I think the fact that UpDyke was on the campus at a school sponsored event after being asked to disassociate himself from the University is simply more proof that he needs to be locked up and the key thrown away.

What I was getting at with that statement is that the goal of the damage not that the damage was the same.

Of course, UpDyke could have easily poisoned someone by putting an unknown chemical in such a public area without the knowledge of the Owner. He did not care if he hurt someone or not.

1. Being interested in this topic does not indicate anything about you in my opinion. It is a current events subject that many are interested in.

We know exactly how old these oak trees are as they were a gift and planted. They are not a type of tree that is indigenous to the area. This type of oak grows wild only much farther south.

The Toomers Oaks have been healthy and in poor health several times in their lives. My wife and I thought their demise might be imminent in the early 80s. They have had replacements planted for over a decade now from the acorns of these trees in case they do come to an end.

My Thoughts:
It does not matter if the trees were in poor health before nor that rolling the trees might be damaging them. Those trees belonged to Auburn University and fans of Auburn University for decades. Since the trees were their property, they could do with them as they pleased.

What they did do with them was revitalize the trees with the assistance of some of the best experts in the nation. This was done as the trees were obviously held as important to the Auburn culture. It is no different than the Cherry Trees planted in our Nations Capital.

Harvy UpDyke was not just attempting to kill trees when he invaded the Auburn community and vandalized a historic cultural symbol. He was doing what all such criminals do, attempting to establish dominance through brutality and force his will on other people. It is no different than what a rapist attempts with their forceful and unwanted activity.

In his mind, Harvy UpDyke could care less about the trees. He intended to inflict permanent emotional harm to another group of people. He did this knowingly and willingly. He is no different in this respect than the person that mailed anthrax or any of the other terrorist that have been prominent in the news over the last years. It does not matter if he succeeded or not, it was his intent and mind frame that made this a horrific crime to society.

I think Harvy UpDyke should spend the rest of his life in jail as a safety precaution for the remainder of society. As in every community if living creatures, those that cannot control their urges to conform to the rules of the society must be removed from the society.

Kentucky fans started a riot in their own city and with fellow fans of their chosen team. They did not go to Kansas and destroy historic landmarks or expose and molest Kansas fans with their naked genitalia in public. They also did not assail the Kansas players before they took to the court for the game.

Fan is short for fanatic, and it appears Kentucky has an abundance of those that fit the description. Maybe Alabama fans can watch and learn from them in the future.

No, I have not paid any attention to Stefon Diggs. I did look up the comment and found it to be exactly what I would expect from a kid growing up in the D.C. area. Having lived in Alexandria, Va. and having frequented the area regularly over the course of a couple of years I found D.C. to be basically a very large Ghetto with an Island Oasis (U.S. Government) in the middle. Ignorance and racism were extremely common in my experience as were gang related belittling of females.

I think Diggs has a chance to escape all of that. It is a rare opportunity from that area and I hope he makes good on it.

It is only 9:07 and Auburn has 15 with all three papers faxed in signed. The only surprise for me so far is quarterback Jonathan Wallace. As thought Ja'Quay Williams has signed. This could throw my numbers off by one of course.

As far as the answer, you will not like anything I tell you so it is not relevant. The information you asked for was certainly contained in the response, you simply refused to see it.

Auburn can only take 23 commitments this class without pulling scholarships from the two walkons that earned them last season or pulling an Alabama and flushing some players on the roster. The roster has an overabundance of talent, so flushing players from it is not likely an option being considered even if the staff were allowed to do so.

This is why Auburn will likely only take between 20 - 23 players for this class instead of 25 in my opinion.

Jeffrey, I simply gave you the facts and hoped you could take them and form your own opinion on the article.

You are correct about the coaching in 2011 in my opinion, and it appears it was the opinion of at least someone at Auburn as well since new coaches are in place.

All I know is that Auburn only has 23 slots available on the roster unless they discontinue scholarships for two walkons that were awarded them last season. Auburn has signed 84 recruits in three seasons under Chizik. This is an average of 28 per year. There was a huge attrition from the 2009 class and he signed 32 in 2010 to make up for it. As the article said, the vast majority of the 2010 and 2011 classes are still there. There were 57 in those two classes alone.
Auburn currently has 62 scholarship players on their roster with the vast majority being of four star or higher ratings by the recruiting services. This leaves room for only 23 in this class.
Auburn lost Mike McNeal (5 star but would have already graduated), Antonio Goodman (four star would be a junior), Shaun Kitchens (four star would be a junior) and Harrison Moseley (three star would be a red shirt sophomore) from the armed robbery incident.
Auburn lost Eric Smith (four star would be graduated) for domestic violence among other things.
Auburn lost Tyrik Rollison (four star would be a junior) due to failure to make grades .
Auburn lost Dontae Aycock (four star would be a red shirt junior) due undisclosed team rules violations.
Auburn lost Mike Dyer ( five star would be a junior) due to undisclosed team rules violations.
That is a total of seven four star or above losses out of those classes. Two of which were from Tuberville's 2008 class. Auburn retained 33 four star or above players from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 classes or eleven on average. Onterio McCalebb is the only four star or above remaining from the 2008 class (the last class from Tuberville).
That leaves Auburn with 34 four star or above recruits still on board and another three four star or above transfers for a total of thirty seven four star and above players on the team according to Rivals ( the recruiting service that consistantly ranks Auburn's recruits the lowest of the major sites). That leaves Auburn with only 60 percent four star or above players on the roster before this class signs. With nine more four star or above recruits in the current class, that leaves Auburn with 46 four star or above players to start the season if they do not add a single new recruit. I expect five more four star and above ranked players in this class.
The playing three deep consist of 68 players maximum total. That will put about 75 percent of Auburn's playing rotation to be in the top tier category as far as recruiting rankings. This includes the majority of the defense and offense to two deep and special teams coverage packages.
I don't think Auburn will take a full class. I expect between 20-23 for this class.

I still have mixed emotions about what you contend.

First, how can a team that came in third in their conference be the best team in college football?

How does a team going 1-1 with a particular opponent make them a better team?

I think Alabama did more for college football this year than anyone realizes just yet.

1. The NCAA will finally act and close the loopholes Saban has used to exploit student athletes. They had "beat around the bush" previously, but his activity this year has created another kind of "Tide". They are also looking at how recruiting has been manipulated by boosters and alumni by use of surrogate agents. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.
2. This was the perfect storm for the BCS. It almost guaranteed a playoff system after the contract expires in 2014. We all owe Alabama a debt of gratitude for this in particular.

That being said, Alabama started this year as the forth or fifth best team in the conference. The effort and hard work invested by the staff and players is to be commended. It was truly a "work in progress" season that left Alabama as the true BCS Champions by the end of the season. There were at least three other teams that had the opportunity to do this including both Auburn and LSU, but it was Alabama that had the stuff it took to actually accomplish it.