Archive for April, 2010
Sadly I wasn’t able to make the trip down to T-Town for this weekend’s A-Day festivities, and was resigned to watching it at one of New York’s many over-priced sports bars, albeit with a host of Bama Alumni. Luckily for us, one of WBPT’s closest friends and maligned sexual miscreant, “Fernando Townsend” was down in the Promise Land for the game. This is “Fernandos” first foray into guest writing here on WBPT, and we hope his words can garner us the same attention as Kim Kardashian’s fat ass has lately (291 hits yesterday, I shit you not). Champion’s league semis start tomorrow, and we’ll have a preview or a review, depending on how lazy I am. Take it away Mr. Townsend:
Preface: The night before the game, the night before an Alabama game, I had to get a little drunk. It’s what we do. So I did. I woke up slightly sleep-deprived. Steve McGuffey had the honor of driving. One cup of McCafe Premium Roast later, Jim and I proceed to talk recruiting/all things Bama for 90 minutes.
Notes: A perfect day for football. Even by our spring standards, the day featured extraordinary weather… Bryant-Denny Stadium has a long way to go. I am sure you saw it on television, but there is some work to be done. The facility will be more than impressive when finished. One must consider BDS a top college football, nay, sporting destination, in the country. We sat second row, upper deck, 50-yard line, shade side. This may be the best seat in the house. You sit up high enough to read the secondary, blocking, etc., but low enough to identify the third string nose tackle (Nick Gentry). The stadium was full and people were standing all along the fences on field level, and the spirals headed to the upper deck had approximately 400 people on them. Alabama Nation is overwhelming. What are so many people doing at a football practice? Saban clearly loves this. I thought to myself: “it is a beautiful Saturday. This game is free entry. I am sitting in the best seat in the house, watching nothing less than 30 future NFL players on the field.” Talk about a bargain.
Warm-ups: Clearly the result of years of optimization by Czar Nicolas. After the Chinese fire drill that signals the conclusion of team stretching, the team sprints to timed stations, for example, the D-line rushing each other in the end zone; linebackers and secondary in separate units working on coverage drills; opposite half of the field split with first and second team O with dual QB repetition continuously… Here are two cool stories from the warm-ups:
1. Rolando was with the linebackers unit pumping up Dont’a, and then Hightower immediately jumped into drills with Nico and made a dazzling, fully extended one-handed interception. When #30 got up, never putting his other hand on the ball, he ran over to Rolo and started mimicking a throwing motion while holding onto the ball as if it were stuck to his hand like a little kid showing off to his buddy. Hilarious and impressive. It really is a child’s game to him.
2. There is a diesel drill I had never seen before where the first and second unit offensive and defensive line units line-up and go through pass rushing situations. It was four down D-lineman against our base O-line without a TE or H-back. At the snap, the coach yells the number of a defensive lineman and that individual player goes 100% against whatever O-lineman would be responsible for him in a game. They grapple for about 4 or 5 seconds. During this drill I first took notice of Brandon Moore. On the snap, the 19-year old literally threw freshman All-American B. Jones on his ass and got to the dummy QB. Moore has all the makings.
Stuff you’ve already heard: The hype is real with Dre. As some have begun to observe, he’s got “swag.” I do believe Dre is going to be a Patrick Peterson-type. If he stays healthy, then he may be early NFL-bound. He moves better than anyone out there. His fluidity was evident with the overhead INT of Greg that he made look easy. In pre-game, he went through every secondary repetition smoothly and he didn’t drop a single ball… BJ Scott has locked up the other spot, and appears the be poised for a productive season… no need to comment on #57… Chance Warmack appears to be the real deal. He pulls well, and we ask our OGs to do that often… DJ Fluker is the first player any fan will spot from the stands. He must be the biggest player in the history of Alabama football.
Game notes: After AJ made a beautiful throw to #3 on the trick play, we came back in the shotgun on the next play and he misread the defense. Forcing a post route into double coverage, AJ missed Brandon Gibson running totally uncovered down the seam… Greg’s INT to #21 was a bad throw. If he gets any air under that thing, it should’ve been a touchdown to Maze. I have never noticed how weak Greg’s arm is, but when AJ is down there flicking the ball 50 yards, it becomes evident… the punting improved as the game went on, but clearly Jay Williams or the unnamed walk-on is the played Czar Nicolas has in mind. But, yes, the punting looked horrible… I was able to observe from the upper deck on the other side of the field that Maze did not stay in bounds for McElroy’s flea flicker TD throw. I looked at my dad and said: “where would AJ have put that ball?”… Eddie Lacy – the hype is real.
QBs: They are all good. #14 had deceiving numbers, he is damn good. How do AJ and PSims co-exist? They probably don’t, but leave it to this staff to figure it out… I was absolutely ready to write Star Jackson off for good, but he looked enthusiastic, poised, smooth and strong. He did not make a single check off the entire game. Similar to John Parker, I knew where he was going to throw the ball before he was half-way through his drop. But, he could be a good career back-up. He played with fire, like a player that wants to earn a spot. I was impressed…
I have always wanted this to be Greg’s time. When you take into account his leadership, his understanding, his willingness to do whatever they ask him to do, the continuity of our team, it all seems that he has earned this team and gives us a good chance to win games. Greg McElroy will not lose a football game. AJ can win a football game. He made Brandon Gibson look like an NFL prospect. The game’s longest pass play, a 41-yard seam route to #11, was laid up perfectly. It was a throw that Greg has never made in his life, and AJ made it as a 19-year old. He was certainly making reads like an educated signal caller, and his touch on throws to Richardson (both the trick play and the touchdown) was unlike anything #12 can give us. At one point in my notes, probably during the 4th quarter, I just scribbled down “AJ, AJ, AJ.” As you may know, ESPN quickly cut away from the game at its conclusion. Saban made the team stay on the field for the next play, 4th down and 5. AJ threw a 50-yard laser to the back of the end zone that #11 caught over Dee Milliner and there was jubilation on the white sideline, a giant pile-up led by Star Jackson. They were legitimately pumped to have beaten the crimson. The throw was unreal. I glanced at the crimson sidelines and they looked shocked and pissed. Ingram was short in his post-game interview. I bet Saban loved it and hated it in the same moment. Another thing to chew their ass about.
Final notes: John Fulton will be the first member of his signing class to see the field. He looks ready now, expect him to play meaningful snaps next year. Milliner will be fine, just not as far along as Fulton. Milliner is going to benefit tremendously from Coach Cochran, as he’s got about 20 pounds to put on… Saban hawked the sidelines with miss terry chatting up massive black recruits on the sideline, all 100 of them. He loves recruiting his balls off. His body language is totally different when talking to recruits. He appears animated, energetic, waving his hands as if he is telling a story or joke. At one point during the game he went up to Trent Richardson and said something with that sly Saban grin and Richardson doubled over in laughter. Who knows what he said? ”Do not come in here soft today!”
AJ can hose the ball all over the field. I told my dad in the second quarter that I had seen enough, that is was time to give AJ the keys to the kingdom. Dad, half-joking: “Greg hands the ball off well.” AJ reads both sides of the field. At any moment, any throw is possible (read: we can score touchdowns.) His development will not be without mistakes, INTs, dumb sacks and fumbles, incorrect run checks and audibles, probably a few delay of game penalties. But if we want to be the high-octane offense, an offense that resembles the early decade Miami U or mid-decade USC machine, we need a quarterback. We have the talent everywhere else. I think AJ can be that quarterback. If I was a UT fan and I was at the A-Day game, I would be saying to myself: “I hope they don’t put that #10 in there.” When AJ went Brett Favre on us and hosed a frozen rope 50 yards into the leaping hands of a career back-up to lead an upset that hadn’t happened in any Saban spring game at Alabama, you knew we have a game changer in the stable.
Post-script: Our linebacking corps. Good God.
Fernando Townsend
P.S. Also of note, Saban and his fire breathing minions locked up another 4 commits for the class of 2011. DE DJ Pettway, ATH Jabriel Washington, DB (and maybe the top one in the country for ’11) Hasean Clinton-Dix, and monster DE out of Auburn, LaMichael Fanning.
Ὀδυσσεύς Bombay
epic post
Like a famished Grizzly freshly awaken from his winter slumber I return to you noble readers of WBPT. Apologies for my absence will do no good, for the time that has passed is simply an errant nightmare, you all deserve better. I aim to deliver, the time to post has arrived. Your studious first mate has been kriss-krossing this great land in search of that daily activity which gives us all a sense of importance while simultaneously filling our checking accounts with the fruits of our labor. I, like your Captain OB, am unemployed and that my friends is a much busier occupation than you may imagine. Just last week I left my home in the South Carolina low-country to pursue professions in the great Rocky Mountains, Denver specifically, one of my favorite cities in the US. While that venture went without a hire it did not pass idly by as many leads were developed and, if I choose, an opportunity to relocate would certainly bear fruit. After a short stint back in SC I am off later this week to the South’s King City, the land of my birth, Atlanta in search of more opportunities. But enough about me, it is too long and depressing a story lately to comprehend or even really care about. I have decided to make this an epic post, one that will encompass the tremendous occurrences in sports, music, and culture in the last few days and weeks. I hope this effort will make up for my absence, but you must read on to find out.
Rawr
OB will surely hate me for doing this, since he has been a card-carrying member of the Duke-haters Club ever since I’ve known him. But how ’bout them Blue Devils? The most absurd looking of the number 1 seeds actually became better when 7’1″ bearded-paint-dweller Brian Zoubek became a starter after the loss to Maryland late in the regular season. The fighting Kryzewskis dominated the ACC tournament and were all set to make a run at the title. I personally had the boys from Durham losing in the Elite 8 to Villanova, but when the Wildcats bowed out early to cinderella St. Mary’s it made Duke’s path that much easier. The Dukies fought off Baylor to earn their spot in the Final Four and played their best game of the year against West Virginia to make it to the Championship. I personally loved this Championship game. It was a typical David vs. Goliath sure but what I loved the most about it was that of the 10 starting basketball players from Duke and Butler, half of them were white boys. Duke’s fantastically pale trio of Scheyer, Singler, and Zoubek proved too much for the hometown Butler Bulldogs and Coach K won his 4th Title at Duke in what was one of the better Championship games in recent memory. A big Duke high-five to all my fellow frontrunners who have loved the Blue Devils since the days of Hurley and Hill.
That's What I Call Diversity
Well the end of college basketball means there must be something to fill this massive sports void in my soul. There must be some sport that encompasses all that is and was good in America. Something that brings people together, spanning thousands of miles and defines a common thread among generations. What could it be?
Thank you Terrance Mann, I mean James Earl Jones. Baseball. God I love it. There is nothing more perpetually American than baseball. Nothing makes me realize that summer is imminent more than baseball. With opening day happening yesterday and my hometown Braves ripping the absolute dog shit out of the Cubs I couldn’t be more excited about this season. It is Bobby Cox’s last season as Braves manager and the boys from the Ted have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs. As a boy I attended a World Series game in 1992 when Atlanta played Toronto, my all-time favorite player is Chipper Jones (UFag bias and Hooters babies aside, he’s a baller), and when David Justice hit that solo-shot to win the 1995 World Series it immediately became my greatest sports memory. I love the Braves and I love baseball. This season is going to be exciting to watch. As 20 year old, number 1 prospect Jason Heyward hit a 3-run bomb with his first major league swing he ushered in a new era of Braves baseball, one that hopefully will send Bobby Cox out with a title of some kind. Here’s to $2 tickets, $4 hot dogs, and $6 domestic beers.
Feels Good Man
Speaking of the Rites of Spring, there is another one this week. It is the Jim Nantz jizz-fest aka the Masters. This year I hope that mainstream America holds their collective obsession of the philanderer elsewhere as the Masters is one of the last remaining utterly pure sporting events. That is the last I will speak of that. If you are a true sports fan, then Augusta National Golf should be at the very top of your Sports Bucket List. I myself have been 3 times to the tournament itself (practice rounds are for suckers) and usually can be found walking around with my jaw somewhere around my ankles, or propped on a hillside with a $1.50 beer. It is truly a sight to behold, one of Golf’s many meccas, but the US’s only true Golf Capital. Augusta in early April is a fantastically beautiful place, azaleas and dogwoods blooming, sorostitutes from nearby UGA and South Carolina clad in stunning sundresses and skirts that do as the wind bids them, and the sweet sounds of titanium on plastic. I hope to everything that this weekend is more about the other men on the course, those that are actually competing for a green jacket, because in a world filled with distractions it would be nice to just watch some guys play some amazing golf at a truly amazing place.
Amen Corner - Augusta National Golf Club
Alright enough sports talk for today. There are a couple of movie trailers running on most cable networks right now that have caught my attention. Not for the movies themselves but for who is in them. Death at a Funeral and The Losers both star a certain up and coming actress who has appeared in Avatar, Star Trek, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Drumline. Zoe Saldana is a New Jersey born, Dominican/Puerto Rican, actress and she has me wanting moar. This chick is unreal. I mean I first took notice when she was lookin’ supa-fine opposite Nick “Wil-n-Out” Cannon in 2002′s supersmash Drumline, and since then I have been keeping tabs on her. Death at a Funeral‘s cast alone will probably have me redboxing it in a few months (doesn’t hurt that it’s rated R, might catch it in theaters), The Losers looks like a quality summer shoot-em-up and there is no lack of great character names so I will be catching this one when it comes out (plus Zoe looks great in the trailer). This chick is about to blow up, I guess this is the Woman version of Music MANday, as we at WBPT salute Ms. Saldana and all she undertakes in the future.
Looked me dead in the face, asked cash or credit...
Now on to another Goddess named Zoe. Or I guess, Zooey. In this section of Epic Post I will be discussing 3 of my favorite albums to come out in 2010, the first of which is She & Him – Volume Two. For those that don’t know, She & Him is comprised of musical renaissance man M. Ward and actress/singer/blue-eyed sex kitten Zooey Deschanel. Simply put, if you like Zooey’s voice then buy this album. It is heads and tails above Volume One, her lyrics are simple and meaningful and his guitar bleeds through every track as they mix together to make a 50′s style folk masterpiece. See and hear the first single from the album below, if you dig it I suggest you purchase the rest.
Favorite album number two of 2010 is the debut album from a band called Local Natives, an LA based group who describe their sound as “afropop-influenced guitars with hyperactive drumming and hooky three-part harmonies” and if that doesn’t make you want to take a listen, then maybe the video below will (very cool). This is another must have album. The Local Natives are kind of a mixture of the Arcade Fire and Vampire weekend but that doesn’t really do them justice, these guys are definitely a group to keep an eye on.
Favorite album number three is also from a new group on the scene. Mumford & Sons released their freshman effort Sigh No More back in October 2009 over in the UK and it was just released over here in the states. This album is the shit. If you’re a fan of stringy, loud, folky groups like the Avett Brothers and Frightened Rabbit then this is the album for you. Probably the best all-around album I’ve heard since Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Seriously buy this album, download it, rip it, get it somehow. You won’t regret it.
Alright friends, I’m all posted out. But before I leave you I just wanted to give you a heads up on some great music coming out in May. Indie music phenomenon The National will release their album High Violet on May 11, below is a clip of them performing a track from that effort on the Jimmy Fallon Show. Below that is Charleston’s favorite local sons (ok, besides Hootie) and their first ever video of any kind from the upcoming album Infinite Arms that comes out on May 18th.
Looking forward to this summer, the music, the sports, the drinks, and the broads. Thanks for your patience. Stay tuned.
-Neil
