I went on an espionage mission over on the AU "Track em Tigers" website, just to see what the Aubies were saying about this year's team.  So one of them started a thread with a poll asking what their record would be this year.

Assuming all respondees were AU fans (I know at least one wasn't :>):

Nearly half of them (44%) believe the tiggers will go 10-2 this year.

9-3   23%

12-0    9%

11-1 or 8-4   8%

  
What say you?  1) reasonable, or 2) serious kool-aid drinkers?

Okay, he's only a football coach, but dadgum Les, can you sound at least a LITTLE intelligent?  (from a friend of mine on another site)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/les-miles-oil-spill-inter_n_656989.html

 "Well, it uh, the impact is more of a ... you know ... anything, anything along the ... the uh ... the ... shore and those issues are very serious issues and there ... the impact is on the ... the uh (long pause) you know, what is, the natural resource of our country, uh, but ah ... I don't know that it's, I don't know exactly, uh, to what extent it's being handled well and managed or mismanaged I have no idea.

"The only thing I know is it's very sincere and it's, it's uh, it affects more than Louisiana and it affects (muffled pause) ... the ocean."

Man I'm glad we have a coach who can articulate!  (not to mention a coach who knows how to do clock management!)

Just curious.....  (this is a bit of a take-off on Nico's Sanford stadium "black out" thread)

How many stadiums of opposing SEC teams have you seen the Tide play?

For me:  Awbern, Baton Rouge, Knoxville  (honorable mention for watching an Ole Miss game in Jackson)

I'd like to see one at "The Swamp".

You?  # of SEC stadiums, and what did you think about the  "stadium atmosphere" of each.

My quick impressions: 

AU - a dreadful bore, no character, nothing I can think of that makes it stand out.  (I cheated on this one - it was actually a AU-GA game, and I was only there because I dated an AU grad student breifly - and this was an interesting period because it was during that era when the AU fans tore up part of the hedges in Athens, so some serious animosity)

LSU - I hate it, but you gotta admit, those Cajuns know how to party (and REALLY hate it when they lose to Bama :))

TN - Have I ever mentioned how much I hate that hillbilly "Rocky Top" song?  Fortunately I was there in '92, so Rocky Top was notably absent.  <grin>  What you heard mostly was "you SUCK, Majors!!"  It was glorious.  As much as I hate to admit it, one of the nicer settings for a fall football game in the SEC.

Since I'm new, please educate me.  As in the case of any group of anonymous people on the internet, you have people who are classy, smart, stupid, nice, diplomatic, jerks, saints, etc.

So, save me some time...  tell me now what I can expect from the regulars here.  I'm not even sure how long this site has been up.  So have the "oldies" on RBR been here 6 mos, 1 year, 3 yrs?

Maybe Bama players need more cat gut parasite in their brains!!  :)

According to this article, the theory is that there is a correlation between winning and the amount of this parasite in the athlete's brain (at least in that other version of "football".) 

http://www.slate.com/id/2259350/pagenum/all/#p2

maybe I'll forward this to Caoch Saban and tell him to give some "Toxo" to his players before it is placed on the banned substances list. 

Boy, the conclusions you can reach with statistics! 

This probably belongs in the earlier Bama prediction discussion, but I felt it deserved it's own thread.

I just watched the college football segment on ESPN2 and they were discussing potential Heisman candidates.  Of course Ingram is an automatic.  But then they discussed Ryan Mallett with Arkansas. 

Andre Ware was in Mallett's corner, contending that, while last year there were a lot of mistakes by Mallett, he thinks this year, with a year of experience behind him as a starter, and 4 returning starters on the OL, that Mallett will be much better.

Then they pulled up some stats and showed where Mallett had very poor passing percentages against top defenses, the lowest against Alabama, around 34%. 

So they were mixed in their opinions.  But it made me think a little harder about Bama's prospects of going TO Fayettville and facing what will probably be an improved Razorback team and an experienced QB on the road.  I know it is easy to say "hey, Bama stomped the Hogs last year 35-7, so why worry?", but Bama will still be on the learning curve with their rebuilt defense (even if they are deep and talented), and Arky will certainly have the revenge factor going for them at home.

I'm not saying Bama will lose, I'm just saying it has the markings of a game that Bama could stumble in, if they don't play well and give the home team some early breaks.  And most of us seemed to agree that it is far more likely that Bama will lose early in the season than late in teh season.

What do you guys think?  Does Bama run away with again, or is this gonna be close and has teh possibility of being a Bama slip-up? 

I know this is about pro baseball, but stories like this just make you feel good and want to pull for the guys.  It helps that I like the RedSox and hate the Yankees, but that's another story.  Anyway, read about these two unlikely heroes and how they have helped Boston lately.  I think I'll make my teenage son read this - he's a basketball player, but it might make him try just a bit harder for that rebound.  :>  

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-navamcdonald070510

To give this just a little bit of an Alabama football angle, I'll ask you this:

Which Alabama football player had the most unlikely path to Crimson Tide glory?

Of course, everyone will think of Mt Cody, coming from a Juco and becoming a star almost immediately.  But are there any other such stories from Tide lore that you know of?  

Let's say (and hopefully true), that Bama wins the next 4 times against the Aubies.  Do you think Saban should hold up 6 fingers in celebration?

See, I don't think he should.  I can still remember TT holding up those fingers in Tuscaloosa and it made me mad.  That's something fans should do, but not coaches.  Plus, he was in Tuscaloosa, not home.  I could have understood it and given him a LITTLE slack if it was at home with their own fans, even though I wouldn't, in his shoes, have held up the fingers.  If nothing else, it gives the other team bulletin board material.

But I think the biggest reason is that I don't want Bama to act like beating Auburn 6 years in a row is a big deal. 

Anyway - your thoughts?

Me, that is... on business, in about a week.

But since the Tide is headed there next January, perhaps I should scope out the stadium for you guys, tell you which are the best seats, etc.?  :>

Actually, it seems that we have at least one Tide fan living in Phoenix, now that I think about it.  UAinPhoenix?  (or something like that.)  Maybe he can tell us what to expect.

Of course, I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched!  Not MEEEE!!!!  There is a season to play with 12 regular season games and an SECCG.  Details.....  ;> 

Well, I'm biased, of course:

1.  Bama vs Awbern

everything else is s distant second, but how would you rank them?:

Bama vs Tenn

Bama vs LSU

LSU vs Ole Miss

Ga vs Fla

Ga vs AU

TN vs Vandy  (I had to throw Vandy a bone :>)

Miss St vs Ole Miss

Ga vs So Car

Ark vs Ole Miss

Fla vs LSU  (seems to be ramping up in intensity - not sure if they play regularly, though)

Jan 2, 1978, Alabama vs Ohio St, Sugar Bowl.

Somehow my father manages to get primo tickets on the 40 yard line at the bottom of the first balcony of the SuperDome.  Perfect view.  I was 18.  It wasn't my first Tide game, but it was the biggest I had ever been to at that time.

The section we were sitting in was almost entirely Crimson Red (most of the stadium really.)  There were many, many Bama fans with those "Woody is a pecker" buttons on their shirts.  :>

The game starts and we notice an OSU fan amongst us, cheering loudly for his team, but not obnoxiously, just showing good team spirit while totally surrounded by "the enemy".  As the game moves along, Bama is quickly getting the better of the Buckeyes and this Buckeye fan is still cheering but with a little less enthusiasm.

I can't recall the score at halftime, but Bama already had a significant lead, on their way to the 35-6 blow out it became.  The bands do their things, including the Ohio St band spelling their signature Ohio, and this guy is still hanging in there, jawing around good naturedly with some nearby Tide fans saying the Bucks were gonna come out tough in the 2nd half.

Well, the 2nd half starts and very quickly Bama scores again.  I look up and see this OSU fan walking down to the edge of the balcony overlooking the seats below.  He stands there for a second and then takes his red OSU cowboy hat off and FLINGS it out past the balcony and into the seats below, turns around and, facing the Tide crowd, yells "ROLL TIDE!!" at the top of his lungs.

A bunch of Tide fans jumped up and shook his hand, hugged him and gave him some red and white pom poms and started yelling "Roll Tide" together.  Every time the Tide did something in the second half (which was often), he was right there yelling RTR with all of his adopted Tide fan buddies.

I'm sure that guy is back to being a regular Buckeye fan now, but for that day and that half, he was one of us.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  :)

I see one loss in these three games:  @Ark, FL, @LSU   Not sure which one.  FL is the toughest, Ark is improving and early in the schedule, LSU wants Bama in the worst way now.

One other game is a loss JUST due to a down week and Bama having the big #1 bullseye on their uniforms.  Maybe Penn St or So Car.

10-2, but a win in the SECCG if they get there.  The defense will have gelled by then.

Of course, they have the potential to make it three undefeated regular seasons in a row.  The offense will be great, of course.  The defense, well, who knows?  Yeah, the word is that they will be great again, but I don't care what kind of athletes there are on the team, when you replace 9 starters it will take a while for them to learn their positions.

I see 1 or 2 losses.  I'd love for it to be a 14-0 year again and a repeat NC, but with all of that reloading on defense, I have my doubts.

Your predictions?  (other than "PAIN"  :))

I know - "say what?"  I assume "I'm thrilled!" will be the common answer amongst "just us girls", i.e. the Bama Nation.  We all know how the program has consistently gotten better under Saban's tutelage.

What I really mean is how do you feel about Saban personally?  Do you think he is a person of character?  Is he a good ambassador for the state's flagship football program? 

My answer is that I am thrilled from both a performance AND a character point of view.

You may not know me very well here, but I am an avid Bama football fan, from Mobile originally, although I have lived in Houston, TX for most of the last 20 years.  But I have been to many a game in Tuscaloosa, including several when I was a kid in the 60's and a teenager in the 70's - the Bryant heyday.

Although I am new here, I have spent several years on a certain national (all) sports board and am one of the regulars there talking about Bama football.  Since it is for all sports, all teams, invariably whenever an article about Saban is written, the LSU naysayers come out in droves, as well as the very PO'ed Miami Dolphin fans.  The common theme is that "Saban is a liar".  I've also had LSU fans tell me that high school coaches in teh state of Louisiana hated Saban - they claimed that he signed players that he knew full well would not be eligible, which made him a villain of sorts in the high school coaching community there.

I was repeatedly told "just give it time - you'll see what we mean.  Within 3-5 years you will regret that UA ever hired Saban."  Well, as I recently reminded them, it has been three years and I have nothing but good things to say about what he has done for the program AND how he has conducted himself.

What say you?  Amongst you fellow Bama fans out there, do any of you wish you could change anything about Saban?

We all know he isn't the most approachable guy in the world - a bit on the intense side - but I'd bet Bear Bryant was similar.  And I read where McElroy recently said that Coach Saban's rough exterior belies a person who is immensely interested in the well-being of his players.  Add to that the charity work he and his wife particpate in under the radar and I can't see how anyone would suggest that teh Saban's exhibit anything but class.

But hey, I'm over here in Texas, so I'm not privvy to the same information some of you may be, as you read tha daily papers, listen to Finebaum, etc.  What do you hear and read?

Just curious to know how you feel. 

Good analysis from Examiner.com on how scholarship offers from UA are extending further away from the state of Alabama now. 

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6543-Alabama-Crimson-Tide-Examiner~y2010m6d19-Inside-the-numbers-of-Alabama-football-recruiting-for-2011-class

Thoughts?

My take is that this is a good thing.  The Bama football staff obviously feels that they have some "national cred" now and is expecting to cash in.  I'm sure they will still recruit the top prospects in Alabama and nearby states, but if they can grab a 5-star recruit from Texas, Ohio or California, more power to them.   Roll Tide!!