Monthly Archives: October 2011

Barrett Jones surrounded by cameras.

The media following that comes with the Alabama football program is naturally large. TV stations and newspapers from around the state and region regularly descend upon Tuscaloosa on a normal Monday for Nick Saban’s news conference.

But what we saw today was on another level.

I counted 14 TV  cameras in the room today as affiliates from all over made it to the Alabama football complex. I think there were three stations from Louisiana on hand as well as a print reporter who’ll be here all week.

There was even a national writer from New York here for 23 minutes of Saban and a few rounds with players.

It’s a circus, but who didn’t expect this? Just wait til the weekend crowd arrives.

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Maybe I’m taking this completely out of context, but this is too hard to resist.

The official transcript from Les Miles’ weekly news conference in Baton Rouge came out a little bit ago. In it, there’s a question and answer about the use of Twitter among his players.

“My Twitter account that I have had for 10 years hasn’t really changed a lot. I think these games are played in between the white lines. It is overly important not to spoil an opportunity. Our guys have been guided along those lines as we approach this game. To be honest I told them that we needed no Twitter personalities in this game. We want to as a team honor this opponent and play with our very best effort.”

So 10 years on Twitter, huh? This might be Miles being Miles, but Twitter wasn’t invented until 2006 — five years ago if my math is correct. Funny, nothing more.

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Alex Watkins (91) on Monday.

Tide linebacker Alex Watkins broke his arm nine days ago against Tennessee, but he was practicing without the black non-contact jersey this afternoon.

Take a look at the modified cast he wore this afternoon under perfect blue sky in Tuscaloosa. Keep in mind Nick Saban said he’d be out two to three weeks when addressing the injury last Monday.

We also saw just a limited portion of practice, so how much he’s able to do today and the rest of the week is hard to gauge.

Video to come soon. Stay tuned.

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It worked best because he never saw it coming.

A surprise birthday party for Nick Saban, who turns 60 today, was held before a team meeting late last week. Offensive lineman Barrett Jones set the scene.

“We had the lights off when he walked in and yelled, ‘Surprise!’” he said.

The players signed an Alabama jersey with the No. 60 on the back. Saban wasn’t sure how to take it at first.

“I held that thing up and said Saban and 60,” Saban said. “First of all, I wasn’t thinking about age. I was thinking I’m a skill player. There’s no way I can sport this 60. I’ve got to have a lower-than-50 number of some sort. That’s how I feel and that’s how I think.”

Jones said the birthday boy seemed to enjoy the surprise.

“Yeah, he smiled,” Jones said. “He seemed very happy. He was a little taken aback by it. He quickly said thank you and then moved on to his speech for the day.

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Hey, it’s Michael in the Daily Bama Blog weather center. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I don’t need a meteorology degree to talk weather for the biggest weekend the world will ever experience.

Assuming we make it through the week, the forecast is looking good if you trust the folks at the Weather Channel.

Click to enlarge.

Stay tuned for full coverage of birthday boy Nick Saban’s news conference coming up soon.

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Let’s kickoff the week of insanity with a scene-setter that ran on A1 of The Decatur Daily. Here’s how it starts:

Front page news. Click to enlarge.

TUSCALOOSA — Cast in an eerie malaise, Tuscaloosa didn’t feel like itself all weekend.

College students home on fall break, Crimson Tide football on hold for an open date, all while the quiet anticipation builds in relatively quiet calm.

Game week officially begins today.

And this one is hardly routine. This one might be the most anticipated midseason contest in Alabama football history. Never before has the Crimson Tide faced a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in the regular season, much less in its home stadium.

That streak ends Saturday when No. 1 LSU strolls to town to face No. 2 Alabama. No longer sleepy, Tuscaloosa will swell by several thousands beyond the 101,000-plus who’ll occupy Bryant-Denny Stadium.

What they’ll see promises to be among the most evenly matched games between like-minded teams that take slightly different paths to the same destination. Both rely on punishing defenses — Alabama’s tops every major statistical measure nationally, while LSU falls within the top five in each category.

The Tide does it with linebackers; the Tigers with defensive backs.

Both offenses like to pound it on the ground and play it safe through the air.

Les Miles is the coach of LSU. Nick Saban was the coach of LSU before leaving for the Miami Dolphins, then Alabama two years later.

Click here to read the rest.

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Update 4:37 p.m.: A few more books have offered odds by this afternoon. The Tide ranges between a 4-to-5-point favorite over LSU in the Vegas odds.

Well-known odds maker Danny Sheridan also posted his first take on the game on the USA Today website. He made Alabama a 4-point favorite in the only college game on the board so far.

–

Original post: The sports books of Las Vegas just put out the first official lines for this Saturday’s little game between Alabama and LSU.

The host Crimson Tide opened a 4.5-point favorite in the Las Vegas Hilton book in the first of many to offer odds on this one. Remember the home team typically gets a few points thrown its way because it plays in a friendly environment.

Click here to track all the movements and additional lines when they hit the board.

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Like the USA Today poll, LSU and Alabama remain atop the Associated Press poll. The Tigers picked up two more first-place votes while both were on bye weeks.

Others receiving votes: Texas 99, Southern Miss. 67, Washington 52, Ohio St. 37, TCU 26, Texas A&M 25, Florida St. 4, Notre Dame 1.

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Neither Alabama, nor LSU played football this weekend.That didn’t punish either in the coaches poll that kept the No. 1 vs. No. 2 status in tact for Saturday’s game. Here’s a first look at the USA Today poll courtesy of the Twitter feed of reporter Nicole Auerbach. First-place votes remained the same as well.

Update 12:35 p.m.: Here’s the complete poll.

Others receiving votes: TCU 55, Auburn 41, Washington 38, Texas A&M 30, Ohio State 21, Florida State 11, Notre Dame 9, North Carolina 2, Missouri 1.

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