• The Beat Down in T-Town Recap

    December 3rd, 2008 | By David Chu Posted in Uncategorized

    After a few days to settle down after the 36-0 “Beat Down in T-Town”, I have a brief lull period to give you guys some insight into the atmosphere, before I make the trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.  First off the day was a very ugly, muggy, foggy day.  The ground was wet but not muddy, as we walked through the quad, and stopped to get a bite to eat.  By the way, for anyone that will make a trip to Tuscaloosa if and when Alabama schedules a big time opponent there, Willy T’s Chicken Fingers and Fat Boy’s BBQ, simply awesome.  You Penn State fans, use this when you guys come to Tuscaloosa in a few years.

    Anyway, I went with my family to my third (their second) Iron Bowl.  Along the way you can’t help but stop by Denny Chimes to hear the percussion section of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band.  That section more than any (no disrespect to those of you that have or are playing in others) makes you feel that it is gameday.  As we moved forward, through massive hoards of people, stopping to watch the #1 Alabama team ride down University Boulevard in buses towards Bryant-Denny Stadium.  We finally made our way to our seats up near the top but at the 50 yard line.  Then you sit and just take a look at the surroundings, which the fog was terrible around the stadium, and take in the atmosphere.

    The Auburn band makes their way in and gets booed.  A few minutes later the Million Dollar Band makes their way in to a empty stadium due to massive traffic jams, and plays “Yea Alabama”.  First out the Auburn kickers, then the Alabama kickers, then the Auburn players and then the Alabama players; then Alabama exits back to the locker room, meanwhile the Auburn team mocked the student section by twirling their hands in the air mocking “Roll Tide”.  That would be the only time Auburn would feel superior to Alabama.

    Pre-game festivities began, first the Million Dollar Band pumped the crowd up with the help of the cheerleaders.  Then they form a “U” and “A”, we honored a military great from Alabama, then country singer star (and wife of the last national championship quarterback Jay Barker) Sara Evans sang the national anthem, and did an amazing job. Then the band split to their formation so that Alabama can run out, but this time the seniors were honored.  One by one, the thirteen seniors were greeted by their parents and Coach Saban at midfield.  Then they run back in the tunnel to go through the traditional entrance into the stadium.  The coin toss then was held and Siran Stacy was announced as honorary captain.

    For those that don’t know, Siran Stacy was a former running back for Alabama during the early 1990s, under Gene Stallings.  Last November he was driving with his wife and five other children.  His vehicle was rammed into by a drunk driver.  As a result he lost four of his five children and his wife, only his daughter survived, who was three at the time.  He came out of a coma about a month later.  He came out and was given a commemorative ball (as all other honorary captains do) and in a suit he walked to the 20 yard line, and started out of no where jumping up and down going crazy.  As if he was getting ready to play, and proceeded to throw his ball into the stands.  First off I was amazed at the character of this guy; second as I looked at the ball, if I was Saban I would look for him to be quarterback.  It was a great throw.  But besides that it was a heartwarming moment for a man who had been through a very difficult ordeal.

    Then kickoff ensued, and as usual the crowd was nuts, but the game was kinda blah for the first half.  The crowd was excited with Glen Coffee’s 41-yard TD, and went nuts with the blocked field goal to end the half.  Then the second half started much like the first, the crowd went crazy for each touchdown, but as the second half winded down the crowd grew the anticipation for the end of the six-game losing streak.  Auburn fans had been filing out of the stadium since the end of the third quarter, and left en masse by the later stages of the 4th quarter.  Then the clock hit 0:00, and the following cheer (which is said after each win) was chanted the loudest I had ever heard it in my six years of going to Alabama games.  Here it is:

    Hey (insert team name here, in this case Tigers), Hey Tigers
    We just beat the hell outta you
    Rammer Jammer, Yellow-hammer
    Givem hell Alabama

    (This picture was taken around the end of the 4th quarter)

    That was chanted six times, about five times more than usual.  The team ran on the field celebrating with the students.  A player took one of the Alabama flags and planted it on the field.  Saban after his talk with CBS ran across the field saluting the fans, as the fans went crazy.  It took a while for the crowd to leave, as we left the stadium and made our way out, the crowd got louder, and apparently the seniors came out one final time to give a goodbye salute to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

    People will be stalking stores Wednesday for Iron Bowl victory shirts, but Alabama fans also realize that there is a big prize awaiting to be had this Saturday.  For Alabama fans, this season is kind of like going to a restaurant on your birthday but not realizing it.  It was a great meal (12 victories), but out comes the cake and celebration.  You are surprised and happy with the free cake (SEC championship).  Alabama fans biggest surprise this year could be leaving Atlanta as a 22-time SEC Champion.  Remember also, after the dinner there are presents awaiting at the house, could a crystal ball be in the box for Alabama?  Stay tuned.

  • Kimbo Slice Acting Debut to Air on Nickelodeon. No We’re Serious.

    December 1st, 2008 | By Daniel Posted in Uncategorized



    I’m not sure how we missed this news over the Thanksgiving weekend, but Kimbo Slice is scheduled to appear on Nickelodeon’s “Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh”. Apparently Nick producers saw his work in the background of the Milf Hunter videos and were impressed by his stage presence. According to The Bloody Elbow:

    Kimbo portrays “Bludge” in the holiday special, a bully character that you don’t know whether he’s going to “smash somebody or if he’s going to give you a hug and a kiss.” Bludge actually helps Drake and Josh keep a promise they made to a family of foster children.

    I’m impressed, and I see a future here. Follow up with an appearance or two on Sesame Street (brought to you by the letter K of course), and this role can be a springboard for the Broadway stage or the big screen. Kimbo would make a great Othello, or he and Katt Williams could fill the DeVito/Arnold roles in a remake of Twins.

    Kimbo’s previous acting experiences include cameo background appearances in porn (SFW), followed by a convincing run as a legitimate mma fighter.

    Watch carefully @ 42 sec



  • The FINAL BCS Bowls Report

    December 1st, 2008 | By David Chu Posted in Uncategorized

    Well here we are the final issue of the BCS Bowls Report.  First off thanks for reading the past few weeks.  I hope I have given you all some educational insight to the BCS.  Now that we are at the end here are the teams that have clinched BCS berths via automatic bids.

    Big Ten:  Penn State
    Non-BCS:  Utah
    Big East: Cincinnati

    Now that is said here are the BCS berth clinching scenarios by conference:

    Pac-10: USC defeats UCLA, they’re in.  If they lose, Oregon St. will get the bid via tiebreaker.

    All other BCS conferences yet to give their bids are ones that have conference championships (SEC, Big XII, and ACC).  Obviously the winners are in the BCS automatically.

    Therefore, with that said here is what the BCS Bowls probably would look like as of this week assuming Alabama and Oklahoma win their respective conferences.:

    #1 Alabama vs. #2 Oklahoma


    Florida (Automatic At Large) vs. Utah (Automatic At Large)

    Alabama is the #1 team, thus the Sugar Bowl will get the first replacement pick.  They will look to stay in their host conference (SEC) and will choose Florida.  Since no BCS conference can have more than two teams per conference (and the non-BCS conferences can’t get more than one automatic bid collectively) that reduces to opitons for the Sugar Bowl.  The Sugar Bowl will have the fourth selection of teams in bowl team selection, and will choose between the Big East Champion and Utah.  Utah will be the more attractive pick.


    Texas (Automatic At Large) vs. Ohio St. (At Large)

    Since Oklahoma is #2 and in the national title game, the Fiesta Bowl gets the second replacement pick.  They
    will stay with their host conference (Big XII) and choose automatic at large team Texas.  Texas gets an automatic bid because they are #3 in the BCS and not a conference champion.  Ohio St. will get the next selection, because they are BCS eligible and the best team availble of the BCS teams.  However, if this happens do not be surprised if somehow BCS eligible Boise St., doesn’t get a hard look over Ohio St., due to their recent BCS struggles.


    ACC Champion vs. Cincinnati (Big East Champion)

    The Orange Bowl is tied to the ACC Champion and will select them.  They will get the final selection and
    will be forced to take BCS automatic bid that goes to the Big East, which is Cincinnati.


    USC (Pac-10 Champion) vs. Penn State (Big Ten Champion)

    Penn State with the win over Michigan St., won a share of the Big Ten Championship, and by defeating Ohio St. earned the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the Rose Bowl.  USC is the current leader, and if they win this Saturday they will head to Pasadena.  If they don’t the Beavers of Oregon St., will.

    That’s it, that is all I have.  Again thanks for reading this year, hopefully I will be back next year to give insight to the BCS.  I will be back next week to give insight to why the final BCS standings turned out they we they did.  Also, I will be in Atlanta to give you guys at InGameNow a look at what the atmosphere is like prior, during, and after the SEC Championship.

  • Other Incidents of Athletes Who Have Shot Themselves in the Foot

    December 1st, 2008 | By Daniel Posted in Uncategorized



    Now that Plaxico Burress has written the latest chapter of “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong”, he has insured a legendary ranking among the dumbest shootings ever. He avoids a Darwin Award for surviving, but gets major negatives for shooting himself (at least Dick Cheney shot a lawyer). This of course presents a perfect excuse to review which athletes have significantly shot themselves in the foot in recent history:

    Kellen Winslow Jr


    Ever since his “soldier” days at Miami, Winslow knew he was invincible and completely full of himself. Then he missed all but 2 games of his rookie year in the NFL with a broken leg. It could happen to anyone, but The Chosen One was meant to be special. So in the spring before his second year, Winslow tested his invincibility on his Suzuki and proceeded to break his ankle–costing him his second year and a staph infection. While he has a set of legs to stand on now, its clear he’s also lucky to miss a Darwin Award like Plaxico.

    Kobe Bryant


    Kobe won all 3 of his NBA championships riding the coattails of Shaquille O’Neal, so it makes perfect sense that Kobe would drive Shaq out of Los Angeles so he could win another. In 2004, Bryant said he was “tired of being a sidekick” and his decision to stay in Los Angeles depended on what the Lakers would do with Shaq. Bryant even considered signing with the Clippers but ultimately stayed with the Lakers the day after O’Neal was traded to Miami. During Kobe’s rape charge he also told police that Shaq pays his mistresses up to $1M to keep quiet. Shaq reciprocated by turning around an awful Miami franchise to win another championship, while Kobe is still trying to get his first Shaqless NBA title.

    Chad Ocho Cinco


    Aka Mr. Chad Johnson, Chad thought he had the most original self-promotional marketing plan for the 2008 season: he legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco so he could boost his jersey sales. Only problem–the NFL put in their order for the seasons jerseys back in April. That means this year Ocho Cinco fans will be stuck with uniforms that now legally have the wrong name. It’s already hard enough to sell jersey given that he plays for the Bengals. If he’s stuck in Cincinnati, the best way to make a Bengals jersey fashionable is to bring back Zubaz

    Rafael Palmeiro


    The only thing worse than getting caught using performance enhancing drugs is getting caught using PEDs 5 months after swearing against them under oath in front of congress while emphatically waving your finger on national tv. Palmeiro effectively jeopardized if not completely nixed his Hall of Fame chances with that stunt despite a career that included over 500 home runs, 3 Gold Gloves, and 4 All Star appearances.

    Jay Williams


    Jay Williams left Duke with a National Championship, a Naismith award, and Wooden Award. Soon after, the Chicago Bulls drafted Williams as the second overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. Life was looking good for Williams, until he decided to race a Yamaha crotch rocket through the tree lined streets of Chicago. In what could best be described as a E Hollywood true story, Williams had a nasty crash, fractured his pelvis, severed a nerve in his leg, and blew out his left knee. Williams required months of rehab, just to be able to walk. He never returned to an NBA court again.

    Sid Vicious

    The 6′9″ 320 lbs. Sid Vicious was a wrestling phenomenon, but his wrestling game was simply pure power. The suits at the WCW thought that Sid would be more marketable with some areal moves, so they pushed him to attempt a high risk move. During Sid’s match with Steiner, he jumped off the middle turn buckle and attempted to deliver a leg kick. What happened was truly unexpected: Sid landed on his left leg, instantly blowing out his tibia and fibula. This was all caught on camera:

    That was basically the apex of a wrestling career that fell even faster than its meteoric climb. Vicious never had a major match again, and wrestled his last match in front of 657 fans.

    Jayson Williams


    He was an NBA all-star for the New Jersey Nets. In 1999, he retired from the NBA, and took a job as a studio analyst for The NBA on NBC. Williams had been lucky in his life. In 1994, it was rumored that he had shot a semi-auto in the parking lot of the Meadowlands. In 2000, Williams wrote in his autobiography that he nearly shot New York Jets wr Wayne Chrebet at his skeet-shooting range. Unfortunately, Williams luck ran out. In 2002, he shot and killed his limo driver. Reports state that Williams was playing with his shotgun, when the gun accidentally fired, killing Gus Christofi. Christofi’s family settled with Jayson for $2.75 million. Williams still faces a retrial on reckless manslaughter charges.

    Rory Sabbatini


    There’s nothing wrong with a little trash talk (hell, thats why we made IGN), but trash talking Tiger Woods before playing against him is a new category of stupid. On day 3 of the 2007 Wachovia Championship, Sabbatini led the field by one stroke and said about Tiger, “The funny thing is, after watching him play last Sunday, I think he’s more beatable than ever.” By the end of the day Sunday, Woods finished up 5 strokes on Rory and won the tournament.
    But thats not all. Later that year, Tiger went on to crush Sabbatini by 8 strokes in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Then a few months later Rory entered a tournament hosted by Tiger and became the first person in the history of the Target World Challenge to withdraw early. It was due to a convenient case of “personal reasons” that had nothing to do with being in last place.

    Coaches Honorable Mention:

    Mike Price - Alabama’s football coach from December 2002 - May 2003. After landing the dream job that effectively makes him the Archbishop of Alabama, Price was fired after being seen at a strip club and allegedly having a woman in his hotel room not named Mrs. Mike Price.
    George O’Leary - Notre Dame football coach for 5 days in 2001. O’Leary landed one of the great coaching jobs in sports until it was revealed that his resume included a masters degree from an imaginary school “NYU-Stony Brook”, and 3 varsity letters from the University of New Hampshire football program, where he never played a down.

  • The Emotion of Alabama vs. Auburn

    November 28th, 2008 | By David Chu Posted in Uncategorized

    It is arguably the most intense rivalry in all of college football.  Alabama versus Auburn more commonly known in the South as the Iron Bowl, because Birmingham is a major steel producing city, second only to Pittsburgh.  They used to play this game in Birmingham as a neutral site game and thus dubbed the name the Iron Bowl.  In 1989, Auburn decided to move the game to Auburn for the first time and the game continued to be in Auburn every other year with the other game being played in Birmingham.  Then in 2000, Alabama moved their home status of the rivalry to their home field in Tuscaloosa, and thus the Iron Bowl became a home and home series and that is likely where it will stay.  Tomorrow will mark the 73rd game in the series, with Alabama leading 38-33-1.  However, Auburn has been on a six game winning streak, unbearable to Tide fans; also since they began playing the game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama has NEVER beaten Auburn on their home turf (0-4).

    Now assuming that most of the InGameNow Nation is not from Alabama, I think it would be appropriate to give those of you outside of the SEC a picture that you can understand just how intense this rivalry is.  This rivalry doesn’t last one specific day, it is a never ending cycle of jokes, wise-cracks, insults, an dfor the loser utter misery for the next 365 days.  Imagine how Crimson Tide Nation feels, currently as of Friday, November 28, the count is at 2,559 days.

    First to give you some perspective, my name is Allen Smith, I am 23 years old, I have lived in the following states in order Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, (back to Mississippi), New Jersey, and now Alabama.  I recently graduated from the University of Alabama in May.  Yes I will root for the Tide, I can’t help it, humans are humans no matter what the occupation, we aren’t cy-borgs, and we have emotions and likes and dislikes.  So yes I hope Alabama wins, but hey I am sane enough to know that anything can happen.  This will not be a pro-Alabama piece, but I feel you should know where I stand so you can at least trust me on my knowledge of the emotions of the rivalry.

    I have been to two Iron Bowls in my life, both at Bryant-Denny Stadium, as a student.  The first was in 2004, Auburn was going for an undefeated season, and Alabama was trying to improve their bowl position.  I was in the student section, now I came into the game thinking it was like a big game, but nothing special.  I will remember the Auburn opening drive forever.  It started right in front of the student section on their own side of the field (somewhere around the Auburn 15).  The running back tandem of “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown were right in front of the student section with their backs to me.  The crowd was electric and loud, so loud that Carnell Williams had to call timeout, not a big deal.  When they came back out and broke the huddle, the crowd got even louder and Cadillac extremely frustrated called a second consecutive timeout.  I knew then this was an intense rivlary.

    The second game in 2006, nothing in the game stood out, but I remember leaving with my family out of the stadium after Auburn won the fifth game in the streak.  Auburn fans were taunting and laughing at Alabama fans.  In fact, Auburn fans mocked Alabama Coach Mike Shula by chanting his name, after his questionable coaching in the game.  Coach Shula lost all four games against Auburn during his tenure.  It is enough to infuriate you if you are an Alabama fan.  But as I tell my friends and family, the only way to stop them from talking is beat them.  They won the game, they have the bragging rights.

    Now how deep does this rivalry go, sure it splits families, but what rivlary doesn’t?  But words couldn’t really describe the emotion of these two schools.  Then as I was listening to the Paul Finebaum Radio Network (radio show in Alabama)  he played an audio clip that was said by David Housel around the time of the first victory in the streak.  Now for those that don’t know, he was the Auburn Athletic Director until the fateful “jetgate” scandal of 2003 (where Tommy Tuberville almost got fired).  He made a statement so bold that I was stunned that he said it.  Now words can’t do justice for the tone of this statement.  I will paraphrase it, he said that Auburn wouldn’t get the “Bama Mommas and Daddies” they were going for their children.  And that Birmingham was a solid Alabama town but now they have changed it towards Auburn.  Now this wasn’t a fan, this is the head honcho of Auburn Athletics saying this.

    Now Alabama fans aren’t soley off the hook, legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant has been told to have said that Auburn was a “cow” college, and that if he couldn’t beat Auburn he would plow.  I’m also sure that Monday will fun on talk radio down here if Alabama wins where they will vent six years of frustrations on Auburn in the form of taunts, insults, etc. 

    Auburn fans don’t scream about my bias, I would include more but Alabama has been taking it on the chin the past six years and really hasn’t had any ammunition to fight back with.  Until this past week, Alabama fans have been talking like they’ve won, and Auburn fans are talking like they are going to wreck a national championship season from Alabama and send them into another year of humiliation.

    If you learn anything from this, it is that this is a year round deal.  The winner squeezed every bit of glory out of this victory for th whole year.  For the fans it is a year to gloat, for the coaches a year to make strides in in-state recruiting.  For the players it is a chance to etch their names in history, with people like Bo Jackson and Joe Namath.  A chance to make themselves remembered for their team in highlights that their families will be able to revel in forever.  It is a chance to make your season mean something, because a dream season isn’t complete until you win the Iron Bowl.

    Now I will be back next week, after I give you guys the BCS Bowls Report for a recap of the game.  I will be at the game for the third time tomorrow.  Hopefully, I will come back with happy memories on my way to the SEC Championship, and yes I wll be there as well giving you guys as much of a ringside seat to what is going to be the biggest SEC Championship match in SEC history.  Until then, I say Alabama wins 27-10 and of course…ROLL TIDE!!!! (I had to do it.)

  • BCS Bowls Report Week 6

    November 25th, 2008 | By David Chu Posted in Uncategorized

    One game changed an entire season, the BCS will again run again into calamity, and will pray for Alabama and Flordia to win out so they won’t have entire chaos.  Since we are close to the end of the season, we will now break the teams into those that have clinched BCS berths and the rest of the conference leaders who have yet to offically clinch a BCS berth.  For the SEC and Big XII, the #1 and #2 teams will be deemed the conference leaders.

    BCS Automatic Bids Given Out To Date

    Big Ten: Penn State

    Non-BCS Conference Automatic Bid: Utah

    Conference Leaders of Conferences that have not given out automatic BCS Bids:

    SEC: Alabama

    ACC: Florida St./Boston College or Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech

    Big XII: Texas

    Pac-10: Oregon St.

    Big East: Cincinnati

    Therefore, with that said here is what the BCS Bowls probably would look like as of this week:

    #1 Alabama vs. #2 Texas

    Florida (Automatic At Large) vs. Utah (Automatic At Large)

    Alabama is the #1 team, thus the Sugar Bowl will get the first replacement pick and will choose Florida as an SEC replacement for Alabama.  They are given an at large bid because they are #4 in the BCS and not a conference champion.  Since no BCS conference can have more than two teams per conference (and the non-BCS conferences can’t get more than one automatic bid collectively), that reduces to options for the Sugar Bowl.  They have the fourth selection of BCS Bowls, and will choose between the Big East Champion and Utah.  Utah will be the more attractive pick.

    Oklahoma (Automatic At Large) vs. USC (At Large)

    Since Texas is #2 and in the national titel game, the Fiesta Bowl gets the first replacement pick.  They will stay in the Big XII and choose Oklahoma.  Oklahoma gets an automatic bid to the BCS because they are #3 and not a conference champion.  USC will get the next selection, because they are BCS eligible and the best team available of the BCS teams.

    ACC Champion vs. Cincinnati (Big East Champion)

    The Orange Bowl is tied to the ACC Champion and will select them.  They will get the final selection and will be forced to take BCS automatic bid that goes to the Big East, which is Cincinnati.

    Oregon St. (Pac-10 Champion) vs. Penn State (Big Ten Champion)

    Penn State with the win over Michigan St., won a share of the Big Ten Championship, and by defeating Ohio St. earned the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the Rose Bowl.  Oregon St. wins at least a share of the Pac-10 Championship and due to the USC victory, will go to Pasadena provided a win over Oregon.

    Back next week for a final projection of BCS Bowls.

 
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