Tiger Prowl in Pelham

It's always great to be amongst Auburn people.

I have fun at the Tiger Prowl in Pelham tonight. The limo comes rolling in. Then the bus comes rolling in.

Present are Coaches Luper, Taylor, Grimes, Thigpen,Lolley, and the new man, Tony Barbee. I made some pictures. Hope to get them posted this weekend.

Coach Barbee is certainly dynamic (the exact opposite of his predecessor). He says you better buy your season tickets now because the time will quickly come when you won't get into the new arena without a season pass!

I ask Coach Grimes who the right tackle will be. He smiles and says they aren't ready to say anything yet. Best keep the pressure on to see who works the hardest during the summer. He's just hoping that Shon Coleman gets well. Who knows at this point if he will play football again.

The most popular is Trooper Taylor. He is charismatic. Coach Luper is talkative. The others are decidedly more low-key.

Such fun! Pictures coming.

Tiger Prowl

In addition to limos, here is a bus the coaches are using for the Tiger Prowl. The coaches are also meeting with fans. For Birmingham, the coaches will be at the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Pelham off Cahaba Valley Road (exit 246) on I-65:

Auburn Baseball

The good news is that we won 2 of 3 against Kentucky and are in 6th place in the overall standings. If the season ended today, we would be in the SEC tournament.

The bad news is that we should have won both games on Sunday for a sweep of Kentucky. We blew the first game on Sunday with poor pitching and 2 errors. The strength of this team is hitting. Pitching is certainly spotty and unpredictable. And we've lost more than one game this year due to poor fielding.

Next weekend we're at Arkansas. At 13 & 5 the Razorbacks are the class of the West so far. South Carolina is 14 & 4. I just hope that we can win at least one game up there in Fayetteville.

There's Ole Miss on the road left, and MSU and Tennessee at home. We need to clean up on the Bulldogs & the Vols since both Arkansas and Mississippi will be be difficult. We certainly won't win either of those series.

Good Basketball News

We get the Number One player in Alabama. I'm impressed so far with Coach Barbee!

A Day

Last year as we watched the game in person, I remember most the running of Ben Tate. It was obvious that he had improved and would have a good year.

This year, watching on TV, what I will remember is that all of the quarterbacks played well. The only thing for sure so far is that it seems that Clint Mosely is #4 Perhaps Newton has the most athletic ability, but Caudle and Trotter know the offense better.

Hopefully a starter hasn't been named because truly all of them are doing well. Perhaps they are waiting for Cameron Newton to take charge, and he has not yet done so. I don't know.

I hope the tackling improves from last season. You cannot judge the defense by today's scrimmage. I hope this incoming freshmen class is as good as advertised.

It will interesting to see how the Gene Chizik continues to unfold.

A Day

The game tomorrow is at 1 pm on ESPNU. It'll be good to watch it live.

We Win!

Auburn scores dramatic win over LSU
By Charles Goldberg -- The Birmingham News
April 11, 2010, 4:26PM

Auburn players celebrate, and the scoreboard tells the story of Sunday's win (Gold Mine photo)Auburn found the flair for the dramatics -- and a rare home series win over No. 3 and defending national champion LSU on Sunday in Plainsman Park.

Justin Fradejas' perfect bunt scored Casey McElroy from third with no outs in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Tigers to a 6-5 victory. It's the first time Auburn won a home series over LSU since 1998. LSU won Friday night before Auburn won Saturday and Sunday.

"I hope the kids will take confidence from this,'' said Auburn coach John Pawlowski.

Auburn trailed 3-0 after the first, but came back on homers from Kevin Patterson, Hunter Morris and Tony Caldwell to take the lead by the sixth before LSU tied in the top of the ninth. Auburn's first three batters in the bottom of the ninth did the job. McElroy hit a leadoff double and Patterson bounced a single to left. That's when Fradejas laid down the bunt - against five infielders -- on the first pitch from LSU closer Matty Ott.

"Justin can handle the bat, and Casey read it right from third base,'' Pawlowski said.

Auburn improved to 22-11 overall and 7-5 in the SEC. LSU fell to 28-6 overall and 8-4 in the league.

Austin Hubbard improved to 3-1 after allowing one run over the final four innings. Austin Ross fell to 3-3 with the loss.

We'll be back with more...

A Tradition Unlike Any Other

The Masters begins soon.

Who cares.

One of Three

It's amazing what a little pitching and defense will do for you. The Tigers beat Alabama 7 to 1 to avoid the sweep. Grant Dayton goes 7 strong innings. Michael Hurst retires all 6 batter he faces. The Tigers commit no errors. Friday night was a disaster as Cory Luckie can't get out of the 2nd inning as Auburn loses 10 to 5. The Tigers lose 6 to 5 Saturday with errors & a lack of timely hitting. If it was the old Auburn the first two games, it's the way Auburn should be playing today.

The QB Pecking Order

I'll say they fall like this:
1)Cam Newton (the most ability & 2 years JC experience)
2)Neal Caudle (experience in the system)
3)Clint Mosely (might be the future)
4)Barret Trotter (the least talented of the 4)

Expanding the Tournament

There is talk of expanding the NCAA Tournament to 96 teams and eliminating the NIT. With both tournaments, 97 teams currently play in the postseason, so making this change wouldn't really change anything. Plus, playing in the NCAA Tournament is more prestigious, so why not? I say let's do it.