AURex

Coming up -- The Orange Bowl is aptly named Tennessee vs Clemson Friday night.

So, the result of yesterday's bowl games featuring SEC teams -- Arkansas 55, Kansas 53 Texas Tech 42, Ole Miss 25 And for those still interested in Bo, Oregon pulled it outta their arse with a 28-27 win over UNC. An excellent game. Fun to watch. And Duke beat the scrambling Malzahns 30-13.

Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, NASTY UGLY !!! I'm switching over to the Oregon vs UNC football game. I'll check back periodically to see if the Tigers find something, anything, to win this game AT HOME against this mediocre Florida bunch. What an embarrassing first half. I hope CBP whips their ass to get their attention.

hahaha .... laughing at the "insiders" who first gave us Heard, then gave us Peeler. Once again, they are SO informative. Which is why I ignore all the speculation about coaching hires and recruiting. Tell me who signs on the contract line. Can Davis deliver? Well, as with all the rest of Freeze's hires, We. Shall. See.

Let's be clear. Twitter is a *privately* held company owned by Elon Musk. He can allow (or disallow) most anything he wants on his social media site, just as Trump can do on his Truth Social site, so long as it does not cross certain red lines. The legal definition of "censorship" applies only to government curtailing the speech of individuals or groups. Musk (Twitter) can block anyone for any reason. Period. Musk's idea of "free speech" is not absolute. Historically (upheld by the Supreme Court) some speech is not protected. That includes speech that incites revolution or insurrection against government, or speech that threatens the lives of individuals or groups, or hate speech in violent crime, etc. But he can bellow about "free speech" while still firing employees and blocking Twitter accounts that mention anything he disagrees with. It's not "censorship," it's just blatant hypocrisy. He does not believe in "free speech" at all. He just supports speech that he likes and nukes speech he doesn't like. That's his notion of "free speech." hahahaha

Wifey and I got our latest Moderna booster a couple of weeks ago. Neither of us had any adverse symptoms other than some soreness in the arm. The reason we did was because those vaccinated have much less severe symptoms if they do contract COVID, and unvaccinated people are hospitalized and die at a much higher rate. Since we are in that "seniors" category, we get our vaccinations -- flu, shingles, pneumonia, and COVID. If we were younger or had kids around, that would also include mumps, because DAMMM, mumps as an adult! No thank you!

I went to high school in Huntsville, then to Auburn for BA and stuck around working for the university for a few more years, but then all over our wonderful country for 25 years before landing back in Huntsville for a few. Now in Knoxville, but my brother still lives in Huntsville and I still do contract work for a Huntsville org, so I get there periodically. The advantage of Knoxville over Huntsville metro (an intentional choice) -- no tornadoes or severe storms. Oh, and more cultural stuff going on. I like having actual seasons, which Auburn doesn't. I definitely do not miss the winters of the Midwest or the heat/humidity of Houston summers. I actually like the light snowfalls and chilly weather around the holidays because I enjoy lighting a fire in the fireplace, cooking up a pot of veggie beef soup and cornbread, spinning some music on the turntable, and having Christmas decorations in a winter setting. As a kid, it was weird celebrating Christmas in Hawaii (I was an Army brat). I have clear memories of Christmas Day at Waikiki Beach. Um ... no snowmen to be found and Santa in a tropical shirt. hahaha

Okay, I was born and raised in warmer areas of the country. Over the years after leaving Auburn, I've suffered the absolutely brutal winters of Illinois, the nearly as bad winters of northern Kentucky, the kind-yet-real-winters of New York and Colorado. Well, yes, I'm back in the South, but it's still cold. And it has been snowing here for 8 hours. For 3 nights -- Christmas Eve, Christmas night, and tonight -- I've had a roaring fire in the fireplace. Wifey is freaking about the koi pond being frozen over. But ya know, after the winter hell of Illinois and heavy snows of NY, having a touch of real winter is AOK with me. That said, I'm not getting out on the roads, because 99% of the people here are clueless about driving on winter roads. Stay Safe, Stay Warm my friends!

Because of this episode, watched then and by so many other people over the years, most people (especially urbanites) really believe that turkeys cannot fly. Of course, anyone familiar with these birds in the wild knows that turkeys do fly. I've got a flock of around 50 living in the woods behind my house. They love to fly up on my roof, up into the trees surrounding my home, and of course roost. Apparently, Les got his birds from a breeder. hahaha

Well, ya know, happy happy happy .....

So far, given the short recruiting window since he arrived, he and his assistants have really done a great job recruiting. IMO, Early NSD was a great success after the hole the Harsin club dug him into. I'm also giving him a pass on all the buddies he's hired as assistant coaches. The Harsin Boise crew sucked big donkey b*lls. We haven't sen any actual productivity yet from the Freeze hires and won't until next season, but I'm hoping his staff can succeed. So, as per my original post -- I'm optimistic.

So, let me try to understand this. You go to Africa with the sole purpose being to kill animals. Job #1 = kill animals. You dispose of the dead animals by depositing the carcasses with locals. Thus they get some protein in their diet. Have I got this right so far? Despite all your lengthy rambling justifications, it all boils down to a couple of simple truths. 1. You are ending the lives of animals that were getting along just fine until you decided to kill them 2. You dispose of the carcasses by dumping them with locals, who apparently are incapable of doing their own hunting so they need you to do it for them I am not anti-hunting. I am totally supportive of hunting for sustenance -- hunting to live. Simply killing animals for sport (or some psychological motivation for "bang-bang, let's kill living breathing creatures") and then trying to justify it by "I gave the animals I slaughtered to locals" is just a vapid attempt at rationalization. Face reality. You went to Africa to kill animals because you get a real orgasmic kick out of killing. You have a litany of "explanations" why this is okay. But it doesn't change anything. You went there to kill animals. Not for personal sustenance. Just to have fun killing animals. Did I miss anything here?

Given the short amount of time the new coaching staff have had to work with and the hole Harsin dug us into, this is really an impressive ESD. I'm optimistic that they can pull some studs from the portal now.

Biggest surprise? A 5 star recruit at any position. NOTE: I am not antifreeze. I'm eager to see what he might do with what we got and who he can find to come and play for Auburn. But a 5 star? He hasn't been at work here long enough to cultivate that level of talent. So, if he lands a 5, I'll be surprised and mighty impressed.

I've been working in the field of child abuse and trafficking for 15 years. Give me a link to a cabal or some reputable source showing us a cabal. Waiting!

I'm just looking at the posts prior to mine saying CHF is recruiting him as a WR. I'm just trying to understand the excitement.

Great! Love recruits and this is (one of many) team positions needing re-enforcements. Waiting for the 5 star flips because ....... CHF. Everyone saying CHF is magic.

But why is he so special as a WR, which reports say CHF wants him to play? Just because he's 6'5"? I'm just asking, not criticizing the recruitment.

Well, I understand his priorities. He knew he was losing Jabari and Kessler, so he really needed to find some interior guys who could compete. And Westry seemed like a good get for outside play. Plus, I'm sure he expected Flanigan to rebound from his injury and play like the NBA-bound kid expected from his frosh year. Well, Broome has come through, but nobody else has shown any consistency. Broome has delivered. Westry has not so far, but he has an upside. I'm thinking that CBP expects Broome and other inside players to be around next year. And he is hitting the recruiting circuit hard. I'm not optimistic about this year, but I'm optimistic about the future with CBP.

Okay, it's good to have recruits. And I'm not dissing on Fairweather. I'm sure he's a good, upstanding guy who works hard. But I'm not sure why all the loud bluster. He was ranked (247) as the 2,552 player, 338 in Florida, the 119 TE. He's 6'5 and 210 lbs - small for a TE. So some here say Freeze wants him as a WR, but has he actually played at WR? I'm not dissing him, I just don't know him. Tell me what is special about him and why we should be really excited about his commitment to Auburn.

Problem is, CBP currently has no real alternatives for guard play. And by now, all opponents know that they can just collapse inside and let Auburn's outside guys shoot, because they can't sink shots. CBP knows this, which is why he keeps talking about the necessity of playing tough defense. But when Tiger turnovers are double the opponent's, it is obvious that ain't happening either. Tough situation for CBP.

Auburn went into this game favored, but our Tigers are just not a good team right now. Wendell was 0-4 from the floor with 2 points and 3 turnovers, K.D. was 0-5 with 6 turnovers, Moore was 0-1, Flanigan was 3-8 with 3 turnovers, Westry did not score but had 3 turnovers .... Once again, Jonni Broome carried the load -- 7-8 from the floor with 2 blocks, but 4 turnovers. Tre also contributed 4-8 from the floor, 2-4 from 3, with 4 steals and 2 turnovers. Did I mention turnovers? Auburn had 23 turnovers, USC had 12. Not exactly a stout defensive performance by our Tigers. Auburn will drop out of the Top 25 now. CBP has work to do.

True, they finished 9-3, but lost to USC, Utah and UDub. Maybe "also ran" was not the best choice of words, but they were certainly not an elite team. Florida beat a much better Utah team, only to crumble during the season. I've read that a lot of Florida fans are questioning whether Napier was such a good hire. Personally, I don't care if Florida loses every game. I just didn't expect them to be shut down and for all intents and purposes, shut out by a PAC12 team. I expected Florida to, at least, play decent defense and make more that 2 yards on offense in the second quarter.

RAH! RAH! This would surely be a good get for our Tigers. Now if CHF can just find the right QB to sling it to him -- and an OL to at least delay defenses from crushing the QB long enough for him to break.