The Inside the Auburn Tigers magazine has arrived. I always like to look at the depth charts.
Offense
The biggest issue of course is who will start at QB. Surely it will be Frazier.
It looks like all available running backs will run the ball. Coming out of the spring I heard the most about Corey Grant. The magazine says he has gained 10 lbs.
John Sullen will be the only senior starter in the offensive line. We have lots of young linemen with potential.
Patrick Miller must be awfully good as a true freshmen to get mention as a possible starter.
Who will step up beside Emory Blake at wide receiver?
It seems like Trovon Reed has been around forever but he is only a redshirt sophomore.
Defense
Lots of promising bodies all over the place but apparently the only probable senior starters are Darren Bates, T'Sharvan bell, and Jonathan Evans.
I remember good things being said about Dee Ford coming out of the spring. We seem deep at defensive end.
Our tackles need to really step it up this year.
Linebacker is obviously the thinnest position on defense. How good is Kris Frost?
The DBs should be better.
New coordinators, new schemes, new motivation. It should be an interesting year.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Former Auburn Star Lee Ziemba Tattoos Auburn Creed, Toomer's Oaks on His Arm
If I were to get a tattoo, it would be something like this.
BY Matt Scalici
25 June 2012
As a member of the 2010 BCS National Championship team, former Auburn star Lee Ziemba will forever be remembered as a part of Auburn history. Now Ziemba is making Auburn an even bigger part of his public identity.
Ziemba, who currently plays in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers alongside former Auburn teammate Cam Newton, is in the process of getting a tattoo covering most of his left arm featuring an AU logo, portions of the Auburn Creed, and images of the Toomer's Oaks, the 2010 BCS Championship ring and Auburn's iconic Samford Hall.
"I have always enjoyed tattoos.," Ziemba said. "Auburn is a place that is really home. It is dear to me."
The job of bringing this elaborate tattoo to life falls to tattoo artist Leah Farrow, who works at local Auburn tattoo parlor Shenanigans. Farrow said that when Ziemba came to her with the idea, she was immediately excited at the prospect.
"Originally, Lee simply wanted the Auburn Creed mainly, but after we talked about it a bit, we came up with the idea of creating a more comprehensive piece that would include Auburn icons and create a whole piece that would communicate his love for the school and the city," Farrow said. "I was really excited to be able to do something that would end in such a striking result, not to mention, to be able to work with such a successful individual who also happens to be incredibly humble and kind."
"Leah is doing an awesome job," said Ziemba. "Her creativity and skill makes this an enjoyable experience."
The tattoo is expected to take up to 30 total hours to complete and Ziemba and Farrow hope to have it finished by the start of the Panthers' training camp.
"In the past year, I have been a ton of places," Ziemba said. "This is one way that I can bring home with me wherever I go in the future."
BY Matt Scalici
25 June 2012
Ziemba, who currently plays in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers alongside former Auburn teammate Cam Newton, is in the process of getting a tattoo covering most of his left arm featuring an AU logo, portions of the Auburn Creed, and images of the Toomer's Oaks, the 2010 BCS Championship ring and Auburn's iconic Samford Hall.
"I have always enjoyed tattoos.," Ziemba said. "Auburn is a place that is really home. It is dear to me."
The job of bringing this elaborate tattoo to life falls to tattoo artist Leah Farrow, who works at local Auburn tattoo parlor Shenanigans. Farrow said that when Ziemba came to her with the idea, she was immediately excited at the prospect.
"Originally, Lee simply wanted the Auburn Creed mainly, but after we talked about it a bit, we came up with the idea of creating a more comprehensive piece that would include Auburn icons and create a whole piece that would communicate his love for the school and the city," Farrow said. "I was really excited to be able to do something that would end in such a striking result, not to mention, to be able to work with such a successful individual who also happens to be incredibly humble and kind."
"Leah is doing an awesome job," said Ziemba. "Her creativity and skill makes this an enjoyable experience."
The tattoo is expected to take up to 30 total hours to complete and Ziemba and Farrow hope to have it finished by the start of the Panthers' training camp.
"In the past year, I have been a ton of places," Ziemba said. "This is one way that I can bring home with me wherever I go in the future."
Thursday, June 14, 2012
How does Mayor William Bell think Birmingham can support NBA?
BY Jon Solomon
Birmingham News
14 June 2012
With what major corporations investing in a franchise? With what assurances of filling a new arena and luxury suites for 41 days a year? With what interest from the NBA to relocate into a county drowning in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. municipal history due to a botched sewer project filled with corruption?
As intriguing as the NBA sounds, it's a pipe dream.
It doesn't rise to the absurdity of ex-Mayor Larry Langford creating a 2020 Olympics committee. (Note to Birmingham: We lost. Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul somehow beat us as the 2020 finalists.) But the NBA is not practical, either.
It's not that basketball fans don't exist in Birmingham. While this will always be a football city first, the dirty secret is basketball has a following, too, albeit much smaller.
Regular-season NBA games on ESPN this season drew a 2.4 rating in Birmingham, meaning 2.4 percent of households were watching. Stunningly, that's second in the country only to Memphis (2.7); the national average was 1.4.
Check out the top 10 TV markets for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Notice the one that's not an NBA market?
With what major corporations investing in a franchise? With what assurances of filling a new arena and luxury suites for 41 days a year? With what interest from the NBA to relocate into a county drowning in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. municipal history due to a botched sewer project filled with corruption?
As intriguing as the NBA sounds, it's a pipe dream.
It doesn't rise to the absurdity of ex-Mayor Larry Langford creating a 2020 Olympics committee. (Note to Birmingham: We lost. Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul somehow beat us as the 2020 finalists.) But the NBA is not practical, either.
It's not that basketball fans don't exist in Birmingham. While this will always be a football city first, the dirty secret is basketball has a following, too, albeit much smaller.
Regular-season NBA games on ESPN this season drew a 2.4 rating in Birmingham, meaning 2.4 percent of households were watching. Stunningly, that's second in the country only to Memphis (2.7); the national average was 1.4.
Check out the top 10 TV markets for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Notice the one that's not an NBA market?
Oklahoma City, 44.4.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, 30.5.
Tulsa, 27.7.
West Palm Beach, 17.9.
Cleveland, 17.8.
Memphis, 15.8.
San Antonio, 15.6.
Birmingham, 14.6.
New Orleans, 14.4.
Chicago, 14.2.
Then again, I'm convinced ESPN could televise Birmingham rush-hour traffic on 280 and it would draw a 1.0.
The larger issue with an NBA franchise is applying professional sports ticket prices and filling a new arena that would have to be built. It's one thing to periodically attend NBA games. It's quite another to buy season tickets and suites.
Pro sports relies heavily on corporate dollars. It's hard to imagine enough corporate dollars could support the NBA and continue giving the same amount to Alabama and Auburn sports.
Consider the city of Memphis, which often wonders if it can support the NBA long term. Memphis has three 2012 Fortune 500 companies: No. 70 FedEx ($39.3 billion in annual revenue), No. 111 International Paper ($26 billion) and No. 320 AutoZone ($8.1 billion). Tennessee has nine on the list of largest corporations in the country.
New Orleans, whose pro teams have considered leaving, has one Fortune 500 company: No. 239 Entergy (11.2 billion). Two other companies in Louisiana made the list.
Birmingham? Our only Fortune 500 company is also Alabama's only one: No. 343 Regions Financial ($7.4 billion), which dropped 50 slots from last year's list. Thirteen years ago, Birmingham had six Fortune 500 companies.
In Oklahoma City, which has two Fortune 500 companies, the Thunder have helped make the city known for more than a senseless bombing. Oklahoma City is now home to some of the world's best basketball. There's a bond between the city and franchise since Thunder owner Clay Bennett ruthlessly brought the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.
The Thunder created a sense of community that too often we lack in fragmented Birmingham.
Maybe that's why Birmingham leaders often feed us sports as a savior for civic pride and new tax revenue, even as city schools crumble and the population dwindles.
The idea is so tantalizing of a Kevin Durant bringing us together. Blacks and whites, rich and poor, Alabama and Auburn -- all pulling for one cause.
It's a nice thought. But with the NBA, it's not based in reality.
Birmingham News
14 June 2012
With what major corporations investing in a franchise? With what assurances of filling a new arena and luxury suites for 41 days a year? With what interest from the NBA to relocate into a county drowning in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. municipal history due to a botched sewer project filled with corruption?
As intriguing as the NBA sounds, it's a pipe dream.
It doesn't rise to the absurdity of ex-Mayor Larry Langford creating a 2020 Olympics committee. (Note to Birmingham: We lost. Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul somehow beat us as the 2020 finalists.) But the NBA is not practical, either.
It's not that basketball fans don't exist in Birmingham. While this will always be a football city first, the dirty secret is basketball has a following, too, albeit much smaller.
Regular-season NBA games on ESPN this season drew a 2.4 rating in Birmingham, meaning 2.4 percent of households were watching. Stunningly, that's second in the country only to Memphis (2.7); the national average was 1.4.
Check out the top 10 TV markets for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Notice the one that's not an NBA market?
With what major corporations investing in a franchise? With what assurances of filling a new arena and luxury suites for 41 days a year? With what interest from the NBA to relocate into a county drowning in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. municipal history due to a botched sewer project filled with corruption?
As intriguing as the NBA sounds, it's a pipe dream.
It doesn't rise to the absurdity of ex-Mayor Larry Langford creating a 2020 Olympics committee. (Note to Birmingham: We lost. Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul somehow beat us as the 2020 finalists.) But the NBA is not practical, either.
It's not that basketball fans don't exist in Birmingham. While this will always be a football city first, the dirty secret is basketball has a following, too, albeit much smaller.
Regular-season NBA games on ESPN this season drew a 2.4 rating in Birmingham, meaning 2.4 percent of households were watching. Stunningly, that's second in the country only to Memphis (2.7); the national average was 1.4.
Check out the top 10 TV markets for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Notice the one that's not an NBA market?
Oklahoma City, 44.4.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, 30.5.
Tulsa, 27.7.
West Palm Beach, 17.9.
Cleveland, 17.8.
Memphis, 15.8.
San Antonio, 15.6.
Birmingham, 14.6.
New Orleans, 14.4.
Chicago, 14.2.
Then again, I'm convinced ESPN could televise Birmingham rush-hour traffic on 280 and it would draw a 1.0.
The larger issue with an NBA franchise is applying professional sports ticket prices and filling a new arena that would have to be built. It's one thing to periodically attend NBA games. It's quite another to buy season tickets and suites.
Pro sports relies heavily on corporate dollars. It's hard to imagine enough corporate dollars could support the NBA and continue giving the same amount to Alabama and Auburn sports.
Consider the city of Memphis, which often wonders if it can support the NBA long term. Memphis has three 2012 Fortune 500 companies: No. 70 FedEx ($39.3 billion in annual revenue), No. 111 International Paper ($26 billion) and No. 320 AutoZone ($8.1 billion). Tennessee has nine on the list of largest corporations in the country.
New Orleans, whose pro teams have considered leaving, has one Fortune 500 company: No. 239 Entergy (11.2 billion). Two other companies in Louisiana made the list.
Birmingham? Our only Fortune 500 company is also Alabama's only one: No. 343 Regions Financial ($7.4 billion), which dropped 50 slots from last year's list. Thirteen years ago, Birmingham had six Fortune 500 companies.
In Oklahoma City, which has two Fortune 500 companies, the Thunder have helped make the city known for more than a senseless bombing. Oklahoma City is now home to some of the world's best basketball. There's a bond between the city and franchise since Thunder owner Clay Bennett ruthlessly brought the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.
The Thunder created a sense of community that too often we lack in fragmented Birmingham.
Maybe that's why Birmingham leaders often feed us sports as a savior for civic pride and new tax revenue, even as city schools crumble and the population dwindles.
The idea is so tantalizing of a Kevin Durant bringing us together. Blacks and whites, rich and poor, Alabama and Auburn -- all pulling for one cause.
It's a nice thought. But with the NBA, it's not based in reality.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Big 12 Agrees To Annual Bowl Loss Against SEC
The Onion
29 May 1012
IRVING, TX—Keeping with years of tradition of getting blown out in demoralizing defeats to its dominating competitor, the Big 12 Conference confirmed Monday it has agreed to a yearly bowl loss to the Southeastern Conference. "This is a proud day for the Big 12," said interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas, who acknowledged that the decision, like everything the conference has done in the past year, was forced on them by the SEC's pursuit for ever-increasing revenue and power. "Every New Years Day, a national television audience will get to enjoy an exciting matchup as the SEC champion thoroughly embarrasses the best remaining school in the Big 12 over the course of four agonizing quarters. For the dozen member institutions of the Big 12, it will be like the throbbing pain of their New Year's hangover never ended." According to the bowl agreement, if the SEC champion is playing for the national championship in a given year, the school at the bottom of the SEC standings will take their place in order to make the Big 12's loss all the more humiliating.
29 May 1012
IRVING, TX—Keeping with years of tradition of getting blown out in demoralizing defeats to its dominating competitor, the Big 12 Conference confirmed Monday it has agreed to a yearly bowl loss to the Southeastern Conference. "This is a proud day for the Big 12," said interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas, who acknowledged that the decision, like everything the conference has done in the past year, was forced on them by the SEC's pursuit for ever-increasing revenue and power. "Every New Years Day, a national television audience will get to enjoy an exciting matchup as the SEC champion thoroughly embarrasses the best remaining school in the Big 12 over the course of four agonizing quarters. For the dozen member institutions of the Big 12, it will be like the throbbing pain of their New Year's hangover never ended." According to the bowl agreement, if the SEC champion is playing for the national championship in a given year, the school at the bottom of the SEC standings will take their place in order to make the Big 12's loss all the more humiliating.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)