New AU football site

I'm not sure who designed this site, but they did a fantastic job. Auburn has been needing something like this for quite some time, and I dare say it blows sites like UrbanMeyer.com out of the water.

http://www.auburnwareagle.com

Make sure not to skip the intro and watch the Auburn Creed. You will not be sorry.

A long December...(and January and February)

"One Day at a Time"

Soon the sun will shine again

Soon things will be fine

Until it does, trust God above

And take one day at a time

- Judith Bulock Morse

This afternoon, I have been trying to clean up a little bit on my desk after a couple of months that have been an absolute whirlwind. Amongst the clutter here in the office, I found a couple of unused/unopened Christmas presents. Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal - what with it just being a picture frame, notepad and framed poem. Except the poem came from my grandmother.

You know the drill - sometimes you don't always get a present that is exactly what you want, but you thank the giver for their efforts and thoughts anyway. Over the last few years, my grandmother's Christmas presents have ranged from ties that I never wear to stuffed animals to framed poems that really don't mean very much to me at the time. I thanked her for every one of these gifts, though, because I know how hard it was for her to a.) buy me something and b.) find something perfect for me that didn't have an AU markings on it at all.

Back to today...I decided to look at this frame one more time to try to come up with somewhere to put it. After all, this was the last Christmas gift she gave me, and it's something that will always hold a special place in my heart. When I read it, a funny thing happened - I broke down.

She could always tell me when and where she saw the gift throughout the year that made her think, "This is what I'm going to give Chris." No ifs, ands or buts. However, when I said thank you to her on Dec. 25 for this, she confessed she couldn't remember what she got me. "I bought it a long time ago," she explained.

Well before the stroke, I believe she knew her time with all of us was running down. After three months of fighting, defying the odds, Emma Jean McKinney (all semblances of a grandparent Jeanie or I ever knew biologically) joined her place amongst the angels on Wednesday, Feb. 24. I had prepared myself for the phone call for three months. I wasn't ready, though, not by a long shot.

When dad told me, I became numb. I was panicked because I knew I needed to get to my mom. My boss was in a meeting. Everyone and their mothers around me in the office were on phone calls. I had just unpacked my funeral clothes after Jeanie said she was doing so well the weekend before. It wasn't supposed to be Feb. 24, but I was numb because I knew she was better finally. Just numb.

Phone calls, texts, e-mails - they all came pouring in. It was touching hearing from everyone, and the distances some folks traveled were minuscule compared to the leaps and bounds they brought up my spirits. I'll never forget any of that, and I'd be there for them in a second should the roles be reversed.

It has taken some time, but I'm slowly coming back around to my old self. I'm so very proud of my grandmother for everything she accomplished, and I am just happy she can spend Billie's birthday with her in heaven. The last six years since Billie's death took their toll, and she will never have to spend a day without her or my grandfather for the rest of eternity. That's a truly awesome peace of mind.

When I was writing the obituary (which is one of the most difficult things I have ever written), I didn't break down. I suffered from writer's block like you wouldn't believe because I guess I didn't want to fully process what is going on. I don't know if it was because I felt like I needed to be strong for my mom or my aunt or for others, but I couldn't force myself to crumble even when I've been here by myself.

Little did I know it would just take the words "One day at a time."

This is just a small step in the road to normalcy, but I can feel again. Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas - they're all going to be difficult in a way. The last week of February will carry with it a black cloud for a little bit. I miss her terribly, but I didn't leave anything unsaid. The peace from that is unbelievable.

Randy, my uncle, said it best once all the hooplah from the funeral died down and it was just us going to get some food for just our family. "We're not the only ones to go through this, and we'll get through it all together." Pretty philosophical coming from a Bama fan, if you ask me. I had dinner with a friend the other night, and I couldn't seem to stop talking about all the good times I had with my grandmother and Billie. No one will ever take that from me, and there were even good memories to come from the last three months.

She brought us all together, and as we have learned the last 19 days, she kept us all together despite all distances and absences. I wish I had more time to talk to her on the phone or just sit with her in the living room watching TV, but I am OK knowing she knew I loved her and that she loved me. Dearly.

When we pieced all the thoughts together and stories from the day of the stroke in November, it was quite clear to me that she knew where she needed to be to move on. She knew when she needed to do this. And she knew that, through all suffering and agony she may have been fighting internally, we needed her smile, her charm and her love to make this time easier.

And, by giving me this silly framed poem, she knew what I needed from her to get on with the process of grieving. I'm not sure where I will put it, but I will never get rid of it.

I love you, grandma, and I think about you all the time. While I'm going to miss you, I do know we'll get to the point that I never have to spend a day without you again just like you don't have to without those you lost that were so dear to you. Try to let Bertha Jo in the door when she gets there too, but it's OK if you give her one of your sly smiles and make her sweat a little bit. I won't hold it against you. Enjoy all your crowns and the jewelry to coincide with them for the rest of time.

A little taste before a real update...

Before I give a full and more appropriate update, I thought I'd give you guys something that hit the cutting room floor at CollegeSportsMatchups.com. Hope you enjoy.

A change of heart rocks college football again

Commentary by Chris Rushing

So much for bigger things than a silly football game, huh?

I had a heart scare back in May that caught me completely off guard. After spending a morning in an ambulance and emergency room bed, I knew that even simple things are nothing to mess with when it comes to your ticker. Apparently, with the decision that Urban Meyer made Friday night when talking to his family, he didn’t think that it was such a good thing to mess with either.

Which makes today’s news even more bizarre to me.

Sure, there were reports last night that he had turned down a leave of absence from Jeremy Foley. That would make sense, after all, to sit out a little while and come back when he was ready. No need for the University of Florida to get into the coaching carousel if at all possible to stay out. Foley had his man in Gainesville five years ago, and if this was a way to keep him on board, then sobeit.

But Meyer did something that Ron Zook had failed to maintain when he took over for Steve Spurrier in 2002. Meyer made it cool to be a Gator again, and he made this job into the best in college football. Foley could have his pick of anyone out there, and I’m not sure anyone was better suited than Meyer, but he could get awfully close on his choice.

Foley is a winner, through and through. He hates, nay, despises losing. NCAA tournament berths aren’t enough for the guy, but you win a couple of national titles, and you gain job security that allows you to make a second-thought on your decision to leave him in the first place.

See: Billy Donovan.

Donovan and Meyer are great friends, which makes the run that UF had from 2006-07 so special in holding both the men’s basketball and football national championships at once. There isn’t a power struggle between neither the two most prominent UF head coaches nor their respective programs.

However, if Meyer thinks he will be able to just step back in 2011 (or sooner) and regain his momentum built over the last five years, he needs to look closely at the last three for Donovan since his brief exit to the NBA.

The Gators haven’t reached the NCAA tournament since the exits of the fab four sophomore/juniors that earned back-to-back Siemens trophies, and Donovan has had difficulties maintaining the success level acquired during his first 11 years at UF. All those 20-win and NCAA tourney seasons are a distant memory, and the latest three-game losing skid for the Gators may show signs of a fourth-straight mediocre season.

I believe the reports coming from various UF assistant coaches that Meyer knew he made a mistake when walking the practice fields Sunday morning for perhaps the final time as the top man in Gator Nation. I’m sure that the regret was overwhelming, and I don’t blame Foley for allowing Meyer to take him up on the leave of absence offer.

All that being said, by promoting Steve Addazio to interim head coach, Foley and Co. are essentially writing off 2010, and that’s not like Foley at all. That’s not the Gator way. To me, that’s the most confusing aspect of this entire saga.

We’ll keep you posted on any more developments in this strange case. Hopefully, your hearts (and mine) can take it.

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.