Tide’s Saban still advocates plus-one system
October 31, 2008
Nick Saban isn't changing his tune in advocating changing the method of choosing a college football national champion just because No.
Tags: alabama crimson tide newsLeigh Tiffin Named Semifinalist for Lou Groza Award
October 31, 2008
Predictions, anyone? (Game 9)
October 31, 2008
BCS Shakeup, How Does This Affect Alabama?
October 31, 2008
College football is a passion for me. It consumes me. There is not a day that passes that I do not have to have my college football fix.
I confess, I am a college football junkie.
Anything and everything about college football interests me and can potentially be turned into a "who is better" discussion or debate in my opinion.
It is like this game people play that involves Kevin Bacon, where you have to tie whatever movie or actor your opponent chooses back to Kevin Bacon.
The way it is played is, you say a movie or actor's name, and your opponent has to explain how that relates to Kevin Bacon.
For instance, Gone With the Wind was produced by MGM, which produced Two Men And A Baby, which starred Ted Danson, who produced Dances With Wolves with Joe Blow in it, who then played with Kevin Bacon in Stir of Echoes.
Believe it or not, that is the way I look at college football.
My Kevin Bacon game involves college football, and my Kevin Bacon is Alabama. I see everything through those Crimson-colored glasses.
By that, I mean if anyone is playing college football anywhere, anytime, I ask myself this question: How does this affect Alabama?
For example, Penn St. played Ohio St. So I watch that game hoping Penn St would blow out OSU because Ohio St. already had been blown out by Southern Cal, and Alabama might end up playing Penn St. in the BCS Championship game.
So that affects Alabama, because if Alabama were to barely beat Penn St. in the BCS Championship Game, I would not want USC fans arguing they beat a team who lost to the team that we beat worse than Penn St. did.
Since Penn St. did not blow out OSU, USC fans could make that argument. You see?
Is this crazy sounding to you, or do we all do this?
Do we all see every college game played through our team's colored glasses?
Sometimes it is very simple—for example...Georgia playing Florida. Alabama already defeated Georgia. It will not serve any purpose for Alabama to play Georgia again, so I will root for Florida because Alabama could then play Florida in the SEC Championship game if they win that game. You see, that is how that game affects Alabama.
Other times it is not so clear-cut.
Texas is No. 1. This one is a head scratcher for me.
If Texas wins they keep the top spot, which you would think would be bad for Alabama. You would assume that I would want Texas to lose so that Alabama would be ranked No. 1.
My twisted mind sees this differently.
As long as Alabama can stay in the top two, we will play in the BCS National Championship Game. The top two teams are the only ones that have that opportunity. So I see being ranked first as a disadvantage at this point in the season.
If Texas were to lose, it will put a big No.1 bull's-eye on Alabama's butt. We do not need the No. 1 jinx to deal with right now while trying to stay undefeated and stay in contention for the BCS game.
Right? ... WRONG!
What happens if Texas keeps winning and then somehow Penn St. were to pass Alabama in the BCS standings? I would then look back on my choice and think, if only Texas had lost we would still be in the top two and playing in the BCS Championship Game.
I'll take my chances with being ranked No. 1.
As you can see, this stuff can get pretty complicated.
Sometimes it is so complicated it defies any rational explanation.
Take for example when Auburn played West Virginia. Auburn is Alabama's sworn mortal enemy. West Virginia, on the other hand, is a Big East school we don't even play, but they were formerly coached by Rich Rodriguez, and we do not like him anymore. I'll try to explain.
If Auburn had won that game, then the SEC beats the Big East. The SEC being the better conference is better for Alabama in the long run.
On the other hand, if West Virginia wins that game, Auburn will suffer, which is always good for Alabama, because anything bad for Auburn is good for Alabama. That makes sense, right?
On top of that, West Virginia continuing to win without Rich Rodriguez reflects badly on him. That is good for Alabama because he turned down the job at Alabama and then accepted the job at Michigan. That is the reason I have to pull against Michigan now.
So I chose West Virginia.
Do you see how sick and twisted this can get?
This is what makes college football fun for me.
Since all 100+ teams cannot possibly play each other, and there is no playoff, we have to be able to make these crazy arguments to defend our teams.
In fact, other than directly losing to a team, there is no way to ever prove who is really the best team. Even if our team loses, we can always claim the refs cheated or our quarterback was injured.
So you see, you have to be able to make your argument. In order to argue, you have to know how every game played affects your team.
Just like in the Kevin Bacon game, it can go on and on forever, and if you can connect the football dots, your team can appear to be a winner no matter what the other fans say.
Nobody ever completely loses this argument as long as they are able to argue their team's case with the skill of a spider weaving a web.
This doesn't even include recruiting, which is even more controversial and more open to debate. If your team loses every game but then does great in recruiting, you are right back in the argument.
That is why college football can last all year round—and that, my friend, is a beautiful thing to a college football addict like me.
You see, I know that next July I could possibly argue with someone about the time that Alabama beat the team that beat the team whose coach used to coach for the other team that beat that team who stole our five-star recruit!
That, my fellow addicts, is the perfect sport: the only sport where there is always room for debate.
My old coach used to say, "I'm pretty sure, but I doubt it." That describes Division I college football to a fault. You tell me you are sure your team is better, and I will tell you why I doubt it.
Well, I need to go now because South Florida is about to play Cincinnati. I have to figure out how that affects Alabama.
Let's see, South Florida beat Auburn last year which is always good, but Bear Bryant always liked Cincinnati so...oh sorry, talk to you fellow addicts later.
Tags: alabama crimson tide newsHow Does This Affect Alabama?
October 31, 2008
College football is a passion for me. It consumes me. There is not a day that passes that I do not have to have my college football fix.
I confess, I am a college football junkie.
Anything and everything about college football interests me and can potentially be turned into a "who is better" discussion or debate in my opinion.
It is like this game people play that involves Kevin Bacon, where you have to tie whatever movie or actor your opponent chooses back to Kevin Bacon.
The way it is played is, you say a movie or actor's name, and your opponent has to explain how that relates to Kevin Bacon.
For instance, Gone With the Wind was produced by MGM, which produced Two Men And A Baby, which starred Ted Danson, who produced Dances With Wolves with Joe Blow in it, who then played with Kevin Bacon in Stir of Echoes.
Believe it or not, that is the way I look at college football.
My Kevin Bacon game involves college football, and my Kevin Bacon is Alabama. I see everything through those Crimson-colored glasses.
By that, I mean if anyone is playing college football anywhere, anytime, I ask myself this question: How does this affect Alabama?
For example, Penn St. played Ohio St. So I watch that game hoping Penn St would blow out OSU because Ohio St. already had been blown out by Southern Cal, and Alabama might end up playing Penn St. in the BCS Championship game.
So that affects Alabama, because if Alabama were to barely beat Penn St. in the BCS Championship Game, I would not want USC fans arguing they beat a team who lost to the team that we beat worse than Penn St. did.
Since Penn St. did not blow out OSU, USC fans could make that argument. You see?
Is this crazy sounding to you, or do we all do this?
Do we all see every college game played through our team's colored glasses?
Sometimes it is very simple—for example...Georgia playing Florida. Alabama already defeated Georgia. It will not serve any purpose for Alabama to play Georgia again, so I will root for Florida because Alabama could then play Florida in the SEC Championship game if they win that game. You see, that is how that game affects Alabama.
Other times it is not so clear-cut.
Texas is No. 1. This one is a head scratcher for me.
If Texas wins they keep the top spot, which you would think would be bad for Alabama. You would assume that I would want Texas to lose so that Alabama would be ranked No. 1.
My twisted mind sees this differently.
As long as Alabama can stay in the top two, we will play in the BCS National Championship Game. The top two teams are the only ones that have that opportunity. So I see being ranked first as a disadvantage at this point in the season.
If Texas were to lose, it will put a big No.1 bull's-eye on Alabama's butt. We do not need the No. 1 jinx to deal with right now while trying to stay undefeated and stay in contention for the BCS game.
Right? ... WRONG!
What happens if Texas keeps winning and then somehow Penn St. were to pass Alabama in the BCS standings? I would then look back on my choice and think, if only Texas had lost we would still be in the top two and playing in the BCS Championship Game.
I'll take my chances with being ranked No. 1.
As you can see, this stuff can get pretty complicated.
Sometimes it is so complicated it defies any rational explanation.
Take for example when Auburn played West Virginia. Auburn is Alabama's sworn mortal enemy. West Virginia, on the other hand, is a Big East school we don't even play, but they were formerly coached by Rich Rodriguez, and we do not like him anymore. I'll try to explain.
If Auburn had won that game, then the SEC beats the Big East. The SEC being the better conference is better for Alabama in the long run.
On the other hand, if West Virginia wins that game, Auburn will suffer, which is always good for Alabama, because anything bad for Auburn is good for Alabama. That makes sense, right?
On top of that, West Virginia continuing to win without Rich Rodriguez reflects badly on him. That is good for Alabama because he turned down the job at Alabama and then accepted the job at Michigan. That is the reason I have to pull against Michigan now.
So I chose West Virginia.
Do you see how sick and twisted this can get?
This is what makes college football fun for me.
Since all 100+ teams cannot possibly play each other, and there is no playoff, we have to be able to make these crazy arguments to defend our teams.
In fact, other than directly losing to a team, there is no way to ever prove who is really the best team. Even if our team loses, we can always claim the refs cheated or our quarterback was injured.
So you see, you have to be able to make your argument. In order to argue, you have to know how every game played affects your team.
Just like in the Kevin Bacon game, it can go on and on forever, and if you can connect the football dots, your team can appear to be a winner no matter what the other fans say.
Nobody ever completely loses this argument as long as they are able to argue their team's case with the skill of a spider weaving a web.
This doesn't even include recruiting, which is even more controversial and more open to debate. If your team loses every game but then does great in recruiting, you are right back in the argument.
That is why college football can last all year round—and that, my friend, is a beautiful thing to a college football addict like me.
You see, I know that next July I could possibly argue with someone about the time that Alabama beat the team that beat the team whose coach used to coach for the other team that beat that team who stole our five-star recruit!
That, my fellow addicts, is the perfect sport: the only sport where there is always room for debate.
My old coach used to say, "I'm pretty sure, but I doubt it." That describes Division I college football to a fault. You tell me you are sure your team is better, and I will tell you why I doubt it.
Well, I need to go now because South Florida is about to play Cincinnati. I have to figure out how that affects Alabama.
Let's see, South Florida beat Auburn last year which is always good, but Bear Bryant always liked Cincinnati so...oh sorry, talk to you fellow addicts later.
Tags: alabama crimson tide news‘Bama players not overlooking Arka…
October 31, 2008
Javier Arenas figures it's time for No. 2 Alabama to stop living in the past. The Crimson Tide cornerback isn't talking about the rich football tradition of titles and wins that the fans hold so dear, but the ...
Tags: alabama crimson tide newsFinally, your weekend forecast gets in on the Halloween fun with a sassy (I’m assuming) Tinkerbell…
October 31, 2008
Finally, your weekend forecast gets in on the Halloween fun with a sassy (I'm assuming) Tinkerbell get up. Happy Halloween mfers. Ladies, Halloween beefcake this way.
Leigh Tiffin named semifinalist for Groza Award
October 31, 2008
Anyone going as Nick Saban for Halloween?
October 31, 2008
FRIDAY FLASHBACK: Alabama 34, Arkansas State 7
October 31, 2008
