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Auburn / football / friends / photo / weekend — Comments Off
14
Dec 13

Auburn’s fall commencement

I don’t go to a lot of graduations, but this was a good one.

Stan White — who played quarterback at Auburn from 1989-1993, in the NFL for a few years after that and is now an insurance mogul and the color analyst for the Auburn football radio broadcasts — delivered the keynote speech. He talked to the graduates about what they would do when their “one second” came up.

So, basically, the Iron Bowl wrote his speech for him, altar call and all:

Adam walked as he has completed his master’s degree in public relations. Here he is shaking hands with President Jay Gogue:

Our friend Tim also walked, having completed his bachelor’s in computer engineering:

Chris Davis, he of the 109-yard Iron Bowl kick six, also graduated. He was, as you might imagine, something of a hit:

Dee Ford was the last person across the stage. If you look over his shoulder you can see Ric Smith, who announces the graduates. Smith often calls Ford’s name in his other role as the PA announcer in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

I think Gogue here was asking him to get a few sacks of Jameis Winston in his last game in the blue and orange:

Ford was the last to walk today. We later learned that was because he was late. He was no doubt off somewhere being cool, because that’s what he does. (I can say this because we’re Facebook friends. And the guy is cool.)

Several other people we know in one way or another graduated today. It was a fine ceremony.

Near the end, just before the alma mater and the cap tossing, I was trying to find Adam in the crowd. He wasn’t where I thought, which meant I couldn’t get the shot I wanted. But this one isn’t bad, either. They were telling him to wave so I would see him, and the longer it took the bigger his waves got. And he accidentally smacked the president who was walking by. Hence the look:

After graduation, and meeting up with Adam’s parents, we walked around campus taking pictures. The standard stuff, cap and gown in front of all the right buildings and logos and signs. I like this one the best:

We had dinner with Adam and Jessica and his parents. They’re sweet people. They remind me a lot of my family, which is an easy leap since they’re from about two towns over. They have the same familiar accents and pace of speech and everything. As you might imagine, they are just so proud.

Why wouldn’t they be? Earlier today their son caught a pass from a Heisman winner.

Auburn / football / journalism / Monday — Comments Off
9
Dec 13

Championship papers

The Sunday papers from across the state, noting Auburn’s championship victory … You can click on the papers for a link to the papers’ respective websites.

They arranged here only in order of their respective image height.

For whatever reason it always seems to me that the post-championship game front pages aren’t as attractive as the post-Iron Bowl designs. To the papers’ credit, however, that isn’t the only story dominating their copy.

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8
Dec 13

Toomer’s Corner after the championship game

The local police closed the intersection of College and Magnolia after the SEC championship game so people could celebrate. Later in the evening, when Ohio State stumbled against Michigan State, boosting Auburn into the BCS championship hunt, they closed the intersection again.

It was still closed when we finally got there, about an hour later as the revelry continued. Here are a few pictures:

People were having a grand time.

What do you know, David Housel was right last spring.

Who would have guessed he would be proven prophetic so quickly.

adventures / Auburn / football / photo / weekend — Comments Off
7
Dec 13

SEC championship game: Missouri versus Auburn

The setting, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The scene, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The stars, Auburn and Missouri. The extras, 60,000+ Auburn fans and several nice folks from Missouri. The ratio was overwhelming, but, of course, Auburn is just over an hour away. These things happen.

We made the trip with our friend Sally Ann. We had lunch with Kim and Murph and Jared and more. We saw some old friends before the game. We saw friends after the game. We had a nice time visiting with Missouri folks during the game. It was a fine day.

The best sign of the day:

Yep. No miracles needed. Just a lot of offense and some situational defense. But before you get to all that, here’s an almost-fair representation of the fan ratio:

Met this genius. I asked if he left the tags on his Missouri so he could take them back to the store after the game. His son said he did. Brilliant. Not “Let me sell these tickets and get some Christmas money or a mortgage payment” but, instead, “Let me see if I can make something funny out of this.”

Well, he saw a show, for sure. (Also that picture got picked up by CBS and plenty of other folks. It was seen by more than 216,000 Twitter accounts. Crazy.)

Cassanova McKinzy and Dee Ford say hello to James Franklin. That guy is tall and statuesque. He doesn’t take a drop, and he’s capable of picking apart a defense. Also, he can run. He did all of those things today, he also met more defenders than he liked:

Tre Mason, who is a man:

Tre Mason, who ran a lot:

Cassanova McKinzy pressures James Franklin again. McKinzy had something of a breakout game, leading the team in tackles:

See? Franklin just stands there, towering over everyone and flicking the ball to whomever he likes. He’s a serious threat:

Ricardo Louis, the hero of the miracle at Jordan-Hare, just running your standard jet sweep. He picked up 43 yards on three carries:

Tre Mason, who is a man, broke Bo Jackson’s school record for total yards in a single season:

Tre Mason, who is a man, also broke Cam Newton’s school record for most touchdowns in a season. He came within four yards (four!) of breaking the single-game rushing record, which has stood for 70 yards.

These guys up front are the ones that make it all happen. No one has talked about them much, but there’s at least one eventual first-rounders in there and at least three NFL caliber players. They have been pushing defenses around all season. From top to bottom: Greg Robinson, Alex Kozan, Reese Dismukes , Chad Slade, Avery Young and, behind them, fullback Jay Prosch.

Nick Marshall was 9 of 11 for 132 yards and a big touchdown pass to Sammie Coates:

Marshall also had 101 yards and a touchdown rushing:

Four different players scored on the ground for Auburn, including speedster Corey Grant:

The wirecam is carrying the ball to Ricardo Louis:

Tre Mason scored four touchdowns, cementing his incredible argument for Heisman consideration.

Anyone that’s watched this team play this year should know by now to never sell those young men short. There are 12 seniors on the team and in their four and five years they’ve been to a championship, lost teammates, lost family, gone 3-9, changed coaches and now are celebrating in confetti.

Auburn has done all they can do. The Tigers are 12-1 and SEC champions. They wrapped their season against a resurgent Georgia, top-ranked Alabama and a top 10 Missouri squad. All of those teams had great statistical defenses and Auburn got statistically better against each one. They are on the short list of best teams in school history and easily the most entertaining squad in recent memory. The final today was 59-42. There were only fleeting moments of defense but, if you didn’t watch, the game never felt that close.

Oh, and by virtue of Michigan State downing the laughable Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. We watched that in a chain restaurant in Newnan, Ga., where we ran into more friends. Because of that game, Auburn is once again going to the BCS championship game.

We sit near people in Jordan-Hare Stadium that waited 53 years, from 1957 to 2010, to see another championship run. Now we’re going to watch Auburn chase a championship for a second time in just four years. My. Goodness. War Eagle.

Auburn / football / Friday / iPhone / journalism / links / photo / things to read / video — Comments Off
6
Dec 13

Who ratted out that dog?

The SEC championship game is in Atlanta tomorrow. Auburn will be there, facing Missouri. There are a lot of signs like this around town just now.

We’ll be there too. Auburn and Mizzou each received 16,000 tickets. Auburn makes theirs ridiculously difficult to acquire. Missouri was kind enough to simply sell them online, so a lot of Auburn folks bought their tickets from Missouri. Given the proximity, and the weather out their way, it should be something of a home game for the team in blue and orange.

It is hard to believe, and easy to get caught up in. Another conference championship is a possibility, just four years removed from the last one and one trip around the sun from last year’s unfortunate season and we’re going to watch a championship game tomorrow. Hard to believe.

Things to read … This has been making the rounds. A Stanford student wrote this about the Iron Bowl:

Stanford beat Notre Dame, but all we can talk about is the SEC and its raucous finale of Auburn-Alabama. And for once, I have no problem with that.

Even as a West Coast man, I cannot tear my eyes away from the Southland drama that exploded into being on Saturday night. It was the single most unlikely play in football unfolding at the absolute perfect moment. It remains wondrous and unknowable, some quantum shiver in nature slowly solidifying in our minds. As I write, the eyes of a thousand sportswriters still flicker desperately across the ghostly pages of history, searching for some apt comparison or even just something to describe what happened — even just words.

Now, more than ever, there are no words.

That guy is pretty good. Meanwhile, I turned my Iron Bowl post into a larger story with bigger pictures. Slightly new text, much more interesting format. You can read it again here.

Speaking of photos, When White House Photos Are ‘Visual Press Releases’.

Also speaking of photos, here is a photographer being tackled by security for trying to do his job and photograph a protest. Little by little, we’ll chill journalists.

This dog is a cat burglar:

That’ll be the day’s cutest video. This one, a time lapse from the space station, will be the most awesome:

And, now, the most truthful headline you’ll ever read. A pair of shoes for Christmas: ‘It’s a small thing, but it makes a huge difference’:

At an elementary school in Huntsville on Thursday, a boy about 8 years old went to his little brother’s pre-K classroom and approached the teacher. He said his little brother didn’t have shoes that fit, and asked if it would be OK if they went to the on-campus HEALS clinic. He’d heard the HEALS staff gave out shoes.

The 4-year-old brother was wearing a pair of worn-out shoes that were four sizes too big, and a too-big pair of athletic socks that were dirty and full of holes.

“The little brother was so upset and embarrassed by the whole situation that he started crying,” said Pam Clasgens, development director with HEALS, a local nonprofit organization that provides school-based medical and dental care for children.

If you’re looking for a charity, this one will make a lot of kids very happy.