So I decided to write this brief note to the The Foundation For A Better Life... aka the people behind those values.com ads.

Overkill? Probably. But their ad was just so stupid and ridiculous that it ruined any possible good intentions.

You can see the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUUGz3WuqJI

And, by the way, it appears most of the YouTube commentators agree with me on this one.

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Hello.

First of all, I just want to say that I think the work you guys are doing is great. We definitely need an awareness of the importance of values in our society, so I applaud you.

However, I saw your sportsmanship PSA after it aired on our station here and I have to admit that it's completely misguided and absurd.

Just the idea that an athlete would ask a referee to change a clear judgment call is outrageous. Lets pretend for a second that every athlete DID have good intentions and would admit to an official went they made an incorrect call in their favor (which appears to be the ultimate dream scenario based on your ad). You would have calls changing left and right throughout the game, which would be ridiculous. The pace of the game would be completely ruined and the authority of the referee would constantly be in question.

Bad calls are part of every sport. An individual displays good sportsmanship by acting respectfully when those calls go against them. A better example of sportsmanship would have been something like the young athlete arguing with the ref, consulting with his coach, and then apologizing. OR... The head coach of the OTHER team advising his players that bad calls are part of the game and to be respectful despite them.

The ad, in its current form, will only be mocked by anyone who plays or follows sport. And as a result, your message - no matter how noble - is getting lost.

I am recommending that our station remove your PSA and I urge you in the future to consult with those who play and follow sports at a high-level BEFORE you start a major PSA campaign.

Best,
Adam Bagni
Sports Director
ABC 32, WNCF-TV
Montgomery, AL

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8:33 WCT: I'm going to have to sign off... Headed down for the field... look for some post-game sound Monday night on the news and maybe i'll appear in one of the post-game pressers tonight... Roll Tide!... first time i've ever said that... :)

8:30 WCT - Ya know I was just saying... whos guna have the gall to ask Saban if there's some sort of downgraded quality of this win because mccoys out.. will it be me? only time will tell... but of course he will say it means nothing...

8:20 WCT - What a huge pass interference call on Texas... it was fair... he may have been able to come back for it

8:12 WCT - End of third quarter... Bama better get back to doing what they do and run the football... or this could get too close for comfort... a hairy finish though is Bama's MO

8:08 WCT - Wow! Bama's special teams gets an F today... that first guy should have let it go... they just fired it right at him... new life for the longhorns? I'm still not sold

8:07 WCT - Texas FINALLY breaks through for a TD... and Gilbert FINALLY hits an open receiver.. Shipley... I still think it's too little too late.. boy do I bet Mack Brown wishes he kneeled now!

7:59 WCT - probably just a sprain for mccoy... xrays negatoray... so shouldn't hurt his draft stock... you wonder if he'd play if it was his non-throwing shoulder... also... if it's only a sprain why doesn't he tough it out?... is it totally impossible?... did his NFL future factor in?... it'd be a good post game question for Mack Brown

7:52 WCT - Ingram Shaken up... I'll try to give you a report ASAP of what they tell the media... although it might be nothing... he walked off on his own power

7:46 WCT - UPDATE: From Bama media relations... Nick Saban said at half "It was a great hit on Colt McCoy"... INTERESTING... haha

7:40 WCT - Some fan in a mask just ran onto the field... that's the most i've seen this Texas crowd react the entire game

7:24 WCT - Update: McCoy won't return

7:04 WCT - Unbelievable! y didn't Mack take a knee? game over.. at the half...

6:59 WCT - Gotts put the points on the board... I hate to say

6:47 WCT - Montgomery Public Schools canceled tomorrow. Arenas w/ the pick... it won't be the last... guaranteed... Barron may get into the act too

6:43 WCT - UPDATE: Colt McCoy to be re-evaluated at the half

6:43 WCT - Wow Trent Richardson is looking HUGE! This could b like the Auburn game where we see less of Ingram. The route may be on folks...

6:32 WCT - You know all these Texas sacks are coverage sacks, but McElroy has to get rid of the football.

6:21 WCT - Touchdown Tide! W/ McCoy out I wouldn't be surprised if Bama takes UT to the woodshed.

6:16 WCT - End of 1st Quarter. W/ McCoy out all Bama has to do is key on the run and make this true frosh beat em. Meanwhile, that's all the Tide's offense needs to do. Pound the rock! Use Ingram and Richardson till their legs fall off. This is one of the last top ranked college teams that depends heavily on the backfield, and they need to continue to beat up on that Texas D-line.

6:04 WCT - As Bama drives, it'll be interesting to see how McCoy's backup performs. He was a huge HS pick-up. Broke all of Graham Harrel's records in Austin, TX. Looks like it's the right arm of McCoy that's injured.

5:57 WCT - What are the up men doing!? Someone needs to take charge there and make a play! It's a live football.

5:52 WCT - What a great stand by Bama... but what's the deal w/ Colt McCoy? He's headed to the locker room... but walked off on his own power. Concussion maybe? Huge turn of events... and a big momentum swing for Texas not to get into the end zone there. They needed 7 points.

5:45 WCT - Why would u run a fake punt on 4th and 23!? Unless Fitz thought he couldn't get rid of it for some reason... weird

5:38 WCT, 7:38 CT - Kickoff!... Looks like Texas wanted to avoid any kind of return from Javier Arenas

4:43 WCT, 6:43 CT - Hey guys! I'm here now in the press box ready to kick this baby off! As I said on my Twitter, I'm picking the Tide in this one. I think the Texas O-Line is vulnerable... as we saw in the Big 12 championship... and I see Colt McCoy getting very frustrated. Bama's offense is so much stronger than Nebraska's, and what the Longhorns saw regularly in conference play,so I don't see the guys from Tuscaloosa losing.

Keep checking in throughout the game for more updates... and feel free to say hey on Twitter and Facebook.!
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The blog is back!
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Do you believe that some people still LIKE the BCS? It’s like that kid who does math in his spare time.

“Dude, what is your problem?”

I hate the BCS with a passion. It’s easily in my top five of worst things in sports – somewhere between penalty shootouts in soccer and BALCO.

Maybe that’s why I felt compelled to write this entry after reading a column from Rob Morris of The State (Columbia, South Carolina). Here’s a link: http://tinyurl.com/ygsk692 .

I don’t mean to pick on Mr. Morris, but most of his arguments for the BCS are those shared by other supporters of the system. And, by the way, those supporters are either old players from big conferences, or simply, old guys.

First off, there’s this feeling that the bowl system is a huge crutch to the idea of a playoff. Morris said we would have to abandon the whole bowl system all together. Why? Just make bowl games a PART of the playoff system. At the Gator Bowl, would you be more interested in finding out who the third best SEC team is, or who will move on to the national semi-finals? The bowls would love to be involved with a playoff.

Now I understand that there are bowl tie-ins with certain conferences, and that does present a challenge. However, you only really need to convince a few bowls to come on board. If you have an eight-team playoff, that means it would consist of seven games. We already have five BCS bowls, so convince two others, and you’re golden. Bowl committees will be clamoring to be among the final two.

And you don’t have to completely get rid of the bowl system. Keep the other bowls in place and let bowl-eligible teams continue to play their post-season as they normally would. Those teams would still be rewarded as they currently are.

Another main argument for BCS supporters is that a playoff system would ruin the value of the regular season. “The BCS works because the regular season essentially operates as the playoffs,” says Morris.

If only eight of the 120 FBS teams become eligible for the playoffs, that’s pretty scarce. Teams won’t feel less desperate for wins when not even 7% of them will get into a true post-season.

By the way, do you know of any other league in the world that settles their championship by rankings? You don’t, because there isn’t one.

Finally, we conclude with the idea that the BCS is “working” – so says Morris and the slick BCS media guide. If by working, you mean that toilet where you have to hold down the handle until all the water is gone – then yes, the BCS is working just fine. It’s something you’ll put up with, but not something anyone truly enjoys.

Morris argues that the sole purpose of the BCS is to put the two best teams in the nation into the National Championship game (he forgot about the other BCS bowls, but I digress), stating that the system has worked well since its inception in 1998.

Really? Because all I can remember in the last 11 BCS years is chaos.

2005: The season ends with THREE undefeated teams, including SEC Champions Auburn.
2007: Undefeated Boise State knocks off Oklahoma, while a one-loss Florida takes the title.
2008: A two-loss LSU team wins the crown.
2009: Utah finishes the season undefeated, but Florida wins again. Oh yea, and Oklahoma gets into the National Championship game even though they LOST to Texas, and both teams had only one loss.
2010: Who knows? We could finish the season with THREE undefeated teams again and we already know they’ll be at least two.

Boy that BCS is just as reliable as the sun coming up in the morning!

What a joke. Listen, are Texas and Alabama the two best teams in the nation? Probably. But do TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise State at least deserve a shot. Absolutely.

Sorry Giants fans, but the Super Bowl is cancelled, because the Patriots are clearly the better team.

That’s why they play the games.

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Wow! What a game last night between the Braves and Pirates, huh!

Multiple story-lines... a ferocious comeback... and a dramatic ending - all in 15 innings.

The thing that stuck out the most to me though was the Nate McClouth trade and its effect on the outcome. McClouth played a spectacular game... he hit a home run, scored multiple times, and played great defense. Now to a layman, this whole deal looked like a steal by the Braves. They get an all-star caliber player for a solid prospect and couple average ones, right?

Au contraire!

Maybe the Braves did get a bargain from their perspective, but the Pirates made a great move too. If I was a fan or player for the Bucs I'd be pissed - and of course - they were. This trade does not help them in the short-term, but it very well may eventually.

With McClouth now out of the line-up, we saw the electric Andrew McCutchen just tear it up last night. It felt like he hit every ball on a line, and his speed is just frightening. Oh yea, and he's just 22 (McClouth is 27). Gorkys Hernandez and Jeff Locke are both just 21 and have already been named by Baseball America as among the best prospects in the Braves system - they've both been named all-stars in their respective leagues too. Add to that another 25 year old kid with some major league experience (Charlie Morton) and it looks like a pretty solid deal for Pitt.

I mean, the Pirates need to completely re-build in order to win championships.

Wait a second, who got the better end of this again?
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Oh, and I promise to post more often... this time I'm not lying... hopefully :)

Well since I talked about Gene Chizik yesterday, I thought I’d talk about Mark Gottfried and his “resignation” today.

Alabama is stupid. So stupid. Mal Moore, what are you thinking?

There is NO REASON to fire this guy mid-season. It’s detrimental to your recruiting, your team, and your program. Seriously, what do you accomplish? Nothing.

I can understand if you’re upset about the fact that he had a rift with Ronald Steele, and that he hasn’t been very impressive in the last two years, and that attendance/interest in the program is dwindling.

But heck, firing a guy in the middle of a season (excuse me a “resignation”) does nothing but create chaos. The players lose stability, focus, and a coach with whom many of them are very close.

I mean, we were barely into conference play when Gottfried was shown the door. Bama was picked to win the SEC West. Lets see whether or not they do it…and if they don’t…then let Coach Gottfried consider other pastures.

This strategy has not worked in recent times either. It doesn’t “energize” or “kick-start” a program to bring in an interim head coach. This isn’t ice hockey. Take a look at last year’s trio of Texas Tech, Indiana, and LSU. Neither improved after their mid-campaign changes.

Did we forget too that Mark Gottfried has performed better than any other Alabama basketball coach in history! The Tide was never even sniffing Elite 8’s until Gottfried came onto the scene.

I’m just saying…

Hey all,

I realize I haven’t written in awhile, and I’m trying to get better at that – please forgive me.

Anyhow, lets get to the task at hand. So anytime someone recognizes me on the street, they always want to talk about either Alabama or Auburn. Certainly Understandable.

But the OVERWHEALMING topic they want to talk about is Gene Chizik. What do I think of Gene Chizik? Does Gene Chizik have the power to recruit strongly in the SEC? Should Gene Chizik have been hired over Turner Gill? Etc, etc…

OK, so here’s my take.

Personally, I didn’t like the Chizik hire. Auburn had a huge chance here to land a big name, and with Nick Saban at Alabama, the university certainly needed to LOOK like they could make a splash. Instead, they hired a guy totally off the radar screen.

Sure it was known that he interviewed for the gig, but I don’t think a lot of us in the know thought he would get the job. I mean, here’s a guy that was 2-10 last year. He didn’t even win a game in the Big 12! And his recruiting classes with the Cyclones? Not very impressive. According to Rivals they were ranked 60th, 62nd, and 76th. That’s about as far away from “splashy” as you can get.

In addition, they took a huge hit in the national media for not hiring the African-American front-runner Turner Gill of Buffalo.

Now part of it was their fault, and part of it wasn’t.

For hiring a guy that no one on the national scene has heard of - they deserve it.

But for all this racial stuff everyone is talking about…Well, I’m not so sure.

Look, I’m not naïve. Do I think race played a factor in Turner Gill not getting hired? Yes, especially with all the old, rich, white guys that make up the majority of the university’s boosters. There’s no doubt that Athletic Director Jay Jacobs is a pawn to them in many respects.

Now, with that being said, the race argument is totally bogus.

Let me give you an example, on ESPN’s Outside the Lines: First Report (OTL), this issue was discussed extensively on a couple different episodes. The one that caught my eye featured Josh Moon of the Montgomery Advertiser, popular sports radio personality Paul Finebaum, and ESPN.com columnist Jemele Hill (who is not tapped into SEC football at all, but I digress).

Now all three came to the apparently obvious conclusion that this hire was all about race, with their main argument being a comparison of resumes. Looking at it that way, it doesn’t seem to make any sense that Chizik would be hired over Gill. But upon further review, compare Chizik’s resume to that of other major candidates mentioned for the job - Mike Leach of Texas Tech, Gary Patterson of TCU, or Chris Petersen at Boise State – all of whom are white. And all their resumes seem to clearly trump Chizik’s.

So, as I said, I think race played a role. And it’s awful that it did. But you can’t use the resume comparison. Auburn just made a bad hire.

I think….?

Hey everyone! Yes, I haven’t blogged in awhile (hey, I’m busy), but I wanted to update you with some of what we’ve done with our sports site. We’re currently utilizing RSS feeds for all of our sections (except for the Biscuits). Basically, this makes us a one-stop shop for all your local sports information. You go to ABC32.com and we forward you on to the official word from the teams themselves. The only exceptions are the Hawks (news provided by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, because their PR and NBA.com haven’t gotten back to us) and High School (news provided by the Montgomery Advertiser).

Yes, there are still a couple local schools that don’t have RSS capabilities…Huntingdon, AUM, and Faulkner. Faulkner has told me that they hope to change that fairly soon, but for now, you may see us fall behind in our coverage of those schools. If you’re a fan/parent/player/alum feel free to urge those schools to start an RSS!

Regarding Inside the Tide and Tigers episodes…basically we just recently changed the unit that we use to capture our video on-air. As a result, we’re missing some of the much older episodes, as well as some newer ones. I’ll leave the most recent episode posted, and we’ll definitely have this remedied next year (keep in mind this is the first year we’ve utilized on-line video).

As always, any questions or comments, just email me – abagni@wncftv.com !

As I mentioned in Friday's Inside the Tide & Tigers, I decided to make the trip up to Athens to catch the Bama game Saturday. Two top 10 teams...College Gameday....huge crowd...so I figured I'd experience that for the second consecutive week.

I also thought I'd see a another great game.

Wow! Instead I caught a total beatdown that was OVER at halftime. Words can't describe how dominate Bama was in this football game. They took a solid SEC defense...certainly not in the top tier...but nevertheless very good, and tore them apart. This was a consensus national championship contender!

Don't let Nick Saban fool you either. Did his team go to bed in the second half? Definitely...And he should be disappointed in that. But this game was never in doubt. You don't spot Saban 31 points at halftime and think you still have a legit chance to win. Even after the dogs returned the punt for a touchdown, they were still down two touchdowns in the fourth quarter with Bama about to get the ball. Next posession - Bama drives down, kicks a field goal, now it's truly over with a three-score game. Sure they starting giving up some cosmetic touchdowns and allowing some big pass plays, but they were playing a prevent defense! What do you expect?

Anyhow, no doubt this game was one in the trenches. John Parker Wilson had alll dayyy longgg to pick apart the Georgia secondary. And Matthew Stafford...forget about it...complete opposite. The guy was running for his life the entire game. Both lines for Alabama were extremely impressive.

I was talking to Chris Fowler during the game, and I mentioned to him how much harder hitting I thought the Bama defense was compared to Auburn the previous week. Being up close too I think you get a better perspective of that. I'll tell you one thing...there's a long way to go...and we still have a lot to learn about these teams...but from where I'm sitting right now, looks like Bama could break the streak this year. Big time!

OK, this was so ridiculous I had to start an entirely new thread so I could rant about it.

In case you don't know the background here, Auburn's dean sent out an email to students asking them not to boo this past weekend.

Check out the entire email here: http://deadspin.com/5051258/auburn-dean-concerned-his-students-might-do-something-embarrassing-on-national-television

I'll tell you what's embarrassing is this request - which appears like it comes from up-tight administrator who probably should have better things to do. That's just how it appears to me...I'm not saying that's necessarily the case, but it looks that way. It's reads like a condescending parent telling their 18-23 year old kid to "play nice".

The thing is - this is Auburn football. Top 10. A multi-million dollar business, in effect, for Auburn University.

If you expect people to buy tickets and merchandise, then you better return the favor by giving them a good team. And if the team isn't living up to expectations, they SHOULD be booed. You can't have your cake and eat it too by saying..."we want you to spend all kinds of money on Auburn gear, tickets, parking, and donations to the athletic department...but if the team struggles, please don't boo." Come on!

In addition, take a look at the best sports cities in the country (they're rated every year by the Sporting News): Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia...all towns NOTORIOUS for booing and being tough on their teams. Why? Because they're passionate! Not only passionate, but often knowledgeable. Booing is a way to say, "Hey this isn't good and we don't appreciate it!." It's a watchdog in many ways.

So many elite athletes say that being booed by an opponent's fans is the ultimate sign of respect. It means you're deserved of attention

WAKA ran a package Friday about this story and it was so off base. The reporter, who I should say is very talented, really only gave one side of the argument. We heard from the dean, some goody two-shoes students, and Chris Fowler. Fowler, understandably, didn't want to rock any boats and was careful with his comments. However, you got the feeling that he thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous. He said (I'm paraphrasing), "Well...ya know...with fans comes expectations..."

The bottom line is, any real sports fan has to think this type of request is dumb. Or at the very least, extremely odd. We should have heard from those people in the piece.

That's why you don't have news reporters report on sports stories...even if you're going to lead off the newscast with a sports-based piece. Local stations are notorious for going with their more visible "news" talent to report on sports stories when they become the main story on the newscast. Nothing could be more aggravating to the well-versed sports fan.

It's not a knock on news reporters, it's just that they often don't know the intricacies of the game. It's the same reason I have no business telling you about weather or politics.

..but I digress...

I'll conclude on a positive note - I appreciate the fact that this was a request and not a "demand". I doubt you could kick someone out for booing anyway, but nevertheless...

In addition, I'm totally with the Dean on the other points in his letter. Treating you opponents with class, being on your best behavior, acting tasteful, etc...

But there's a big difference between swearing at a game and booing...

Some of you may have saw me roaming the sidelines along with our ABC 32 photographer James Koontz during Saturday's game.

Let me just say this, I hate watching the game from the press box. If you're on deadline, it's more practical to work up there, but to really get a feel for the game, you HAVE to be on the sideline.

From that viewpoint, here are some thoughts:

First of all, and this may be stating the obvious...but for those of you holding out hope out there...neither of these teams in a National Championship contender. Not even close. The offenses were abysmal. Defenses were just exceptional. The d-lines on both of these teams were stellar all game. Neither team can be legit though without a quarterback. Can you imagine if either of these teams had one of the Big 12 QBs!? That'd be something.

Really this one could have gone either way. LSU's passing game was just a bit better and that tipped the scales. I give them credit though...the crowd was incredibly loud the entire game. To win this type of game on the road is quite a feather.

As far as problems...I'm shocked Kodi Burns didn't see any time. So much for the conspiracy theories that the coaching staff was "saving him" somehow. He deserved to play in the game and it would have been interesting to see how LSU would have reacted with his ability to scramble. After the game though, Tommy Tuberville had very little to say about Burns. Basically, and I'm paraphrasing, he said that the opportunity for Kodi to play didn't present itself (in the fashion that they would have liked to play him...IF they really intended on playing him at all). Tuberville seems satisfied to stick it out with Chris Todd.

Speaking of Tuberville, he made a huge error during the game. Once LSU got into solid field goal range (probably the series prior to the one that they hit the game winner) he should have used his timeouts. I was mentioning this feverishly down on the sidelines. Conserve some time for your offense. Say there's 2:00 left on the clock when Auburn starts with the ball instead of 1:00. As an offensive coordinator, you can approach it completely differently. Tuberville said after the game that he thought about it, but basically danced around the question. To be fair though, it wasn't worth pushing him on. It didn't lose them the game, but I think it was detrimental. Ironically, and this has been forgotten since LSU won the game in the final second, the guy on the other sidelines made one of the worst clock management blunders I've ever seen in a big game - Les Miles, during last season.

We'll talk about some of this stuff during this week's episode of Inside the Tide and the Tigers. We also have some behind-the-scenes footage from College Gameday's visit. Kirk Herbstreit had some interesting things to say, so you'll want to check that out Friday night.

I don't have much to say about Alabama, other than the fact that I think Arkansas is that bad. The Hogs look like the worst team in the SEC. They are baaaaaad. Bama looked very strong (obviously), but I think they crushed a team that we didn't realize was THAT weak.