Texas A&M’s mighty might QB is showing signs of buckling under pressure. The little hero that could, who tiptoed into the hearts of Aggie fans last year with his amazing backyard football skills looked like he was immune to such a thing.

But not now. Now the boy wonder appears to be folding like a card table with a Charlie Weis sitting on it.

Johnny Manziel’s fame and lore has taken a hit due to Twitter before, calling for a permanent boycott of the social networking vehicle this past March…a boycott that lasted all of 16 days. But recently Manziel forsook the Aggie nation that worships at his feet.

According to LarryBrownSports.com, Manziel tweeted his frustration about living in College Station on Saturday night, only to delete it soon after.

Pressure gettin’ to ya, lil Johnny?

A little over an hour later, the Aggies’ QB shnoz-meister then offered this reprieve:

This is what being a whale in a swimming pool will bring you. This time last year, Johnny Manziel lived a different life. The elusive quarterback had yet to make his first tackler miss, or throw a ridiculous, unlikely-to-be-completed touchdown pass. Now, Manziel’s life is drastically different.

They say great wealth brings as much, or more, stress than does poverty. Most would like to find this out to make their own determination, but in the college football world, Johnny Manziel has gone from Jimmy Buffet to Warren Buffet. Gone are the days of easy going anonymity among friends. Manziel is a big boy now. And from his endless string of ridiculous tweets, those growing pains seem to have taken their toll.

But it doesn’t just stop with Manziel. Texas A&M’s rise to national power has led to a lot of stupidity spewing from those Texas-sized oral cavities. The remarks by the Aggie AD and president sheds light on a group of men who love their university, but don’t yet know how this game is played. Seems those in College Station haven’t heard that word travels at the speed of light on the interwebs.

Texas A&M: The Beverly Hillbillies of college football.

So what happens when you limp out of one conference, enter the strongest league in the land, stumble across an electrifying player, and come dangerously close to significance? You do stupid things, like have your leadership making reference to “controling the Tide” after one meeting. Like Jed Clampett, Texas A&M struck gold (or Texas tea) and lucked into prominence, if you call non-championship football prominence.

Now, it seems the rise to power (again, if you call non-championship football “power”), is tugging at the very seams of this program that its proud fanbase wants to believe is on the same level with the Crimson Tides of the land. And as the Aggie leadership plays to alumni dinners, and Johnny Football unravels himself into frustrated, 20-year-old frenzy via social media, Nick Saban and his army of top recruits eats, sleeps and breathes a certain game that stands between him and a fourth National Championship in five years. If you don’t want to take the time to check his record under such situations, here’s a hint: It’s pretty good.

Alabama football and Nick Saban eats pressure like the kind that’s crippling the Aggies and their quarterback. And as Saban has covered before, there’s a rare-air that comes with being at the top. You either learn to breathe it in and let it sustain you, or it chokes you. We’ve seen the Tide’s record the last five years at that altitude. And in less than a year’s time, it’s pretty clear what it’s doing in College Station.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

When your football program has fallen behind others in your state, division, league, and heck…everybody else, you start seeing signs. Indicators begin to pop up that there is cause for concern.

This weekend a recruit visiting the loveliest village on the plains shares one of those signs with us. He tweeted this picture out for all to see what is in and on the minds of the Auburn boosters, administration, coaches and players:

How freaking sad.

Two words created as permanent signage in a football meeting room. Not a poster, mind you. Permanent signage.

Has there ever been a time when the University of Alabama football program was so entrenched in the Auburn mindset? Nick Saban and company should have to pay rent for the amount of time he and his program spends between the ears of every Aubie alive.

Alabama football has always defined Auburn football for them. From the beginning of time (which is 1982 if you’re an Auburn fan), how the Tigers have fared against the Tide has been the benchmark for their program. I know a guy who won’t buy a car made in the years Bama has beaten Auburn. It’s safe to say he won’t be in the market for a new car for years.

It must be a feeling of hopelessness. Beat Bama. The team that you haven’t notched an offensive point against in two seasons of football. The team that not a single player on your active roster has ever scored a point of any kind against. Not a safety. Not a field goal. Certainly not a touchdown or point after.

Scores like 42-14 and 49-0 (which every Aubie knows could’ve been 77-0) don’t get flipped in a year. The differential on the field was much more than just points. It was personnel. It was coaching. It was coaches. And it was a mindset much bigger than “beat your rival.”

And in turn, after hiring a snake oil salesman who’s been a head coach just one year…equipped with just a dipsy-doo, trickeroo style offense to fend off the most dominant football coach the game has seen since Paul “Bear” Bryant…you do this to your players: “Beat Bama.”

It’s cruelty in motion. Why don’t you just take the guy pictured below and tell him “Marry Jessica Alba.”

A union about as likely as “Beat Bama.”

So what happens next November when Auburn limps onto their own Pat Dye Field at 5-6 (and that’s assuming they can beat one fellow SEC team this year) and they get reamed for the third straight year? Do you take it down, or leave it up so the graduating seniors after the 2014 season are reminded of what they were never able to accomplish?

Instead, shouldn’t the signage say:

Or, this would probably be more realistic:

What happened in 2010 was just as cruel to the Auburn fanbase as a “Beat Bama” sign in the back of an Auburn meeting room. Like a gambling addict winning money in a casino slot machine, the Aubie was duped into believing seasons like that one can happen. It was the perfect, once-in-a-lifetime storm.

Auburn’s disadvantage (one of them) is that the Gus Malzahn offense isn’t new anymore. There are now plenty of undermanned teams trying to gain an advantage with quick snap counts and flag football-esque misdirection. The last time Bama saw Gus’ brand the score was 42-14.

For Auburn right now, “BEAT BAMA” is like telling your mentally deficient 6th grader “GET ACCEPTED INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL.”

At the depths of Alabama’s woes last decade, “Beat Auburn” was never the cry. Getting back to a place of prominence in the college football world was. But again, this signage helps you peer into the mind of the Aubie. Their world begins and ends with Alabama football. And “Beating Bama?” It is the end all.

Might I suggest another goal instead for Auburn?

Do this and you’ve overachieved, and it means you’ve beaten your weak non-conference schedule and two SEC foes.

But a Beat Bama sign tells the world your goals are no higher than getting off the mat against the big brother that has you there. It tells recruits that while Bama has its eye on another national crown, their fourth in five years, we just have our eye on winning one game.

Not that it’s needed, but the Auburn staff could not have done Alabama recruiting a bigger favor. For what they’ve really told the world is:

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

But like any Auburn fan will tell you (because they have to), it’s not about the championships. Well, yes it is. But almost as important are the moments. Those moments when you never forget where you were when they happen.

• Moments like Paul “Bear” Bryant’s 315th win coming against Auburn in 1981.
• Like Van Tiffin’s kick in 1985.
• Moments like Cornelius Bennett’s sack and Bama’s first win over Notre Dame in 1986.
• Like Thomas Rayam’s game winning block of a Penn State chip shot in 1989.
• Like Phillip Doyle’s kick to sink the Vols and extend the streak in 1990.
• Moments like Langham’s INT to down the smug Steve Spurrier and his Gators in 1992.
• Moments like total domination of the ultra cocky Miami Hurricanes for the 1992 National Championship.
• Like Bama’s improbable 31-7 blowout win in Lee County in 2001.
• Moments like the Tide’s gut wrenching end to the Vol reign in 2005.
• Moments like watching Nick Saban’s feet hit the tarmac live in January 2007.
• Like the 36-0 humiliation and processing of Tommy Tuberville.
• Like every single whipping the Tide has handed the Vols since Saban arrived.
• Moments like dominating Tim Tebow and making him cry in 2009.
• Moments like Bama’s 1st BCS National Championship over Texas in Jan. 2010.
• Like Bama’s 2nd BCS National Championship over LSU in Jan. 2012
• Like making the falsely humble Mark Richt sulk in defeat this past December.
• Moments like Bama’s 3rd BCS National Championship over Notre Dame last January.

Moments like this…

I still have LSU friends who won’t talk about that night. Their struggle with that hurtful memory is simply delicious, similar to my Auburn friends who admit they haven’t watched all or any of the last two Iron Bowls, or BCS National Championship games for that matter.

There are just too many moments to list in regard to Alabama football. And while there have been some we’d like to forget, the number of unbelievable moments of elation and triumph are grossly disproportionate to times of defeat.

It’s why rivals hate us. It’s why ratings for televised Alabama games create a financial windfall for networks and their sponsors. And it’s why we live to experience the next moments playout on the field before our very eyes.

Roll Tide everybody. Bring on 2013.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

The Tide’s defeat of Illinois over the weekend in what some termed as the “Gordon Gee Cup” (Big Ten vs. SEC) saw Bama add a crown in an area it had never enjoyed…proving these things can still be done.

You listening men’s basketball? Hear this baseball? How about you women’s hoops? (Nobody cares about swimming.)

Led by the fiery head golf coach Jay Seawell, Alabama ended its season with victories in the SEC Championships, the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional and the NCAA Championships.

Said Seawell after the victory, “We’re a national power.” The coach saw his team come painfully close to the crown last season as the runner-up to Texas, losing on the last hole.

The national title was actually Bama’s first in a men’s sport other than football…which was news to Seawell.

“That’s really cool,” he said. “Coach (Nick) Saban actually called me right after the tournament and gave me my congratulations. It was really special that he did that. He’s a friend of mine. … I look forward to getting a right and showing off my bling. He’s got four, so there you go. He’s still trumping me.”

There was a time a natty in golf wasn’t on the radar in Tuscaloosa. Then along came Jay Seawell who asked “why not?” Shouldn’t competing for championships be the end goal for every program in Tuscaloosa? Here’s looking at you Mitch Gaspard and Anthony Grant. Making a showing in the postseason isn’t enough. The Tide nation would like to see you get it done like Sarah Patterson, Patrick Murphy, Mic Potter, and yes, Nicholas Saban. And now of course, Jay Seawell.

On a side note, Alabama junior Bobby Wyatt entered the NCAA Championships ranked No. 3 in the nation. Junior Cory Whitsett was ranked No. 4 and sophomore Justin Thomas was ranked 8th. Whitsett and Thomas now head to Ohio to compete in a U.S. Open qualifier. Wyatt will compete in a qualifier in Memphis.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

So you’re Alabama’s baseball coach, Mitch Gaspard. You’re in Tallahassee at the NCAA regional. Fresh off the bone-headed move of overpitching your starter against No. 2 LSU in the SEC Tournament, you’ve made your way into a regional where your team has underachieved, to say the least.

You tank the first game against Troy on Friday, unable to overcome one measley inning of offense from the Trojans. Then Saturday, your team barely escapes lowly Savannah State. But in doing so you get new life, through just three stinking runs. Against Savannah stinking State.

Then Sunday, you’re finally in a position to make some noise in an avenging game against Troy, sending them home and sending you to the championship series of the weekend with host Florida State.

You’re up three runs going into the bottom of the 9th. Your pitching staff and defense has done enough to get you across the finish line. You make it into the 9th inning, and opt to put in the normally dependable closer Ray Castillo. But somehow, you blow it. And as the game crumbles around you and season draws to a close, you sit on your thumb.

The Trojans didn’t just rally in the 9th. They scored four runs on only two hits…”dos,” for our Spanish speaking friends. Two batters were hit by Castillo pitches, and the Trojans drew three walks, including the game-winner.

And at no point…no point…as the final inning began to unravel…did Mitch Gaspard make a move to do something different. Simply, amazing.

Said Gaspard afterwards:

“It was a tough one and a tough way to lose. I thought our guys competed really hard. This has been a season that we’ve been on the edge like that late in games, but we’ve been able to finish most of them off and today we weren’t. We allowed Troy too many opportunities and they did a good job to get some big hits there in the ninth inning. It doesn’t take away that our guys competed extremely hard and I think our young guys learned a lot from the tournament. We’ve just got to regroup and get better for next year.”

This team wasn’t making it much further than the game with Troy. Bama doesn’t have the firepower it once did. There was a day when a regional was just a warm-up for the Tide, usually in their own house. And there is enough quality youth on this team to get there again. You just have to hope that when the day comes, Bama’s puzzling skipper doesn’t get in the way…again.

Separated at birth, Orville and Gordon.

Gee’s comments about Catholics (“they can’t be trusted”), the Southeastern Conference (“they can’t read or write”), and the University of Louisville (“no academic integrity”) are hard to believe on one hand, but on the other, how many times now have we seen a “Mr. Big” out there playing to home crowd, only to be embarrassed later at the comments being recorded…and released? Lane Kiffin, James Franklin and Tim Davis (among others) say “hey.”

In this day of smart phones, each coming standard with any of a number of recording options, how can a man with any level of education be so stupid?

The SEC envy around the country has simply reached unbelievable proportions. Until someone dethrones the SEC from the game’s top crown, you’ll continue to hear this crap.

“We can’t beat them on the field, so we’ll attack the bottom half of their conference.” (Bob Stoops)

“We can’t beat them, so we’ll say they can’t read or write.” (Gordon Gee)

“We can’t beat them (and I can’t eat them), so I’ll go along with what Bob Stoops says.” (Charlie Weis)

It really is hard to watch grown men make idiots of themselves, especially when they look like Orville Redenbacher’s slimy cousin.

How either found mates that wanted to reproduce with them should give us all hope. But that Gordon Gee leads a university more intent on whining and slinging mud than getting down to business and doing what it takes to be a winner should give us even more. Looks like #8 in a row is on its way.

If OSU trustees keep Gee as their president after this they simply don’t have the same integrity that Gee likes to boast about. Like a fat girl who insists she “doesn’t want to go to the dance anyway” only because no one will ask her, we’re seeing the college football minions attempting to change the rules of the game…and perceptions…in order to deal with their inadequacies.

It’s good to be king. And it’s even better not to be Gordon Gee.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

Alabama is the #2 seed facing Troy in the Tallahassee regional. Host Florida State will play South Georgia’s Savannah State. The Tide is slated for play this Friday at 11:00am in the double-elimination regional. FSU and the Tigers are scheduled for 4:00pm.

LSU and Vanderbilt were awarded regionals, as were Mississippi State and South Carolina. Florida, Texas A&M and Ole Miss join Alabama as the other SEC schools to play in post-season play.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

There’s a term that has come to be affectionately known amoung Tide faithful as the earmark of the effect Nick Saban has had on college football. That term? Processed.

Bye-bye Everett.

“Processed” means after your program is dominated by Nick Saban’s Alabama, it immediately begins to cave in upon itself. Coaches get fired. Regimes have to change in the wake of their encounter with the golden standard, and weird things start happening to your program.

Phil Fulmer once ruled the SEC. Complete domination at the hands of Nick Saban has sent fat Phil to a coffee shop in Gatlinburg for good. Tommy Tuberville once raised fingers and showed classless leadership of his sub-human fanbase. 36-0 got Tommy fired despite an unreal winning percentage in his tenure at Auburn. Auburn was once competitive. Saban has changed that as the Tigers continue to chase their tails, looking for answers. The University of Texas following their BCS loss to ‘Bama in 2009 is another example. They haven’t been on the map since, and didn’t even make it to a bowl the following year.

These are just a few immediate examples, but there have been many, many more. Standing at 61-7 since 2009, an encounter with Alabama hasn’t been a good thing for your team as of late. Forget the sure loss. It’s the shockwave that comes with it that hurts most.

Those who hate Alabama loathe the term, because they know its truth and can’t do a thing about it. Notre Dame appears to be the latest program to receive this processing following Crimson domination. Up until the final minutes leading up to game time on January 7, 2013, the Fighting Irish seemed unable to do wrong.

Then came the beatdown: 42-14 in the BCS National Championship game…a contest that by their coach’s own admission at halftime was over at halftime. Then the deflation after the game…that you made it to 12-0 to win absolutely nothing. Then the revelation that your best player was “probably” in on one of the most embarrassing hoaxes in recent memory. The worst of it is that the entire Notre Dame program is viewed differently after their encounter with the best. The contender, which we now know was an overtalked media creation, is clearly known as the pretender.

Now when the Irish take the field this fall they’ll be without their signal caller. Among others, ESPN.com is reporting that starting quarterback Everett Golson has been dismissed from school.

“Everett is not enrolled at the university. Federal law and our own polices preclude us from discussing specifics,” spokesman Dennis Brown said in an email.

This smells, but usually in these cases academics is the culprit. This news comes in the wake of 5-start defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes…the prize of their 2013 signing class…reportedly reneging on his letter of intent this week. Highly touted 5-star QB Gunner Kiel left the Irish to transfer to the University of Cincinnatti last month, leaving the leprechauns with senior Tommy Rees as the signal caller with the most experience. Golson replaced the then junior Rees, the former starter, as a redshirt freshman. The other two options at QB are now an unproven junior and a true freshman.

Processing is fun to watch. We’ll see how this one continues to unfold in the weeks (and season) to come.

Coach Murphy has to have an immediate date with one of these.

I say that in jest, kind of, but it was truly one of the dumbest moves I’ve ever seen in sports. Maybe head softball coach Patrick Murphy has an anniversary cruise to catch this Monday and wanted to be sure he’d be on the boat. I don’t know. But my hat’s off to the Bama girls for another strong season. The World Series is always the goal, but another fine showing in 2013.

Big Cat Weekend, brought to you by the school that gave us this.

Gimmick U will always be Gimmick U, and they’ll always do hokey things to try to get attention. At Alabama football is serious, and we don’t have to do stupid hokey things to elevate our game. We just win championships and dominate. But the fact that you’ve heard next to nothing from the ongoings in Lee County, except from the usual Auburn mouthpieces, means things are back to normal.

An actual tweet from an attendee:

Dante Sawyer… RT @taecoolin: what other college throw water ballon fights with the coaches and the recruits? nobody? #WarEagle loved it!!!

Water balloon fights. That’s got to get the faithful excited about the future of the Auburn football program. Wasn’t the entire 2012 season one big water balloon fight?

Anyway, if the first Big Cat Weekend was a Dodge Viper, this latest one was a Dodge Dart. War Eagle, everybody. Just another function in Lee County that’s been processed. And if Nick Saban wants any of this year’s attendees, even those who’ve committed, all he has to do is call. Cyrus Kouandjio, T.J. Yeldon, Dee Liner and Reuben Foster say “hey.” But they’ll not find water balloon fights in Tuscaloosa. They’ll see a lot of crystal, but no water balloons.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

But it was not to be. With two outs, following yet another Bama double play in the top of the ninth, the Bengals’ Christian Ibara would sneak a single through, reaching base, only to be replaced by pinch runner Jared Foster who would score on a Tyler Moore double. Oczypok’s day on the mound would end there, his replacement (Jay Shaw) giving up the game winning run, a Ty Ross RBI single.

The elmination loss from the SEC Tournament would send the Tide baseball team home to await their fate in the upcoming NCAA tournament. 3-2 would be the score.

Some 265 miles to the northeast, the Crimson Tide softball team, the 10th seed in the Knoxville Super Regional, faced 7th seed Tennessee. Top of the 7th, Bama’s last hope trailing 3-2, the Tide’s Kaila Hunt reached first. Then the head scratcher.

Bama coach Patrick Murphy elected to pinch hit Lauren Sewell, who had not batted since May 4, and was 1 for 8 on the year, amounting to a .161 average. The result? You guessed it. Out three. Ballgame, with Bama now needing to win a double header on Saturday to stay alive.

In baseball, though Mike Oczypok’s story and performance today was the stuff of legends, head coach Mitch Gaspard decided to let him pitch 30+ pitches more than he had in any outting this season, against the Alabama Crimson Tide of baseball. LSU doesn’t just hit the ball. They crush it. We all love a cinderella story, but I would’ve liked to see the carriage arrive a little earlier with a fresh relief pitcher to close an improbable win out. Though it was just a conference tourney loss. The real mystery came in Knoxville for reasons already mentioned.

Look, I’m not a coach. But sometimes it seems like coaches need something similar to the phone a friend lifeline that used to be on that show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”. You have a girl who has managed one hit all season as a pinch hitter, where you have to have the same type of sniper mentality as a place kicker in football, and she’s who you opt for with the season hanging in the balance?

Regardless, the Tide baseball team has made huge strides in finishing out the season, and is thought to have done enough to secure a firm place in post-season play. We’ll know the fate of the defending national champion Tide softball team by Saturday night.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

Is the NCAA arbitrary? Alabama fans believe so and the current case involving a Georgia lineman raises the issue again.

The facts of the case are well known and widely reported. According to the Ledger-Enquirer, “When he was in high school, Houston was given injections to treat a shoulder injury. UGA athletic trainer Ron Courson has said the injections were from an ‘unscrupulous’ doctor, whose name is not known. So Houston tested positive for a steroid, Norandrolone, early in his freshman year at Georgia, which resulted in an automatic year-long suspension. The second positive test came prior to his second year at Georgia, which meant a lifetime NCAA suspension.”

On appeal, the NCAA reduced the lifetime ban. Thankfully, Houston can play once his steroid levels drop below NCAA-mandated levels. In an attempt to reach the limits, Houston has undergone medical treatments, but so far, he remains above the NCAA’s limits.

The defense is also widely reported. According to Online Athens, “Georgia maintains Houston was unknowingly given a substance that is banned by the NCAA — the anabolic steroid Norandrolone — after sustaining shoulder injuries playing for Buford High School.”

Also, this quote from Houston via the Ledger-Enquirer, “I’m just trying to argue that I’m not re-using. That I’m not re-using at all,” Houston said. “First of all I didn’t even know that I did use. And I’m surely not re-using.”

Unknowingly.

It worked for Cam Newton and Auburn.

It isn’t working in this case.

Why?

What is good for one player should be good for another. Yet, the NCAA has decided to approach this case of not knowing in a different manner.

For some reason, the NCAA has treated the accidental use of steroids while under medical supervision differently than it approached a father shopping his son for cash.

This makes it easy to figure out the NCAA’s calculus.

$$$$=good.

Drugs=bad.

However, there surely is more to it than this. Could the NCAA’s treatment be based on the profile of the cases? Cam Newton was a quarterback in the middle of a national championship race. Kolton Houston is a lowly offensive lineman—and we all know linemen often only get their names called when they hold or move before the snap.

Or, is this a case where then NCAA looked so impotent in the Cam Newton case that it is trying desperately to butch up in cases like this?

Whatever, the NCAA’s treatment of players leaves much to be desired.

In an effort to correct the perceived injustice, a petition was launched. You can view the petition at the link. Essentially, it calls the NCAA to task for failing to live up to its mission and instead focusing on its bureaucratic rules instead of the student-athletes it is supposed to help, protect and develop.

Paul Finebaum, antagonist extraordinaire

News broke Tuesday that Finebaum’s silence would soon cease, as the ultra successful talk show host will soon join ESPN. The marriage will include a new show broadcast from Charlotte, North Carolina, a television simulcast on the coming ESPN owned SEC Network (in 2014), and 100 television appearances a year on the network.

But how will this move impact the climate between the two schools that the nation loves to watch hate one another? This may seem like a silly question, but dig a little deeper and it makes perfect sense to ask.

Finebaum’s show will likely air on 97.3 The Zone in Birmingham, which is an ESPN affiliated partner. But AL.com reported a source saying WJOX 94.5 could still make an aggressive bid to get his show back on the air.

Still, it’s an interesting question of how this affects Alabama and Auburn.

Paul Finebaum came on the scene in Birmingham in the early 1980′s, as Paul W. Bryant was bowing out and Pat Dye was stepping into the ring. That period of history, also known as “the beginning of time to Auburn fans,” was colossal to say the least. Two decades of utter Bama domination came crashing down with 23-22 in 1982, and 23-20 in 1983. Bo over the top…and seemingly anywhere else he wanted to run…was stoked by this bald writer from New York who studied at the University of Tennessee.

Later came run-ins with the brash Ray Perkins, and later Paul’s public ridicule of the sham known as Bill Curry. Paul’s opinions, then as a columnist for the Birmingham Post-Herald, and as an occasional radio/television guest, made headlines that were bigger than the headlines. Everybody wanted to read what “that jerk Paul Finebaum” had to say, and they couldn’t help themselves…no matter how angry it made them. There are crack addicts with greater control over their problem.

Finebaum then evolved into becoming a talk show host in the early 1990′s, slowly but surely building dominance of the local airwaves. Fueled by NCAA scandals, besmirching the good name of tiny tot Terry Bowden, and a personal friendship with Steven O. Spurrier, Finebaum slowly built a momentum local radio had never seen. His fame would take him into the Dubose years (and scandal), more NCAA trouble with Phil Fulmer and Alabama, through the Tuberville-Shula years, into a public feud with former Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried (really his wife), and into the arrival of present day Nick Saban and Alabama domination. Not to mention possibly the biggest story in Finebaum history…Harvey Updyke.

Through it all, the littlest big man in SEC country has made his living stoking the fires amid the rivalry between Alabama and Auburn. His show created a public forum where folks from both sides could call in, speak their minds, revel in successes and slowly move the Alabama – Auburn relationship from a rivalry into a downright hatred. That’s not to say Paul Finebaum is solely responsible for the intensity of the rivalry…it’s always been intense. But let’s just say, he’s been the bartender that helped fuel the liquor-filled brawl.

Through the years Paul has mastered the art of pitting one side against the other, seemingly changing colors like a chemeleon. Make no mistake, it has been his bread and butter in an era where both schools have seen some unbelievable extremes. His show has been national for a while, gaining callers from Boise, Idaho to his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. But Finebaum’s new marriage with ESPN takes him to heights that his ultra successful show has never enjoyed, or imagined.

ESPN will spend millions pimping Paul Finebaum to the masses, and while his show will most definitely have a college football base, one has to wonder how much time he will devote to stoking the fires between the University of Alabama and its little brother. One has to wonder what effect his trail of tears of joy (and truckloads of cash) to Charlotte will have from here on for people wearing crimson, and orange and blue?

Tuesday I attended the Alabama – Auburn baseball game at the Hoover Met, seeing the Tide top the Tigers 6-3. But while there I couldn’t help but remark to a friend with me that it was the most uncontentious Alabama-Auburn game of any sport that I could remember. There was no jawing, no taunting, very little reveling by either side in the highs and lows of the game. And though Finebaum’s absence from the airwaves likely didn’t impact this particular game (it was likely instead the lowly current position of both baseball programs), one has to wonder: Is this the future between the two fanbases without a professional antagonist?

As I watched a grown man who happened to be an Auburn fan wrestle a foul ball away from a child, who happened to be wearing Alabama gear, the bewilderment I have for that orange and blue subculture will likely always be there. But one has to wonder if a permanent absence of the Finebaum we’ve come to love and hate will fuel a more civil co-existence between “us and them?”

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

It’s been a week since Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops made his idiotic statements to The Tulsa World about the SEC’s perceived dominance being “a lot of propaganda that gets fed out to you.”

His argument was this: The top half of a league isn’t what determines its strength, but instead it’s how well the celler dwellars in the league are doing.

“It depends on who you want to listen to,” Stoops said. “Listen, they’ve had the best team in college football, meaning they’ve won the national championship. That doesn’t mean everything else is always the best.”

I’m not sure what Stoops is smoking, but it sounds like his comments came right after he set the bong back on the table. And apparently, according to this ESPN SportsNation stat, the entire state of Oklahoma is toking right along with him:

52% of Oklahomians don’t believe seven straight national championships makes the SEC dominant.

And then there is the perenial loser Charlie Weis, who by his sheer girth alone is obviously in charge of the post-ganja snacks:

Playing the part of “Chong,” Charlie Weis

Perhaps the best comments on the matter came from Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Florida head coach Will Muschamp. Muschamp, who spent 3 years at the University of Texas, shared his thoughts with the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post:

“I’d be saying the same thing if I were in the Big 12. I said it for three years.”

And Saban, who has perfected the formal “screw you”?

“I’ve got more important things to do than sit around and read what Bob Stoops has to say about anything.”

Until someone can knock off the SEC in that last game of the season, or prevent them from getting into the game itself, you’re going to see more and more animosity around the country from coaches who know better. A streak of three championships to them was intriguing. A streak of five was annoying. A streak of seven is apparently maddening.

These coaches, who get paid to succeed, are getting processed without ever having to face Nick Saban and Alabama, or the league’s other heavy hitters. And to add insult to injury, the once middle-of-the-pack Big 12 member Texas A&M is now doing as much damage to its former league’s image as the others.

On the recruiting trail, coaches like Stoops and Weis are fighting the well-earned perception of the SEC’s dominance on the landscape of college football. And instead of stepping up, learning how to play defense, and winning the game, they attempt to put things on a lower shelf where they and their fans can reach them, and change the game itself. Or at least the game of perception.

Who knows. Maybe if Nick Saban’s last taste of significance came in George W. Bush’s first term, he might say stupid things too. But until that day comes, my guess is the next state to legalize marijuana will be none other than Oklahoma. By the looks of things, they’re halfway there.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

No, Forbes is about power. Dollars and cents, and a whole lot of business sense. And the periodical read by the ultra successful (and those who want to be) is in love with Alabama. In its latest copy, as usual, the magazine is on the money.

Forbes on the money, again

Nick Saban is the kind of opponent that would make The Bear come into work early and stay late. In fact, earlier this year Forbes identified Nick Saban as the “Best College Football Coach of All Time.” Something else that would’ve gotten Bryant’s attention.

Saban is way smarter than to take on the history laid by Coach Bryant, who was a pioneer for the game he loved. But Forbes isn’t afraid.

Today the magazine illustrates what the Saban effect is having on the University of Alabama as a whole, seeing enrollment jump by 33% in during his tenure. It even chronicles a high school senior from New York who desperately wants to enroll at Bama, though he’s never been there.

It’s an interesting read to say the least, and another among many reasons it is good to be Crimson.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

Among Tide fans, one of the most popular debates these days has to do with Bama baseball. Not on-the-field play, though Alabama’s season hasn’t finished with the promise with which it started.

Instead, talk among Bama faithful is in the stands. As in, literally up in the stands…where they’re sitting.

If you want to spark a good debate these days, just challenge a “Bama needs a new baseball stadium” proponent with the idea that the team should display success in order to get a new park. In fact, recently I inadvertantly found myself in a little Twitter wrangle over the subject:

Kendall Rogers is the managing editor of college baseball for perfectgame.org. Aaron Suttles covers ‘Bama sports for the Tuscaloosa News, and Kevin Russo is a utilty player for the Detroit Tigers…though that’s not the Kevin Russo I was jawing with. This one is just a sport enthusiast, an LSU grad, and an interesting read on Twitter.

All three are right; Alabama’s baseball stadium is way behind other schools’ facilities in the SEC. Though I’ve never been there, I’m told South Carolina’s is the baseball version of Bryant-Denny. Bama’s is more like, well, Denny’s.

But are we asking the right question when we ask “Does Alabama need a new stadium”? We all know that answer is yes. Should the question instead be “Does Alabama baseball deserve a new stadium?” Has baseball shown enough fortitude to garner the fan support to put butts in the seats?

In the late 90′s and the turn of the century, Alabama baseball was a force. But somehow the Tide baseball program has slipped into Shula-esque mediocrity. And I’m sorry, that may mean people aren’t going to support it.

Should they? That’s another debate altogether. There are some who would say if Bama’s taking the field in something…anything…we as fans and alumni should do what’s necessary to buy tickets, make the drive and be present to cheer them on. But that’s not reality. If you think I’m wrong, then check attendance this season. There have been a few games at the Joe where a line drive fouled into the stands was a threat to NO ONE.

It’s the old chicken or the egg argument…should people come to support the team into success, or should success draw people to support the team? I don’t know the answer. But I do know Bama’s baseball facility is bad. We’ll see if the groundswell becomes large enough to change UA’s commitment to having the worst stadium in the SEC.

Speaking of SEC baseball, here are the current standings…

Auburn is still dead last.

When I pointed out in a March 29th article that Auburn was attempting to finish dead last in all three major sports, an Auburn poster who visits this site (shocker) carried the crybaby mantle for all Auburn fans, whining that the season was too young to make such an assertion.

Well, here we are, and Auburn has climbed from dead last to #10 in a fourteen team league. Way to go Auburn. We knew you could do it. They’re still last in the West, so I’m gonna stick to my point. Jay Jacobs is making a fine salary to lead Auburn into last place.

Speaking of Auburn, what in the world is up with Charles Barkley?
The dude is everywhere. He was an analyst for the NCAA Tournament. He’s on every other commercial, and of course he’s been an analyst for the NBA on TNT for 13 years.

The ever Aubsessed, Charles Barkley

Chuck’s gambling problem has cost him major bucks…$10 Million to be exact. And Charles likes the firewater, and a little honey to go with it…even if it means a DUI.

I like Charles Barkley for several reasons. One because he’s Aubsessed with all things Alabama, not missing an opportunity to voice his disdain for the Crimson Tide. He only validates Bama by harping about them. But the main reason I like him is, he shows you don’t have to be bright, considerate, or politically correct to make it in America…and this in a country where political correctness rules the day. Apparently, neither do you have to win a ring on the collegiate or professional level to be an expert.

Seeking Charles Barkley’s opinion on something…anything…is like seeking the political views of Lady Gaga. Neither mean anything, but both are fun to hear. Somehow Charles has been granted a pass by society to run that mouth. And I say good for him. I have heard as many stories about Barkley showing generosity as I have stories that paint him in a negative light. Go Charles.

Finally, it’s Mother’s Day…and I hope you all get a chance to spend some time with your mom today…or at least speak to her. For the moms out there who visit here, thanks for the endless hours you spend wiping butts, preparing meals, cleaning up, rocking children, refereeing siblings, offering widsom, giving hugs, tucking in, and starting over…the next day doing it all again.

I’m thankful to still have my mom, but that won’t always be the case. Don’t miss the opportunity to tell or show her what she’s meant to your life.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

The term “processed” has become one of value to Tide fans. Nick Saban has preached the word from the start at Bama. But the list of coaches and programs he has processed has been long and entertaining. Here are just a few:

• Phil Fulmer and Tennessee
• Tommy Tuberville and Auburn
• Urban Meyer and Florida
• Sly Croom
• Bobby Petrino
• Gene Chizik and Auburn, a second time
• Derrick Dooley and Tennessee, a second time
• The entire University of Texas football program (on and off the field)

The look on Urban Meyer’s face when he realized Nick Saban had ended his ride at Florida.

In Meyer’s case, he did it to himself. In fear, the Urban legend retired from the game “to spend more time with his family,” only to emerge about a year later as a candidate at Ohio State as their ship began to sink.

Now, let’s be real. As Bama has proven in all three of its National Championship runs in the last four years, it takes a great deal of luck and good fortune going your way to play for the crystal football. But if Palm is correct and Ohio State does become the unlucky opponent against Saban’s Tide, it’ll be interesting to watch the rest of Meyer’s career at Ohio State if Nick Saban does to him what he just got finished doing to Notre Dame.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

The face of evil, and the place it happened for ten years.

But Ariel Castro has taught me a huge, valuable lesson. Well, quite a few, truthfully.

1. First, evil exists. It is as real as real can be. There are some people walking among us without a moral compass who are human by definition only. There are people among us who can get to the mental state Ariel Castro did, where his personal pleasure superceded the very freedom of not one, not two but three (and possibly more) other humans. Humans with families that love them and want them for polar opposite reasons than this man’s demented intentions.

This lesson can’t be drilled into our children enough. Evil exists. Not tree poisoners. Those are psychos. Not teabaggers. Those are sickos. Evil. If you have kids, you need to gently push them in the direction of caution when it comes to the people around them. Not pushing them to the point of paranoia, but to the point of caution, and avoidance of the kind of naivity that puts people in a position of trouble.

2. Our justice system is unjust. There is no law on our books, no penalty that we can legally put into effect, that would serve this pig justice. Personally I think Levitical law covers this kind of thing pretty well. But this is a cretin who should have to experience the same kind of horror he put his victims through.

Elect me president and these kind of crimes are punishable by death. You get 30 days to make your peace with God, man and anyone else. But then after 30 days of daily subjection of punishment at the hands of those you hurt, you’re history. You’re not weighing on our legal system, costing tax payers thousands of dollars. You’re not feeding on taxpayers’ earnings for three squares and a place to sleep, not to mention medical care. You’re in a hole somewhere in 30 days after conviction. And no I’m not talking about gray cases. I’m talking about slam dunks, and this one is a slam dunk.

The thing is, Castro likely already has an attorney working day and night to lessen his sentence or get him off for reasons of insanity. That such a person with this desire exists is sobering in and of itself.

3. There could be an Ariel Castro near you. How many people do you know on your street? There are three on mine that I’ve never met or had a conversation with. We need to be all up in each others’ business.

These girls weren’t held in the middle of the desert or in some mountain cave. There were houses and families ALL AROUND THEM. People tuning in, hoping to see LeBron James get beat by the Cavs. People leaving their homes to see if there was anything to this Trent Richardson wearing #33. People sitting down to Thanksgiving meals…TEN to be exact. People coming and going. Life happening everywhere around these girls while their lives were slowly being taken from them. How in the world could this ever happen??

What’s going on in your neighborhood RIGHT NOW? Maybe nothing this heinous, but who is crying out for help that you’re not hearing?

When the neighborhood watch program came out years ago it was paraded like it was going to be the answer to stopping crime. But let’s get real. The automatic garage door killed the neighborhood watch program years ago. We pull up, push the button, drive in, push the button again, and we don’t have to talk or deal with the people around us. We are insulated, self-interested beings by nature, not exactly “loving our neighbors as ourselves” as the Creator instructed.

There are exceptions, but if you’re honest with yourself, how much have you really tried to get to know the people around you. Evil can’t hide itself forever, which is why I think it’s totally bogus that Castro’s family “was shocked” at the revelation that he had done this.

I’ll even take it a step further. I was eating at a Chinese restaurant this week…a hole in the wall I like to go to…and wondered how many of the women working there had been subjected to this kind of thing. Not abduction (but maybe), but human trafficking. Or how many know others of their nationality that has, or currently is? This is a serious problem, and to stop it, or at least damage it, it’s going to take people unafraid to get dirty.

But we’re often too consumed with which linebacker is going where, or taking pictures of players’ cars to prove they’re getting paid. That’s all well and good, and sports is a diversion that we all need. But when our world becomes sports and sports alone…our teams, and just sports in general…we lose a piece of ourselves that makes humanity humane.

4. I’m glad I’m not God. John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son for us, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him won’t perish but will have eternal life. If that prayer was offered up to me, and I was the big man hearing it, I’d have to act like I missed it. I’d send Ariel Castro to the furthest reaches of hell faster than Onterio McCalleb sprinting out of bounds. But that’s for Him to decide. I am not capable of that job.

All in all, there is no way humanly possible that these poor girls will ever have a normal life. They deserve millions in restitution so that they don’t ever have to think about anything but getting up, nourishing themselves, and putting one foot in front of the other. May God shield them from evil the rest of their days, and may Ariel Castro run into a band of angry inmates (sooner than later) who know who he is and know what he’s done.

(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)