Gracious me, we seem to have read a lot of whining and
moping about Saturday’s victory. Thanks
for this breath of fresh air, Commissioner.
We can occasionally be of the Coffee-Pot-Is-Half-Empty set ourselves,
but there are an awful lot of spoiled people out there.
Alabama’s performance on Saturday wasn’t perfect. It rarely is.
However, we just beat the undefeated sixth-ranked team in the nation by
19 points. We could have scored more at
the end when their defense was gassed, we just chose not to. We held their high octane offense to just 14
points and 278 total yards. The only
time we really didn’t run at will on them was when we decided to throw it. This was Alabama’s eighth game in a row and
Texas A&M was coming off a bye week. Alabama will enter November undefeated for the
first time since 2013. It is one of four
remaining undefeated teams in the country, is the only undefeated team in the SEC,
and has beaten its opponents by an aggregate score of 351-119, and arguably
every game could have been worse. And
people are complaining?
We admit to having been a little agitated with the play
calling. When all was done and totaled
up, we ran it two thirds of the time and only passed it one third of the
time. We get that was skewed a little
because we just ran it down their throats to squeeze out the fourth quarter. Still, though, if you like a team that runs
the football, Alabama gives you a lot to like.
We share concerns about Hurts’s ability to complete deep passes. He hooked up on one Saturday but, honestly,
if it had been three or four yards further, would have been a TD. This is a true freshman, who put the team on
his back and gained critical yards in crucial situations Saturday. Sure, he misfired on a few passes. Would you trade him for the other team’s
quarterback, who dropped a beautiful ball in the corner of the end zone, but is
done for a career in about four more games or keep the guy we’ve got? Or do you want Josh Dobbs? Or Etling?
We acknowledge that the kicking game is not rock solid. But worrying about what might happen in some
future game means you are missing the great stuff that has happened for the
last eight weeks. Enjoy this, my friends. These are great times.
For the second week in a row, we don’t really have much
commentary to add to the Commissioner’s excellent job. We do, however, have our usual bones to pick.
Broadcasting. F. Why in the name of Keith Jackson these two
guys can’t just call the ball game that is going on right in front of them is
beyond us. We’ve been hard on Verne and
Gary in the past. Don’t take us wrong,
we’d happily have dinner with either of them.
We expect they have some funny stories and are engaging one on one. And though they are the face of CBS, they do
what they do because a variety of producers, directors, marketing experts, and
various vice presidents tell them to do it a certain way. In our estimation, a lot of that instruction
is wrong.
With all due respect to the Million Dollar Band, the
Cheerleaders, the Color Guard, etc. people tune in to watch the football
game. The announcing crew is supposed to
enhance the experience. The entire CBS
system has lost sight of this goal. I
won’t even go into the commercials, except to say that the new scheme where
they show an injured player in excruciating close up as he is attended by a
trainer and then go to four or five advertisements is bad and not just because
it makes the game last longer. We think getting that close to an injured player
is exploitative.
I have a right to see the game; that doesn’t include the
right to see the face of a player suffering from physical pain as if I was
three or four feet away. I’m not
impressed with the multitude of angles, hoverboard cameras, and extreme close-ups
of a 19-year-old’s face as the trainers try to comfort and reassure him even
though they all know his knee just turned to jelly and is excruciatingly
painful. If a player is injured, call
his name and number, say what is being looked at without speculation, and start
selling car insurance and chicken sandwiches.
When you come back, say how he left the field and go on with the
game. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if
that was my son down there. If the team
chooses to tell the sideline reporter more, they can report that or report what
they saw. Get your cameras out of the
faces of injured players. Please.
Traditionally there is one individual designated as
“play-by-play” who describes the events on the field as they unfold. True that this seems a little superfluous
when you can see it at least as well as he or she does. However, there is value in not having to look
up the players’ names, keep track of the precise down and distance, etc. This is especially so if you are more of a
casual observer. Verne is, frankly, just
not great at this, or at least not any more.
His name errors are legendary and did not end on Saturday. Over the years his commentary has moved from describing
the actual action on the field to just barking out the players’ names (right or
wrong) and then one of his (way too many) catch phrases. “Hurts.
Left side. Hole. OH MY
GOODNESS. UM, UM, UM. My gracious.” Oh, and chortling at cute remarks from Gary.
He’s retiring, I’ll let it lie.
Speaking of, the other individuals are there for “color” or
“analysis”. Gary is supposed to be more
of the latter. When we first recall him
doing CBS games, there was a decent amount of this. Stabler was a master, assuming a decent level
of football knowledge of his audience and explaining in some detail why a
particular play worked or failed. Gary
has this knowledge, in abundance.
Someone, though, has given him the idea that he needs all these side
stories and angles. They are sort of his
preconceived ideas of how the game will go and he sticks with them (fancy
pre-made graphics and all) without regard to what happens on the field.
Last week was the perfect example of lack of attention to
the game as Gary donned a bathrobe and Verne engaged in a bit of hero worship
while Peyton Manning was in the booth.
It was Peyton, for pity’s sake, who actually tried to describe the
action on the field. Verne and Gary
couldn’t be bothered. Given that it
happened to be pretty much the high water mark of Tennessee’s efforts, I’d have
been ticked off if I was a Tennessee fan.
Worse is that Gary is forever yakking about the rules, when he
frequently doesn’t understand them.
Tennessee fans still think they should have gotten another shot at the
kick that Mount Cody blocked because he removed his helmet on the field. Why do they think that? Because Gary more or less said so, even
though he was dead wrong. That continued
Saturday. It won’t end.
At any rate, we wish these guys would just go back to
calling/explaining the action. And they
have recently made passing reference to the fact that they don’t think Alabama
fans like them much. I’d challenge them
to go back and look at what they presented just this last Saturday to see
why. How many times have we seen the
chart of “Quarterbacks that Beat Alabama”?
How many trivia questions in Alabama home games are about Alabama
losses? How often do they reference
moments and people we’d just as soon forget? Is there any positive Alabama
history you could mention? Compare how
many times last Saturday you mentioned Johnny Manziel to how many times you
referenced Blake Sims leading Alabama to win by 50-something the last time
A&M came to Tuscaloosa. Never
mind. They don’t care. We’ll watch.
Because we don’t have a choice.
LSU is on CBS. API will be,
too. *Sigh* or perhaps we should say
“OH. MY. GOODNESS.”
Officiating. F-. In our opinion, the zebras came very close to
losing control of the game. It was a
physical, hard-hitting contest between two teams with lots to play for,
including the inside track to the division title, the favorite role in the SEC
Championship game, and a potential berth in the playoff series. The loser would have to hope for a lot of
unlikely help to achieve those goals. We
did not even get the SEC’s best officiating crew. There was a lot of pushing and shoving away
from the play. The one ejection was not
arguable and there probably should have been more, or at least more fouls
called for extracurricular activity. We’ve
already taken up enough of your boss’s time on a Monday whining about CBS….
So we’ll leave off with a final piece of information for you
to chew over during the off week. Alabama’s
defense just completed its eighth game of the season. It has, let’s conservatively say, four
members of its defensive front seven that will be first or second round draft
picks this winter -- there is not a spot in that front seven where the player
won’t be in the discussion for All Conference honors. Commentators from around
the country are praising its pass rush and quick reaction to ball carriers. So,
we pose this question. How many times
have opposing offensive teams been called for holding? The answer is “one.” Not once a game, mind you, once this season.
Let that sink in for a minute. Or
maybe don’t, it might be enough to take the glow off of Saturday’s victory.
Rest up, boys. There
is a lot of football left to be played.
A week from Saturday night Red Stick will be a rowdy place. Get ready.
Roll Tide.
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