Bleacher Report - Articles by Scott Hays

Weekend Rants: Tuscaloosa, Brad Lester, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cy Young, SEC , TV

Scott Hays — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:31:51 -0400

For those who read my article last week this may come as a surprise: I went to Tuscaloosa this weekend and had a blast (even went to the first half of the game, but after seeing the Auburn score at half-time, I figured I needed to go check it out). This wasn’t the first time I had been to Tuscaloosa, but it was the first time I had been when Auburn wasn’t the opponent or I was just there to party (which I also did this weekend). What made the experience great was the fact that I had the hook-up. I have a close friend that works for the program and I got a “recruit” experience:

I got to walk out of the tunnel right behind the players as they went on the field for pre-game warm-ups. I was then allowed to stand on the sidelines until the game started, after which I got prime seats at about the 35-yard line around twenty rows up. After the game my friend took a buddy and I through the field house and, besides all of the crimson, it was a sight to see. 50+ inch flat screens, a undetermined amount of Playstation 3s, Xbox 360s, and Wiis (not as impressive as Auburn’s Playstation 4s and Xbox 720s, but definitely impressive), and a weight room (with a supplement bar!) that I would be embarrassed to work out in (probably not allowed to attempt to bench press anything below 100 pounds).

Even as an Auburn fan, I can appreciate the facilities, and easily see how any school sways recruits.

The only negatives from the trip were that my Auburn bumper sticker was ripped off of my car (but really, I expected that) and the run-in I had with one Alabama fan at Buffalo Wild Wings.

My friend and I arrived at Buffalo Wild Wings in time to see Brad Lester laying on the ground, face mask removed, motionless (I was later told prior to that he was moving his legs). While waiting on our table I made a quick run to the restroom, where the game was on above the urinals.

The guy next to me was a nerdy looking guy around my age (23) wearing a coaches style Bama polo and he decided he would make the grotesque “I hope he dies” statement, I quickly turned to him and in words that should not be repeated told him you don’t say that. He then asked if I was an Auburn fan (I was wearing a yellow shirt so it was readily available knowledge) and I replied yes but that you don’t say that about any one that is laying on the ground like that. He then shut up and I left the bathroom.

As I was telling my friend about what had happened he walked by and I made it obvious that I was talking about him, he told me to talk **** to his face, so I just simply repeated that you don’t wish for that to happen to anybody. I should have slammed his head into the bathroom stall moments earlier, but I thought I would be the better man and not let him ruin my night (Auburn was attempting to do this on the football field). I am glad to hear that Brad Lester is doing great and may play this weekend.

***I know that this is an isolated incident and that most, and by most I mean 99.9% of Alabama fans have class and would never say or even think what this guy said***

Chris Todd should win the Cy Young. I know on the scoreboard it looks like the offense struggled, and they did, but it wasn’t a total mess. Like Tuberville said, take away a few penalties and they did a decent job. If you take away two holding penalties Auburn would have ended up with over 400 yards of offense.

I am also wondering (after a long conversation with my dad, and yes, like last week I will reference my dad in many articles in the future, since we have numerous discussions about Auburn, as well as others) what the exact long-term game plan is at Auburn. Has Tuberville decided to simply make due with a quarterback that doesn’t make mistakes and rely heavily on the run game and the defense? I remind you that the Auburn team as a whole is young and that Kodi Burns is still an option to red-shirt (I am simply throwing this out there as food for thought, and we will have some view of this picture during the LSU game), so maybe Auburn is setting up for the future.

Alabama Terrence Cody can stop the run. As an Auburn fan, Alabama’s run defense scares me, but if Auburn can continue to play good defense and have some semblance of a passing game come November, I think Auburn will be the favorite. Alabama has absolutely no depth on offense, but the good news Bama fans, is that the second team is made up of a lot of freshmen, so they are building some.

Media double standard. I find it disturbing that Georgia continues to fall, even though they keep winning (no disrespect to USC or Oklahoma). I know they played poorly against South Carolina, but it seems to me that the media has a double standard when it comes to the SEC, they say it is the best conference, but when a top team plays a close game against a conference opponent, it isn’t good enough. What gives?

USC would have moved up in the polls had they beat my high school 35-3, simply because of the media’s crush on them, and Ohio State is almost nothing without Beanie Wells (Pryor looks to have a great future, though).

(ok, so a little disrespect to USC, but they are definitely one of the best teams out there).

It can hurt you to play on television. Case in point: Auburn not moving/falling in the polls after this weekend’s pitching dual. I know they play poorly against the bottom of the SEC, but should Alabama really have jumped them? Should they not have moved up like everyone else shifted? Auburn looked better in a 3-2 (300+ yards of offense) win than Alabama did in a 20-6 (172 yards of offense) win against Tulane (that wasn’t on TV) and Alabama moved up last week.

Being on TV gives you the exposure to the media that votes and in the end all they end up seeing is the box score for some games. I am not trying to say Alabama isn’t good (I would have them around 15th until they show me that they can in fact play consistent, remember they started off 6-1 last year), but it is the example I am closest to. If you are a writer with a vote, you should do some research for a majority of games with poll implications before you vote.

That pretty much sums up my rants for the week. Now, I guess its back to work, longing for the weekend.

Talking Bama National Championships With The Always Civil Alabama Fans

Scott Hays — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:05:57 -0400

A quick set-up: Growing up in the great state of Alabama, I have been privy to many great sports-related things: great weather to play sports (beautiful golf courses), close proximity to the Atlanta Braves as they won division after division, and an exciting NFL team 2 hours away (before that only 5 hours away). Not to mention being in the heart of SEC country.

Now this is where it gets a little tricky: I am an Auburn fan. My Dad is an alum, so naturally I was an Auburn fan right out of the womb. There are many Auburn fans in the state (I was lucky enough to spend 4 years while at college in a town with 95% Auburn fans), but growing up the majority of the people surrounding me were Alabama fans.

I have no problem with Alabama fans, many of them are my closest family and friends (luckily two of my closest friends are Alabama to Auburn converts and I would like the think I helped them get on the right path), but I do have a problem with ill-informed, arrogant Alabama fans, and as I grew up, I ran into many of these type fans.

I quickly learned to best way to deal with these people was to know more about their program than they did and to put them in their place.

So I decided that the best way to start out my foray into Bleacher Report would be to post an excerpt from an email I sent my dad about an espn.com article comments section (back in July) where I ran into an one of these ill-informed, arrogant Alabama fans, enjoy:

(ok, so it wasn't a quick set-up)

Comments from espn.com in italics.

I was reading on espn.com about how Alabama is hated in the SEC and the writer, Chris Low had to point out how Bama fans believe they are elite even though they hadn't done anything in 15 years (really since The Bear). This quickly pissed the Bammers off including one that made this statement:

"1992 15-0 SEC & National Champs
1993 9-3-1 SEC West Champs
1994 12-1 SEC West Champs
1996 10-3 SEC West Champs
1999 10-3 SEC Champs

This is our championships over the last 15 years Chris Low!! I think we have won the number of SEC championships as Tennessee and more than Auburn!! Get your facts straight before posting this crap about our record over the last 15 years!!""

To which I replied:

"He did have his facts straight, 1992 was 16 years ago, so you named 4 outta 15 years that were good, with the last being 9 years ago. And in 1993, Auburn was SEC West Champions, Bama just got to play in the Championship game because of Auburn's probation, so hey, 3 outta the last 15 years ain't bad, so keep your chin up.

Oh and Bama was 13-0 in 1992, not 15-0"

He then said:

Well let me claim the 2002 SEC West championship if Awbarn is going to claim 1993 SEC West because they were on probation. We had best record in SEC West in 2002 but was on probation.

How many SEC championships have Awbarn won since 1989?? CAN I SAY ONE!! Also how many national championships have Awbarn won since 1957!!!!! Can I say NONE!!! Hell even LSU and Florida who you Aubies claim to have more tradition than has won more national championships than YOU!!! You take claim to six in a row over us but remember four was against the worst coach in BAMA history(Mike Shula!) The streak ends this year and you know it!!

So I posted this, allowing him to take credit for 2002, and I finally have the research written to prove it:

"The streak ends this year and you know it!!"
how long have I been hearing this? ok take 2002, but if you are going to say you have 12 national championships, you have to say auburn has 5, due to the way bama counts championships (anybody who wants to) versus the way auburn counts championships (AP, UPI (Coaches), BCS)

The way Alabama counts:
Auburn - 1913 (Billingsley), 1957 (AP), 1983 (NY Times, Ruthman, College Football Researchers Association), 1993 (National Championship Foundation), 2004 (People's Choice)

Alabama - 1925 (Helms Athletic Foundation, Football Annual, College Football Researchers Association, National Championship Foundation), 1926 (Helms Athletic Foundation, College Football Researchers Association, National Championship Foundation) 1930, (Davis Poll, College Football Researchers Association), 1934 (Dunkel, Williamson, Football Thesaurus), 1941 (Football Thesaurus), 1961 (AP, Coaches), 1964 (AP, Coaches), 1965 (AP), 1973 (Coaches), 1978 (AP), 1979 (AP, Coaches), 1992 (AP, Coaches)

The way Auburn counts:
Auburn - 1957 (AP)

Alabama - 1961 (AP, Coaches), 1964 (AP, Coaches), 1965 (AP), 1973 (Coaches), 1978 (AP), 1979 (AP, Coaches), 1992 (AP, Coaches)

While either way Alabama has more (congratulations), you have to choose either the 12-5 argument or the 7-1 argument, this 12-1 argument is bogus

*using Alabama's way, Auburn has won 2 NC's since Bama last in 1992.

So there, research to prove it, all I want is Alabama to use facts when they argue, and to admit, that outside of the 25 years of The Bear, the program is nothing. Also a few of Alabama's NCs were rewarded retroactively, what the hell?