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26
Jan 13

Let me tell you about Auburn basketball

“This is fun when they play well,” The Yankee said. And, indeed, it was. A struggling Auburn basketball team had a nice game going against the visiting 23rd ranked Ole Miss team. They started out with a 9-0 run, and had another nice stretch to extend an early lead.

The Rebels, though, are not pushovers. They fought to within two at the half. It stayed close in the second half, with only three lead changes and no lead greater than five points for either side.

Auburn struggled from the field, shooting just 37 percent. But, then, they’re only shooting 41 percent on the season. They finally had a strong night at the free throw line, and this was the difference in the game. Where Auburn shot 15 of 19 at the stripe Ole Miss, after 39 minutes and 54 seconds, a terrible 2-of-15.

And so with six seconds left and the scored tied Auburn was called for a foul. Mississippi’s best player, who was having a lousy night, walked to the line and dropped two shots: 63-61, final, Mississippi.

Our friend Kim said it best:

Kim

The company of good friends is always better, even if the basketball was entertaining for 39:56.


19
Jan 13

Kentucky at Auburn

It was a sell out crowd. The student body were ready to take on a ring of gladiators.

Arena

The university posthumously retired Mike Mitchell’s jersey. He played decades ago, but remains the leading rebounder and second leading scorer in team history.

Gus Malzahn, the new head football coach delivered pizzas and energy drinks to the students who’d lined up hours before the game and only littered some after their impromptu snack. Malzahn spoke at the half, making 9,000 people in the building wish it was April already.

Charles Barkley spoke to the audience, welcomed Kentucky, called Auburn a nation and then, later, went on television and said this:

But the big event was the game itself. A plucky Auburn team who managed to win their first two games in conference play and then lost on the road at the end of two overtimes against Arkansas was on this night hosting defending national champion Kentucky. But this Kentucky team is not the Kentucky of old. Oh, they are loaded, but the conventional wisdom is that they aren’t playing up to their ability.

So naturally they put it all together tonight. Auburn got caught looking at the royal Kentucky blue and suffered their biggest home loss in the Tony Barbee era as they shot 35 percent from the field and went 0-15 on three-point attempts.

So it was a tough night for basketball, but they often are.

But we had fun:

Yankee

Several friends were in town from Birmingham for the game. We caught up, told jokes, made fun of basketball, made fun of people staggering around. Had a lovely time.


18
Jan 13

“I want to ride it where I like”

Barbecue House for breakfast, where they know our names and pretty much have the orders committed to memory, too. So naturally there were new people working there this morning. Now they have to be taught about “The Usual.”

That is about as bad as it gets: This young lady does not know what I want for breakfast. And she will make me say my name out loud before caffeine. Also, she will spell it wrong on the order.

It is a tough life, you know.

Love Barbecue House. Professors, students, athletes, old people, folks passing through and people who built the city, all under one roof. One of the former football coaches was in this morning and told Mr. Price, who owns the place, that he’d see him at church on Sunday. We learned later today that that coach just got a new job at another school, and so we won’t see him or his family any more, which is a shame.

There is always some news at Price’s Barbecue House.

Took a ride this afternoon, a slightly challenging 20 mile route, my best ride as I build back up. I passed this pond:

pond

Lovely day for a ride, no?

I went out 10 miles, found a school and tried to turn around there. This was about the time that the school was dismissing for the day, and so every high school student with a car was lining up to begin their weekend. One guy serenaded me with a bit of Bicycle Race. A 21st century high schooler knowing a mildly successful 34-year-old Queen song seems an odd thing. I credit your parents, kid, and also the Internet.

High schoolers with cars and trucks while acting like high schools versus one guy on a 17-pound bike seemed a losing deal, so I waited them out. There wasn’t a cloud in the deep, dark blue sky. Just a beautiful afternoon.

It was a good ride, too, except for the two hills on that particular route which always get the better of me.

Right around that halfway point I also saw this old shack:

ruins

I love places like this. I used to climb around them. I still might, but not this one in particular. Looks like a good cross wind would topple it. So I just glanced in through the openings. Hard to tell what used to go on here, but someone spent a lot of time inside. Maybe raised a little family, and probably the cattle in the pasture across the road.

Once upon a time this house was the only thing around for a few miles. The person who built that place probably liked it that way. Probably buried in a cramped city cemetery today, but we’ll never know for sure. Whatever history is in there is probably just left to the family, and that always has a peculiar way of becoming opaque.

Dinner tonight was at Laredo’s, one of the better Mexican restaurant in town. (Try the enchiladas.) It is a big place, and busy, so I don’t have any cute little anecdotes about town. They turn the place over in a hurry, though. We had to park in an overflow lot and there must have been 30 people waiting to be seated, but we got a table within 10 minutes or so.

Our salsa had every pepper in the place.

And then we had ice cream. Because it was in the low 40s, after all.


17
Jan 13

Brrrr freezing

It was in the 70s Tuesday. Rained most of yesterday. Downright cold today.

So I wore this lovely Christmas gift:

lodgeshirt

Never had a lodge shirt. Maybe I live too far south. But it is nice and soft and I imagined it would be very warm. And it was. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever owned a product made in the proud nation of Kenya, so that’s nice.

Also, the shirt is warm.

This is how we know it is cold, the cat consented to covers. An Allie burrito:

Allie

Is it spring yet?


14
Jan 13

We ramble on Mondays

On pageants: A scholarship contest that requires a bikini competition starts out as a suspect issue. But if you want to take part, good for you. I don’t have an opinion one way or another, but you can’t help but notice that pageants do allow for odd reactions.

If you want to feel a bit feminist, stick with this disparaging bit of video for 60 seconds:

Kevin Scarbinsky calls Katherine Webb a golddigger.. and other creepy analysis from adults. from TheAuburner on Vimeo.

The host, the guy on the right, has Emmy awards and Best Sportscaster awards and the guy in the middle is the local columnist, radio guy, bomb thrower. Makes you proud, doesn’t it?

Need some regional bias? A New York City reporter went out to get the pulse of the city. “Ms. America is Ms. New York! And she is from … how do you say the name of that little town? Not important.” Here’s a report on the groundbreaking report:

But, according to a television news report from WPIX in New York [WARNING: Video begins playing automatically], some Brooklynites are not following the lead of their state’s senior senator.

WPIX reporter Magee Hickey took to the streets of Brooklyn, where Hagan eventually wound up after leaving Opelika (which Hickey pronounced Opel-EEK-uh) to interview her neighbors.

“There’s enough pretty women in New York that could run for Miss America. She shouldn’t be allowed to,” said one interviewee.

“Born in Alabama? That’s a lot of South to recover from,” one neighbor told Hickey.

We do have a terrible and tiresome affliction, I’ll grant you. How Mallory Hagan managed to stand upright and not gawk at everything in Brooklyn is a question for the ages.

Wikipedia tells us this: She is a native of Alabama, where she had been runner-up in the Miss Alabama’s Outstanding Teen Program, and non-finalist talent winner at Miss Alabama.

Less pretty, I waited out the rain and road back and forth on the two little hills that dip down into the creek bed near our house. This is the easiest little ride, a road perpendicular to the stream as it meanders through the neighborhood. (Maybe Miss America has been on this road!) My legs think it is a climb. The map says it is a gentle incline. I hate when the map is right.

For no reason in particular, my rear brakes:

Brakes

That little part of the neighborhood is buzzing with activity. I’d have taken a picture of that, but I was too busy with my head down trying to catch my breath. There was an older guy slowly riding a bike. Two older gentlemen were walking. One lady walking a dog, another walking a cell phone. Kids were playing. A school bus stopped to let off reinforcements. A red car ran through the school bus’ stop signs and did not heed the bus honking a warning.

He had. Places. To Be. Man.

The kids got off the bus and all turned to the other side. He put the thing in gear and passed an SUV that obeyed the law and then me. By then the bus driver had already recovered and gave me a nice wave, which is better than you usually get from the buses. They are the most dangerous people in town for cyclists, I’m convinced.

Anyway, the point is hills and humidity. It was 70 degrees with 78 percent humidity when I got off the bike. I think I bumped every wall with my sweaty arms when I came back inside.

Also, the bike felt really good today. Got way down in the gears, had the wind in my ears, kept thinking there was a noisy car behind me. Felt great.

Investigative journalism, what ever happened to that? John Oliver investigates in his new investigation investigating investigative journalism.”

The piece got a great reaction on Twitter.

Former Chicago Sun-Times editor and SIlicon Valley CEO Alan Mutter likes investigative journalism on YouTube. A little Kickstarter, a little labor of love, a good pitch to the right editor and you’re off and running.

Investigative journalism and watchdog reporting are what we need the most. Those are usually the second and third things cut, however, right after the copy editors. But at least we can do man-on-the-street reports about Miss America.