SB Nation User Blog: Nico2.0

Your RBR Crimson Tide Eve Random 10

Nico2.0 — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:59:57 -0000

Apparently my iPod was only interested in bands with numbers in their title and German metal this morning. Sorry it's super brief, but I fell asleep early last night before doing the Random 10 and I'm about to be on the clock at work...

1. Sound Tribe Sector 9 - "Open E"
2. Starflyer 59 - "You Don't Miss Me"
3. RJD2 - "Smoke and Mirrors"
4. Luxury - "Diary Standard (I See the Signs)"
5. Clutch - "WYSIWYG"
6. Rammstein - "Engel"
7. Sound Tribe Sector 9 - "Abcees"
8. Sonic Youth - "Wish Fulfillment"
9. Starflyer 59 - "Stop Wasting Your Whole Life"
10. Rammstein - "Du Riechst Set Gut"

Need One (1) Clemson Ticket

Nico2.0 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:57:19 -0000

Hello all, if anyone has one Clemson ticket that they're willing to sell, please get in touch with me via the site email: rollbamaroll at gmail dot com

I already have my ticket, but a professional photographer I am friends with is working on a football related project that is very cool and he still needs a ticket for the game.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Fanuzzi Transfers to Rice

Nico2.0 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:51:41 -0000

Well, that didn't take long. Nick Fanuzzi is a Rice Owl. Sources for Fox 26 out of Houston say he is on campus and is in the process of enrolling. He will have to sit out the 2008 season of course, but will be eligible to play in '09.

Best of luck to Nick in the future...except when playing against UAB of course.

Win A Copy of Yea Alabama 2008: Haiku Contest

Nico2.0 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:20:23 -0000

This painting by Sesshu has nothing to do with haiku, but who cares, it's awesome.

As the resident eccentric here at RBR, I've devised (what I think) is a fun little contest to give away a couple of copies of Yea Alabama 2008 and to get you extra pumped up for the season (like you actually need help at this point.)

Most of us are aware (at least nominally) of the Japanese poetry form of haiku. We tend to think of it as a rote 17 syllable form broken down in three lines of 5-7-5. It's actually much more complex than that and would require more detail to explain than any of you even remotely care about, so let's just assume that the 17 syllable 5-7-5 form is on the money. Additionally, most traditional haiku have nature or natural elements as their central theme. Similar forms exist that deal with non-nature themes and that's really what I'm after. In particular the senryū form of Japanese poetry generally adheres to the 5-7-5 form, but instead of natural themes, senryū is often cynical, darkly humorous and focuses on human failure.

So...forgive the ramblings and poetry lessons and give me your best three line 5-7-5 poem/haiku/senryū about Alabama football. Tell me how Alabama football is awesome, or how Auburn and/or Tennessee suck, praise the virtues of Bryant or talk about Fulmer's Krispy Kreme habit or how Terry Bowden is an asshat.

I can't really explain what I'm looking for other than general awesomeness. That's my main criteria and my decisions are final and unassailable. Humor is a plus, as is biting wit and viciousness towards the enemy (don't hold back...at all.) However, if you write something epic and heavenly about our team, that's cool too. Basically, just get stupid and have fun and two of you are getting a free annual. Oh yeah, make sure the email address you registered on the site with is legit, because that's how I will contact you for shipping information.

ROLL TIDE!

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that contest closes 36 hours the timestamp on the post.

Make me laugh my ass off and you can have one of these for FREE!

One. Week. Away.

Nico2.0 — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:05:09 -0000

Summers are usually painfully slow for me (and everyone else for that matter) regarding football. By the time summer rolls around, everything football related is long gone. No actual games have been played in about five months, signing day is long gone, the NFL Draft has taken place and spring practice is over a month old. So. We. Wait. And. We. Wait.

And.

We.

Wait.

Some.

More.

As our friend Jonathan Tu rightly observed in Yeah Alabama 2008:

Football is an unsatisfactory metaphor for life, yes, but for some people and in some places life is an unsatisfactory waiting period for football. The SEC is full of those people and places.

That's my favorite quote ever about the South's passion for college football (the fact that it appeared in our annual is a mega bonus!)

One week from now, I will be in Atlanta. It's 2:32 a.m. in Birmingham right now, but it'll be 3:32 a.m. a week from now in the ATL. I will likely still be awake. I will either be out having a good time with my friends, or if we've all called it a night already, I'm likely to be in my bed...staring at the ceiling...unable to sleep because of the anticipation and excitement of what tomorrow will bring. Another season of Alabama football. It's a time of year that allows us to re-capture that sense of excitement we had as children about getting presents on Christmas morning.

As the season unfolds, its 12 games are likely be somewhat akin those Christmas mornings we experienced as children. Some of the presents you get you will expect, there'll be some super exciting surprises and then there'll be a few disappointments of things you thought you'd get, but didn't.

None of us know how the season will pan out. We all have our ideas, our hopes and our fears about what will happen, but none of us have a crystal ball (though we all hope for a crystal football) so we must wait some more. At one week away though, we won't have to wait long. The sunrise next Saturday will bring Alabama football with it. No more YouTubes of yesteryear's glory, it'll be time for the real thing. We won't likely win all of our games this year, but the process is in motion for us to regain our place on top of the mountain. One. More. Week.

Roll Tide Brothers and Sisters!

ROLL TIDE!!

Basket Case

Nico2.0 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:06:01 -0000

Went to the Jefferson County UA Alumni season kickoff party thing tonight at WorkPlay. They had Andrew Bone from Scout.com as the main speaker. The real news of the night though was when the MDB came out. They've got some new thing they're going to play after first downs. I don't like it as much as the old song. The sad news is that they're still going to be playing "Basket Case" which really sucks because: 1) I hate that song 2) It reeks of Club Shula

USA 1 - Guatemala 0

Nico2.0 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:33:58 -0000

Forget the Olympics, this is the soccer that matters this month. Oh yeah, check out Oguchi Onyewu (#5 for the USA) and tell me he shouldn't be playing linebacker somewhere.

Those of you that were around back in '06 when this blog was just getting off the ground might remember me doing write ups about the World Cup. Soccer is my 2nd favorite sport after football, though the World Cup is my favorite single sporting event. Qualification for the World Cup has begun and tonight the United States beat Guatemala 1-0 in Guatemala City. It was a rough game that saw a lot of fouls, two ejections and a lot of blood. Literally. Eddie Lewis nearly got decapitated on a midair collision and was bleeding profusely and had to leave the game (hopefully someone will add that video soon.) So with basically 30 minutes left in the game, it was down to 10 vs. 10 and the US managed to get the win on the road. Home field advantage is VERY real in soccer as it is common for opposing fans to call the hotel rooms of visiting players all night as well as to blare stereos and play drums outside of the team hotel all night to deprive them of sleep before the game. Anyway, this video has the goal. It comes around the 1:25 mark of the video, but all of the lead-up stuff is important so you can see how the goal developed: So, GO USA!! We play Cuba in Havana on September 6th. Unfortunately, the US is not allowing fans to travel to Cuba for the game.

My New Favorite YouTube Video

Nico2.0 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:12:08 -0000

Could this one be much better? I don't think so. The long haired guy is doing a bunch of useless crap and trying to pump up the crowd based on what must be the fighting equivalent of air guitar and the other guy sits back patiently and knocks him the F out at the first opportunity. For all I know, this video is staged, but regardless, the message is still pretty awesome and I think you will agree:

Going the Distance

Nico2.0 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:32:37 -0000

According to a graphic on a recent article on ESPN.com, only 10 teams have started the season ranked #1 in the AP poll and have gone on to win the national title. The Bulldogs clearly have their work cut out for them, but that's not what this post is about.

Here's the graphic:

Anybody notice a team that should be on the list but isn't? I can't quite figure out what that says about me that I get hacked off about something that happened over a decade before I was born, but hey, it is what it is I suppose.

And no, I'm not going to include a YouTube of that Cake song.

Alabama #24 in Preseason AP Poll

Nico2.0 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:46:46 -0000

Alabama comes into the 2008 season ranked #24 in the AP Poll.

Georgia, unsurprisingly, was #1 and Ohio State (snore) came in at #2.

Other ranked SEC teams include:

#5 - Florida
#7 - LSU
#10 - Auburn
#18 - Tennessee

Clemson came in at #9. So, according to the AP, we're playing five ranked teams (four in the Top 10): #1, #7, #9, #10 and #18.