weekend


20
Nov 11

Catching up

At the Samford game, where all the girls say “Warrrr Eagle!”

Fan

Or is that a yawn? Hard to tell.

As to this guy, I have no idea. That’s not true. I have some idea. I think he’s from the 1970s and has a time machine.

Fan

This guy got into the game early, and stayed with it the entire afternoon:

Fan

Tiger claw. Looks a bit purplish, though:

Fan

I’m not sure if she and her sister watched any of the game, but both of their parents spent the entire four quarters with binoculars to their eyes:

Fan

Future’s so bright …

Fan

It was actually a bit warm when the sun came out from behind the clouds to check on the game. When the sun was off working elsewhere, however, and the wind was blowing in from the north, there was a bit of a chill. Altogether a lovely day to spend outside with friends.

The multiple tiger stripe patterns confuse other animals in the wild:

Fan

Mr. Penny does push ups for the team, and he’s a fixture on the wall in the north end zone. Great guy. He works in the local school system, is one of those people who you never see without a smile on his face and loves the kids he works with.

This last year the community raised money (some $9,000 that turned into tickets for the Pennys, new luggage and season tickets this year, and then they had to ask people to stop donating) to send him to the national championship game in Arizona. Wonderful story, which you can hear him talk about here.

“Mr. Penny said that.”

This little guy was not happy the early goings on of the game:

Fan

Everything all worked out in the end:

Fan

Meanwhile, at the movies, we watched that wretched film last week with a flat Edward and a homecoming queen:

Fans

My girls at play:

Yankee


19
Nov 11

Samford at Auburn

Another beautiful day at Jordan-Hare Stadium:

JHS

Samford University’s football team traveled to Auburn for homecoming. My terrific employer facing off against my beloved alma mater. Both teams entered 6-4, and Auburn should have handled the game with ease. No matter what happened, though, I should enjoy the day, right? I’ve looked forward to this game more than any other this year.

Spirit

There are so many common ties between the teams and the schools, even though they are very different sizes and have different specialties and different formational history. Both play similar styles of football right now, and there are a handful of familiar faces on the Samford sideline.

Also, if you read the site yesterday you saw that Auburn’s first Heisman winner, Pat Sullivan, was returning home as the coach of Samford. They honored him in the pregame with a nice little ceremony:

And then Samford gave Auburn all they wanted and more for three quarters. Auburn would win by a 35-16 margin, but it stayed very close far longer than it should have. But the Tigers won homecoming. Samford played hard, like you’d expect a Sullivan team to perform. The Auburn Alumni Band marched. And there was a little bit of history:

Spirit

Sophomore Mike Dyer became the 10th leading rusher all time at Auburn on that very play. The guy he passed to take over the 10th spot? James Joseph, who coaches running backs at Samford.

Up next, deep breath, Iron Bowl.

Tomorrow: Crowd shots from the game.


13
Nov 11

Catching up

Not a lot this week, but I’ll make up for it.

The maple in the front yard, last weekend:

maple

The same maple, this weekend. How one little tree can drop so many leaves and still be so full is a mystery we’ll have to leave for the mystics to solve:

maple

That’s a lot of banners in the Martin Aquatics Center. And that’s not even all of them. There’s another decade’s worth out of the frame to the right. And the Tigers will soon win some more. If you see the pattern hanging in the rafters you realize it is just about that time. If you watch them swim, you realize it is just about that time:

championships

So earlier this fall a beak fell off of one of the eagle statues at Toomer’s Corner. Since then a wing has fallen off the other. Toomer’s Corner can’t catch a break, right?

About 20 years ago the two eagles were stolen, so when their replacements were installed they were “built to last” said a technician I spoke with this weekend. He was removing them to send to Washington D.C. for repair and restoration. The original beak, recovered after it snapped off, will be re-attached. A new wing will be applied to the other wing. Here he is chipping through the mortar:

maple

And, finally, the other night we noted that the high school football game near home was winding down. So we wandered in to see the final few minutes. The visiting team won, and this guy was as excited as you’ve ever seen for a victory formation. If you don’t see the play button, just press in the middle. Magic will appear:

Do not question the passions that are evoked by eight-man football.


12
Nov 11

Football. Meh.

CBS fills their studio time discussing Penn State. They wrap it up with

Aaron Taylor — of Notre Dame and the Packers and Chargers — compares Joe Paterno’s legacy to a goal line fumble. It was a properly tortured analogy concluded with a somber note by his studio colleague Adam Zucker, “And he’d never fumbled before.”

Except the LAST TWO DECADES.

So there was the Georgia game. And that was bad. Just in case no one paid attention to that game, which started with a bad call and was punctuated throughout with poor play with only one exception. Selected tweets, from a :

That first down was brought to you by Georgia math.

Hey a legitimate UGa first down. Congratulations to the referee who did not have to compromise his ethics or vision plan to make it happen.

Referees 7, UGa 0, Auburn, 0. Thanks for that first down spot, fellas.

TOUCHDOWN AUBURN! C.J. Uzomah to @LUTZenkirchen! 7-7, still in the first.

Bulldog to helmet. I suspect whining to begin any moment now.

I’d like to point out we have an All-American caliber running back on the roster … and he has one total yard thus far.

Pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass. Third and long? Let’s run a draw!

So about that bye week …

Remember when Malzahn described the offense as a play action down field rushing attack? Good times.

Alright, the first time they ran the backdoor pass it was nice. That’s just … not good.

This game is where even the generally fair-minded are questioning Ted Roof. There’s enough of that for most everyone just now.

So let’s see: Youth, Murray, play calling, defensive schemes … anybody else want to contribute?

Was that four go routes and O-Mac underneath? Is that as good as it gets now?

Defensively that’s an unforced fumble, a punt and a drive stopped by a clock. (Let’s not acknowledge the five TDs.) War Adjustments.

89 net yards for AU in the first half. Four yds for Dyer. 10:53 TOP. 2/7 on third down conversions. UGA? 318 yards, 7/8 3rd downs.

Not interested in demanding firings, but 89 yards against the SEC’s #4 defense should earn a partial $1.3 million refund.

Between @WBE_Jerry, 14-year vet @HABOTN and the boards, everyone has decided that was the worst half of Auburn football maybe ever.

Of course that’s a modern conceit. Some folks do recall the Barfield years. But most recent comparisons are … comparable.

I would say the 2008 and 2001 Iron Bowls are as close a 21st century similarity as you could get people to consider.

Mark Richt, most impressed by a spear. Yeah, that’s about right.

Auburn has played five top-15 teams on the road this year. That never ceases to impress.

What in this game has impressed upon the coaching staff that the screen pass is there? What?

Tough setback for T’Sharvan Bell. Depth in the secondary now beyond being an issue.

On air with @IngramSmith, and considering the enigma that is/was UGa, I thought it would be a close game, pending ball bounces. Oops.

Youth was on display, and that was one part of why this game was so bad. They’ll get better in due time, but the Tigers will get even younger with T’Sharvan Bell’s knee injury. It didn’t look like the news was good on the sideline, and so the shaky secondary becomes a bit less stable. Two games to go, homecoming next weekend against Samford and then Alabama brings the nation’s best defense into Jordan-Hare to finish the season. No biggie.

Otherwise Alabama won. UAB won, improving to 2-8 on the year with the biggest comeback in school history. Samford also won with a late comeback.

Samford lost in the first round of the soccer playoffs, ending a terrific season. But Auburn won, and advances to second round playoff action.


6
Nov 11

Catching Up

Wildflowers on weeds on campus.

wildflowers

Pumpkin seeds anyone?

pumpkins

Mums from our stoop.

mums

A rainy view of the break area outside our building, as seen from our classroom.

The turning maple in our yard. I was talking with my grandmother when I took this.

maple

They’re turning up top, but still sprouting down low.

maple

The stages of the maple in early November.

maple

Auburn would win the swim meet against Penn State handily, in part because of the men’s 50 yard freestyle where and Karl Krug and TJ Leon, finishing first and second, led the way. Andrew Sideras finished third for PSU. Krug swam the race in 20.15.

The Auburn and NCAA record in this event is held by Caesar Cielo of Brazil. He swam it in 18.69 in 2007. The Auburn men improved to 2-0 on the young season with their 152-86 win. The women are now with their 138.5-99.5 victory.

Finally, a video in which not much happens. This is from the Caf, looking into the Samford quad on a rainy day. But the tree is nice.