Thoughts from the Chick

Yep - that’s me!  And it’s really starting to sink in…

I’ve even got my gameday outfit ready for tomorrow.

I have read all the articles, watched videos, listened to the radio incessantly.

And yesterday I started to hear more and more people say that they think that Texas may win.  That makes me nervous.  Or should it?

Don’t we like to be underdogs? 

I don’t know what to think.  But here’s what I hope -

I hope Rolondo McClain is well and that his stomach problems have caused him no ill effect.

I hope Greg McElroy is calm, cool, collected and plays a great game.

I hope our secondary is ready to bring it.

I hope we can run the ball like we want to - eventhough we’re playing against the #1 rush defense in the nation.

But more than anything, I just hope we WIN!  I really really really hope we win.

So, could the people in Orlando not do a better job with managing their field?  I mean, I know it rained a lot, and maybe Alabama’s irregation system has us spoiled, but that was just a damn mess.

And speaking of the Capital One bowl in Orlando, you’d think that maybe Les Miles and his crew at LSU might have come up with a plan for what to do in a situation with no timeouts and less than a minute on the clock.  It was the 3rd time this season (if I’m remembering correctly) that they’ve been in a situation like that, and unfortunately, they looked just about as prepared as they did the first time. 

The Tigers (Auburn) really were cat-like in their game - using almost all of their 9 lives to pull out a win.  That was one crazy game.

And another bit, however non-bowl related: watching the Under Armour All-America game today and looking for some of our recruits, I was really tickled by just watching these kids play football.  It was funny to watch these 18 year olds running around, talkin’ smack, and celebrating like they were hot stuff. 

It just made me laugh to think that in a few short months, they are going to have a rude awakening.  Especially if they choose a school with a Saban-esque coach.  Lord help them.  Ha!

Listen here

I read a comment yesterday that I thought was very appropriate on the Mike Leach situation - “Texas Tech hires Bob Knight, but fires Mike Leach?”

Just doesn’t seem to make sense, especially since more and more players and coaches are coming out and saying that the kid in question was a primadonna and was disgruntled.   Sounds like he’s one of those guys who probably wouldn’t have been considered for a scholarship if his father hadn’t been who he is.

Anyway - now apparrently Tommy Tuberville has expressed interest in the coaching job there. 

Well, there’s one thing that’s certain - we’re not going to ring in a boring New Year in college sports, are we?

Where will Mike Leach land?

Any ideas?

And why are the guys on the radio talking about “what if he had come to Auburn?”  He’s not there, and as far as I know Auburn isn’t looking to replace Gene Chizik right now, so it doesn’t matter - does it? 

It’s interesting to hear, however that it seems like more players are coming out in support of Leach than otherwise.  Think this player was a primadonna?  Think Texas Tech was just looking for a valid reason to get rid of Leach and not have to pay him his $800,000 bonus?

Hmmm…..

From an AL.com article on Mount Cody -

“As if confirming that line of thinking, Texas coach Mack Brown said of his coaching staff, ‘We’re not able to sleep.

‘They’ve got three Suhs up front,’ Brown said. ‘That’s the problem. Everywhere you look, they’ve been knocking people down. We’ve been afraid to show it to our kids.’”

Think he’s just pandering to Alabama to give Texas some psychological advantage???

To me, it just seems like a weird thing for a head coach to say.

Is it the stress?

Is it the pressure?

Is it having to deal with 18-22 year old super stars?

Or are they just A-Holes?

What do you think? 

Because it sure seems like we’ve had a lot of coaches go off the deep end this season.

Just in the past week, we’ve had Urban Meyer’s flip-flop and Mike Leach’s latest oddity. 

In this season alone, we heard of Mark Mangino and his emotional abuse of players.  We heard allegations (and then a recantation of those allegations) regarding Jim Leavitt at South Florida.  And another Mike Leach rant (this one I actually love) where he called his players’ girlfriends “fat.”

And it’s not exclusive to college football - in the NFL, we’ve heard about Oakland Raiders coaches punching eachother out.

Do we need to have coach interventions or what? 

Here’s my overly simplistic view:

If you threaten to send a kid back to his neighborhood to get shot - that’s probably not a good thing. 

If you lock a kid in a shed, no matter how nice that shed is, and especially when his daddy works for ESPN - it’s probably not a good thing.

If you punch out your co-worker - it’s probably not a good thing.

If you are sent to the hospital for self-induced stress, and decide with your family to resign, and tell everyone that your daughter is so excited to “have her Daddy back” one day.  And then the very next day say, ”Ah screw it - I can’t let someone new take over my program at Florida!  That’s more important to me than my health or my family or my daugher having her daddy or all those things I told you yesterday.” - it’s probably not a good thing.

If you call your players’ girlfriends “fat” - well, I can’t really complain about that one.  Mike Leach, you may be crazy, but you are one really funny dude.

But seriously - Maybe Miss Terry Saban just gave all of these guys the answer to all their problems during her interview on Jox.  She said that when the stress gets to be too much, she tells her husband to practice what he preaches. 

And maybe it’s just a chick’s view, but do you think that Miss Terry is what keeps our beloved Coach Saban in check? 

If so, maybe she should open up a practice for troubled coaches.  Judging by this season, I think she’d have plenty of patients.

Anyone hear Cecil on Finebaum?

Gotta love him. 

Not only is he my favorite Tide writer & fav guest on the Finebaum show, but he just laid it all on the line regarding Urban Meyer.

He said what most of the world was thinking, but didn’t have the balls to say.

So, you go, Cecil.

You can listen to what the Reverend Hurt was preachin’ by CLICKING HERE.  (It takes a few minutes to download once you click the link, so just be patient.)

This blogger gives a pretty damn good summary of info on Texas if you’re looking for a “cheat-sheet” on players & matchups to watch.

Click Here for his post

I thought it was a hoax when my brother-in-law read the headline off of the internet - especially since the group had just been having a healthy discussion (in other words, an argument) about Florida football.

But, wow. 

Just don’t know what to say other than that I bet the Florida fans are sick over their coach’s resignation, and I always hate to hear that someone is having health problems that are so severe - especially at such a young age and with a young family. 

Coach Saban commented tonight, saying:

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Urban and his family at this time.  He is a first-class coach and the success he’s had is unmatched in our profession, especially over the last five years at Florida.

“We hope he is able to regain his health and have the opportunity to coach again in the future. Urban Meyer is a great person as well as a great coach, and the game of college football is better with him as a part of it.”