A quick update...

What a month...That's about all I can really say at this point.

Somehow, with all the chaos that ensued the last weekend of regular season play in the SEC, we ended up with an Outback Bowl berth when all hope for a decent bowl bid seemed lost. I left Jordan-Hare Stadium on Friday, Nov. 27, feeling certain of a Chick-fil-A Bowl appearance barring upset city that Saturday.

Then, State beat Ole Miss. South Carolina waxed Clemson. Tennessee upended Kentucky in overtime. The final nail in the proverbial coffin seemed to come from Georgia's unforeseen triumph over ACC Champion Georgia Tech to put the finishing touches on a terrible day of football for AU fans.

Fast forward to today...We have our plans booked for the Outback Bowl, and I'm looking forward to a New Year's celebration in Ray-Jay and sunny Tampa. You know, I've always said Tampa is a big, big Auburn town. It's always been good to the Tigers, and it will be nice to give something back.

As for the Iron Bowl, the better team won (as I have stated happens 9.9 times out of 10 in our rivalry), but the better team on the field did not. We had plenty of chances, but the fact of the matter was there was not a single sustained drive that resulted in points all afternoon. There were plenty of reasons to feel optimistic, but as I wrote for CSM, that was perhaps the most devastated I've felt leaving JHS. Now, those guys are playing in Pasadena and...well, I fully believe our 2004 team would wax this team of their's.

Neither here nor there, I know.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. We have had some family upheaval over the course of the past three weeks, but we are doing what we have to do. Please keep my mom and my grandmother in your prayers as both are straining themselves to their max limits. It won't be an easy road to full recovery for my grandmother, but I am confident she will make it there. I just hope it doesn't take everything out of my mom in the process.

2009 has been a pretty good year, and it went by incredibly fast. There were a lot of high points (Vegas, Jimmy Buffett, Jeanie's graduating college, a couple of fun weddings, an incredible opportunity in the CollegeSportsMatchups.com job), and some low points, but I will always look back on this year fondly. I don't know why, but I feel much more grown up than a year ago. Funny how that happens, huh?

I'm hoping to put up a wish list for 2010 sometime in the next couple of days on the website, but here are some items that I won't be able to put in the column for objectivity reasons:

1.) Lache Seastrunk and/or Marcus Lattimore signing up on Feb. 3 to wear orange and blue on the Plains. (Those who have listened to me throughout the summer and the season know that I fully expect our coaches to pull off all three running backs. It's gonna happen, but if it doesn't and we "only" get two of the three, it's still an amazing haul.)

2.) Hook 'em Horns. (I know some good folks that are enjoying the heck out of this season, and some of those are going to Pasadena. Good for them, they had a hell of a team. However, Hook 'em because I still despise the University of Alabama, always will.)

3.) Keeping all our current commitments and adding the following: Byran Jones, Jeffrey Whittaker, Ryan White, Cory Lemonier, Eric Mack, and one/two of the RBs (most likely Lattimore). If Coach Hal can go ahead and book his hotel for Glendale next year, why can't I feel like all these cats are a realistic possibility for our staff? (You gotta believe, right, Coach?)

4.) Coach Hal has to cancel his Glendale reservation in early September next fall.

5.) Coach Hal has to cancel his Atlanta reservation in mid-October next fall.

6.) Coach Hal transfers both reservations over to my name by Halloween.

7.) Darvin Adams gains All-SEC first-team status after getting robbed this season.

8.) More improvements from our tailgate.

9.) More folks to cook at our tailgate.

10.) We feel very comfortable leaving Ray-Jay Jan. 1 about the performance that afternoon and the future on both offense and defense for Auburn.

11.) I will finally accept the notion that Gene Chizik may not have been as terrible of a hire as I once thought.

12.) Trooper Taylor keeps doing what he does (on and off the field in the living rooms with the recruits).

Merry Christmas again, folks. Happy New Year and War Eagle. Catch ya in 2010.

***NOTE***

Outback Bowl plans are as follows:

Dec. 30: Arrive in Auburn, stay at camper

Dec. 31: Arrive in Gainesville, stay at Hineszy's, dinner at Ballyhoo's

Jan. 1: Leave Gainesville by 6 a.m. EST; arrive at Raymond James by 9 a.m. EST; Outback Bowl; drive back to Gainesville or Auburn

Jan. 2: PapaJohns.com Bowl (tentative)

If you are going to the game and want to meet up in Tampa at some point on game day, please hit me up. (rushicw@gmail.com)

Tailgate Plan to Win: The "Iron Bowl's acoming" Edition

Are we really heading into Iron Bowl week? I cannot begin to tell you how fast this has all flown by. First, let me apologize for my absence in writing on here since following the big win over Ole Miss. I've been so caught up in trying to get basketball and football articles written for CollegeSportsMatchups.com, that I have been fighting writer's block a lot more often than I'd like. I'm glad the writing deal is only on the side and not my full-time career right now - I feel like I'm running out of interesting things to say.

But back to the topic at hand: Auburn vs. Alabama. It's a piss-poor decision on CBS' part to move this game to Friday afternoon, but I digress. I do end up with a four-day weekend out of the deal (a four-day weekend in Auburn at that), so I shouldn't complain too loudly. However, the impact that having this game on the largest and most important shopping day of the year will hurt Alabama's economy more than a few tickets unused in Jordan-Hare Stadium. For the record, I expect a sell-out and standing room only crowd, which is big for the number of high caliber recruits AU has visiting.

Speaking of recruiting, it sure is a lot of fun getting kids like Trovon Reed and Michael Dyer to boost our rankings up into the top 10. I've never been a proponent of recruiting rankings, myself, but as Curtis Luper says, "If they're keeping score, I want to win." Reed and Dyer will help get some other bigger names to come forward later as future Auburn Tigers, but even if the class ended with those two at the skill positions in addition to their fellow commits, this is the best class AU has put together since 2002 (and it will likely only get better).

Now, it's time to get realistic. I will cheer my butt off Friday afternoon before the game at Tiger Walk, jawing with Coach Hal and his bunch at WDTrey's tailgate, during the game's warmups and from kickoff to the final seconds ticking off the Jordan-Hare Stadium clocks. That being said, there is very little chance that Auburn emerges victorious from this game. Mark Ingram is the best running back in the country, and Georgia's second half against our depth-deprived defense most likely offered a precursor of bad things to come for our Tigers this weekend. As a trustworthy poster stated on the Bunker last week, "They (Alabama) have us out-manned (this) weekend, but that's changing." For a deeper analysis, check out the site later this week.

We will have a good group for Thanksgiving on the Plains (always enjoy being able to host the Boullys), and our family plans to arrive Wednesday night in Auburn. Super Rita will get down there ahead of everyone on Tuesday, but I plan to roll in somewhere around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Smoked turkey on the Big Green Egg - Camper Edition will be the main course for Thursday with a Boston Butt headlining the menu for Friday.

I don't plan on being at the camper very long Friday morning with the aforementioned appearance of our friends at CoachHal.com. They will be in front of Cary Hall off Thach Ave., and I will spend most of my tailgating day there. I expect most of our group to join in on that one, and I will need to get a head count for Trey at some point before Wednesday. We may even have a celebrity friend of mine stop by if he gets into town with enough time to spare before kickoff.

Some news and notes from Furman and Georgia:

- Furman weekend was a lot of fun. The game lasted about an hour too long, but it sure beats squeaking out a mistake-infested contest against UT-Martin last season. Brad Gregg's clan had a couple of new faces (Amber's father, Brad Hannah), and it was a lot of fun hanging out with them during and after the game.

- We didn't have a cooked meal for Furman weekend, so we called in orders to Buffalo Connection and Brick Oven. It went over very well. Brad and I were able to ride around town and enjoy some old memories while picking up our food orders.

- Meredith Brazzell hung out at the camper post-game, and her visits are far too infrequent. She brings a lot to the atmosphere out at University Station, and I hope she knows that she is always welcome (the same goes to the rest of her amazing family).

- Georgia, what a start, what a finish. I usually despise it when someone uses the phrase "a tale of two halves," but that's exactly what we had in Athens. By the time my "Glory. Glory. To ole Auburn." texts got out of the stadium somewhere in the third quarter, their importance had diminished due to Georgia's adjustments and Eltoro Freeman's absence in run defense.

- I hate to put blame on one thing or one play, and I certainly would not attribute fault to a flag from an official, but when Eltoro went out, our defense's aggression left with him. This was not the fault of Freeman's replacement, Jonathan Evans, but we had absolutely no answer for Caleb King and Washon Ealey from the time Da Bull walked off the field until Chris Todd's fourth down pass fell quietly out of the back of the end zone.

- Brad joined me on this trip, and we had a blast (or at least I did) sans the game. It was Brad's first AU-UGA experience in Athens, and I know Charlie Mac and Mrs. Jane enjoyed his company.

- All Auburn, All Facebook, All Orange, All Kirk got to Charlie Mac's somewhere around 2:30 p.m. EST Saturday after leaving Macon in the 8:15 a.m. CT range. I'm glad he got there for two reasons: 1.) after Friday, he will have seen all 12 regular season contests in person, a first for him and 2.) it would not have been the same without him.

- This is just for Brad: what do Olive Garden and Rome have in common?

- Bojangles breakfast can make almost any hurt sting a little less. Why we didn't have one of those in Auburn and there isn't one anywhere close to me now, I have no idea.

- Josh Jackson, Andrew Monroe and Andy Lawton all hung out with us at Charlie Mac's tailgate pregame. It was great to spend some time together. Andrew and I even ran into an old friend of our's from the 2006 trip. "It's funny. It is."

- As good as Bojangles is for breakfast, Taco Bell is its reciprocating factor for late night post-game meals. It didn't completely cure my depression, but it helped sooth some scars from watching us lose three-straight in Sanford Stadium (the only AU-UGA game I've missed since 1999 was 2005).

- To complete the theme for Georgia weekend, you have to click here: http://tinyurl.com/yzwfsbf

So, in closing, I leave you with this one question to ponder before Friday: "What have YOU done to beat Alabama today?"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. War Eagle. Let's do what we do - 2002 style.

Chris

Tailgate Review - The "We were treated like royalty" and "We beat Ole Miss" Edition

Sorry for the delay. It's been a little touch and go with the website articles. It's pretty good that I don't write everyday for a living. I am finding myself facing writer's block more and more with those articles (but the pay is too good to quit, so you're stuck reading me there haha).

I just wanted to touch on the last two weeks rather quickly. First, we had a BLAST in Baton Rouge (sans the game, of course). I've said it before and I'll say it again: LSU writes the book on tailgating. There's not a better campus environment in the country than LSU for a Saturday night conference game. None.

I'm sure some of you have heard the old proverb concerning LSU fans, you know, that if you listen to a bunch of people scream "TIGER BAIT" at you and you don't come back at them, they'll stop you and offer you jambalaya and gumbo? I'm here to tell you that it is 100 percent accurate, and it happened to dad and me. We were walking through the parking lot adjacent to the tennis center and the P-Mac when an older gentleman in a fedora stopped us. He asked us to have some jambalaya with him and his crew. We politely declined at first, but his insisting led to us turning around to two bowls held by his wife.

We were told that this was award-winning jambalaya, and I'm not going to argue with whoever bestowed the honors on this recipe. We ended up spending an hour and a half with these strangers who could not have been better hosts. The hospitality shown by almost everyone outside the stadium was incredible, and as I say in the title of this article, we were treated like royalty there. I can't wait to get back down there in a couple of years.

Besides our tailgate friends, dad and I spent some time with his vendor Vince, who also had a pretty good tailgate with some of the best ribs I've had in awhile. I met up with Josh and Katie Jackson on the lawn in front of Memorial Tower, where we reunited with Brooke Patterson and her crew. Inside the stadium, Dennis Hodges (the SEC's top photographer) got some pictures of dad and I together in our front-row seats and visited with us for awhile. I'm hoping Dennis will come up for the LSU-Ole Miss game later this month to reciprocate the hospitality shown to us.

We stayed at the new Spring Hill Suites by Marriott out by the airport, and it was one of the best hotel rooms I've ever had. I like the design and layout even better than that of the Courtyard (it's great to be an adult and stay at real hotels and not worry about Motel 6 leaving the light on for us).

Overall, it was a great trip, but I could have done with a little better showing on the field. Tiger Stadium is one of only three stadiums in the SEC that I have yet to see Auburn win. Hopefully, that trend will end in 2011.

Then, there was last weekend. My patience for most of the Ole Miss fans I know is dwindling every week. After a three-game losing skid and their two-game winning streak following the beat-down they received from Bama, I was just ready to get to the game and let the chips fall where they may. Bowl eligibility was all but guaranteed with a win remaining on the schedule against Furman, so I just hoped for the best.

We had a pretty good showing at the tailgate prior to the game, but I can't say the same for the crowd on campus. Sure, it was an early game, but 20 minutes prior to kickoff, there were still PLENTY of empty seats. I'm not sure I've heard a softer "WAR EAGLE" during the eagle flight. While the student section never got full, the ones that were there were boisterous and helped liven things up for the players during warmups.

Making the trip for the game was Chris Purser, the only Ole Miss representative in our group. Purser has been a great friend over the years and has helped secure countless tickets to Ole Miss sporting events for us, so it was nice to be able to repay those favors ever so slightly. He ran away with Tailgater of the Week for all his help during pre-game and post-game set-up/break-down as well as bringing plenty of drinks for us to get us through the last two home games.

Despite the small crowd and an ominous start from Ole Miss' offense, the Auburn defense rose to the occasion the rest of the afternoon. I couldn't be happier with this win, trust me. I hate it for the Monroes that Arkansas got the best of us, but I'll take W's over Ole Miss and Miss. State every year over all but one opponent (which goes without saying).

We got mom a Big Green Egg for the camper as her birthday present, and we assembled the Egg following the game. By "we" I mean All Auburn, All Orange, All Facebook, All Kirk and Purser. I helped as much as I could, but I'm the furtherest thing from being a handyman you can get, and I tried my best to spend time with the rest of the gang at the camper.

The visitor list included: Katy Braden and her friend Alexandria Cole; Andy Shores; Jeanie and Robert; Brad, Amber and Jarrod in addition to the three of us and Purser. Not a bad group, and we had some stragglers here and there stop by to discuss AU football and whatnot. The steaks off the Egg were phenomenal, and the BGE just takes our tailgating to yet another new level.

Also making its debut was the five-man tent we have outside the front door to sleep additional tailgaters and overnight guests. It sleeps pretty good (when you have air mattresses in addition to the usual sleeping bags, and it beats the alternatives, in my opinion.

Sure, this isn't a long-winded update, but there's your last two weeks. As for this weekend's homecoming affair with Furman, it's becoming more and more likely that I will be trekking solo to the Plains Friday afternoon with everyone meeting up outside the stadium prior to kickoff. Therefore, there will be no pre-game tailgate and probably just some take-out for those who want to come back to the camper post-game to watch other contests (such as Bammer-LSU).

We got back to doing what we did, so that was good. War Eagle. See you on the Plains for (hopefully) a November to Remember.

Chris

The Tailgate Plan to Win: The "What the heck just happened?" and "Jacob, more Skittles!" Edition

I was called a wimp Saturday morning. Pretty early on, also, I might add.

We had a small gathering at the camper this past weekend, mainly due to Auburn's opponent (Kentucky) and mostly due to the weather outside (frightfully chilly for Oct. 17, if you ask me). Robert Boully texted me pretty early on in the day and asked how the tailgate was going. I said we were all inside, to which he responded: "Wimps."

Little did I know that Auburn's football team would also play like wimps Saturday night. I'm beginning to think that there may be some correlations in our tailgates (there wasn't one in Arkansas, the team didn't show up for the longest time; there was a crazy, sloppy one for Ball State, the team played crazy, sloppy; the tailgate for MSU was unbelievable, the Tigers played pretty unbelievable for a Southeastern Conference opener with a new staff). Then again, we didn't have one at Tennessee and had probably our best game overall thus far.

I'm not going to go much into the loss to Kentucky. There's really not much to say and even less positive to draw from it. Neiko Thorpe's return on the blocked field goal in the first quarter was impressive, and Ben Tate is a manchild. That's about it (unfortunately). I called the loss back in the summer, and folks looked at me like I was crazy. The way that the two teams came out of the gates, I even doubted myself. Paul Crane called me out on it, and he was right - we really COULD lose to Kentucky.

But all that is in the past, because now, we have LSU and a trip to Baton Rouge. I love going there. I know that sounds crazy for any opposing fan, but Tiger Stadium (especially at night) is one of the nation's best atmospheres - especially as a visitor. Dad will be making his maiden voyage to the Louisiana capital, and we're going to be on the front row staring right down the hash marks on AU's sidelines. The Golden Band from Tiger Land and the Golden Girls; Mike the Tiger circling the stadium before stopping right outside the opposing team's entrance; the playing of "Callin' Baton Rouge" by Garth Brooks - I enjoy every minute of it.

For this trip, I did a little digging in my personal archives for research due to the fact that three years have passed since my last journey into Cajun Country. I re-read our old post from the tourdesec.livejournal.com blog Andrew and I kept for the duration of the 2006 Tour de SEC. I've decided to repost this to add some humor and some perspective on just what dad and I are getting ourselves into. I won't do this very often, so enjoy.

http://tourdesec.livejournal.com/3208.html

Saturday, October 14, 2006

LSU 49, Kentucky 0
Tiger Stadium – Baton Rouge, La.
TV: None – Attendance: 92,148 (announced)

Official Trip Song: "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts

BATON ROUGE, La. – It was just like old times this weekend as we made our way to Baton Rouge for the LSU-Kentucky game, a 49-0 shellacking by the Bayou Bengals in Death Valley. We were accompanied by our third roommate from Auburn Robert Boully and his wife Jennifer. The four of us met up in Brandon, Miss., Friday night and began our journey to LSU. However, first on the agenda was a stop at Lil Dooey’s in Starkville to take care of unfinished business.



Kyle Lewis, one of my best friends, was in Starkville for the first-ever Kyle Lewis Bowl, pitting the Bulldogs against Jacksonville State where he interned for a little over 1 1/2 years. We had talked during the week about getting to hang out for the first time since the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta back in December, and we thought Lil Dooey’s would be the perfect location for this.

Andrew met up with my family in Macon and rode up to Starkville with them so that he could leave his car at my parents’ house for the weekend. Meanwhile, I arrived in Starkville around 5:15 p.m. and went straight to the Bryan Building to catch up with Kyle and Tony Schmidt, another good friend of mine from Miss.
State. The three of us goofed off for a few minutes and went to the new bookstore across the street from the stadium while waiting on my family to make it to Starkville. After the bookstore, which features the only escalator in northeast Mississippi, we walked around the Junction where the dance team and cheerleaders were practicing for their Saturday halftime performance.

Kyle was in need of a restroom, so to his luck, we found the Junction Johnny and Junction Janie port-a-potties so that he could take care of things. Kyle was reluctant to enter through the car wash-like curtain because of other people possibly being in there, but we assured him that an old man had just left the building. Not three seconds after Kyle went in, another guy stumbled up the steps and followed suit. Kyle exited a couple of minutes later with a perplexed look on his face. I’m still not sure what the look was exactly for, but he did enlighten us that the potties inside were maroon and white. This is a fitting
touch, if you ask me.

We picked up mini footballs and shakers before heading over to Lil Dooey’s to meet my family and Andrew. Unfortunately, my mom, sister and her boyfriend Jaren were scared by the line inside and decided not to eat dinner with us, so we said our short hello and goodbye before we made our way inside. After placing our order and finding a table large enough for our group, I bought Kyle a shot of Crown & Coke for his birthday and the fun began.

I had the famous BBQ for the first time there, while Andrew enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich. I really don’t think you can get a bad meal here, so everything on the menu is recommended. It is truly a SEC traditional restaurant, even receiving the top Herbie Award on ESPN.com for the nation’s Best Gameday Meal.

We were joined over the course of the evening by Cassie Chance, her boyfriend Will, Amy Robertson, Susan Hughes and Jay Middleton. Our waitress was a lot of fun and had several hilarious comments such as “The Original Tony,” and randomly pointing out that she recognized Kyle by pictures scattered through his younger sister’s apartment. The best moment of the night, however, came when she alerted our group to a young man in a blue shirt named Ben stalking her throughout the restaurant. So, in her honor (and much to her displeasure, I might add), we began our own search for this Ben character. Alas, we were unsuccessful in our mission.



Just before we left, Kyle and I had to take care of a tradition we set a couple of years back at Lil Dooey’s by writing a certain message on the wall with a Sharpie. Andrew and I also signed the wall signifying that the Tour de SEC had made its stop at the Starkville landmark. After our goodbyes, it was time to get on the road.

Now, Andrew had a rough week and seemed a little somber at times, but when Robert and Jennifer joined us, he found his youthful spirit again. During the drive, I was constantly being showered with wet willies and objects sneaking through the crack between my backrest and seat in the truck. Robert even got me with an enormous ice cube down the back of my shirt, which didn't melt for like three hours. A new rule is to be formed from these shenanigans: No more riding in the backseat together for Andrew and Robert.

We arrived at our Red Roof Inn around 1 a.m. and checked into our rooms, nos. 204 and 208. The next morning, we woke up just in time for GameDay, being broadcast from Auburn, and got ready to go onto campus. After GameDay, we ate at TJ Ribs which was excellent. The atmosphere was great with Billy Cannon’s Heisman trophy as well as a replica of the 2003 National Championship
trophy on a spinning display in the center of the building with numerous LSU memorabilia on the walls. We split two slabs of ribs amongst the four of us and ordered several sides including red beans and rice, fries and a sweet potato.

After TJ Ribs, we parked for free on Lakeshore/Stadium Drive just shy of Highland St. Our first stop was the university bookstore where we made our ritual trip purchases and a little bit of walking around and exploring followed. We picked up schedule posters in the athletic administration building and made our way over to Alex Box Stadium where a baseball scrimmage was about to take place.

After watching a couple of innings, I got a phone call from Dennis Hodges, a good friend of mine who shoots athletic events for LSU, letting us know that he wanted to get us on a tour of the locker room and Bill Lawton Room – home to all of LSU’s trophies and awards collected over the span of their football history. We met up with Dennis and traded our upper deck tickets for a pair of lower level tickets with a scalper before waiting on the tour to start. One of Dennis’ good friends works in Event Management for LSU, and he was waiting on a family from Shreveport to show up before starting the tour. We waited for about 30 minutes before giving up and heading to one of our tailgate invitations.

Tim Parrott invited our group via e-mail earlier in the week after catching our post on tigerdroppings.com’s OT message board. After missing his set-up in our search, he sat us down and immediately fed us gumbo and smoked sausage. We stayed here for about an hour and had a great time. Tim, Pierre, Gary and the rest of the gang there really know how to throw a pre-game party. To top it off, they’re great people (and the food was excellent also).



We were trying to make it to a second tailgate with other members from tigerdroppings.com where they had a couple of TVs set up so that Robert and Jennifer would have somewhere to watch the Auburn-Florida game while we were inside the stadium. We couldn’t get up with Mike on the phone, and none of the
tailgates in the area where Tim directed us knew a Mike, so we gave up. We walked back to the truck to drop off our posters and bookstore purchases before parting ways with Robert and Jennifer as they headed to Walk-Ons to watch AU-UF.

We bought programs shortly after, and I returned to the truck to drop those off. On my way back to the program stand where Andrew was patiently waiting, I witnessed an arrest for “evading police” since a guy kept driving through a police barricade on Highland St. The female officer began yelling at him as he kept driving and finally grabbed ahold of his rearview mirror, pulling it off its hinge before pulling the driver out of the truck. After he parked his truck in the lot next to where he was stopped, he was cuffed and placed in the back of her partner’s squad car. To make matters even worse for him, he was given a citation and I’m pretty sure the truck was towed.

We entered the stadium and watched the closing moments of regulation and the overtime of the Alabama-Ole Miss game on the TVs located on the south endzone concourse. After buying our souvenir cup drinks, we located our seats behind the yellow S in the purple LSU end zone. We watched the game through the split of the uprights.

LSU’s pre-game march by the GOLDEN BAND FROM TIGERLAND is one of my favorite pre-game traditions in the SEC. When you hear the crowd erupt following the first four notes of “Tiger Rag,” it’s a thing of beauty. (Unless you’re my old co-worker and friend Rich Varner, who made a joke asking “You wanna know how to get 90,000 Cajuns to go nuts simultaneously? Play those four notes.”) Soon afterwards, the team ran out of the tunnel and kickoff was upon us.



The game was pretty boring, I’m not going to lie. There’s not much to report in a 49-0 blowout. LSU looked like they should have, and Kentucky followed suit when thinking about the competition they faced. The only negative on the night for LSU seemed to be that the defensive line had a hard time wrapping up on UK’s elusive quarterback Andre Woodson. I was impressed by his ability to turn what should have been a huge sack by Tyson Jackson, Glenn Dorsey and Co. into a 5- or 6-yard gain.



The halftime show was a tribute to New Orleans as the band rehearsed their halftime show for the Saints-Colts game the next day in the Superdome. In the second half, we saw our first action of Matt Flynn and Ryan Perilloux – LSU’s quarterbacks in waiting. Both of those guys are studs, but the offense did not flow as well with either behind center as when JaMarcus Russell was calling the signals.

A couple of more observations about LSU: Where is Alley Broussard? I know he had catastrophic knee surgery last season, but all I heard about him through fall camp was that he had regained his step and was back to bruising the LSU defense. On the same note, what happened to Justin Vincent? I’m shocked by
the fall-out these two have suffered since their phenomenal freshman seasons. When your leading running back is Jacob Hester, something is not fully clicking on your offense – especially with the recruiting Nick Saban and Les Miles have
done at that position.

Kentucky only had two good drives the entire game, but LSU’s swarming defense forced mistakes on both inside the redzone to preserve the shutout. It’s hard to believe that this team can go from beating someone 49-0, 45-3, 45-3, 42-17 and 41-7 to losing 23-10 and 7-3 against real defenses. They remind me a lot of Auburn from 2003. This does not bode well as Auburn’s hopes for a rematch with Florida in Atlanta somewhat rest on the shoulders of LSU’s ability to beat Arkansas in Little Rock.

With about 10 minutes left in the slow-moving game, we received word from Robert and Jennifer that Auburn had won 27-17 against Florida, and my celebration angered a few remaining LSU fans sitting around me. After I explained what we were doing with this trip, though, they understood completely and laughed about some of the stories from previous weeks. Once the final buzzer sounded, we trekked back to the truck where Robert and Jennifer
were waiting for us.

We walked down Highland St. to The Chimes restaurant for a post-game meal and waited out the seating delay by catching highlights of Auburn-Florida from Robert and Jennifer. Jennifer made a proclamation that she felt the two of them had watched different games, which I later agreed with after watching the replay on ESPN back at the hotel. After about 45 minutes, we were seated and ordered the Louisiana alligator appetizer.



I had a shrimp Po’boy while Andrew enjoyed the down home burger. Robert and Jennifer had eaten at Walk-Ons during the game, so they just enjoyed the appetizer and desert. We stayed around at Chimes for awhile, and I walked back to the truck so that not all of us would have to make the hike during the night. Once we loaded up outside the restaurant, we meandered back through campus to I-10 and returned to the hotel in the neighborhood of 2 a.m.

We were out of the Red Roof Inn at 11 a.m. and were in search of the Mall of Louisiana, which housed a Café Dumont to fix my craving for beignets. After not being able to find the exit, we retracted back to Perkins Road and tried to get a table at IHOP, but the line was way too long. By this time, food was a must and we finally found a McDonalds and hurriedly ate lunch before
getting back on the road to the Magnolia State.

The ride back was relatively uneventful as Andrew and Jennifer slept off headaches, leaving Robert and I to talk about the future of Auburn’s football program. I’m not sure when this happened, but Robert has suddenly gotten very interested in recruiting and can carry a pretty good conversation when talking
about some official and unofficial visitors, commitments, etc. We dropped the dynamic duo off at their house around 3 p.m. and hung out for about an hour before making our way to Macon.

During the drive, Robert alerted us to the first BCS standings released Sunday, and we discussed the possibilities for the rest of the trip. Andrew hung around for a couple of minutes before heading back to Birmingham. I had dinner with my family and watched football before leaving later that night to return to Tupelo.

A few odds, ends and notes from the trip:

Favorite quote: “Yes! Fries at the bottom of the bag! Goldmine!” – Good ole Robert Boully. His love for food is surpassed only by his love of his wife Jennifer (we think). As an awkward moment came up during the ride to Baton Rouge on Friday night, Robert made this exclamation to break the ice a little bit (or he may have just been oblivious to everything).

Runner-up for favorite quote: “Oh no…” – Paul Crane, one of our Auburn buddies, said this to Andrew after he called and let him in on a little secret on Saturday night. We laughed the rest of the trip about this exchange.

I wanted the song of the trip to be “Calling Baton Rouge” by Garth Brooks. I mean, come on, who could argue with that selection? However, Andrew trumped this due to his disregard for all things Garth. I think he needs to get over whatever caused this because “Calling Baton Rouge,” like Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” is one of the classics.

Best Waiter/Waitress of the Tour de SEC Award: The unanimous selection for this award for the first half of the trip goes to Jacob, our waiter at Chimes following the game Saturday night. He rolled with the punches all night long and kept our drinks full despite the huge crowd. Well done, Jacob. Well done.

Best Louisiana Mullet Award: Hands down, this award goes to our buddy walking through the concourse during overtime of the Alabama-Ole Miss game before we made our way to our end zone seats. The guy was wearing a white wife-beater and had “the party in the back” all the way down to underneath his shoulder blades. We got a picture, but unfortunately, it came out blurry.

Mitch Sighting: Mitch sat in front of Andrew and me at the game on Saturday night. He and his buddy made colorful comments throughout the evening. However, nothing can top him calling for the post-pattern to one of LSU’s receivers (no one in particular) every snap of the ball. His buddy almost topped him when Matt Flynn entered the game midway through the third quarter when he proclaimed that all Flynn does is throw touchdown passes, which angered some of the LSU fans sitting in front of him. These guys were from Shreveport, and you would have thought that this would be something to be extremely proud of the way they talked about it. I now know of four Shreveport natives and nothing about them makes me ever want to spend an hour in that town.

Thanks to Paul, Robert, Jennifer, Andrew’s aunt and uncle as well as my dad for keeping us updated via text messaging on the Chris Rushing Bowl going on down on the Plains during the LSU-Kentucky game. Auburn is 2-0 when we were watching Kentucky play simultaneously with an important AU contest in 2006.

Rocky Top will always be home sweet home to me next weekend as we take in the Alabama-Tennessee Third Saturday in October grudge match.

More Trooper Pictures

I'll have the tailgate review in the next couple of days. In the meantime, enjoy a few more pictures of the lil' guy.

The Tailgate Plan to Win: The "Arkansas Review and Kentucky" Edition

Just a short disclaimer before getting too far into this thing: Elmer's BBQ in Tulsa gave me an idea for a tailgate food item later in the year. While it's too late for Arkansas, we'll definitely keep this in the arsenal for a later date. Thanks to Andy Staples (yes, that Andy Staples of SI.com), I now know the wonders of the Badwich. Google this thing, you won't be sorry.

That being said, it's time to get back to doing what we do: home tailgates. After a pair of road games (and trust me, we are extremely fortunate to come out of that stretch 5-1 and not 4-2), it will be nice to be back under the lights at Jordan-Hare. That being said, who would have thought that (should Ole Miss be a night game), five of seven home games would be night kicks? That's what you get with the new ESPN plan: Ball State, Louisiana Tech and Kentucky all playing after the sun sets.

Last weekend was an all-around good one, despite what happened on the turf at Razorback Stadium. Not to be a negative person or anything, but with a new staff, you have to be ready for a game like that to come at any time. Honestly, I'm just thankful that it a.) wasn't at home and b.) wasn't against two of our biggest home opponents this year. I don't think I have to go into detail as to which two teams I'm talking about here.

We left for Fayetteville around 8:30 a.m. and arrived in Little Rock for a very brief (i.e. time enough to take a couple of pictures) visit at the Monroe compound in Roland before returning to the road en route to the middle of nowhere. (I kid, Fayetteville actually has become one of my favorite road trips in the SEC. Just takes four days to get there.) With a quick meal at Burger King (which triggered bad feelings about AU's chances - it broke my string of philly cheesesteak Fridays), we followed Carl and Co. to John's apartment in Conway.

Most of the drive was uneventful as we attempted to dodge raindrops and thunderstorms throughout the Natural State. We stopped for a fill-up at Love's near the I-540 crossing, and the clientèle here was interesting to say the least. Nonetheless, it was an opportunity to catch up with John, Marisa and Kaitlin before separating vehicles for the remainder of the ride.

The drive on I-540 North is one of my top 10 favorites, as you pass alongside mountain towns and all the foliage across the forests littering the Ozark Mountains. It's truly a sight to behold, and only the desert from above 32,000 feet could top it as far as my travels in 2009.

We got to the outskirts of Fayetteville around 5:15 p.m., and Zack Higbee (who combined with his better half Jodi to be our hosts for the weekend) instructed us on where to exit and meet him to get to their house. So we pulled off and waited for the appearance of Zack and his gold Acura. A quick U-turn and some winding through a neighborhood and we were at the Higbee residence.

Dinner for Friday was some BBQ at Penguin Ed's. Those of you who have been following the blog efforts of your's truly dating back to the SEC road trip in 2006 know that Penguin Ed's was Andrew and my first restaurant. As always, we left full and satisfied with the food choice.

With the early 11 a.m. kickoff, there was little time to do any significant tailgating. We met up with the Monroes, Frank and Kathy Buttler at the on-campus RV parking center where that group spent Friday night. Frank was getting irritated by the "hospitality" shown by most of the Razorback community on the bus, and the frustrations heightened when there was a question as to the location of Tiger Walk for the second-straight weekend.

Things continued on a slow, downward spiral during the pregame festivities when Kaitlin wasn't allowed to take in her camera due to its telephoto lens. This led to a long walk to/from the RV for Kaitlin and Carl despite efforts to get the camera through security checkpoints. Then, the game started.

Now, one of my least favorite fanbases in the world is an Auburn one made up of frustrated bandwagon patrons. Seriously, I'd almost prefer to spend an entire Iron Bowl surrounded by nothing but Bama fans and us getting whipped physically, mentally and emotionally than be around those guys (I said almost). Luckily for all of us, we were in the presence of several in our section, but one guy took the cake (I think he still is screaming "you cheating bast***s" in his sleep). Look, buddy, I wasn't a fan of all the penalties, either, but the zebras had nothing to do with the fact that we lost by 21 points.

I'd rather not go into too much more details about the goings on inside the stadium other than to repeat an old adage given by Chizik a few weeks ago: "Things are never as bad as they seem, nor are they as good as they seem either." The sky, most definitely, is not falling and there are brighter days ahead for the program (under the direction of Chizik? Jury is still out on that one.). There may be a couple more days like last Saturday, though, before we get back to thinking about championships on an annual basis.

After the game, we drudgingly walked back through the hordes of jubilant Hog fans to our vehicles. In my fourth game at Razorback Stadium, the Woo Pig Sooies finally got a win. (Then again, it just didn't seem the same without Brad, Andrew, Andy Shores, et all there either.) After saying our goodbyes, dad and I moved through traffic and got back to the Higbee house to watch football the remainder of the day.

We had the Ole Miss-Bama game on and caught up some more with Jodi while we waited for Zack to get back from work. While I hated that one of the victims of a day like that was Auburn, I do know that days like that make it a better workplace for my friend, and for that, it made things a little easier to cope. Then again, as I said above, I had a feeling that game was coming any week. Zack was definitely in a great mood when he got back from the office.

Jodi made us some nachos and buffalo chicken dip for dinner as we watched the snoozefest also known as LSU-Florida. It was the first Gator game I got to watch with Zack since my internship finished up, and the night was filled with our own commentary concerning Verne, Tracy, Gary and Steve Addazio (amongst others).

Sunday morning, after I finished posting for the day, I got a quick shower and we got on the road back. We stopped for lunch in Lonoke, Ark., at a Mexican restaurant. What we did not expect was an AUTHENTIC Mexican restaurant complete with a "grocery," Spanish road signs and no English spoken by anyone inside. The food was good, but I felt a little out of place as the only Caucasians in the joint until some of the after-church crowd walked in. You could tell they had been there before, though, since they brought an interpreter in tow.

All in all, the morale following my vacation this year was much, much higher than after the West Virginia trip last season when it became glaringly evident that Auburn was really, really awful. There's renewed spirits amongst our football team, and I've seen enough from this coaching staff to not fear a losing streak (14-0, 21-10 deficits and yet still winning by double-digits against West Virginia give me enough evidence on that).

Now, in comes the Kentucky Wildcats. My good friend Coach Hal warns us to watch out for cheap shots and late hits from Rich Brooks' squad. They are extremely wounded, coming to the Plains without their top quarterback, cornerbacks and most versatile offensive lineman. I look for Auburn to come out and play its most complete game of 2009. If not, well, the trip to Baton Rouge is going to prove to be even more difficult.

We'll have a small tailgate this weekend with burgers, bacon and Momma G nachos. Brad and Jarrod are coming down Friday night and will be staying the entire weekend in the camper. Besides the three of us, only Andrew Monroe has RSVP'd but Super Rita needs to scale back a little bit in order to finish strong down the November home stretch. We'll get started around 10-10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Do what we do. War Eagle. Have a great weekend if you are spending it elsewhere.

Chris

Day 2 Recap: Las Vegas

No running diary style this time. We'll leave that to the experts.

So, yesterday was a lot of fun. I didn't walk nearly as much (just went about halfway down the strip to Caesar's Palace and The Bellagio. The plan was to watch some baseball at the sports book at Caesar's, but the place was too full for me to get a good seat. Therefore, I wandered around a little on the floor to take in what I consider to be Vegas' most popular casino and headed back out on the strip.

I was able to catch the fountains again at the Bellagio, this time in daylight. For lunch, I stopped at a little restaurant inside the Bellagio and had a nice philly cheese with onion rings. The order of onion rings was the largest I've ever had. Think large order of fries at Five Guys (that one was for you, Frank)...only bigger. After eating, I went to the sports book there and watched the last four innings of the Phillies-Rockies game and the first couple of innings of the Yankees-Twins matchup.

While watching, I received betting tips from Snake the Mexican, who had $40K riding on the Yankees to win straight up. Don't feel too scared, the dude made $10,000 easy and had already gotten another $20,000 earlier in the day for the Phillies' triumph. I'm glad I didn't take his advice on the Cards-Dodgers contest, otherwise I would have been out my $20 and felt awful about it. Then again, I would have stood to win something like 35 cents so it wasn't worth the time/effort to gamble. Next time, maybe, when I have more money to wager.

I also walked through the MGM Grand yesterday and New York, New York casino. The MGM was where one of my co-workers stayed last summer during his week-long visit, and I can see why people would enjoy being there. The place is massive. Also, the lion observatory was really cool. New York, New York rivaled the Bellagio and the Luxor as my favorites here in Sin City. There is a lot to do in there, and it seems to be the most family-friendly of the resort hotels in the city.

I was really up in the air as to what show I wanted to take in on my last night in Vegas. Jersey Boys was one that I have been wanting to see, but I decided that I'll wait until I can see that one on Broadway. Same goes for the Lion King. Either would have been great, but I wanted something that was Vegas-specific, which I had thought to be comedy or magic. I have already seen Wayne Brady during my year at UF, and I am not that big of a fan of Howie Mandel. If Frank Calliendo's show had started this week instead of next, it would have been a no-brainer (I probably would have gone to his both nights).

While in line at the first Tix-4-Less stand, I was behind a family that was waiting to go see Criss Angel's Believe. I had asked about O - the Cirque du Soleil show playing at the Bellagio - and got intrigued when the family asked about Angel's show. When I learned that it was also Cirque du Soleil, the decision was made.

When I got back from the Bellagio, I checked on a couple of things here in the room and changed before heading next door to the Luxor (the pyramid). That place was awesome, and I won $11 on a penny slot to bring my gambling losses on the week to only $4. Sure, I'm a wimp but I didn't find a single $5 blackjack table at my casino or any of the floors that I stopped on with an open seat, and I'm just not brave enough to drop $25/hand.

The Criss Angel show was a lot of fun, and it was very entertaining. The people around me left skeptical, but I wasn't going in expecting to be wow'd, just entertained. To me, he accomplished that goal, and I feel like I took in one of the Strip's best magic shows. Goal met.

Now, I wasn't that hungry after the show last night, but with my travel schedule today screwing with me, I didn't know how much I'd get to eat, so I went ahead and sat down at the Camelot Steakhouse here at the Excalibur. The steak was pretty good, but it's not like the ones momma makes. Really, it was just about being able to not have to pay $3 per Mountain Dew more than anything else. I just paid the $3 once, haha.

Before coming back up here to the room, I played one more penny slot and won back another couple of dollars, bringing my total losses to a measly $3. Not bad, not bad. Can I make it up next visit? I guess time will have to tell.

I have an 11:40 a.m. flight out of Vegas and the shuttle is coming by at 8:50 a.m. to pick me up. I've already gotten up to post articles on CollegeSportsMatchups, so there's no use in going back to bed for a couple of hours. This has been a lot of fun, and I'll catch ya on the flipside. During the flight, I plan to write the Tailgate Plan to Win: Arkansas Edition, but I can't make any promises at this time. I've done a whole lot of writing this week already.

Watch for texts and tweets with anything unusual or exciting from the last couple of hours out here in the desert.

Running Diary (C) Bill Simmons: My flight to Las Vegas

The following text messages were sent yesterday a.m.:

4:41 a.m.: On my way to Memphis and the airport.

6:57 a.m.: I will get going (posting for the website) when I get through security.

8:16 a.m.: About to board.

10:45 a.m. (PST): We just landed safe and sound.

So what happened in between? Funny you should ask. Here are my notes from the flight.

8:27 a.m.: I am in the geriatric section of the plane. Awesome.

(my Twitter activity around this same timestamp): VEGAS observation No. 1: Old people flock there. I am on the biggest plane I have ever ridden and in the retirement community.

8:25 a.m.: King of the Retirement Community: wearing a pink suit, white velcro strap tennis shoes, sunglasses and his Las Vegas hat. He was approaching 90 if I had to guess.

8:30 a.m.: All the shawls just came out when they announced the temperature in Vegas. A balmy 51.

(Note: From here, the timezones got all screwy so the actual time of the notes may be a bit off.)

8:31 a.m.: Is there anything more awkward on an airplane than getting stuck behind the drink cart when you need to use the facilities? I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

9:24 a.m.: Had a State fan tell me War Eagle. Bammer on board who thinks the bear is still UA's coach was disgusted.

9:45 a.m.: Yep, there is something more awkward than waiting on the beverage cart to move forward. Using the facilities at 32,000 feet is darn near impossible. How a "Mile High Club" exists, I don't know. The stewardesses watch those doors like a hawk.

9:47 a.m.: How do you tell an old broad that she can't lean her seat back since it is complicating my use of my seatback tray while it is not in a locked upright position? Any ideas?

9:49 a.m.: Looking out over the desert. I could definitely live here in the land of cacti.

10:17 a.m.: If the Grand Canyon is cooler than this view, I can't imagine what it's like. We have made our descent into the Las Vegas area.

10:25 a.m.: The view? Desert, desert, desert, VEGAS.

I had a great first day, but I spent a lot of it walking. My feet are still killing me, but it's something I'm going to have to live with. After spending that much time on an airplane, I'll be able to rest them up for Arkansas.

- Went to eat lunch at Margaritaville near the Flamingo.

- Watched the Twins-Tigers game in the sports book at the Stratosphere. Real interesting experience, and I plan to catch most of today's baseball action at the top sports book in Vegas: Caesar's Palace.

- Saw the American Superstars show last night at the Stratosphere. It featured a mini concert from Elvis, Britney Spears, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and Michael Jackson impersonators. I went for the Michael Jackson portion of the show, but all of the impersonators were dead on. Great way to spend $25 and 90 minutes of your Vegas experience.

- Walked the entire strip up and down yesterday, hence the feet killing me. It's about a 3-hour hike to/from Stratosphere and Excalibur.

- I stopped to watch the fountains at the Bellagio on my way back. That was worth this entire trip.

- The strip at night is also one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The lights and the weather make for a great stroll, even if your dogs are barking.

- My hotel room is straight out of the 70s. I think that's why its $92 for the entire trip, but it has served its purpose well.

- I had six alarms set for 4 a.m. PST to post this morning. I got done with my posting for CollegeSportsMatchups.com a short while ago and will now get back to sleep. Who goes to sleep at 10 p.m. during their Vegas vacation? This guy.

- I'll try to blog more tomorrow morning about today's goings on. Early favorites for my time: baseball at Caesar's Palace sports book, Vegas double-decker bus tour and Jersey Boys at the Pelazzo, although I'm thinking about catching a comedy show instead.

Tailgate Review - The "TJ is Tennesseean for c***head" Edition

From the Exaclibur's 18th floor in Tower 1, I bring you: The Tennessee recap.

Knoxville Thoughts:

- Left Brad and Ambers ~11 a.m. CT. Stopped just inside the Georgia state line to get gasoline. Spent some time visiting with Alex Dudchock, who was taking his son to Knoxville on a recruiting trip. His son is one of the top tight end prospects in the country from Oak Mountain High School.

- Kept in constant contact with Paul Crane, who was keeping us up to speed on parking availability near him. Paul earns tailgater of the week for his efforts (even though there was no formal tailgate).

- Amber further climbed All Auburn, All Orange, All Facebook, All Kirk's ladder of favorite people for successfully navigating us to the Steak N Shake in Chattanooga. (It didn't pull up on the GPS.)

- Parked just below the church, but it is good enough knowing that their youth group got the money for the parking

- Knoxville is easily one of my top three favorite places in the SEC. It is a crying shame we have to wait five years in between trips there.

- The church folks were very helpful. They pointed out a nice shortcut to us to knock down walking time to the stadium to a mere eight minutes. Now, it was a treacherous shortcut, but a shortcut nonetheless.

- Saw Hillary Nowland in the parking lot when I was walking with Paul to get his sweatshirt. She is one of the nicest people I worked with at media relations. I am glad she is still around in the athletic department.

- Tiger Walk deserves it's own blog. Wow. I'd say there were between 5-6,000 people easy, and it was very loud still with an hour to go prior to the team arriving.

- TJ, the overzealous security guard, is a jerkface. He also deserves a blog to himself, but I will refrain.

- Whoever on the Bunker said that they don't know how to tailgate in Knoxville is full of it. I saw two of the coolest things: a checkerboard cornhole set and the ultimate tailgate trailer. It had a flatscreen, surround sound AND a beer tap mounted to the window flap.

- When you are looking for will call, people to trust are the folks in the green UT shirts. They were all great. Do not trust TJ's fellow security guards.

- Saw Frank and Kathy outside their gate following Tiger Walk. Got fired up with them for a minute before heading to our gate and our seats.

- The improvements made since I was last there in 2006 have really enhanced Neyland Stadium. The concourses are all spacious and the brick facade surrounding the playing field and sidelines is excellent.

- Our seats were almost directly behind where Andrew and I sat in 2004. Lots of good memories.

- Haber, who gave us the tickets, showed up about five minutes before kickoff. He left at halftime.

- There was a 9-year-old kid sitting next to me. It was his first UT game in person. He was a great kid, and his parents thanked us for being gracious winners.

- I promised him that he would see the Vols win a whole lot more than they lose in his lifetime. He got excited whn I told him I used to work in the athletic department and I got to watch games from the sidelines.

- The folks around us were great. However, Mr. War Chicken behind me got more annoying as the night went on. He was also more inebriated as ye night went on. Go figure.

- The University of Tennessee should change it's name to The University of Eric Berry and Lane Kiffin. They are in EVERY in-stadium ad, including a disturbing rap video aptly entitled "Eric Berry."

- I never felt like we would lose the game, and we played our most complete game of the year. Chris Todd has been unbelievable this year. If Franklin had gone about the QB competiton the same way as Gus...wait, never mind. Gus for Heisman.

- The Pride of the Southland Band playing War Eagle during pregame was a very nice touch. All Auburn, All Orange, All Facebook, All Kirk still clamors for Auburn to pipe in the band throughout the stadium so all of us can hear them. Neyland just enhanced his desire.

- Following the game, we met back up with Brad and Amber then began the journey back to the Sequioya. We took the less treacherous route.

- For having so many people in town, traffic flowed pretty well all the way out the interstate.

- We stopped at Shoney's for their breakfast buffet after 75 split from 40.

- We got back to Brad and Amber's around 3 a.m.

(Note: this blog was written aboard the friendly skies of Delta's non-stop flight from Memphis to LAS VEGAS via iPhone. I apologize for any typos I may miss.)

Do What We Do. War Eagle. See you in Arkansas.

Chris