"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
We’ll be live-blogging as soon as the ‘Bama Championship Show (BCS) begins (8 p.m. ET, ABC), but first we bring you this pre-game show, recorded yesterday at the BCS media headquarters in Newport Beach:
Hanging out with the Crimson Tide trainers: Matt Price, Vernon, Ala.; Bryant Swindle, Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Jonta Pritchett, Jackson, Ala.; and Clay Keith of Toccoa, Ga.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Jenny Erickson of Smart Girl Politics came out to the Crowne Plaza here last night for a pre-game gathering:
Be smart like Jenny: ROLL TIDE!
They came together on a hot afternoon in Los Angeles, howling and clawing at each other like wild beasts in heat.
Under a brown California sky, the fierceness of their struggle brought tears to the eyes of 90,000 God-fearing fans.
They were 22 men who were somehow more than men.
They were giants, idols, titans.
Behemoths . . .
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
Ah, but that was another era, before the BCS, before Rose Bowl media assistant Stephanie Montano was required — by the protocol of the collegiate football oligarchs — to look a correspondent of The American Spectator square in the eye and say, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
No press credentials, no exceptions, and although many others had been denied in the same fashion, none of those others were genuinely gonzo. They hadn’t Paid Their Dues.
But it’s OK. I’ll get to the game somehow, some way. Besides which, the bureaucratic rigamorale of Official Media Credentials is irrelevant, now that I’ve filed my definitive pre-game story for the Spectator:
PASADENA, Calif. — College football expert Stacey Mickles yesterday offered a bold prediction for tonight’s BCS finale — a repeat of top-ranked Alabama’s 32-13 victory in the Southeastern Conference title game, which brought Florida QB Tim Tebow to tears.
“If we can make Tebow cry, we can make anybody cry,” said Mickles, a Crimson Tide fan and Army sergeant currently stationed at Fort Dietrich, Maryland, who was in town for the game with her boyfriend and fellow soldier Richard McAlpin.
Some may doubt Sgt. Mickle’s expertise, but none of the doubters were wearing crimson and white yesterday outside the stadium in Pasadena where ‘Bama hasn’t played in January since 1946. . . . .
Read the whole thing. Here’s the video of my interview with Mickles and McAlpin:
The universal language of human brotherhood: “ROLL TIDE!”
TUSTIN, Calif.
Chris Cassone was wearing a Ronald Reagan T-shirt when I spotted him at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. United Express Flight 6396 touched down Tuesday shortly before 2 p.m., Pacific Time. Sunny skies, palm trees, 75 degrees — yeah, the working conditions here are grueling.
A veteran musician who performed at the 9/12 March on D.C., Cassone is active in the Pasadena Patriots — they’re having an event Saturday in Altadena that I plan to cover — and he volunteered to be my chauffeur today.
Our objective for the day was to reach Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, where the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide is practicing Continue reading Fear and Loathing in Orange County →
Less than 12 hours from now, I’ll be flying the friendly skies of United — economy class with a two–hour layover in San Francisco — to sunny California to cover the BCS Championship game.
The “friendly skies” are billing me $15 for checked baggage. Maybe one of our tip-jar hitters can fork over for that. I thought about just trying to do the trip with a carry-on bag — my laptop, socks and a change of underwear — but I figure the readers have gotten me this far, surely one of y’all could come up with a measly $15. ROLL TIDE!
UPDATE: Kay Bailey Hutchison will air a Senate campaign ad during the ABC broadcast. That’s got to be a bad omen of some kind, and not for Gov. Rick Perry. Hutchison’s an internecine Republican feud to a football game? When the Longhorns lose Thursday, Texas voters will blame KBH for jinxing them.
UPDATE II: A Twitter friend in Costa Mesa reports from the scene where the undefeated Crimson Tide is practicing:
Looking at the field that the boys are practicing at as I leave work. 🙂 Full police madness here in CM.
Hmmm. “Police madness,” huh? Obviously they’ve brought in extra security. Someone must have warned them I was coming.
Hunter S. Thompson got tear-gassed at the ’68 Democratic Convention. If I get tasered in Costa Mesa, blame Dan Collins.
Don’t worry. I doubt even the notoriously tough cops in Costa Mesa would tase a professional journalist. They don’t need that kind of bad media mojo. But just in case, somebody hit the tip jar for $12 so I can Continue reading Just Printed My Boarding Pass; Ready
for Fear and Loathing in Pasadena? →
If you’ve already hit the tip-jar for the Pasadena trip, thank you. If not, you certainly should, because here’s the plan Continue reading Join Coach McCain’s Winning Team →
Fight on, fight on for ole Jax State
We’re proud that we’re from Alabama . . .
The lyrics of the fight song at my alma mater, Jacksonville (Ala.) State University, would almost certainly result in immediate banishment from Little Green Footballs.
“Proud that we’re from Alabama“? It would be worse than down-dinging a comment by Sharmuta.
The latest Johnsonoid insanity at LGF escaped my notice because of the new site launch. But we got linked by one of the commenters at an Ace of Spades thread discussing Charles Johnson’s latest madness. CJ accuses Jim Hoft of “a textbook case of libel” for a Gateway Pundit post that describes Johnson “Supporting Child Porn in Classrooms.”
This is another of those “Bwaaahahaha Heard ‘Round the World” moments of unintentional irony. Johnson, who called Pamela Geller a “poster girl for Eurofascists,” suddenly decides that he is the victim of defamation?
Tonight, Johnsonoia is all over Memeorandum — American Power, iOwnTheWorld, Weasel Zippers, JustOneMinute, Snooper Report, Big Government and Conservatives for Palin — and I feel like I’m not doing enough to drive CJ nuts nuttier. When even Patterico is joining the LGF beatdown, if I’m not in on the action, it could erode my Right Wing Crazy-Hater street cred. So tonight I Twittered this:
Yeah. I’m considering posting something neo-Confederate just to distract CJ from Jim and Patterico ;=)
Hmmmm. It took me about two seconds to think to myself: Who do I know that plays a really fine version of “Dixie”? If you click “read more,” brace yourself for the finest sound on the planet. Ladies and gentlemen, the Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners!
Continue reading Band at JSU Banned at LGF:
Time for a Neo-Confederate Music Fest! →
