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A close second to college football as a pastime in Alabama is college football recruiting. The battle for players culminates on national signing day which was today.
How did your school fare?
Florida seems to be the consensus number 1 with Texas as 2nd in any rankings. Alabama finished 3rd, 4th or 5th depending on whose rankings you hold in highest regard. Auburn was a surprising 4th or 5th.
Speaking of Auburn
My wife's best friends son, Chad Slade an offensive lineman, signed with Auburn. Unfortunately we missed the festivities but want to share the video
Good afternoon, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
As always, this is a crosspost from Congress Matters and I will refrain from my routine claim that this is the most important news of the day. That would be the what is happening in your own house this time of the year.
I love this time of year. Holidays. Family and Friends. The spirit of giving. Bowl Games. College Basketball and Saturday Night Football - which is being called Thursday Night Special Edition on the NFL Network.
As things change, the more they remain the same. Food, family and the Detroit Lions again on Thanksgiving. At least they are a little improved.
Are you ready for Black Friday? Is that a racist term my wife asked me last night? Any thoughts. I have no answer, I'm sure the answer is in a Chris Rock routine.
Here's a good story, appropriate for Thanksgiving, that a friend sent me
It sounds like the start of a joke: a rabbi, a minister and a Muslim sheik walk into a restaurant.
The three say they became close not by avoiding or glossing over their conflicts, but by running straight at them.
But there they were, Rabbi Ted Falcon, the Rev. Don Mackenzie and Sheik Jamal Rahman, walking into an Indian restaurant, and afterward a Presbyterian church. The sanctuary was full of 250 people who came to hear them talk about how they had wrestled with their religious differences and emerged as friends.
They call themselves the "interfaith amigos." And while they do sometimes seem more like a stand-up comedy team than a trio of clergymen, they know they have a serious burden in making a case for interfaith understanding in a country reeling after a Muslim Army officer at Fort Hood, Tex., was charged with opening fire on his fellow soldiers, killing 13.
I went, I tried, I failed - I was not able to secure a wristband for the Sarah Palin book signing in Birmingham . So no ambush interviews tomorrow. I did stick around to meet Mike Huckabee.
One thousand people from Alabama and other southeastern states got pink wristbands from a Colonial Brookwood Village bookstore today so they can get former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to sign copies of her book "Going Rogue" for them on Monday.
Hundreds of others were turned away or left after realizing they wouldn't get one of the limited number of wristbands at the Books-A-Million store. Homewood police estimated about 1,800 people lined up for wristbands.
Palin, who was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, will begin signing copies of her book at 4:30 p.m. Monday. Some people had camped outside the bookstore since early Saturday evening to guarantee a place in line.
2. Officially Iron Bowl week in the State of Alabama - You must pick sides - You are either for Alabama or you are for Auburn - Of course if you have been reading this blog you know of my allegiance to the University of Alabama. This year the game will be held on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Alabama has already secured a birth in the SEC Championship Game against the defending champions The Florida Gators. The battle could also decide the Heisman Trophy as Mark Ingram from Alabama and Tim Tebow from Florida are mentioned as high on everyone's ballot.
I'm a sucker for feel good sports stories. About a year and a half ago I heard about Michael Oher and read Michael Lewis's wonderful book titled The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. I followed Oher's career in his final year at Ole Miss and cheered as he was drafted in the 2009 Draft in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens.
Well, I was excited when I learned that The Blind Side would be made into a movie. This morning, I went to the first showing and I will be the first to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Warning: The movie will not win any Oscars or Golden Globes. But it does remain true to the story - something not always a given in movie versions of books. The movie like the book pulls at the heartstrings and provides great moments of comedic relief.
Like Bama fans throughout the country, I'm still reeling from this moment against LSU last Saturday afternoon. Sophomore receiver Julio Jones broke out of a slump with this touchdown catch.
The Tide go into Starkville to face Mississippi State tomorrow night. Sportswriters across the country love to call this a "trap game". Let's hope the SEC officials get a break this weekend after much criticism this season. Will I get fined for even bringing this up? I hope SEC commissioner Mike Slive doesn't read the Progressive Electorate tonight.
Who are you cheering for this weekend? I'm watching the West Virginia - Cincy game right now. Let's see if the Mountaineers can give the surprising Bearcats a challenge.
I sense a bit of unusual calmness in the news cycle this morning. Perhaps that is because we have all been through an extraordinary week.
We just wrapped up 2009 elections - except for a few runoffs and the City of Birmingham mayoral Special election. Then we had a day of post-game wrap ups. The "Super Bowl of Freedom" on Capitol Hill came and went. We just came out of a horrific tragedy yesterday in the Ft. Hood shootings . That's not even including all of my local news coverage related to JP Morgan, Jefferson County and the SEC (not the football conference) .
I would usually take a deep breath, probably a long lunch and relax on Friday. I would get my emotions ready for the big LSU Alabama game tomorrow. However, I'm not so sure that we didn't leave one storm this week only to enter another starting today or tomorrow. We will have a health care reform vote sometime in the next few days so I hear. Probably tomorrow. Oh great - football and health care reform vote all in one day.
So here's my abbreviated guide of where to go for the next 24-48 hours:
A little over a week ago we discussed the Southeastern Conference instituting a wrongheaded Fan Policy . The SEC heard your protests, blog thingies, twittermadoos and my face updates loud and clear.
To show how hip and cool the SEC really is it tweeted the update to its policy . In incremental twittering the SEC reversed its harsh and what would have been an unenforceable policy
On Monday
"To our Twitter fans, we have heard you. We're working on clarifications to our policy and should have something done soon."
On Tuesday
"Revised SEC Ticket Policy in place. Twitter fans, please share the great times you have at our stadiums with your friends.
Let's not harp on the past, let's congratulate the SEC for making the right decision.
The SEC's new $3 billion dollar contract seems to be a little too overbearing in terms of exclusivity. A new policy not only limits teams but fans in terms of what they can do from the stands. Obviously enforcement will be difficult. Imagine the rent a cops trying to confiscate phones during the games.
Ticketed fans can't "produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event ... ."
Very broad and overreaching and just plain wrongheaded. Of course the league has taken criticism and claims they are considering changing this policy.
Due to the angry response from columnists, bloggers and fans, the policy is "undergoing a revisionary process," said Charles Bloom, the league spokesman, and a final version is expected on Monday.
Such a silly policy does not require much criticism and commentary. Fans will do what they want to do and can do at the games. But to limit access to tools that could enhance coverage is just wrongheaded. Many events inside and outside of the sporting world incorporate tweets and facebook status into their coverage. Instead the SEC tries to exclude their biggest supporters - the fans - to uphold their exclusivity agreements. Just plain bogus.
Later today some NFL team will make Ole Miss standout Michael Oher a very rich young man as their first round draft pick. What separates Oher from the other young men that will be drafted today is the remarkable journey that brings Oher to New York City today waiting to find out where he will suit up on Sundays.
About a year ago, I read the book The Blind Side by Michael Lewis which chronicled the journey from Michael being an alone emotionally detached boy who had no academic records after being shuttled in an out of foster care to an All-American at Ole Miss. The success of Michael Oher happened only because of a kind affluent white family in Memphis that showed him real love.
After reading this book, I watched as Oher decided to come back to Ole Miss after being assured of being a first round pick as a junior. I am truly like many of others who have followed this story, weeping with joy as Michael is on the verge of becoming an NFL draft pick. Just a few minutes ago I watched as ESPN did a snippet on this story and introduced Oher and the Tuohy family. Every media outlet in America will cover this story if they haven't already in the next few days.
This Afternoon, I went to see The Express ,a movie about the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis.
I had been eagerly anticipating this movie for months. Ernie Davis by all accounts was a great football player, but an even better human being. Leukemia cut Davis's life much too short as he never played a down of NFL football.
Since a young child, I have always been a student and fan of the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman Trophy mean being the best in college football although it seems to have lost luster in recent years. So I've known about Ernie Davis for years and each time I was saddened when reading the end of the story. Despite my wishes, the story always ends with Davis dying as a young man.
In news that transcends the NFL and the world of sports, Tom Brady will miss the rest of the season because of a serious knee injury. We just got this news from NFL.com
This injury may be career ending for the two-time Super Bowl MVP.
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