Toomer’s Rumors and Boomers – 7.22.08

By J.M. Comer

The War Eagle Reader offers a roundup of interesting news stories, questionable opinions and great comments from other team’s fans about the Auburn Tigers across the blogosphere.

Eagle shoots into the sun, photo by Charlie “Dad” Comer

News and Recruiting Roundup

First, please check out and contribute to The Joe Cribbs Car Wash‘s wonderful Paperless Preview Project at www.warblogeagle.com. Hours of reading and analysis are at your fingertips thanks to Jerry’s hard work.

ESPN checks in on early Auburn recruit Raymond Cotton’s performance at the Elite 11 quarterback camp: “Cotton is a very intriguing player to watch. He might be the most raw of any quarterback here but also could have as much upside as anyone.” (ESPN.com, July 22)

Also check out Cotton’s evaluation on the ESPN 150 Watch List. (ESPN.com, July 22) There are 10 other early Auburn commitments on the 2009 list.

Fox Sports calls Sept. 20 “Nirvana for football fans” and looks at the Auburn-LSU game. (FoxSports.com, July 21)

The Gainesville Sun includes Tommy Tuberville in its list of “glamour coaches” and says he is best known for “Leading Auburn to an undefeated season in 2004 — and not having the opportunity to play for the national championship.” (The Gainesville Sun, July 21) I guess it is better than being known for this.

In sorta-Auburn-related news: LSU needs a “true” rival. Desperate, they try to coif one with Ole Miss called “The Magnolia Bowl.” (The Daily Reveille, July 22)

(In related LSU news: Their athletes? Not so bright. Don’t they have sociology classes down there?)

Let the Eagle Soar!

A collection of favorable comments and interesting articles from blogs and newspapers about the Tigers.

Three out of four HogBloggers predict Auburn to win the SEC West. (HogBloggers.net, July 22).

Dawg Sports picks “The Tony Franklin Experience” as #19 of “The Top 25 Things I’m Looking Forward to This Season in the SEC.” (Dawg Sports, July 22)

There are blog friends…

… and then there are blog friends.

Yesterday, as The War Eagle Reader slipped quietly over 100,000 hits, Jerry Hinnen, proprietor of The Joe Cribbs Car Wash, blessed us with $20.00, our very first donation toward the must-win procurement of Pat Dye’s pants.

God only knows what The Sacred Trou will eventually fetch (from us!), but we are now just $80 away from “the red zone” of The Blue Jeans Ball.

As much as I would want to horde them for / glue them on myself, I would be more than willing to make The Pants a time-share heirloom among the blAUgosphere and the brethren at large: if every Auburn blogger, and every interested (Auburn) person, could find in it his heart to give as Jerry gave, we will wear The Pants.

Thanks, Jerry – you’re the pants.

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.

JCCWelcome Back

By J. Henderson

Wilderness wanderings are expected at From the Bleachers, but I was about to start Googling the Michigan obits for “Jerry Hinnen.” With click-finger quivering, I checked one last time Friday and discovered – finally – that he is alive, well and, with a bit-by-beautiful-bit Iron Bowl recap (he had a tear-jerking Iron Bowl preview, too), in classic form.

With the chuckles (“Mike Patrick’s wretched and unholy rasp welcomes us to Jordan-Hare. Goodness gracious sakes alive, I cannot stand this man. You know the old line about, um, not relieving one’s self on a given person if they were on fire? It’s close, but I wouldn’t say that about Patrick. I’d gladly relieve myself on him, actually”) comes articulate insight…

“I will never, ever get tired of Tubby linking arms with the players and walking out of the Fog of Intimidation. It perfectly straddles the line between being gag-inducingly corny and the very best kind of earnest, unironic gesture, all while doubling as charming bread-and-circuses spectacle. Kind of like all of college football, really, not to make too much of a big deal about it.”

… plus some kudos to TWER for holding down the fort with perspective and sagacity in a dark time of disturbing hysterics, while almost every other non-credentialed Auburn blogger gushed silence. It was a dirty job, so thanks for that…

Along those lines, as a sort of final bullet to the “Arkansa Media Reports: Tuberville Announces Presidential Candidacy” fiasco of ’07 (cause trust me, it’ll be back next year), I wanted to post my favorite lines from Jay Jacobs’ latest e-missive to the Auburn family [emphasis mine]: “As loyal Auburn men and women, I know the relentless media speculation in recent days was frustrating. It’s a different age with the Internet, blogs, and reports that often times simply aren’t true. Just know we never wavered in doing what was best for Auburn.

I can assure you that Coach Tuberville wants to keep Auburn Football at the top. We will continue to work together to make that happen. Our goal will always be to play for an SEC title in Atlanta and contend for a National Championship.”

Amen. And welcome back everyone. Seriously. Not patronizing. Promise. War Eagle love and War Eagle respect. Y’all were missed.

War Eagle forever.

The Best Things Come…

We clicked, we waited… he finally delivered.

An LSU seven-layer wrap-up. Or five layers, and with the choicest ingredients… (keep in mind, a series)

Now we can move on, heal, thrill… and, as the Auburner puts it, beat the crap out of Ole Miss. War Eagle.