike Johnson) Mike only got 3 lines of print. Only Scott Deaton, got fewer lines with 2 lines. 29 guys got more lines of print. Bottom line, Shula and his coaches were not expecting much from Mike Johnson.

Leigh Tiffin: Tiffin did come to Alabama under Shula, but he was not a Shula recruit. Tiffin was a walk-on. In other words because this was Van Tiffin's son Shula invited him to walk on. And, Tiffin was pretty terrible under Shula. In fact it is only this year that Tiffin has really matured into a clutch kicker. The difference is the present coaching staff.

Javier Arenas: Shula recruited him as a returner. No doubt he is a great returner. Yet, Saban is th eone who let him play DB and he is an All American at DB. I will say this, Shula took a chance on this kid that only FIU wanted. So, Shula deserves some credit. But, Arenas would never have been anything more than a returner under Shula.

Rolando McClain: Signed with Saban, although I think Shula would have probably signed him. Still, this is one of Saban recruits.

Mark Ingram: Saban.

Mt. Cody: Saban

So what you see is that of 6 All Americans, I would give Shula credit for recruiting 2 of them- that is full credit for Mike Johnson and half credit for Tiffin and Arenas. I would give Saban credit for 4 of them. Full credit for McClain, Cody, and Ingram. Plus half credit for Tiffin and Arenas because it was their development, position change, etc. that made them All American.

Bottom line Mike Shula does have a small part in some of these guys coming to Bama and eventually making All American. But, these 6 guys are a product of the process. If Mike Shula were still coach we would have ZERO All Americans this year. (Andre Smith and Caldwell would have been All Americans even under Shula last year, but none of this year's team.)

Did You Get Tickets at Ticketmaster?

5026 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:00:29 -0000

Did You Get Tickets at Ticketmaster?

I was just wondering if anyone actually was able to get through to Ticketmaster this morning. If so, how did you do it?

Tickets On Stub Hub- Cheap

5026 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:10:15 -0000

Tickets On Stub Hub- Cheap

Thought I'd pass this along- there were 4 tickets at Stub Hub this morning for $600 a piece. Very good internet price.

The Best Fla QB Ever

5026 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:02:58 -0000

For the past 3 years we have been hearing that Timmy Tebow was the greatest football player in the history of college football. This is just a bunch of crap. He isn't even close to being the greatest player ever. But more telling than that is that Timmy is not even the best qb to play at Florida.

In 3 years of being the starting qb Tim Tebow has won 1 SEC title, 1 National Championship, and 1 Heisman Trophy. (I'm going to assume he will not win the Heisman this year because he was expsoed by Bama.) I know he was on a team as a freshman that won it all...but he was not the starter. So, although he has NC 2 rings, we should only judge him on his starts. To top it all off Tebow failed in his senior year to win anything except the SEC East , although he did get to rub noses with his coach.

Consider the best qb in UF history- Danny Wuerffel. Although somewhat more humble than Tebow he is also a Christian. Danny Wuerffel started at qb for UF for 4 years. During that time he won 4 SEC titles, 1 National Championship, and 1 Heisman Trophy. And...he went out a winner winning the NC in his senor season.

Now Wuerffel never got the media attention nor was he called the greatest football player ever. He didn't wear Bible verses under his eyes or cry or jump around on the side lines yelling at his team mates, or do any of the other things we normally associate with the greatest player of all time. We he did was win championships, and 3 of his SEC titles were over Bama (ouch!).

So, For my money the only thing that really counts is results...trophies in the case. In this case it is Wuerffel 6, Tebow 3. And besides, I actually like Danny Wuerffel even though he beat us all those times.

Pass the Crow and How did you know?

5026 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:56:34 -0000

Ok, to begin with I had $250 riding on Bama and so besides being always for Bama I did feel we could possibly win this game. However, I was dead wrong, dead wrong about how I thought this game would go. I actually thought in order to win we would need for UF to implode and for us to get all sorts of lucky brakes. I never dreamed in my wildest dream that Bama could just dominate Florida on both sides of the ball. Both sides of the ball!!

Was I wrong!! And I will totally and happily admit that I have been a picture of doom and gloom for may games this year. Not that I didn't think we would win, I just thought we would struggle. In fact I've pretty much felt this way since UT.

But now we have the championship game and to be honest if we can play to this level in the championship game it won't even be close. Now that is scary to think that I would pcik Bama to blow out whomever ends up #2.

But, I want to know how so many Bama fans on this site and even some of the TV people knew, or felt strongly that Bama was going to win. And some felt we would easily. Why did they feel this way? It really is a mystery to me how people had such confidence but for all those who were confident of a beat down...well my hat is off to you.

ROLL TIDE

10 Reasons I Want To Beat Tebow

5026 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:34:22 -0000

As I was leaving last year’s SECCG, while being pelted by sugar from UF fans, I told my friends, "I sure hope Tebow doesn’t go pro, we need one more shot at him." And, although I have at times been skeptical about Bama’s offensive ability, here we are with one last shot at Tebow. I sure want to send the so called greatest football player of all time out a loser. And, if you think about it Tebow has nothing to gain by beating Bama, everybody has already anointed him the most awesome person to every live. But, he has everything to lose. So here are my top 10 reasons I want to beat Tim Tebow.

1. He is arrogant. Everything he does is for the camera. If he were a humble guy he wouldn’t film going to a prison to preach or a mission trip, etc. In fact he wouldn’t his left hand know what his right hand is doing. I can promise you the real Tebow is stuck on himself. He draws attention to himself on the field and running this lap around the UF field every game etc. is way too much. Some would argue the media is stuck on him. But the truth is Tebow’s own actions have lead the media.

2. He is gay. I’m not saying he is homosexual, we have no evidence of that. I’m just saying so much of what he does is gay. He dresses gay, he posses for magazines showing off his awesome chest (with man boobs that look like they were steroid formed), he even talks like a sissy. Now this is my opinion, and I’m not trying to condemn homosexuals. In fact if Tebow were actually homosexual I could probably stomach him more. I’m just saying Tebow’s public persona makes me want to puke.

3. He is a great example of what is wrong with team sports. At UF it is all about Tebow and not the team. Last Sat. was senior day and you would have thought there was only one guy graduating. It was not a football game, it was a good bye Timmy party. I’m sort of surprised anyone blocks for him.

4. He carries a bouquet of flowers onto the football field. Who does that? I don’t get it and I don’t like it.

5. He cries when he loses. I would love to see him at a press conference after losing to Bama crying and apologizing for letting everyone down.

6. He get’s away with unsportsman like behavior for which others get penalized. At LSU Tebow taunts the crowd and nothing. JPW makes a brief gesture and it is a penalty. And, all his jumping around gets him nothing. In a way he makes a mockery of the rules and gets away with it.

7. He has a seriously weird and sick relationship with his coach. Most players really do love their coach. The coach is like your dad. But Tebow and Urban rub noses. You don’t rub noses with your dad. And Urban cries when Tebow, not his seniors, leaves. This is too weird.

8. He is not whom he appears to be spiritually. Alright, you are saying how do you know this? Fair enough. I do know some kids that knew Timmy before UF and some think the religious thing is a little over done. But, for nothing else think about his recruitment. Tebow lead Shula on. He lead him to think he had a chance. Shula never had a chance, never. Tebow, loved the attention, but how he treated Shula was unkind. A simple NO, could have made a difference in Bama’s recruiting class. I’ll take Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford’s spiritual life over Tebow any day. By the way I think Tebow’s shallow comments basically condoned Spikes attempt to gauge an eye. You can read it either way, but he sure didn’t condemn it.

9. He get’s more credit than he is due. This isn’t his fault. But the guy has been surrounded by a group of extremely talented future NFL players for his entire career on both sides of the ball. Yet, in the media it is all about what he did, not what the team did. If Tebow had played at MSU, you would have never given him a second thought.

10. He was home schooled. Ok, I know this is lame, but I really don’t like the concept or practice of home schooling. And, I really think if you are home schooled you should not be allowed to participate in school activities, including sports. I mean the whole point of high school sports is to play for YOUR SCHOOL. Tebow had no school, he was just playing for his own glory.

Well, we have one last shot at Florida and Tebow. Not saying we can beat Florida, because in spite of all the reasons I want to beat Tebow he is still tough to beat. But, oh if we pulled it off, it would be about the sweetest victory ever. And in one game Bama could change the legend of Tebow forever. And maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t have to hear about him everyday until the bowls are over.

Auburn Is The Most Important Game

5026 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:37:24 -0000

Our team like every team has season goals. To have a winning season, to go to and win a bowl game, to win the SEC West, to win the SEC, to win the NC.

Those are season goals, but what about individual games? Obviously every conference game is big. But two stand out, UT and Auburn. Now I hate Tennessee. In fact I think I hate their team, their coaches, their colors, their mascot more than Auburn’s team etc. But to me personally the Auburn game itself is more important than the UT game. You see, like a lot of you, I am surrounded with Auburn people (even though I live in GA.) And, although I hate UT, I just don’t encounter that many UT fans on a daily basis. They are largely confined to the State of Tenn, and I just try to avoid that state if at all possible. But, I see Auburn people every single day. They have left Lee County and migrated all over southern GA.

When you lose to Auburn their fans are worse than any fans on earth. They don’t just bring it up the next day, or the next week. They bring it up everyday for the next year. And sometimes they bring it up for as long as they live. I still have Auburn people laugh and ask me how the Bear let the same guy block two punts in row. And, I still have this one guy holding up six fingers every time I see him. (Like man, we won last year, were you not alive?)

So, to beat UT feels good, almost like you are putting a criminal behind bars. But to beat Auburn just means you have bragging rights and they don’t, and they can just shut up for another year. So, if we lose to Auburn and then win the SEC, and even somehow the NC, it doesn’t really matter. But if we beat Auburn, but then lose to UF and even lose to whomever in the bowl, well I can live with that.

My daughter is a junior at Bama. As a freshman, Saban’s first year, she got involved in the SGA and was on a committee at Bama called "Improving Relations With Auburn." The whole idea was for the SGA to try to calm down the bitter rivalry between the two schools. That fall my daughter was visiting with her grandmother who is a typical 85 year old granny. Her grandmother (my mom) has been a Bama fan for about 65 years and her husband (my dad) was a Bama grad. My daughter asked my mom if she had any ideas about how her committee could improve relations with Auburn. My mom (who is a sweet old widow woman, living in Florida, and has no contact with Auburn people at all) replied, "The only way to improve relations with Auburn is to beat them a few times. That will improve relations!"

Exactly!

Sorry- wrong link try this

5026 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:35:29 -0000

Sorry- wrong link try this

The Process In Basketball

5026 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:33:34 -0000

The Process In Basketball

Grant suspends Brock and then Torrence responds with 26 and Bama rolls over Providence. This is a big win for Coach Grant and a big encouragement to all Bama BBall fans.