Who could forget parachute pants, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” The Cosby Show, Oingo Boingo or Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” video?

While reading the recent comparisons of Paul Bryant and Nick Saban, I was reminded of Ray Perkins, the Tide coach who led Alabama in the mid 1980s. His tenure was sandwiched in between the twilight of Bryant’s career and the Bill Curry experiment.

For the purposes of educating the young’uns out there who have no memory of the 80s, and the oldtimers who may choose to forget this time, I’d like to explore the decade a little bit. These were my junior high and high school years (yours too, some of you) and a very important time in my development as a Crimson-bleeding Alabama fanatic.

The early 80s were still Bear’s Time. Although the 80, 81 and 82 teams fell way short of the precedents set in the 60s and 70s there were some historical moments to cherish. The 80 team fell to Mississippi State in a shocking upset then lost to Notre Dame. At 9-2, the 80 Tide went to the Cotton Bowl, at the time still prestigious, and stomped a mudhole in Southwestern Conference champ Baylor to finish 10-2.

The year 1981 was marred by a loss to one of the worst ever Georgia Tech teams and a tie with Southern Miss. Bill Curry coached Tech that year by the way.

But Alabama beat Penn State on the road and defeated Auburn to give Bryant his 315th victory, making him the winningest coach in college history until geezers from his own era, Paterno and Bowden eventually passed him. Bryant’s swan song was an emotional win over Illinois in the Liberty Bowl.

Enter Ray Perkins, to the theme music of Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face.” The steely Perkins had none of the country boy charm of Bryant and immediately made mince meat of many things Tide fans held dear. He scrapped the wishbone, he tore down Bear’s tower for God’s sake!

Perkins also shook up sponsors, changing from Golden Flake to Lays and firing radio voice John Forney. Perkins also dismissed longtime assistant coaches, including Mal Moore, without blinking a gun-metal blue eye.

I’ve always thought Perkins got a bad rap, because if Bryant were in the same situation, taking over a program, I believe he would have done it his way or the highway too. (Saban kind of does that doesn’t he?)

Perkins’ legacy, to me at least, is that he held the ship together and kept Auburn from establishing dominance at a time when they had opportunity. Perkins was 2-2 against Pat Dye, but the balance of power could have shifted drastically, and it did when Perkins left.

Here were Perkins’ biggest achievements: A 28-7 win over fifth ranked SMU in 83 Sun Bowl; 17-15 win over Bo Jackson and Auburn in 84; “the Kick” win over Heisman Bo and Auburn in 85; a win over Ohio State in the 86 Kickoff Classic; a resounding throttling of Tennessee in 86 that started a long winning streak over the Vols, and the Tide’s first and only win over Notre Dame, also in 86. Perkins was 3-0 in bowl games also defeating Southern Cal and Washington.

Perkins personal legacy was not helped when his former quarterback and protoge Mike Shula coached the Tide incompetently prior to Saban’s arrival. The Perkins, Bill Belicheck, Saban chronology, is interesting however.

Former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant had an 80s hit with “Ship of Fools” and that music could have been playing in former Alabama president Joab Thomas’ head when he skipped over Bobby Bowden and hired Bill Curry. This was like Van Halen turning into Van Hagar. He was a bad fit, and Curry couldn’t beat Auburn if the Tigers were bundled in a sack and Curry had a baseball bat.

Curry lost to the Memphis Tigers, and dropped a homecoming game to Ole Miss. Yet he managed to skunk Paterno in three games and he continued the Tide streak against Tennessee.

In 1989, Curry led Alabama to a 10-0 record and share othe SEC crown. He had to share it with Auburn, when once again, Dye abused Curry like a two-dollar you-know-what.

That same year Neil Young released his seminal song “Rocking in the Free World.” Curry left for Kentucky. Alabama returned to its roots and hired Bryant disciple Gene Stallings to begin the voyage into the 90s. Young’s music inspired a growing “grunge scene” that took music away from the techno pop of Flock of Seagulls and back into raw-bones, power chord jams. Stallings’ Tide went back to the basics of stout defense and power running. After an introductory slump in the 90 season, Alabama finished strong by beating Tennesee and Auburn. Alabama went 11-1 in 91, and 13-0 in 92. The program that “still couldn’t find what it was looking for” to paraphrase U2, finally found it. Kind of like Alabama has again with Saban.

I have fond memories of the 80s. Walter Lewis, Joey Jones, Cornelius Bennett, Derek Thomas, Bobby Humphrey, Van Tiffin, Mike Shula (yeah), Al Bell, Wes Neighbors, and many others made some nice history for the Tide. Still, I can’t help thinking they are the “Lost Boys” of modern Alabama football.

(PS: Does anybody remember the Ponys Alabama used to wear in the 80s. Kids in my day actually wore Pony football shoes to school (the turf kind, back when we still had REAL Astro Turf) tried to get Breakfast Club reference in but couldn’t. Anybody out there with 80s memories?)

Capstone Report founder Alan Atchison led off the Finebaum show on the day after the Super Bowl with a distinctive topic, namely that he believes the Birmingham News is acting as a public relations firm for Auburn athletics.

He had some great points but I believe he stopped way short. When you’re aiming at big game, go ahead and fire both barrels Alan. Atchison said he believes the News uses different standards of coverage when dealing with Auburn athletics, than with the University of Alabama. I’m totally with him on that, and I agreed with what he said on Finebaum in that regard.

But Alan praised “The Snooze” for its general news coverage. He missed the mark completely on that. The Snooze like most other major newspapers has become fat, lazy and cheap. They are missing or ignoring stories because they don’t want to put real time and effort into the true craft of journalism.

Sure, they run plenty of stories about Larry Langford and other politicians who have been convicted of corruption. But reporting on investigations (and their outcomes) is different than investigative reporting.

There are plenty of enterprise stories The Snooze could be working on right now. They could be doing some real legwork on casino gambling in other states, its effect on the economy and its social implications, and the real opinions of the people in Alabama. Instead, the Snooze simply reports on what the governor spews out, what Milton Macgregor regurgitates and what the convoluted courts and the dead head politicians say.

Years ago, I worked in northern Jefferson County for a small community newspaper. I reported on a story that had to deal with whether or not a Ruby Tuesday restaurant would open in the area. A large local church was using its vast influence to try and prevent the chain restaurant from having a liquor license. The local politicians all denied it. I made a simple phone call to corporate headquarters and was told by a representative that yes, indeed, the hold-up for not going ahead with the project was that the local government wanted Ruby Tuesday to either not serve any alcohol or have a restricted license, serving only beer and wine. Corporate headquarters told me they had strict specifications for their restaurants and would not deviate from the model.

This may sound boring, but was connected to another larger issue of whether the church was stifling growth in the area.

The Snooze totally missed the potential story.

The Snooze also missed, or chose to ignore, a huge story about former Hoover High football coach Rush Propst. That is until the story was broken by a reporter from a community weekly paper and blown up on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network. By the way Capstone Report was also heavily involved in the Propst story before The Snooze laid one finger on a keyboard. Check the Capstone archives.

The Snooze then reported on the following major investigations and fallout. The Snooze racked up a couple of awards for its reporting of the investigation. Once again, reporting on investigations is different from investigative reporting.

The great American humorist Will Rogers once said that a man is not completely informed unless he reads at least one “country” newspaper. You can read the New York Times, you can watch ESPN, you can choose any major media outlet you want. But if you are not paying attention to the so-called little guys (community papers or blogs) your perspective will be very narrow, and your understanding of the issues of our time will be severely limited.

Paul William “Bear” Bryant, will never be surpassed or equaled by any Alabama coach, not even Nick Saban, despite whatever Shane from Centerpoint or anybody else wants to think.

I’m a lifelong Alabama fan and a huge Saban fan, and I believe Saban will win more SEC championships and possibly another national title before he leaves the Capstone. But, Saban cannot, will not, and nobody ever will, surpass the accomplishments of Paul Bryant, or overtake his legend. This is not some kind of defense offered to justify cultural hero worship, the way, say, some southerners would defend the name and character of Robert E. Lee or Jefferson Davis a century after the Civil War. It’s just plain fact that Saban is nowhere near close to being in the realm of Coach Bryant. Shane should know that, having lived through the best of the Bryant years.

The winning of championships and the development of a culture of winning at Alabama are two things Saban and Bryant have in common. But Saban has done nothing that Urban Meyer hadn’t done before him (win two National Championships). Shane probably would scoff at the idea of Meyer being “The next Bear.”

Bear Bryant still has two more national championships than Meyer and Saban combined, and Bear raked in a dozen SEC Titles, leaving both of the SEC’s current best head coaches lagging way behind.

Bryant was a legend in his own time whose career spanned at least three distinct eras of football. The 1950s, saw Bryant resurrect two programs, Kentucky and Texas A&M, in an era of football that no modern coach could even try to emulate today. They couldn’t without getting fired (see Leach and Leavitt). At Kentucky, Bryant guided the Wildcats to one of their only all-time SEC Titles and he made a name for himself by beating Bud Wiilkinsons’s Oklohoma Sooners in the Orange Bowl, ending one of college football’s longest ever winning streaks.

Bryant took the Aggies and developed a Heisman Trophy winner (John David Crowe), beat Texas and had an undefeated season before leaving for Tuscaloosa.

Bryant entered the next era of football, the 1960s, winning national championships and developing future NFL stars like Joe Namath, Leroy Jordan, Ray Perkins, Kenny Stabler and others.

The late sixties with its social changes posed challenges that Bryant met and overcame. Bryant weathered a two year funk and blew into the disco era with the wishbone, winning three more national titles. Bryant and Bama dominated the 70s like no other team will ever be able to, not even the twenty-first century Tide with Saban at the helm.

Saban did well at Michigan State, he did even better at LSU, and he has done a spectacular job so far at Alabama.

But, in my opinion, Saban has not had to travel and adapt through the paths of different eras like Bryant did. Another thing that sets Bryant apart from Saban is persona. Bryant had a signature, his houndstooth hat. He was a crusty character in an era when that was in vogue. He openly smoked and drank, and was rough and tough with his players, when you could not only do that, but it was seen as socially acceptable, even admirable. Bryant was larger than life in an era where media exposure was very low relevant to today’s standards. Saban has no signature, and his persona is mostly that of an intense, introverted, jerk-to-the-media. Davy Crockett, or Bryant, he is far from.

Bryant not only has 200 more football victories than Saban currently has, he has a legend that lives on even as Saban sits on the throne Bryant once occupied. Fans who weren’t born before Bryant died wear houndstooth hats, caps and skirts to games. These kids probably don’t know diddly about Bear. Yet they are literally clothed in his influence. Saban, hasn’t reached that level yet, and will need many more years to even come close.

I played organized football from youth leagues to middle school to high school and NEVER once saw anybody’s helmet get knocked off their head. Not in practice, not in games, NEVER. So why is it that in almost every NFL or college game I watch these days somebody loses their headgear?

It happened to Mark Ingram Saturday at Starkville. The replay showed that a Mississippi State player reached over and put his hand around Ingram’s head, around the top of the helmet, in a last ditch effort to slow him down. Hardly the kind of thing that should have been able to pull his helmet loose. When I started out playing football we all wore those helmets with a single chin strap and two bar face masks. Today football helmets are high tech. They have elaborate face masks, air cushioning, visors, double straps, huge padded chin guards, rear view mirrors. But what’s the point if they don’t stay on your head, and what is the reason for this flying helmet pandemic?

I found some interesting commentary by searching the Web. Some folks believe that players are simply careless and don’t buckle their helmets correctly. Some believe that players with huge mops of dreadlocks cannot get any helmet to fit. Ingram has close cropped hair and I see plenty of guys with short hair getting their lids knocked off. Some folks think it is some kind of “cool” status thing to have your helmet off during the game and players are purposefully leaving them loose hoping to have some face time on TV. Nobody in their right mind would risk taking a linebacker’s helmet to their bare face.

But something is going on and I would like the Capstone readers to help me figure it out. On to other things.

I never saw a helmet get knocked off in my playing days, but I saw a teammate score with his pants down. One of my youth teammates had to borrow some big pants when he came to the game that day. They were okay with the belt tightened, but he broke a long run, got way behind the defense, and on about the 15 yard line his belt came loose, his pants dropped and he waddled across the goal line with his britches around his ankles. Too bad we didn’t have cell phone cameras and YouTube.

I have a pet peeve about guys with long flowing locks dangling from their helmets. One day, I would like to see a guy, apparently flying down the field for a TD, get yanked from behind and stopped from scoring by another guy who reaches and grabs hold of one of those absurdly long pony tails. Would that be a penalty? Hair is a choice, it is not part of equipment like a facemask. You could legally grab an untucked jersey, right? I’m surprised that scenario hasn’t already happened.

With all the throwback uniforms going on these days, I would like to see a REAL throwback game between two teams in leather helmets, sweaters, and brown canvas pants. Two teams with no players over 250 pounds. Wouldn’t that be cool? They’d also have to drop kick all PAT and field goal attempts.

Tennis. Yes, tennis. Most other sports have these “throwback” uniforms. I would like to see two of the world’s best tennis players play an exhibition match on a grass court wearing white button down shirts with white slacks and playing with wooden rackets. Maybe the shirt and slacks are a bit much. But I would like to see the wooden racquets. Tennis racquets used to be the size of badminton racquets. Now they are graphite or some other high tech material and they are the size of Rhode Island. No wonder the top players serve the ball at super sonic speeds and nobody can return serves. Somebody should ask Bjorn Borg to clean out his closet and loan some old gear to Federer and Nedal and make them use it.

Alabama has never beaten Texas in football and my Christmas wish to all Tide fans is to have our team in the BCS title game against the Longhorns and break that jinx. ROLL TIDE!

By Hunter Ford

Terrence Cody and Alabama were helped by dumb luck in the gut wrenching, jaw dropping escape from defeat last Saturday.

I’m not saying Cody’s second blocked kick, the one that kept Tennessee from converting a 44-yard game winning field goal, was lucky. It was not luck, it was true grit. It would have been lucky had Cody and the Tide sat back and hoped Tennessee’s kicker would miss.
Instead, Mount Cody and Alabama took matters into their own gifted hands and smothered the Vols flight to glory before liftoff.

After more than 48 hours of serious contemplation, I am more proud of this Alabama win than most any others I can think of.

What bothers me is that Cody’s actions after the blocked kick have not been criticized (at least publicly) more by Nick Saban or by concerned Tide fans.

Cody’s dumb but good luck was that the referees did not penalize Alabama when Cody took his helmet off and hurled it across the field, BEFORE the play was completed. Alabama’s dumb luck was that no Volunteer had a bead on the ball, the one that was lying there seemingly for minutes, suspended in time, waiting for someone to scoop it up and take it to the end zone for the winning score. Yes, officials have said it shouldn’t have been a penalty, but why chance it? Yes, the ball looked like it crossed the line of scrimmage, but why chance it?

A couple of weeks ago I was miffed as I watched Tim Tebow take his helmet off and pump his fists after making a perfunctory first down run against Arkansas. I told a good friend I thought “Golden Boy” got a pass from the refs. Any other player would have been flagged.
I believe that Alabama will learn from its game with Tennessee and become stronger. I would bet that Saban has discussed a lot of things, including Cody’s helmet malfunction, with his troops in private.

But I’ll still offer this advice to Cody and any other player who might be tempted to pull their bonnet off (on the field) in exhuberation.

The fans will see your face at the press conference if you do something worthy. The TV cameras will show you grinning ear to ear ON THE SIDELINES, if you do something phenomenal.

Daniel Moore will paint your portrait and it will be hung in barbecue joints from Mobile to Florence from now until the end of time. Part of being a champion is controlling and harnessing your emotions and focusing on the task at hand. Keep it cinched up tight AT ALL TIMES on the field. You have the rest of your life to celebrate. ROLL TIDE!

Walt Disney would be jealous if he could see the football “Fantasy Land” that is Bryant-Denny Stadium.
I attended last weekend’s Tide game in T-Town and, as I have in the past few seasons, I again found myself in awe of how the Alabama game experience has changed over the years.

When I was growing up, all the biggest games were played at Legion Field in Birmingham. The seating capacity was somewhere around 75,000. The joint was in the ghetto, as it still is and always has been, but nobody ever complained. Games at Bryant-Denny were usually against teams the Tide throttled by six or seven touchdowns. The stadium was a round bowl with about 50,000 seats.

People brought transistor radios to listen to John Forney, Jerry Duncan and Doug Layton. Whenever there was an injury or an unexplained penalty, you would see thousands of folks mashing the small radios to their ears for updates. Today, I get a kick out of watching the sea of fans simultaneously crane their necks to look at the giant replay screens. It’s also amusing to watch a player hop up from a dropped pass or a missed tackle and stare up at the screen to see what went wrong.

Concession prices at Bryant-Denny are higher than I ever could have imagined. When I was a kid hotdogs were still a buck and cokes maybe two. A coke in a souvenier cup now costs $6. Co-cola’s in Tuscaloosa are now spiked in more ways than one. My brother and I, in the old times, would go around the stadium and gather up dozens of plastic cups to take home as trophies from our outing. Not too many people discard their six-buck investment these days.

Stadium dogs, peanuts and popcorn were the only food items I remember from my youth. Now at Bryant-Denny, the high rollers in the luxury boxes feast on Asian stir fry, pasta salad and crab dip.
That simple, yet unique, kraut and mustard covered dog, will now set you back $4. You can get nachos with Dreamland BBQ for $8. I’m glad they serve Dreamland fare in the stadium now, but drizzling that famous pork with neon cheese whiz is sacrilege.

The box seats cost $1,500 per seat plus the cost of a season ticket package, according to a 2006 report by The Decatur Daily. Standard end zone seats are $45 face value.

I took my daughter and oldest son, ages 11 and nine, to the game with me. They both have cell phones and they spent most of the game snapping photos and texting friends back at home.

According to ticketwaitinglist.com, demand for Alabama season tickets has doubled since last year. About 10,000 people are on the waiting list for tickets and 3,000 current ticket holders would like additional tickets. The stadium will be expanded to more than 100,000 seats soon, and Athletic Director Mal Moore has said, “Truth be told we could probably fill another 30,000 per game.”

The modern game day experience is truly amazing, and I’m glad for the athletic department and the university that the football program is so financially successful.

Yet I still get nostalgic for the simplicity of yesteryear. Speaking of history, the best value on game day is a trip to the Bryant Museum. Tickets are $2 for adults and $1 for children.

It is astounding to see all of the Tide’s championship hardware, and player memorabilia. My two favorite items are Joe Namath’s New York Jets jersey and the Leroy Neiman portrait of Coach Bryant.

But steer clear of the gift shop if your wallet is light. A houndstooth hat is $26.50.

Alabama is robbing its fans of a quality home game and endangering its chances at a BSC title by playing Virginia Tech in Atlanta.
Got that? Good.

I had to think of an antagonistic lead to catch your attention, and now I take it back.

Alabama may very well lose to Virginia Tech, but the game is very much in the Tides’ favor, win or lose. The Hokies have the most pressure on their shoulders. If they lay a big turkey egg in Atlanta their bridge to the BSC will be burned.
Alabama on the other hand will have perhaps as many as three more shots (Ole Miss, LSU and Florida in the SEC Title game) to defeat another top ten team.

Playing in Atlanta to open the season? Last year on the Finebaum show I heard some discussion about whether it was good for the fans for Alabama to play Clemson in Atlanta. Actually you could make a case that playing the best non conference game on your schedule at a neutral site is actually bad for ticket holders who might like a home and home matchup with the same team to enhance the value of their already costly ticket package.

My mom, bless her heart, asked me why Alabama was playing in Atlanta to start the season. “Is it some kind of exhibition game?” she asked. SIGH! My mom loves Alabama football but she is funcionally illiterate on the ins and outs of the game. When our quarterback takes a hard but legal hit, she will scream “That’s too hard, they should throw a penalty…They might have hurt him!”
But it was a good question…about the Atlanta game. I tried explaining that it was an arranged deal, Chick-fil-A sponored, and would pay each participating team more than many bowl games. Way over her head.

“Too bad they don’t play in Tuscaloosa,” she said.

These kinds of games could be seen as in-season bowl games. That’s a good way to look at it. The respective teams get to play a quality non-conference game without the burden of a home and home series and they get richer for it. Capitalistic footbal at its finest.

Now about this cloak and dagger fishing trip stuff, I think it will all blow over and eventually be a mole hill washed away. Auburn boosters wish it were a mountain, and they may very well have set up a “Trojan Horse” scheme. If that is indeed the case, and it could be proved, the offending Aubies should be hit with penalties. Espionage in football should not be tolerated any more than insider trading or bribing public officials. Any boosters of any school caught trying to bait other schools’ players into wrongdoing should be punished severely. Very harshly.

About the Oregon player LaGarrett Blount, I can’t disagree with the Ducks’ decision to suspend him for the season. It is appropriate. His actions after the first punch really ruined any chance for lenient punishment. But, the Boise State player should have known better. First he shouldn’t have classlessly taunted a losing opponent, and then he never should have turned his smug mug away from him. I shamefully admit I was laughing at the way Blount knocked that smirk right off his face. If you can’t say something nice to a vanquished opponent, take your zipped mouth to the locker room immediately.

Keep an eye on the Birmingham News and its Alabama beat writer Don Kausler Jr. Kausler was a beat writer 27 years ago. In Joey Jones’ book from 1983 “In Good Hands”, the former Alabama wide receiver and current South Alabama head coach said that Tide players were warned to stay away from Kausler, a perceived muckraker. Kausler graduated to sports editor of the Birmingham Post Herald and to other such management posts at other papers and is now, almost three decades later, back gum-shoeing around T-town as a geezer. What’s up? Stay tuned.

As I write this it is less than 22 hours away from Alabama kick-off time. ROLLLLLL TIDE!

It started with an exciting flash, but the 1969 football season was a bum trip for Crimson Tide football.

This year has been punctuated by the celebration of the 40-year anniversaries of the moon landing, Woodstock and locally, the 40th year of UAB. Out of curiosity I revisted the record book to see what Alabama football was up to in 69. Not much good. We modern Alabama fans are biting our nails in anticipation of the upcoming contest with Virginia Tech in Atlanta. Coincidentally, the 69 Crimson Tide opened with a 17-13 win against the Hokies in Blacksburg. Three games into the season Alabama defeated Archie Manning and Ole Miss in a 33-32 thriller which still ranks high as one of the Tide’s most memorable victories. Alabama was 3-0.

But, from there, things went freakier than a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo. The Tide lost 14-10 to a Vanderbilt team led by Watson Brown at quarterback. Alabama dropped games to Tennessee, 41-14, to LSU 20-15 and to Auburn 49-26. The season ended with a 47-33 trampling by the Colorado Buffaloes in the Liberty Bowl.

I’ve heard the stories before about Coach Bryant mulling over an offer to leave Tuscaloosa for the Miami Dolphins in 69. We’ve seen that scenario in reverse with Saban haven’t we? It’s interesting to think what might have been had Bear gone to the NFL. He would have picked up the team that Don Shula eventually led to the only undefeated season in pro football history.

Racial tensions, the hippie movement…all sorts of things were finally coming to a breaking point during the 69 season. Bryant declined the offer from the Dolphins, allowed his players to let their hair down (literally) and began forging the 70s dynasty. It took another season to begin rolling. In 1970, Alabama was embarrassed 42-21 by USC and Sam “Bam” Cunningham. The 70 season was another lousy year. Alabama lost again to its major rivals and ended 6-5-1 after a tie with Oklahoma in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl… (That’s a real blast from the past, huh?)

The recruitment of black athletes followed shortly.

The haze lifted for Bama in 1971 when the Tide and its wishbone offense stunned USC in Los Angeles. Alabama won eight SEC titles and three national championships in the 70s.

All of that is history.

Looking forward into the last year of the current decade, and beyond, I have a few questions.

In January 1969 Joe Namath led the New York Jets to the historic victory in Super Bowl III. Will Alabama ever have another quarterback that is recognized nationally as one of the best in the country? We’ve lived more than four decades now off of Joe Willie’s legacy.

Will we see Alabama dominate Auburn, LSU and Tennessee the way it did in the 70s? The stage is set for us to do so, at least in the case of the Aubies and Vols.

If Saban wins a national title soon, will he stick with Alabama long enough to win a second or third, or at least give it a shot? Can Alabama match what Florida has accomplished…or surpass that?

Rumors are already out there about Urban Meyer leaving Florida if the Notre Dame job is available. Few coaches make the long haul at one school anymore whether success or failure is the cause.

The opening act is only a few days away. It should be a great show.

The brilliant guitarist and inventor Les Paul died this week and his passing reminded me of another lifetime of mine.

I’ve loved music since I can remember. I love it all, country, blues, rock and roll, classical, folk… whatever. But it’s blues and classic rock (60s and 70s) that really gets me stirred.

The TV news reminded me that Paul was an innovator of solid body electric guitars, and that his recording inventions (multi track recording) set the stage for our modern music scene. Without Paul, the Beatles, Beachboys, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, you name it, would hardly have sounded the same. It’s kind of appropriate Paul passed near the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones had a great quote about Paul. “All of us flash punks everywhere have to own up to the fact that without him we’d be in jail or scrubbing toilets,” Keef said.

Still I doubt that Paul will have a special edition of People or Rolling Stone magazine issued in his honor as they did for Jackson earlier this month. Paul was one of those guys, like Walt Disney, whose name becomes so connected to something that you forget there was actually a man to go along with the name.

About that other lifetime of mine. Years ago I lived in Gulf Shores and worked at a restaurant there. I met a lovely sandy blonde-haired girl with green eyes the color of the Gulf on a clear morning. Her daddy was a rich guy and had a house on the beach. One glorious afternoon I found myself sitting on the back porch of said beach house with said girl (without said daddy around), doing things that young people do in those situations.

“Sandy” went into the house and put one of daddy’s records on the stereo. The gorgeous tone that came through the speakers was of Les Paul’s guitar and Mary Ford’s voice delivering a stellar version of “The Girl from Ipanema.” Ah those were different days.

If Les Paul had not constucted a masterpiece electric guitar or mastered the art of multi track recording, others probably would have. But they didn’t.

Les Paul played and recorded into his 90s and was loved by Bing Crosby and by Slash and The Edge. I hope I can rock on that long and that happily.

Thanks for the music Les and for the memory.

By Hunter Ford

President Barack Obama needs to take a break from running his mouth about the economy or Russian relations, and shoot it off towards the moon. To be sure, this is a crucial time in American history…but aren’t they all? The economy is in the toilet, terrorism still nips at our heels, and millions of Americans have no health insurance.

While we struggle with weighty issues that wound us all daily, we should not become dragged so far down that we can no longer see and aim for the stars.

Consider the words of President John Kennedy, delivered during a speech at Rice University in Houston on Sept. 12, 1962, challenging us to send men to the moon.

“We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”

July 20, 2009 will mark the fortieth anniversary of the first manned moon landing. President Obama will host a reception with the crew of Apollo 11 that day. It will be a great opportunity for President Obama to use his considerable charm and popularity to re-energize America’s dedication to space exploration.

When American men landed on the moon forty years ago, it inspired not only Americans (mired in Vietnam and the Civil Rights struggle) but also people worldwide.

We could use that kind of inspiration again. There are other factors to consider. One hits close to home. A reinvigorated space program could greatly help Alabama. Huntsville, and north Alabama benefit enormously from NASA’s presence.

It also makes sense, at a time when our national security is an issue, to be the first country to establish a permanent base on the moon. I have seen reports that the Russians are working on that very idea.

Who owns the mineral rights to the moon? Well, if we (Americans) get their first, then WE DO!

I’ll leave you with more of President Kennedy’s speech from 1962. I’ve chosen some lengthy passages but feel they are well worth reading.

“Man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.
“Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it–we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.

“Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world’s leading space-faring nation.

“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

“There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win. ”

Alabama’s love affair with gambling leaves it cheating on its own state with mistresses in Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and in the case of really high rollers, places like Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas.

I have been to casinos in Mississippi and I’ve bought lottery tickets in Florida and Georgia. I bet almost all of you reading this have done one or the other of those things if not all, and perhaps more. Tell me then, those of you who would oppose gambling reform in Alabama, why?

Legalized gambling already exists in our state in the form of dog racing, Indian gaming establishments (are they really casinos?…haven’t beeen to one in Alabama) and lately these so-called bingo halls. I went into two different bingo halls near Birmingham this Fourth of July, to see what the fuss was about. They are full of electronic slot machines. I never heard anyone calling out numbers, and nobody shouted bingo!. The prizes where not pies and cakes or baskets of fruit. Cold hard cash is the reward. These “bingo halls” are also run by, or sponsored by, the Veterans of Foreign Wars…people who risked their lives so that the rest of us can say stupid things (freedom of speech) and do stupid things like gamble (privacy and independence) if we so chose.

I’m not going to get into all the legal or moral arguments about gambling. You dear readers probably have heard them all. What I want to do is provoke some responses from Capstone followers on the subject. I think everyone would agree that the taxation of gambling institutions in this state could be used for good things; air-conditioned school buses with seatbelts perhaps.

The legal wrangling over the new form of gambling provides us with another chance to regulate and tax gambling so that it may do some good for a greater majority of our citizens, and not just the owners of the establishments (basically raking in free money) or the few lucky people who win jackpots.

I know gambling can be hurtful to people who become addicted. But there is no way, in my opinion, to stop the demand. Like any other vice, laws against it never keep people from it.

A joke:
A guy was at a casino and saw a sign that read “Gambling problem? Call 1-800…” The guy dialed his cell phone and said.. “Yeah, hello… Look I’ve got a Jack and a six and the dealer is showing a Queen…What should I do?”

Let’s have some well organized regulation and taxation, some clear, well-planned laws and an end to the silly moralistic arguments and legal mumbo jumbo.

By the way, what’s the early line on Alabama-Virginia Tech?

If you are a college football junky, the bowl season is a great time. Yet it causes pangs of withdrawal because the season will soon be over.

Two more college games remain to be played at Legion Field in Birmingham before the door slams shut on the 2008 campaign.

In the wake of the circus of the SEC Championship game, the SWAC Championship game will be played this Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Old Grey Lady.

In a clash of Tigers, Grambling and Jackson State will meet in a rematch of last year’s SWAC title, which was won by Jackson State in an offensive shoot-out. The SWAC title game and the annual Magic City Classic, between Alabama A&M and Alabama State, are probably the best annual sporting attractions in a dying Birmingham sports scene.

Too bad that Birmingham can’t get its act together and build a new sporting venue. But when your chief executive is facing jail time and your sewer system has more holes than Swiss cheese, what are you going to do? Maybe we could put the dome on a septic tank. The annual Septic Bowl. Great!

It’s hard to believe that the first two SEC championship games were played at Legion Field back in 1992 and 93.

Birmingham will add to the gluttony of the present bowl season with its Papajohns.com Bowl.

This year’s Pizza Bowl will feature Rutgers and North Carolina State. I can’t wait. I hope it’s as memorable as last season’s epic contest between…? Who played in last year’s Pizza Bowl. Do you remember? Didn’t think so.

I love college bowl games, but they have become more ridiculous and less appealing each year for the past two decades. The number of games has gotten so out of hand that the bowls can barely find enough teams to fill them.

The antiquated conference tie-ins limit the number of truly stellar games.

Alabama’s consolation prize, the Sugar Bowl against Utah is hardly exciting. The Crimson Tide should be able to play Texas, Penn State or USC. Any of those meetings would have had super story lines.

Alabama has never beaten Texas in a handful of games and hasn’t played the Longhorns since the 1982 Cotton Bowl following the 81 season. Alabama is barely ahead of USC in all-time bowl victories. A tilt with Penn State would revive memories of The Goal Line Stand. Can you believe Joe Paterno is still the Nittany Lions’ coach?

Consider this Bowl Season’s monumental contests.

We have Rice and Western Michigan in the Texas Bowl. What, Texas couldn’t find a corporate sponsor? The Independence Bowl, which usually matches the worst teams from the SEC and the Big 12, had to settle for Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech for this year’s classic.

I feel sorry for Vanderbilt. The Commodores last went bowling in 1982 when they visited Birmingham for the now defunct Hall of Fame Bowl. Vandy started the year strong but trailed off at the end, finishing 6-6. The Commodores were invited to stay home and play Boston College in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. How funky is that name?

I wish we could go back to the good old days when bowls only needed one name, like Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Rose, or Sugar. There was no dot com behind them.

Who’s playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl this year?

Yeah, I don’t care either.

I’m glad the prick has no more digits to throw up in our faces. We can extend a big “Number One” middle finger to him as he exits.

But Auburn is foolish to send him packing. And Tuberville? Well, he may have cried at his farewell address to his players…but he can wipe his tears, and whatever he else he wants to, with $100 bills now. He’s like Brer Rabbit. “Oh please don’t throw me in that briar patch! Please! Not that briar patch made of money! I couldn’t stand it!”

The leaders of the most dysfunctional village on the plains will be shelling out $6 million to rid themselves of a guy who went 7-3 against Alabama and brought them closer to a national championship than any other coach has since 1957. The guy also won… like what?.. three or four Western Division co-championships?

And who does Aw-Bah-Run think it is gonna get to do better? Mike Leach from Texas Tech? BRING HIM ON! Didn’t Bama limit that mad offensive scientist to 10 points in the Cotton Bowl a few short years ago?

Auburn could reach out to a hotshot new coach like that Dooley kid at La. Tech. BRING HIM ON! Go ask Mike Shula how easy it is to win in the SEC as a young coach with a great last name. Daddy Dooley can come watch all the games just like “the Don” did. I’ll enjoy his anecdotes and commentary during halftime of Auburn losses.

Auburn is making a big mistake.

Alabama is loaded with high-powered freshman ammunition this year. As those young guns are seasoned, and as Saban re-loads with fresh bullets, the Crimson army could be even deadlier two, three even four years from now than it has been in this 12-0 campaign.

New coaches, no matter how good they are, almost always have to endure a painful transition year. Consider Saban’s first season. Auburn has guaranteed itself a repeat of this years record or worse for next season. I predict that whoever coaches Auburn next year will last two or three seasons. Then All-Barn will have to start all over again. It could be decades before Auburn regains the success it had under Tuberville.

Alabama fans now can not only enjoy the glow of the undefeated regular season and the 36-0 Iron Bowl win, we can sit back and watch the hi-jinks of Auburn’s coaching search. Perhaps they will give us as good of a show as we gave them from Dubose to Fran to Price to Shula to Rodriguez. The worm has truly turned.

And it should be. But it shouldn’t stop there. A racing museum perhaps, some new hotels, more restaurants. Hueytown could be a real tourist destination, and Bessemer would also benefit.

The bird that sang to me wanted to stay anonymous because these plans are not officially endorsed yet. Also, probably because there could be a cluster of buzzards out there trying to gooble up the idea for other areas.

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, who may soon be a jailbird, has pledged city funding to move the Birmingham International Raceway from Fair Park to a location off of Daniel Payne Dr. in northwest Birmingham.

Renovations to the BIR are much-needed but apparently are not in Langford’s plan for other renovations at Fair Park.

Instead of moving the track to another location in Birmingham, wouldn’t it be better to place the new-born racing venue in the cradle of Hueytown’s racing history?

The world famous “Alabama Gang” put Hueytown on the map, but the city has never really capitalized on the potential promotional benefits.

For those who may have forgotten, or never knew, the Alabama Gang began in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Bobby Allison convinced his brother Donnie and friend Red Farmer to set up a racing shop in Hueytown, partly because of the racing opportunities at the nearby BIR. Over the years the Allisons created racing afiliations with Neil and David Bonnett of Bessemer, Jimmy “Smut” Means of Huntsville and others like Steve Grissom, Mike Alexander and Hut Strickland.

The city of Hueytown has honored some of these speedsters by naming roads after them. But wouldn’t it be great if Allison-Bonnet Parkway led to a race track instead of only passing a few grocery stores and fast food joints?

Think of the potential tourists that would come and visit a race track and a museum dedicated to the South’s number one sport. You don’t believe auto racing is the number one sport? Consider this. Last weekend more than 90,000 people packed into Bryant-Denny stadium in Tuscaloosa to watch the annual Iron Bowl football contest. College football is a huge draw. But the Talladega Super Speedway can seat 143,000 people for the racing events it hosts each year, plus thousands more in the 213-acre infield of its race track.

I bet if you counted cars on the way to Tuscaloosa last weekend, not only would you have seen Alabama and Auburn flags and bumper stickers, you would have also seen many vehicles adorned with the numbers of their favorite drivers. Or maybe those little cartoon guys “whizzing” on the number of their most-hated driver.

Race fans are every bit as passionate, if not more so, about their favorite drivers than football fans are about their team. Did you know that marketing studies show NASCAR fans are the most loyal group of consumers around? In other words, if their driver endorses Bud, a Miller will never pass their lips. If he endorses Tide, they will wear dirty clothes before washing with Cheer. Hueytown needs to invite these folks to spend some time and money with them.

Talladega hosts five racing events each year. Tuscaloosa hosts six football games each season. Bessemer and Hueytown are located in a perfect position to grab race fans and football fans (often one-in-the-same) either for a post-event trip or a pre-event trip in Talladega or Tuscaloosa. Plus Hueytown can host its own events throughout the year.

It is an idea whose time has come. Local officials should not sit on idle. They should put the pedal to the metal and make it happen. The early bird gets the worm.