Toomer’s Rumors and Boomers – 1.31.08

*** “Pat Dye has got to be on Cloud 9″ – If you need a distraction from the memory of last night’s 1 pt. heart-breaker to LSU, why not journey back to 1988′s 1 pt. ecstasy in Rupp Arena…

*** Here is a video of a poor child named Abram, abused and crying. This window into Abram’s hell speaks volumes on standard modes of Bama parenting. Watch, and learn, as the father laughs at his young son while recording him recoiling in tears at his crimson retching and then stand back as Auburn relatives attempt to comfort the child with “War Eagle”s. It takes a Village…

*** And to complete the YouTube trifecta for today’s edition, let us watch please-oh-please Auburn recruit Jerrell Harris do his thing. Auburn is reported to still be in the running for Harris’ allegiance and I say we think positive. Not just wishing him away from Bama but wishing him here if the Lord wills it.

To quote Auburntron, “He’s like a skinnier Blackmon on some kind of Mortal Kombat Liu Kang fatality / steroid / amphetamine rage.” More videos found on Rivals…

Toomer’s Rumors and Boomers – 1.30.08

*** Big defensive lineman Jomarcus Savage chooses Auburn over Tennessee. Savage’s father played under Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis at Alabama A&M. But that wasn’t enough…

“… Auburn is just a good school. Hands down, just a good school.”

War Eagle, Jomarcus…

*** Botanical Bombs Over Bama – I don’t recall hearing or reading anything about LSU fans seeding the medians of Tuscaloosa-area interstates with purple and gold flowers. But they are. And they’re pretty freakin’ serious about it. April showers bring regret.

*** Good news for Auburn – Running backs coach Eddie Gran is staying put. He was at one time a candidate for the new South Alabama head coaching position. “With the players we have, I think we’re going to see something exciting the next three years. I’m happy I’ll be a part of it,” he said. Someone text Enrique…

Joe Cribbs Called…

From the AAFL Draft. That is the Joe Cribbs in the background. He had to run back on stage right before I asked him to hold the flip side of the sign up for a photo. This was Plan B and I think I like it better… he is, by the way, a fan.

In Memoriam: Harry Philpott

Dr. Harry M. Philpott, influential and beloved president of Auburn University from 1965-1980, passed away early Monday morning. He was 90 years old. I met Dr. Philpott a year or so back. He told me to “keep on truckin’.”

Gov. George Wallace and Dr. Phipott, 1973 AU Homecoming game – photo by B. Ashmore

Toomer’s Rumors and Boomers – 1.29.08

*** I don’t know how in the world I missed AuburnElvis.com — I’ve seen Auburn Elvis at the games a few times (just look for the crowd of girls and the digicams) and can now enjoy tales of his exploits.

*** While typing up a little catharsis of my own a few weeks back, I only briefly pondered the synergy between Finebaum and EDSBS, the partiality and singular deference mutually accorded by these media masterminds, one for the other. I knew the photo of Spurrier in the header didn’t hurt on the Finebaum end, but I mostly chalked it up at the time as simply being friend-of-a-friends through Warren St. John… and that obviously plays a big part, but Orson’s wistful Bear Bryant-themed memoir hints at a related but much deeper connection…

And while Finebaum is in the air, does anyone know if I-Man laid into him yesterday about his encounter with Elizabeth Gottfried? Something tells me the name Tommy Wilcox will never more be spoken…

*** I can’t be sure about this, but if Williamson High School’s (Mobile) DE Terrence Coleman were to commit to Auburn come next year – and according to AuburnSports.com there’s mutual interest there – I think it would be the first instance in Auburn football history of a player having his uncle for a teammate. Coleman is the nephew of Auburn’s awesome defensive end Antonio Coleman, and he’s supposed to be good. Terrence would be a freshman, Antonio a senior. Uncle! Fumble!

Tre Smith Tells All!

By J. Henderson

I had the chance to meet Tre Smith this weekend, yes, at the AAFL Draft event in Birmingham. Tre, Kody Bliss and Karibe Dede are all “locked” players for Team Alabama. More on all that later.

Karibi Dede, Kody Bliss, lovely Auburn fan, Tre Smith at the Wynfrey Hotel

Tre was pretty loved by Auburn fans. Eminem wrote a song about him after the 2002 Iron Bowl, his grand coronation to the throne of our hearts. And then there was the 2006 Florida game, when he went hang-gliding for Gator soul, which earned him what I thought to be obviously undeserved criticism for supposedly showboating while scoring the game-changing touchdown.

If you haven’t seen it – and, if you’re reading this, I don’t know how that would be possible – watch it again and then read below my vindication!

Tre: Honestly, I wasn’t even trying to flip.

TWER: I knew it!

Tre: The thing was, when I saw the ball rollin’ and picked it up, I thought somebody was trying to tackle me from behind, but it was my own player falling into my legs. I jumped to avoid getting tackled, I wasn’t trying to do a flip.

TWER: Yeah, I never thought it looked planned, to me it always just looked like your momentum forced it – made you tuck and roll.

Tre: Yeah, I mean, it was too spur of the moment to plan it, I didn’t even know it ended up looking like that.

It ended up looking pretty kick-a and, as the capper to the punt blocked by Tristan Davis, Jerraud Powers, and swarm [thanks Taylor], was eventually named ESPN’s 2006 Game-Changing Performance of the Year.

Most Underrated Ever: Freddie Smith

By Chris from Huntsville

I’m actually submitting this more from the prospective “Which ex -AU player would you most like to have lunch with.”

In your wonderful “1978 College Action” post you see a line mentioning Freddie Smith. I’m not sure he was underrated, but in this day and age his name is scarcely, if ever, mentioned.

As a young lad I attended a few games in his era. Not knowing a thing about football, I just contently ate my hot dogs, candy, and ran around trying to grow my AU plastic cup collection (on a AU souvenir cup collection note, I’ve got over 100 “100 years of AU Football” cups in my attic, but that’s a story for another day). After almost EVERY tackle the PA announcer would say “Tackle made by Freddie Smith.” I’d turn to Pop and ask him, “is there more than one Freddie Smith on our team?” Pop would say, “no, its just one guy but he has to cover the whole field.” Then we sat there and counted how many times they would call his name.

He played in the down era – I thank him for his unheralded contributions. He was truly a man among boys

There was a Freddie Smith that Directed the State of Alabama Prison system in the ’90s. I would hear his name on the news a lot. I’m sure it’s not the same guy, but I like to think it is, and he got a just reward.

Many thanks to Chris from Huntsville. The “Most Underrated… “ idea is beginning to bloom like I’d hoped. Smith, actually known as “Fast Freddie” Smith, was just a couple of years before my time – that, combined with playing in the “down era,” makes him a player I know little about. But we can be sure that Chris isn’t detailing phantom memories of greatness because the least bit of research turns up Smith as Auburn’s all-time tackle leader: 529 between ’76-’79. Assuming he played in 44 games, that’s about 12 tackles per game, good Lord…

Here’s a blurb from the ’78 Glom: “It was apparent from the opening minutes of the (Kentucky) game that sophomore Freddie Smith would be the backbone of the defense. Smith began the season leading the Tigers in tackles, bringing down 13 ball carriers and blocking a punt.”

Smith also shares a story in Mark Murphy of Inside the Auburn Tigers‘ new book “Game of My Life.”

So fast he pixelates! [only photo I could find, a thumbnail - FFS blocking a Vandy Punt]

Toomer’s Rumors and Boomers – 1.28.08

*** Saban and Shula almost bump into each other. Shula would drop him like 4 million bricks.

*** And Lord, speaking of confrontations, word on the street is that Paul Finebaum was tongue-lashed by Elizabeth Gottfried, wife of Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried, at the Auburn-Alabama game Saturday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum, probably just as Kenny Smith (and his Yankee) and I sat down at Homewood’s new Little Auburn aka Mama Goldberg’s.

My favorite rumored slice of the exchange is Elizabeth’s “we have 5 kids, we have 5 kids!”

That’s a fine way to celebrate Bear Bryant’s Deathiversary…

Saturday night interstate up in Birmingham, Birmingham, War Damn Eagle-Ham. (r/t/y/j/k/a/j/f/ Kenny Smith)

*** Chef John Hamme of Ariccia, the swank restaurant in the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center, was recently featured on an episode of the Food Network Challenge. Hamme prepared “Pancetta Wrapped Bayou La Batre Shrimp with Rikards Mill Yellow Corn Grits and Grilled Heirloom Tomatoes” for “The Great American Seafood Cook-Off II.” Hamme and Co.’s Warm Tomato Tart was named “Official Dish of the Year of Alabama Food Winner” by the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel in 2005. Represent, Represent!

Toomer’s Rumors and Boomers – 1.27.08

*** It seems so very appropriate that, on the 25th anniversary of Bear Bryant’s death, Alabama would beat Auburn…

… in basketball.

Speaking of, nobody guessed the right answer to my Bear Bryant Deathiversary Trivia Question. By that, I mean that nobody even ventured a guess. Thanks for the memories! But going on the assumption that people really do want to know, but were intimidated to silence by such an academic hurdle, I will go ahead and spill:

The two blue-chip recruits that committed to Auburn on Jan. 26, 1983 are Jeff Burger and Brent Fullwood, two of my favorites.

*** From an article published yesterday in the Kansas City Star:

“They could hear the sound for blocks, the sound of Dennis Franchione being fed to the wood chipper. Nearly a thousand Alabama fans gathered in Tuscaloosa in December 2002 and spent a Friday afternoon throwing anything with Franchione’s name or face on it into a machine that turns timber into dust.

They called it therapy. Eight days earlier, Franchione had left Tuscaloosa on the Texas A&M jet and never looked back. The man who was called a coaching genius and a savior of programs had made promises. They had trusted him.

When the wood chipper was not violent enough, the group started a fire and fed it more Franchione memorabilia. Bobble-head dolls sizzled and popped. Photographs curled and turned black and disappeared into the glow. The crowd circled the fire, dancing and cheering.

“The guy was a liar and traitor,” remembers local columnist Paul Finebaum, who has covered sports in Alabama for 25 years…”

But Paul, so is Nick Saban. In fact, people used those exact words to describe him just a year ago. You mean you feel that way about Francione because he lied and betrayed Alabama…

Speaking of Finebaum, it must’ve been rough on him yesterday. In his latest, blindingly ironic column, Paul neatly excuses the past 25 years of Bama ball with one of his own quotes from “The Last Coach”: it was ordained in a no-mountain-without-valley sorta way. He argues that Alabama fans don’t live in the past, they remember excellence. He ends the column by claiming that Alabama, because of Saban, can finally look forward to good times… and then essentially denies the possibility that excellence can ever return, because “there was only one Bear Bryant.”

But before that: “The question has been hotly debated over many years in relation to whether Alabama can ever escape the long shadow of Bryant. The question ought to be why would Alabama want to.”

I think you just answered that question, Paul… flame on…

*** Even with the good news that Auburn is back in the thick of things with Enrique Davis, peculiarities still surround his reasons for de-committing, which were supposedly centered around Fear of a Spread Eagle. And yet apparently Oregon was being tossed around as a new contender for his loyalties even before Tony Franklin and Eddie Gran visited Davis last Wednesday. Not to belabor the point, but, again, as Ike pointed out, Oregon runs the hell out of the spread offense. Ducks running Jonathan Stewart ran for a team record 1,722 yards (more than 6 yards a carry and a 11 touchdowns), numbers bold enough for him to decide to forgo his senior season for the NFL draft. So was it the spread, or something else?

Toomer’s Rumors and Boomers – 1.26.08

*** Even for all the vaunted passion of its fans, 164,000 fewer people tuned in to watch Alabama play Colorado in the PetroSun Independence Bowl – Nick Saban’s first at Alabama – than watched Cincinnati take on Southern Miss in the PapaJohns.com Bowl. In terms of viewers, the new Birmingham-based bowl game ranked 21 out of 25 bowl games; the PetroSun Independence bowl was last at 25th.

Auburn’s match-up against Clemson in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl was the 2nd most-watched non-BCS bowl, coming in behind the Capital One Bowl (Florida vs. Michigan).

*** “This is one-of-a-kind, very rare, preserved snow from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, which is very very extraordinary. It is, of course, in snowball ice form. It will of course be shipped in dry ice to preserve it’s historical significance. There are even blades of War Eagle grass-remnants embedded on the surface.”

(h/t/a/t/s to Kenny Smith)

*** Rough and Ready: 6-foot-5, 300 lb defensive tackle Freddie Smooth — Freddie freakin’ Smooth!! — committed to Auburn Friday. He was recruited by Oklahoma, LSU, Clemson, North Carolina and reportedly even USC.

Here’s a quote from Smooth’s coach at Desire Academy in Baton Rouge: “I think Freddie is excited because you’re talking about inner city kid from New Orleans who’s getting to play at one of the top programs in the country. When you talk about college football, Auburn is one of the best if not the best programs.”