It seemed like the world stopped for a few minutes when Nike did its college football fashion show on Wednesday morning, unveiling the 2010 edition of the Pro Combat uniforms. Each uni, from helmet to cleats and the underlying clothing, is connected to the traditions of the universities and local communities. For instance, Ohio State’s is a tribute to the 1942 team. For West Virginia, they’re showing solidarity for the state’s miners and the recent mine disaster that killed 29 people. Oregon State is sporting what are basically throwbacks to a late ’60s team that was one of the school’s best. Nike says these unis are 39 percent lighter than the uniforms they replace.
For what it is worth, those at the Swoosh didn’t fiddle much with the Crimson Tide outfit. There’s a muted gray-and-white houndstooth pattern on the numbers and down the middle of the helmet, along with an American flag on the right shoulder and a move from the script A on the front thigh to the side, along with the usual design changes for the gloves and cleats.
The materials and fabrication elements, which debuted in 2009, will be incorporated into the Crimson Tide’s traditional uniforms whose design will feature a Houndstooth pattern incorporated into the uniform’s numbers – a tribute to legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. Also, as a gesture to honor veterans of the armed services, the Alabama uniform will feature an American flag patch on the right sleeve. The flag is featured with the stars facing forward (to the right) per military protocol.
ALABAMA
BOISE STATE & FLORIDA
OHIO STATE & MIAMI
PITT & OREGON STATE
TCU & VIRGINIA TECH
WEST VIRGINIA
O God. Alabama fans on their lunch break today probably didn’t want to see the story come over the wire, the one that basically says, “Your star junior running back and Heisman Trophy winner basically lost a knee yesterday in practice and had arthroscopic surgery this morning.” OK, maybe it’s not quite that bad. The only guarantee is that Trent Richardson is the starter for the San Jose State game. But with Penn State coming to town in Week Two, having that two-headed monster in the backfield would be nice. The Tide beat writers say not likely.
Richard Scrushy‘s illegal acts to the contrary, having HealthSouth and Dr. James Andrews located 45 minutes up the road in Birmingham isn’t a bad asset to have, so it’s possible Ingram could be ready to go in a couple weeks.
“It was a situation where everyone involved thought it would be better to take care of now, so he would not have any issues with it later in the season,” Saban said.
Ingram, a junior, hurt his knee late in practice on Monday. Saban said this morning’s minor surgery was successful and performed by Dr. Lyle Cain and Dr. James Andrews.
The normal recovery for a knee scope is a few weeks.
Here’s a bit of trivia — Andrews also operates a sports medicine clinic in Gulf Breeze, Fla., across the bay from Richardson’s hometown of Pensacola. Anyway….
Third stringer Eddie Lacy is an unknown quantity for most people not allowed at Alabama’s practice fields, so we will have to see how he fits into Richardson’s old role. But maybe Ingram could sit out Week One and Week Three (Duke) but be ready when the meat of the season really starts. As it is, Richardson has received so much preseason love coming off his spectacular freshman year, on the Madden scale many people would put him as an overall 97 to Ingram’s 94. So maybe waiting for Ingram to return until Week Four may not be as big of a deal as a former Tide team losing Shaun Alexander or (and this did happen) Siran Stacy.
Spencer Hall, who like the rest of us witnessed Richardson breaking out last year, had jokes.
This is news to us, but Bear Bryant and the Alabama football program was investigated by the FBI for civil rights offenses for about two years, ending in 1971. Even J. Edgar Hoover was in on the act. The investigation was brought about by a complaint by a black student organization at Alabama and prominent attorney U.W. Clemon, who became Alabama’s first black federal judge. The situation came down to the lack of scholarships given to black football players. While the program did eventually extend scholarships in the early ’70s, the team had walk-ons before that.
We, the defense, will agree with the prosecution’s stipulation that the Tide failed to properly give scholarships or adequately integrate the team in the ’60s.
But oh, there’s more.
During the deposition, Bryant said his staff had been scouting black players as early as 1966. Yet he recalled telling a black high school coach that it was “a little too soon’” to have a black player at Alabama and implied that the state’s racial climate was a problem.
[...]
Taylor Watson, curator of a University of Alabama museum named for Bryant and dedicated to ‘Bama football, said archives including Bryant’s personal files don’t mention any reference to the FBI or indicate the coach had any interaction with the agency.
He also noted that a black player had been signed and others walked on prior to the loss to USC, even though none had played in a varsity game for Bryant.
“The idea that the Southern Cal game meant they could integrate at Alabama is the greatest myth in college sports,” Watson said.
We’ve read a lot about Bryant from people who should know, including the man’s own autobiography, published before his final national championship. The coach, and many of his black players attest to this, didn’t care about who someone was or where they were from or their color, but whether they would give their all on the field. In his book, Bryant mentions several times his friendship with Bobby Kennedy, who as attorney general was despised with a passion — and among some, a murderous passion — by the white power structure in Alabama and their foot soldiers in the Klan and other such groups.
At the same time, from everything we’ve seen, Bryant’s position on racial equality for most of his coaching days in Tuscaloosa was not too different than most other moderate-to-liberal Southern whites of his time. He agreed with the goals, but advocated caution, hence the quote in the deposition. In hindsight, and even at the time, some people have said that Bryant should have taken advantage of his position in the state and told George Wallace to fuck off and done what he wanted with his football team. However, it’s pretty clear tat Bryant never saw himself as that big, hero worship notwithstanding.
But the idea that Bryant actively made sure that black players didn’t get scholarships at Alabama because of some racial bias is simply absurd.
Bessemer, Alabama. A place you’re not likely to go to, unless you’re dragged by family to The Bright Star, a locally-famous restaurant. It’s an industrial suburb of an area in which the specific industry it was built to service began to skip town about 30 years ago. How do you make national news running for mayor of this fine city? Do a poor Photoshop job of placing the candidate in a picture with the state’s most recognizable (living) football coach and place it on campaign material.
“Coach Saban has not been contacted for a political endorsement of any kind,” Associate Athletics Director Jeff Purinton wrote in an e-mail response to questions from The Birmingham News.
Davidson, when contacted about the campaign ad and photo on Tuesday afternoon, at first said the image of her and Saban together was real and taken about three weeks ago. However, when presented later with a 2007 photo of Saban and his wife that appears to be the base photo onto which Davidson’s image was added, the candidate acknowledged that her image was digitally added to the 2007 photo.
“They said we could do it this way,” Davidson said.
It doesn’t take Joe Friday to begin to punch holes in the councilwoman’s story. First she says it was real. Then admits it’s not, but they were given permission. Then the campaign manager says his dad is tight with Alabama coach Nick Saban and got the OK on the golf course. After several hours of talks, internal investigation and the final result of ham-handed crisis management, the campaign manager said, yeah, he lied about everything.
The man who has been managing Bessemer Councilwoman Dorothy Davidson’s campaign for mayor this afternoon said he tricked Davidson into believing she had an endorsement from University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
Kevin Morris, 35, said he is responsible for the campaign flier that features a digitally altered picture of Davidson and Saban and touts an endorsement by the coach.
Morris said he told Davidson the photo of the coach and his wife, Terry, was actually of Saban and his mother. He said he told Davidson that Saban had OK’d the altering of the photograph.
How this guy thought he could get away with this ruse is simply incredible. Everything, everything Saban does in Alabama is news. Did he think he could pass out a few flyers in Bessemer and it wouldn’t at least make it to Birmingham, when reporters surprised by the coach stepping into politics would start investigating?
Since appearing to take a ridiculous amount of control over the Oregon sports programs — and doing some rather heinous things with the uniforms — Nike has been trying to spread its uni schizophrenia to the other universities in its stable. Last season featured the most egregious move, full helmet-to-shoes makeovers. The athletic wear behemoth made LSU look like Washington, did a predictably horrific job with Florida State and apparently the designers dropped acid before drawing up TCU’s outfits.
Even teams that have maintained traditional uniforms, Ohio State and Texas, were drawn into the mix. This year, horror of horrors, Nike has sunk its claws into Alabama.
The Nike Pro Combat uniform, with a newly engineered fabric that players favor for its light weight and moisture-wicking properties, debuted last season among a group of schools that did not include Alabama. But the different fabric type itself will be the primary change in Alabama’s 2010 version.
“Alabama officials were and are deeply committed to maintaining the look of the uniform,” said the source.
The appearance of the Nike Pro Combat Alabama uniform will remain largely unchanged, with a slight stylistic variation within the traditional look, and the color scheme will remain the same, according to the source.
Other schools contracted to wear the Pro Combat uniform this fall include West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Florida, Miami, Ohio State, Boise State, Texas Christian and Oregon State.
It’s good to hear that the people in power are trying to keep a lid on Nike from playing fast-and-loose with a uniform that has only had minor changes over the past 50 years. But, we’re antsy. The new end zone design, debuted at the 2009 spring game, is still taking some getting used to. Same with the previous design, which was brought in after the logo redesign. Maybe with the Nike boys and girls able to go wild with teams like Boise State, Oregon State and TCU, they’ll lay off on fiddling too much with the style.
You may remember former Alabama running back Glen Coffee running over the Clemson defense two years ago. Or Auburn at the end of the season, before it all went pear-shaped in the final two games of the year. Given the chance to leave early, he did, and appeared to be doing a decent job as the backup to San Francisco 49ers starter Frank Gore. But the man’s had it with the gridiron and is headed back to Tuscaloosa to complete his degree and then reassess his plans for the future.
“A lot of people aren’t going to understand and realize because they don’t have the wisdom to understand,” Coffee said. “Their eyes aren’t open like mine are open. True happiness is glorifying God and glorifying Christ. That’s what true happiness is. … And for me, that wasn’t the NFL. That wasn’t where I needed to be.”
A religious calling — or non-calling, as the situation may be — aside, it looks a little flaky. Evidently, there was a lot going on behind the scenes that no one knew about, or, since he was second-string behind one of the best backs in the league, no one was looking for. The reporters who were closer to Coffee when he was a star player seem to think, though, that it really is coming down do his faith.
People in Alabama also understood something about Coffee that people in San Francisco may have missed. He’d found religion in college.
In a December, 2008, article in Sharing the Victory – a Fellowship of Christian Athletes publication – Coffee wrote about growing up outside the church, about getting to Alabama and having some initial success but still feeling empty.
“Like nothing I did would amount to anything,” he wrote. “I never felt true joy. It was like, ‘Is this all the world has to offer?’”
He found something more and became a Christian. Didn’t stop him from playing football. Didn’t stop him from leading Alabama in rushing as a junior and becoming a third-round draft choice of the 49ers.
Good luck to him. It’s no use to stretch out time in the NFL chasing the dollar and giving up your body to harsh punishment when your heart isn’t in it.
Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath has been upping his Internet profile as of late, what with Facebook and Twitter and his new site, BroadwayJoe.tv. And naturally, we were only aware of this because of Wolfe père‘s Facebook activity — got to get your news about aging football greats from somewhere. One of the things Namath’s doing is posting videos with his pearls of wisdom regarding the New York Jets and Alabama. It just goes to show that when a player gets to that point in his life where he’s a fan (that is, a fan with an absurd amount of access), he’s got the same analysis we all have.
For instance, his discussion of the Tide’s chances this year comes down to:
1. The new starters on defense need to step up.
2. The players’ mindset needs to be right.
3. The offensive line needs to be solid.
You got it, Joe.
Sports Illustrated, spreading out the cover jinx, went back to the regional covers this year. Of course, last season it was a little more out-of-control, but unless we see something new, it looks like SI will settle with four covers this year, the top four teams in the poll. And being the top four, we begin with the best.
2. OHIO STATE
3. BOISE STATE
4. TEXAS
We’ve given a damn about the Heisman and the Maxwell trophies for a very few seasons — 1994 (Alabama WR/KR/RB/QB David Palmer), 1999 (Alabama RB Shaun Alexander) and 2009 (Alabama RB Mark Ingram). Only last season was a Tide player able to get to the foulest of the foul who decide which very young man is considered the best of major amateur football athletics. We’d say that Alexander should have won both, while Ingram should have been left off until this season, but that’s not here or there.
What matters is that Monday, the organization that gives out the Maxwell Award and the Chuck Bednarik Award — the Maxwell Football Club — just about admits that the top athlete will be an offensive player, restricting the Bednarik Award to only defensive players. Those in the college football blogosphere know that the keepers of the Heisman are right bastards when it comes to use of the name, so they discuss the Maxwell Award in its place.
In the last season, though, the Maxwell winner was Colt McCoy, the senior quarterback for Texas who got knocked out of the game by Huffman High School product Marcell Dareus. The Bednarik Award went to a guy who simply played on a team that — sniff, sniff — just wasn’t good enough, Ndamukong Suh.
The Maxwell Award has been presented to the outstanding collegiate football player in America since 1937 and is named in honor of sportswriter Robert W. “Tiny” Maxwell. The Chuck Bednarik Award has been presented to the nation’s top defensive player since 1995. Mr. Bednarik is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame 69′ and the NFL Hall of Fame 67′.
Colt McCoy of the University of Texas was the recipient of the 73rd Maxwell Award and Ndamukong Suh from the University of Nebraska was awarded the 15th Chuck Bednarik Award for their outstanding performances during the 2008 season. The two men were selected by the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions respectively in this April’s NFL Draft.
So, yeah.
Anyway, this year, the SEC/Clemson watch list looks thusly:
MAXWELL
Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
Julio Jones, WR, Alabama
Greg McElroy, QB, Alabama
Stephen Garcia, QB, South Carolina
Kyle Parker, QB, Clemson
John Brantley, QB, Florida
Jeff Demps, RB, Florida
Randall Cobb, WR, Kentucky
Washaun Ealey, RB, Georgia
A.J. Green, WR, Georgia
Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas
BEDNARIK
Marcell Dareus, DE, Alabama
Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama
Mark Barron, S, Alabama
Stephon Gilmore, CB, South Carolina
DeAndre McDaniel, S, Clemson
Ahmad Black, S, Florida
Josh Byrnes, LB, Auburn
Justin Houston, LB, Georgia
Pernell McPhee, DE, Mississippi State
Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU
Kelvin Sheppard, LB, LSU
Jerrell Powe, DT, Ole Miss
JerryDome. Cowboys Stadium, the new Texas Stadium, which led to the irrelevance of the old Dallas Cowboys venue and the movement of the Cotton Bowl from the actual Cotton Bowl to the massive stadium outside of Dallas. It’s quite a place. Something built by a man with a shit-ton of money who loves both professional and college football. Because the second the building went up, there were all sorts of interesting games being played out under the massive high-definition screen.
So, let’s go. In this situation, “2012″ isn’t a movie, it’s just two seasons from September. Word broke out on a blog we used to read (like, in 2005) before the proprietor became the foulest of Big Ten stereotypes, the douchebag, Brian Cook of MGoBlog.com. He said he had some hot-as-shit source telling him that Alabama and Michigan would be playing an opening season game at the JerryDome in 2012.
But apparently it is happening. The contract is being signed Monday. Which is tomorrow.
The following details are unconfirmed but of interest since they come from an established source:
- Game is happening because a desperate Jerry Jones “overpaid.”
- Michigan will be the nominal home team (important mostly for TV rights) and receive more money.
- There’s no additional game scheduled and there may not be.
- Jones might be well-positioned to provide some advice on HD scoreboards.
This comes with a set of crazy conflicting emotions. Hurray awesome nonconference game, boo that it’s in fricking Dallas in a corporate death star of an NFL stadium and not a home-and-home in Ann Arbor and Tuscaloosa. I guess that’s what it takes for a lot of actual nonconference games to get done these days, but awesomeness of trip to Dallas to see M play ‘Bama <<<<<< awesomeness of M-Bama home-and-home. On the other hand, awesomeness of M-Bama Dallas >>>>>>> awesomeness of M-BGSU anywhere.
[Note on sourcing: in this case I am going with one source, but he is a very established one.]
Yeah. Not so sure about that. Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore, who just recently received a contract extension, puts the situation as a “maybe.” Perhaps the Wolverines are so hungry to get into the Southeastern Conference and Big XII Conference recruiting sphere that they want it to look better than it does. Yet, there’s just as good of a chance that Bama might play an opening season game in two years in Jacksonville.
So will Alabama open its 2012 college football season with a game against Michigan at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
“We’ve talked about several teams,” Alabama athletics director Mal Moore said this morning, “but nothing’s done.”
That was all he had to say about reports that a deal to match the two traditional powers at a neutral site was in the works.
