[RollTideFan] Roll Tide - Go LSU
Fruck the hogs, that is all... Ruck E. ___ RTF mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
[RollTideFan] Roll Tide - Hook'em Horns
Fruck the Aggies, that is all... Ruck E Mc. ___ RTF mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
[RollTideFan] Good Hurt Article
CECIL HURT: Theres a feeling of Thanksgiving November 25, 2004 ANCHORAGE, Alaska | The University of Alabama basketball team seems to be enjoying the Anchorage nightlife. That isnt necessarily a bad thing. With only about six hours of sunlight per day in late November, and with some heavy cloud cover even then, just about any life in Anchorage is nightlife. And while at least one Crimson Tide player was spotted dancing the night away with the locals, that, too, was hardly a disciplinary offense. A welcome party for participating teams at the Alaska Cultural and Heritage Center included some traditional dancing by the King Island Eskimo tribe, and Tide forward Jean Felix -- a native of Cameroon by way of Paris -- was drafted momentarily to participate in a truly transcendent moment of cultural connection. For the most part, the trip has been strictly business. The Tides three games on this Arctic excursion will go a long way towards building the non-conference part of Alabamas NCAA Tournament resume. If Alabama advanced past Alaska-Anchorage on Wednesday night (in a game played well after The Tuscaloosa News holiday deadline), then the rest of the Tides competition will come from teams like Washington, Utah and Oklahoma, which is just the sort of opposition that only bolsters a strength-of-schedule rating. Even a business trip has its consolations, though, like meeting up with old friends, or finding unexpected new ones. For instance, Dr. Steve Cobb, the athletics director at Alaska-Anchorage, ended his welcoming speech at the pre-tournament party with the question, Anyone here from Selma? It turns out that Cobb is a native of Jemison and a Montevallo graduate who simply wanted to visit with someone else who knows that ice belongs in tea, not on every sidewalk and street in the city. Darby Rich, the former Crimson Tide basketball player, is now the strength and conditioning coach for Oklahoma, and he was on hand for the Tides practice. It didnt take long before a conversation with Rich turned to the same topic that comes up between Alabama expatriates, whether they meet in Fairbanks or Fiji -- that is, the Alabama-Auburn game. Our game (i.e., Oklahomas) with Baylor started a couple of hours later, Rich said. So we had the first half of the Alabama-Auburn game on our Jumbotron in Norman, and our fans were going crazy. I wish Alabama could have held on, but they did a good job. Meeting old friends fits nicely into a Thanksgiving Day column. Even with Tuscaloosa roughly 4,383 miles away, the thermometer under 30 degrees and the sun a distant memory, there are plenty of things for which to be thankful. Im thankful, for instance, that an afternoon watching eagles flying over the Turnagain Arm, followed by a couple of basketball games in the evening, constitutes a full days work. Too many sports writers, particularly those who primarily cover intercollegiate athletics, grow cynical too quickly, and forget that it was the love of sports that drew them to the profession in the first place. Im thankful to live in a country that remains open and free, where Akini Adkins can see snow for the first time, or Felix, from Cameroon, can fly to Alaska and, perhaps, get a chance to play against Utahs Andrew Bogut, a native of Australia. Terrorists havent succeeded yet in isolating this country, or inhibiting our chances to travel. So, even though Anchorage is a long way from home, and Alabamas basketball trip here is, in one sense, just an aspect of a billion-dollar business, there is still a little Thanksgiving feeling, along with the decided frostbite, in the air. -- Roll Tide!! Rick ___ RTF mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
[RollTideFan] Be Thankful For Shula
Be Thankful For Shula By Kirk McNair Date: Nov 26, 2004 Except for the number 19 mens basketball team playing in the Great Alaska Shootout, all is quiet on The University of Alabama athletics front this week and weekend. Which is about as it should be. A mostly empty Crimson Tide athletics schedule gives players, coaches and fans time to focus on what is most important: their families during this Thanksgiving holiday. Most of you, Im sure, were able to gather with family and friends and give thanks Thursday before digging into turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Most of us will have more pressing and worthy matters on our minds than the sports world, but if you find room (as Im sure some of you will) to give thanks for sports, be sure to include Mike Shula on your list. It might be hard to see, what with the 6-5 record and disappointing Iron Bowl defeat to Auburn, but Shula definitely has the Alabama football program moving in the right direction. In his second season, the young Tide head coach has turned a program flailing in turmoil into a bowl team, and a team with potential to burn. Sure, the bowl will have Music City, Independence or Peach attachednot Orange or Sugar or Fiesta as the other school down the road will, but considering the past three seasonsand a 4-9 record in 2003any bowl must be considered significant progress. The driving force behind it all? Shula. In May 2003, he flew in from Miami and picked up the pieces of a program that had been shattered by NCAA probation and the untimely departures of Dennis Franchione and Mike Price. He cobbled together a coaching staff and offensive system and then suffered through predictable results last fall. While some less-than-informed fans called for the heads of Defensive Coordinator Joe Kines, Secondary Coach Chris Ball and Offensive Line Coach Bobby Connelly to be brought on sticks to a bonfire under Denny Chimes, Shula stood pat, saying enough change was enough. His only change was swapping Strength and Conditioning Coach Ben Pollard for Kent Johnston, a move that has yet to produce huge dividends, considering the amount of injuries on the Tide roster this fall. Otherwise, his call for consistency paid off. Under Kines, the Tide developed into one of the nations stingiest defenses this fall. Ball (who turned down Prices offer to become UTEPs defensive coordinator) and Connelly turned their units into two of the teams steadiest this season. Alabamas players on both sides of the ball seemed far more comfortable this fall than they did a year ago, a sure sign that a second season under Shulas systems made a big difference. Good thing, because far more Tide players needed a comfort level this fall. Starting with Brodie Croyles torn right anterior cruciate ligament and continuing right through the fourth quarter of the Iron Bowl, injuries ravaged Alabama all season. Key player after key player limped off the field with injuries big and small on both sides of the ball. By the second half of the Iron Bowl, this was the Tide offense: a third-string quarterback (Spencer Pennington) throwing to a group of freshman and sophomore receivers with a third-string freshman tight end (Trent Davidson) and second-string running backs hobbled by injury (Kenneth Darby and LRon McClain). Yet Alabama was a recovered onside kick away from potentially tying the nations number three team and ruining an undefeated season? Not bad. Shula proved this season that he can work well with a bad hand; he and his assistants plugged player after player into the starting lineup, usually seamlessly. Probation has caused major depth issues, but theyre nothing a few full 25-scholarship recruiting classes cant solve. Most of us considered Shula a quiet, laid-back coach, but hes proving that hes anything but. I personally witnessed one of his outbursts on a Friday afternoon in late August after several fights marred team work during a hot, steamy practice. He called the entire team into a huddle around him, screaming a tirade that would make a sailor blush interspersed with phrases like show your class and we dont do things like that around here. The practice finished without incident. Suffice it to say it didnt exactly surprise me when Shula berated referees after Corey Websters controversial interception at LSU that turned a game the Tide controlled into a Tiger blowout. Shula has fire and passion for college football, and hes not afraid to show it. Give him time, and hell do great things with Alabama football. And while the job isnt finished yet, having Shula on the job is definitely something Crimson Tide fans should be thankful for. -- Roll Tide!! Rick ___ RTF mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
[RollTideFan] Dayum the Longwhorens
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[RollTideFan] Bama Basketball
Bama's taking on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout. At the half: Bama: 38 Minn: 33 -- Roll Tide! Rick ___ RTF mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
