Category: Alabama

Alabama Wins National Title 26-23

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Tonight I told my 19-year-old son Jeff, “You’ll tell your grandchildren about this game. You’ll tell them you watched this game with your Dad.”

It was insane. At halftime, Alabama trailed 13-0 at the half, and my older brother Kirby texted me: “It’s over.” I replied: “It’s bad.”

Our offense was anemic. Four times in the first half, Alabama was three-and-out. Another possession ended in a missed 40-year field goal try. Meanwhile, Georgia’s freshman quarterback Jake Fromm was looking like a future #1 NFL draft pick. We were doomed, but then . . . Tua.

I can’t spell his last name or pronounce it, but he won:

Tua Tagovailoa threw a 41-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith to give No. 4 Alabama a 26-23 overtime victory against No. 3 Georgia to win the College Football Playoff national championship Monday night.
Tagovailoa entered the game at halftime, replacing a struggling Jalen Hurts, and threw three touchdown passes, including the game-ender to give the Crimson Tide its fifth national championship since 2009 under coach Nick Saban.
After Alabama kicker Andy Pappanastos missed a 37-yard field goal that would have won it for the Tide (13-1) in the final seconds of regulation, Georgia (13-2) took the lead with a 51-yard field goal from Rodrigo Blankenship in overtime.
Tagovailoa took a terrible sack on Alabama’s first play of overtime, losing 16 yards. On the next play he found Smith, another freshman, streaking down the sideline and hit him in stride for the national championship.
This game will be remembered for Saban’s decision to change quarterbacks trailing 13-0.
“I just thought we had to throw the ball, and I felt he could do it better, and he did,” Saban said.

That final touchdown — where Tua looked-off the safety and then hit Smith (also a freshman) — was a thing of beauty, and a joy forever.

This is right up there with “The Stop,” when Alabama linebacker Barry Krauss made the crucial hit that prevented a Penn State touchdown, to clinch the National Championship in the 1979 Sugar Bowl. I watched that game with my Dad, and so the Crimson Tide legacy continues.



 

Can Roy Moore Still Win?

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By now, I’m sure every reader is familiar with the news. The Washington Post reported Thursday that in the late 1970s and early ’80s, when Roy Moore was a lawyer in his early 30s, he pursued relationships with three teenage girls, the youngest of whom was 14 at the time. This would seem to be fatal to Moore’s hopes as the Republican candidate for Senate in next month’s special election in Alabama. So far, Judge Moore has adamantly denied the accusations, but the Post article is more convincing than Judge Moore’s denials. Is there any hope at all?

Judge Moore has made the Ten Commandments, and the defense of Christian moral standards, the central theme of his career. This scandal, involving his alleged sins more than 30 years ago, must surely seem to Judge Moore as a divine chastisement to try his faith. Indeed, he is like David confronted by the prophet Nathan: “Thou art the man.”

The day of judgment is at hand, as it were, and surely Judge Moore and all who support him must be praying in great earnestness now.

If what the Post reported is true, Judge Moore must account for his behavior, no matter how painful the accounting might be. And it occurs to me that the people of Alabama are also on trial here. While they await further explanation from Judge Moore, they must consider what they will do — how they will vote — depending on what happens over the next month. Alabama is more or less the buckle of the Bible Belt, and this scandal puts to test their willingness to forgive sin (as Jesus commanded), even as it tests Judge Moore’s own character.

It would take a miracle for Judge Moore to be elected, but Alabama is full of people who believe in miracles. Last night, Steve Bannon addressed the scandal in a speech in New Hampshire that my friend Da Tech Guy covered (there’s video), and Bannon’s belief is simple: Keep fighting.

Indeed, there is nothing else we can do now but fight — and pray.





 

The Incorruptible Roy Moore Wins

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No man in American political life has suffered more than Roy Moore for his devotion to firm principle. He was harassed by the ACLU, purged from his office as chief justice of the state Supreme Court, and suspended again after he successfully campaigned for re-election. All of this he suffered because of his belief that human law ought to be in accord with God’s law, or otherwise is invalid. You may not share that belief, but Moore’s unwavering commitment marks him as incorruptible, a rare quality in an age when we see Republicans in Washington abandoning their campaign promises, and even forsaking their party platform, in misguided efforts to curry favor with the liberal media.

A well-scarred veteran of the Culture Wars, a former Army captain and a kickboxing champion, Roy Moore won a big battle Tuesday:

Roy S. Moore, a firebrand former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, overcame efforts by top Republicans to rescue his rival, Senator Luther Strange, soundly defeating him on Tuesday in a special primary runoff.
The outcome in the closely watched Senate race dealt a humbling blow to President Trump and other party leaders days after the president pleaded with voters in the state to back Mr. Strange.
Propelled by the stalwart support of his fellow evangelical Christians, Mr. Moore survived an advertising onslaught of more than $10 million financed by allies of Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader. His victory demonstrated in stark terms the limits of Mr. Trump’s clout.
Taking the stage after a solo rendition of “How Great Thou Art,” an exultant Mr. Moore said he had “never prayed to win this campaign,” only putting his political fate “in the hands of the Almighty.”
“Together, we can make America great,” he said, borrowing Mr. Trump’s slogan and adding, “Don’t let anybody in the press think that because he supported my opponent that I do not support him.”

(Via Memeorandum.) This was a humiliating defeat for Mitch McConnell and the Republican establishment in Washington, and the fact that Alabama’s evangelical Christians were not swayed even by Trump’s campaigning for Moore’s opponent is remarkable. Moore’s willingness to forgive Trump is itself testament to his character as a Christian and as a gentleman, who understands the nature of political combat.

John Nolte of Breitbart.com explains the national dynamic:

With the results now clear in Alabama’s hotly-contested U.S. Senate Republican primary race, the unambiguous message coming from the GOP voters responsible for Roy Moore’s underdog victory is clear-cut — a crucial reminder to everyone that Trumpism is not about any one person.
More importantly, what this humiliating loss tells President Trump is that Trumpism is not even about him. The indisputable lesson here for the president is that even he, the man who started the movement, is not bigger than the promises, ideas, agenda, and platform he ran on.

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.) This is arguably true, although Nolte overlooks the fact that conservative evangelicals, in general, have been reluctant Trump supporters. In the GOP primaries, Ted Cruz was the main candidate of the Christian Right, who did not approve of Trump’s offensive language and behavior. Nevertheless, when it came to a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, conservative Christians knew which side they were on. If they didn’t, Hillary’s campaign reminded them.

Alabama was one of 31 states where voters approved constitutional amendments declaring marriage a union of one man and one woman, prior to the 2015 Obergefell ruling, which invoked the Fourteenth Amendment to say otherwise (as if this was what those who ratified that amendment, circa 1868, had in mind). Among the states which voted to protect traditional marriage was California, where the Proposition 8 campaign exposed the viciousness of the Gay Left. My November 2008 American Spectator column “Gay Rights, Gay Rage” began thus:

Before he was purged from the bench, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore made a remarkable and lamentably unappreciated contribution to American jurisprudence.
Concurring in the 2002 case of Ex Parte H.H., a custody dispute involving a lesbian mother, Moore demonstrated that homosexuality had no protected status in the Anglo-American common-law tradition, that indeed such behavior had been proscribed for centuries as “a crime against nature,” and that Alabama courts had consistently condemned homosexual acts as “illegal under the laws of this state and immoral in the eyes of most of its citizens.”
One does not have to share this abhorrence of homosexuality to agree that Moore’s concurrence — copiously studded with court precedents and citations of Blackstone’s Commentaries, 16th-century British jurist Sir Christopher Wray and even the Justinian Code — accurately summarized the legal foundation of the case against gay rights.
Moore’s 7,000-word treatise came to mind last week when gay activists began targeting sponsors of Proposition 8, the successful ballot initiative that amended the California state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. Taking to the streets in furious indignation, activists created an “enemies list” of those who had contributed to support the measure, targeting them for boycotts and protests. . . .

You can read the whole thing and, furthermore, Judge Moore’s concurring opinion in Ex Parte H.H. is still available online. The disastrous consequences of America abandoning its Christian heritage are insufficiently understood, even by most Christian conservatives:

If you read Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision, it was apparent at the time that the majority’s “Emerging Awareness” Doctrine would have far-reaching effects in law, society and culture. These effects were not entirely predictable, because Lawrence amounted to a repudiation of many centuries of Anglo-American common law precedent. With this decision, America was setting sail into uncharted waters, voyaging toward that part of the ancient map marked “Here Be Dragons.” . . .

You can read the rest of that. My point is that too many Republicans have become so afraid of the accusation of “homophobia” that they are unwilling to examine the underlying principle which was at stake in Lawrence. If you didn’t know better, you might imagine that the United States was, prior to Lawrence, a nightmare regime akin to Iran as far as the safety of homosexuals was concerned. Democrats would have us believe that Christian conservatives are like ISIS throwing gay men off roofs, and the typical CNN viewer probably thinks Alabama is the Worst Place in the World to Be Gay. Yet the reality is that gay people in Alabama are generally unharmed by “homophobia” and, as I recall from my college days at Jacksonville (Ala.) State University, gays and lesbians didn’t exactly live in a state of fear back then. Who could forget the flamboyantly gay black man who served dinner at the university cafeteria, or the butch lesbians who played on the school’s athletic teams? Certainly, as a student in the drama department, I was aware of how many homosexuals there were among my fellow students, and if any of them were thrown off roofs, I somehow missed it.

What theses recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions — Lawrence in 2003, Windsor in 2013 and Obergefell in 2015 — have done is to reverse many centuries of legal precedent, and to establish (as is now becoming increasingly clear) the exact opposite of the status quo ante. Whereas before these decisions, homosexual behavior was under legal sanction, now we find that “homophobia” is so strictly forbidden in elite opinion (including judicial opinion) that people are losing their jobs and businesses because of their mere disapproval of homosexuality.

Whether or not Judge Moore foresaw all these consequences 15 years ago, he nevertheless had the courage to defend our national heritage — including the British common law tradition — against those radical forces who have since become generally known as “social justice warriors.”

 

There is yet hope to “Make America Great Again,” and Judge Roy Moore’s victory proves that many Americans still believe in that hope.



 

#RollTide: ’Bama Wins Everything!

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Yesterday, Donald Douglas tweeted me a USA Today story about Alabama being ranked No. 2 in their preseason football poll. It so happens that my son Jeff will be attending Tuscaloosa in the fall. Inspired to write a column, my research turned up a few interesting facts:

Spoiled brats at elite private colleges sure do spend a lot of Daddy’s money for the privilege of complaining about “patriarchy.” . . . Oberlin’s football team didn’t win a single game in 2016, which should be all the evidence you need that it’s nothing but a school for losers.
My whole family is still mourning Alabama’s loss to Clemson in the BCS title game. That’s what it means to be a Crimson Tide fan: Any season you don’t win the national championship is deemed a failure. And you want to know what the real irony is? Alabama has more diversity than Oberlin. For all their talk about “social justice,” only 5.7 percent of Oberlin’s students are black, whereas black students are 10.8 percent of enrollment at Tuscaloosa.

ALABAMA BEATS OBERLIN IN DIVERSITY!

That’s a headline you‘ll never see in the New York Times. . . .

Read the whole thing at The Patriarch Tree.



 

 

Harvard Law Is Decadent and Depraved

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Have you ever heard of Isaac Royall Jr.? Me, neither, until I started reading about “Reclaim Harvard Law,” an anti-white protest group at Harvard University Law School. Earlier this year, Harvard’s administration surrendered to an unruly mob of student grievance-mongers who had demanded that the official seal of the Law School be changed to remove a symbolic reference to Royall, a wealthy Massachusetts man who died in 1781 and left a bequest in his will that endowed the first professorship at Harvard Law. Why did these students target Royall’s legacy? Because they learned that Royall owned slaves and therefore his wealth, part of which he gave to Harvard Law, was tainted, and therefore Harvard Law’s seal — showing three sheaves of wheat, a symbol derived from the Royall family crest — was a legacy of slavery.

Does that make sense? No, of course not. But these young hooligans have convinced themselves they are Victims of Oppression, which means that their arguments don’t have to make sense. This is how it goes in elite education nowadays: “I am oppressed, therefore, yield to my demands.”

Predictably, the craven fools who run Harvard Law (annual tuition $58,242) granted the ridiculous demands of the mob. Good-bye, three sheaves of wheat! Good-bye, symbolic legacy of Mr. Royall, who made his fortune the way a lot of Yankees made their fortunes before Yankees became convinced that slavery was an intolerable wrong.

This kind of weaponization of history by race-hustlers is a phenomenon that Thomas Sowell addresses in The Quest for Cosmic Justice. Instead of worrying about any practical problem of their individual lives in the 21st century, these Harvard Law students have gone rooting around in history to locate something they can construe as a collective wrong, employed as a grievance in an identity-politics drama. Here is some dead white guy who owned black slaves, and therefore black Harvard Law students have a reason to be angry, despite the fact that (a) Royall has been dead for 235 years, (b) these black students are in fact indirect beneficiaries of the wealth Royall left behind to Harvard Law, and (c) it is absurd to expect intelligent people to believe that any student at Harvard Law is actually oppressed.

Dear God in heaven! You whining brats have been fortunate enough to be admitted to one of the most prestigious schools on the planet! Continue reading Harvard Law Is Decadent and Depraved →

#RollTide: Alabama Crimson Tide Defeats Clemson 45-40 for National Title

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Defense wins football games. Senior linebacker Reggie Ragland (above) and his University of Alabama teammates know this, and they face a tough challenge against the undefeated #1-ranked Clemson Tigers in the BCS championship game. Never mind anything else the analysts and commentators tell you. If ‘Bama’s defense can stop the Tigers, the Crimson Tide will win tonight.

The game may be decided in the first quarter. Clemson’s high-scoring offense has been held to less than 24 points only twice during the past season, against Louisville Sept. 17 and against Florida State Nov. 7. But Alabama has only given up 24 points once, in their 43-37 loss to Ole Miss Sept. 19, and the Crimson Tide’s defense was untouchable in their 38-0 shutout of Michigan State in the Dec. 31 Cotton Bowl. Because Clemson usually expects to score a lot of points, if Alabama can keep the Tigers off the scoreboard during the first quarter, this will give the Crimson Tide a huge psychological edge. (Trash talk, Clemson?)

Stopping Clemson will not be easy, of course. Their quarterback, Deshaun Watson, threw for 3,699 yards and 31 touchdowns this year and — perhaps more importantly — Watson also ran for 1,032 yards and 12 touchdowns. Watson is a very dangerous threat, and the Alabama defense will have its hands full. But the Crimson Tide’s defensive front line is the best in college football. ‘Bama rotates eight players in a three-man front, and seldom uses more than one linebacker in pass rush, keeping seven men in coverage. If the Tide defense can shut down Clemson’s running game and force Watson into 3rd-and-long situations, Alabama should make the Tigers pay a price in sacks and interceptions.

Alabama’s offense, of course, has the Heisman winner Derrick Henry at running back, and if it were up to me, the play-calling would be “Henry right, Henry left, Henry up the middle” until Clemson shows they can stop the run. But Coach Nick Saban also has a very good, but underrated quarterback in Jake Coker, who has thrown for 2,775 yards and 19 TDs. Coker had the best game of his career against Michigan State, throwing for 286 yards and two touchdowns.

Still, the key for the Tide will be defense. Defense wins football games.

UPDATE: Derrick Henry ran 50 yards for a touchdown. Alabama 7, Clemson 0.

UPDATE II: Capping a 91-yeard drive helped by a pass interference penalty, Watson threw 31 yards for a touchdown.

Alabama 7, Clemson 7. Damn it.

UPDATE III: Clemson ends the first quarter with a 73-yard drive, concluding with an 11-yard touchdown pass by Watson.

Clemson 14, Alabama 7. Damn it.

UPDATE IV: Eddie Jackson intercepted a Watson pass at the Clemson 42, and seven plays later, Derrick Henry ran for his second touchdown with 9:35 remaining in the first half.

Alabama 14, Clemson 14.

UPDATE V: A blown coverage assignment by a Clemson safety left Alabama receiver O.J. Howard wide open on the sideline, and Jake Coker hit him for a 53-yard touchdown pass with 12:53 left in the third quarter.

Alabama 21, Clemson 14.

UPDATE VI: Clemson forced to settle for a field goal.

Alabama 21, Clemson 17.

UPDATE VII: Clemson drives 60 yards in 9 plays and scores a touchdown on a 1-yard run by Wayne Gallman with 4:48 remaining in the third quarter.

Clemson 24, Alabama 21. Damn it.

UPDATE VIII: Alabama settles for a field goal.

Alabama 24, Clemson 24.

UPDATE IX: WOW! WOW! Alabama 31, Clemson 24.

UPDATE X: Clemson gets a field goal with 7:47 left in the game.

Alabama 31, Clemson 27.

UPDATE XI: Alabama’s Kenyan Drake returns the kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown.

Alabama 38, Clemson 27.

UPDATE XII: Deshaun Watson and the Tigers don’t quit. Clemson scores a touchdown on a 15-yard Watson pass, tries for a two-point conversion and misses.

Alabama 38, Clemson 33.

UPDATE XIII: Exciting touchdown drive! Coker hit O.J. Howard on a swing pass and Howard raced 63 yards down the sideline. Coker ran for a first down at the Clemson 3-yard line and then, on 3rd-and-goal from the 1, Derrick Henry plunged over for the touchdown.

Alabama 45, Clemson 33.

UPDATE XIV: Clemson gets a touchdown pass, then unsuccessfully attempts an onside kick.

FINAL: Alabama 45, Clemson 40.

 

Did I Forget to Mention #RollTide?

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Alabama’s Tim Williams sacks Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook.

Thursday afternoon, my son Jefferson and I were watching #1 Clemson beat #4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and we began to discuss the upcoming Cotton Bowl game between #2 Alabama and #3 Michigan State. My father graduated at Tuscaloosa in the Class of 1951, and I was raised on ‘Bama football during the era when the Crimson Tide was coached by the immortal Bear Bryant. One of my earliest football memories is watching the Green Bay Packers in the famous 1967 “Ice Bowl” NFL championship game and. when Bart Starr scored the winning touchdown, my dad saying, “That’s Bart Starr! He’s a ‘Bama boy!” Then, of course, there was Joe Namath’s famous “guarantee” victory in Super Bowl III — another ‘Bama boy. Dad used to get tickets to the games, and I spent many Saturdays at Legion Field in Birmingham cheering the Tide.

Somehow, the ‘Bama games I attended that particularly stand out in memory are the defeats. In 1981, Georgia Tech beat us 24-21 — a real heartbreaker. Alabama and Tech used to be bitter rivals (mentioned in the ‘Bama fight song), but in the ’60s, Tech left the SEC and there was a 15-year interval before the rivalry was renewed. The 1981 game was a sellout and Dad couldn’t get tickets from ‘Bama, so we got them through our cousin Dan Post, a Tech alumnus. This meant we were seated in the middle of a bunch of Yellow Jacket fans, which made for an uncomfortable afternoon, especially because Robert Lavette ran all over us for two touchdowns. The other ‘Bama defeat that stands out in memory was the 1988 Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa against Michigan. Dad got four tickets, so me, my two brothers and my brother’s wife went. Alabama fell behind 14-3 at halftime, and the Tide made a strong comeback , going ahead 24-21 on a Bobby Humphrey TD with less than four minutes left to play, but ended up losing 28-24. What I can never forget about that game was the Michigan fight song. It seemed like the Michigan band played that damned song every time their team so much as completed a pass. There is perhaps no experience in football more agonizing than to be playing Michigan, and losing, and having to hear their band blast out “Hail to the Victors” over and over and over.

Being born and bred ‘Bama, so to speak, I’ve raised my sons to be Crimson Tide fans, and shared with them the family lore. Dad used to say it was hard to be an Alabama fan because everybody wants to beat ‘Bama. There is never an easy week for Alabama, because every team on their schedule, no matter how lowly, is going to go all-out in hopes of upsetting the mighty Tide. Alabama has won 15 national championships and had 10 undefeated seasons, and expectations are always so high in Tuscaloosa that to lose even one game just ruins the whole year. Every Saturday, the Tide takes the field against an opponent totally fired up and dreaming of an upset, and this year ‘Bama lost to Ole Miss 43-37 in a game marred by five turnovers. It was an agonizing game for a Tide fan to watch and, because Ole Miss is an SEC West opponent, the consequences of that defeat were potentially devastating for Alabama’s hopes of a conference championship. That loss meant that, in order for the Crimson Tide to make it to the SEC title game, they would have to win the rest of their conference games and Ole Miss would have to lose twice to SEC opponents. And what were the odds of that?

Well, miracles happened. Ole Miss lost to Florida 38-10, and then in November, they lost a wild 53-52 overtime game to Arkansas, the same day Alabama beat LSU 30-16. What had seemed impossible just six weeks earlier had become a reality — Alabama controlled its own destiny, with a shot at the SEC title and, perhaps, even the National Championship. Ranked as low as #13 after the loss to Ole Miss, the Crimson Tide rose to #4 after beating LSU. Finishing the regular season strong with a 29-13 win over Auburn, and beating Florida 29-15 in the SEC Championship game, the Crimson Tide then saw junior running back Derrick Henry win the Heisman Trophy, and faced Michigan State in the BCS semifinal on New Year’s Eve.

So there we were Thursday afternoon in the McCain family living room, watching Clemson play Oklahoma. I was on the sofa, holding my 4-month-old grandson Alexander,. My 17-year-old son Jefferson was cuddled up on the love seat with his girlfriend Jade, and we started talking about a Clemson-Alabama matchup for the national title.

“Well, Michigan State’s gonna be tough,” I said, mentioning that the Spartans had defeated Ohio State, last year’s national champion.

To this my son replied, quite astutely, that Coach Nick Saban is college football’s most cunning analyst of game videos and he had had three weeks to watch video of Michigan State.

“True — if they’ve got a weakness, Saban will find it,” I said, but with memories of that error-plagued Ole Miss game haunting me, I added, “Bama has got to execute. No fumbles, no dropped passes, no missed tackles, no penalties.”

Clemson had trailed Oklahoma 17-16 at halftime, but in the second half, the Tigers took control, winning decisively 37-17. Watching this impressive performance by the undefeated No. 1 team, I said to Jefferson, “Clemson’s tough, but I think ‘Bama matches up pretty good with them, if we can just win tonight. What would be good, though” — and here I expressed a fond hope — “is if we can just dominate Michigan State. Beat the hell out of them and send a message to Clemson.”

THIRTY-EIGHT TO ZERO, BABY!

Alabama’s Jake Coker had his best game ever Thursday.

What was brilliant was that Saban, knowing how Michigan State would be set up to stop Derrick Henry, had Jake Coker use play-action passes to pick apart the Spartans’ secondary. Coker was 25 for 30, throwing for 286 yards and two touchdowns. Even though Michigan State held Henry to under 100 yards, he still scored two touchdowns. While the Crimson Tide racked up more than 400 yards of total offense, however, it was Alabama’s defense that was most impressive, holding Michigan State to only 29 rushing yards, and ‘Bama absolutely humiliated the Spartans’ quarterback. As ESPN’s Ivan Maisel said, the Tide defense “sacked Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook four times, intercepted him twice, and never gave him a chance to breathe.” The crucial play of the game came late in the first half. The Tide had taken a 10-0 lead, but Cook took the Spartans down to the ‘Bama 12 yard-line. A touchdown, or even a field goal, would have given Michigan State a boost in morale before halftime, but with 15 seconds left, Alabama’s Cyrus Jones intercepted Cook’s pass, and that seemed to destroy whatever hope the Spartans had left. Jones, incidentally, added a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second half, a bit of icing on the cake of exactly what I had hoped for — a totally dominating Alabama performance. With their shutout of Michigan State, the Crimson Tide sent a clear message to Clemson: “Watch out. We’re coming to beat you.”

Alabama’s Cyrus Jones returns a punt for a touchdown.

Can Alabama do it? Of course they can, if they execute, concentrate, and avoid mistakes. Mental focus is the difference between giving up 43 points to Ole Miss and shutting out Michigan State. Championship football isn’t just about strength and speed — every man on the field is strong and fast — it’s about execution. What causes defeat is fumbles, dropped passes and missed tackles. Throwing an interception is bad, but you just factor that into the risks of the passing game. You throw enough passes, you’re gonna get intercepted every so often, but there is no excuse for a fumble. My father used to erupt in rage — “He was carrying the ball like a loaf of bread!” — whenever an Alabama player would fumble, and a dropped pass would always make Dad cuss. He played end in high school, and he had a zero-tolerance attitude toward dropped passes. “If you can get your hand on the ball, you ought to catch it,” was the sum total of his view on the subject. Likewise, Dad couldn’t stand to see a missed tackle. Proper tackling technique is just basic football, and for a player on scholarship at the University of Alabama to fail at such a basic task — well, this was simply unacceptable.

All the strength, speed and talent in the world won’t win a football game if players make those kind of mistakes, which are the result of mental lapses, a failure to concentrate. At the highest level of competition, the winning team is the one that avoids mistakes, and takes advantage of the opponent’s mistakes. You can get away with sloppy plays against a weak team (and honestly, Alabama got away with a few mistakes against Michigan State) but championship football requires nearly perfect execution, play after play. Watching Clemson beat Oklahoma, it was easy to see why the Tigers are undefeated. If the Crimson Tide doesn’t play their very best game Jan. 11 against Clemson . . .

Well, I prefer not to think about that possibility. Instead I hope Alabama gives an all-out effort from the opening kickoff to the last whistle. If they play their best, the Crimson Tide can beat anybody, and that probably explains why I always remember the games that ‘Bama lost.

They lose so rarely, after all.




 

#WAR!

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Today’s vote in the Senate drew furious scorn in a statement from grassroots conservative activist Becky Gerritson:

I along with millions of conservatives around the country are furious with the Republicans’ surrender in the Senate today! We listened to Republican promises to curb spending, restore our liberties and stop President Obama’s illegal executive orders regarding immigration. We helped them win the Senate in November; giving them the largest majority in the House and Senate since WWII. Hopes were high.
However, instead of seizing the power they had been given by the voters, Republican leaders have timidly continued business as usual. In December, kowtowing to Democrat spin on shutting down the government, they passed a trillion dollar spending bill with the promise that in February they would stop President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill.
But now, as the deadline for funding DHS approaches and the Democrats have filibustered (four times) a bill that would fund DHS except for Obama’s Illegal Amnesty, the Republicans are again showing their lack of resolve. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has revealed his feckless leadership and instead of holding the line on defunding executive amnesty, he is offering a “clean bill” to the Democrats on a silver platter. They are holding all the cards and yet they are folding!
According to exit polls, 75% of Americans reject Obama’s executive action. So Republican leadership didn’t merely let down their party, they abandoned their country. Whether Mitch McConnell’s feeble stewardship is due to cowardice or complicity, he has embarrassed and weakened his office, his party and our nation.
Becky Gerritson
President, Wetumpka TEA Party (AL)
“Born Free American Woman”–Congressional Testimony
www.WetumpkaTeaParty.com
www.BornFreeAmericanWoman.com

Some people you can walk over and live to tell about it. But you don’t do that to people from Wetumpka, Alabama.