We have good blogs already on politics by Jennifer Foster, high school sports by David Morrison and Auburn University sports by Andrew Gribble. This blog about whatever the heck I feel about blogging about never had a real direction, or perhaps its lack of direction made it interesting. I don’t know. Writing about goofy things is fun, but I’m not sure how appealing it was. Instead, I’d rather attempt to appeal to a target audience. I may right about goofy things every now and then cuz that’s just how I am.

Until then, just know you’re always safe in the fairway when I’m in the tee box.

Here is the letter:

This is to inform you I plan to step down from the Opelika Dixie Youth Baseball Board of Directors effective with the date of this letter. (September 7, 2009).

Guy Rhodes

I strongly dislike wearing ties. I have some nice ones. Black and grey. Orange and black. Blue. Red. Looney Tunes, etc.

But I can’t stand the feeling of these decorative neck pieces flopping on my chest all day. They serve no real purpose other than some symbol that supposedly cries “hey, I look nice.“ Fine. Look nice with an $8 tie from an inexpensive, giant retailer. Wow. I’m impressed.

But here I am, with my tie, looking what some people believe is nice. I can look dang nice in an $80 golf shirt too. I feel stuffy, impersonal in a tie. Without one in a nice button down shirt I feel much looser and actually feel like I look more attractive not that it really matters at my oppressive age.

Ties bother me. They get in the way. When I put my seat belt on, the belt wraps over the tie and make me feel even more restricted than I was before. If I pull the tie out over the belt, then it eventually gets caught in the seat belt when I put the car in park and take the belt off. Great, I might hang myself in my Ford, trying to untie this cloth contraption decorated with Speedy Gonzalez.

I look ridiculous too. I’m not a professional tie-putter-onner. It takes about 20 minutes of my morning just to finally get the multi-colored handkerchief thing around my neck. Of course it’s not done right. The big side hangs one way, the smaller underside flops the other way and I look like Colonel Sanders. Yeah. But I look nice, right?

Ever get a tie caught in a power vaccuum when trying to clean out your car? Their hazardous too. I believe if I keep wearing ties they will one day kill me. Colonel Sanders wore a tie and he’s dead. See.

Set me free. Please set me free.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/aware/fall_severe_awareness09.php

Why is Todd the QB? From what I’ve seen over the past two years, he has a greater grasp of the offense than Kodi Burns and his passes have been more accurate than Burns. His passes the last two games were well off the mark, however. No arguing that. I thought Burns had his audition last year and he impressed me more when he ran than when he passed. The dude’s got wheels. He could be a dual threat if his accuracy was better, like Steve Young or Michael Vick. It seemed that Burns overthrows receivers. He’s got a cannon for an arm, that’s for sure. One thing I like about watching Burns is it appears he’s really having fun on the football field, much like Carnell Williams. He loves the game.

I don’t believe either quarterback is All-SEC caliber and quarterback play has been an issue since Brandon Cox’s senior year.

But the race card? Last I checked, Auburn has an outstanding record of black quarterbacks. Pat Washington helped Auburn to the Cotton Bowl in 1985. Reggie Slack was outstanding from 1988-89 and helped the Tigers to two SEC titles. Remember Dameyune Craig? Probably the best dual-threat QB on the Plains. He quarterbacked Auburn to the SEC crown in 1997 with monster numbers. Jason Campbell was a work in progress, but once he took charge and proved to the world that he could be the man behind center, the job was his for three years.

And then there’s Tyrick Rollison, the redshirt freshman. If race is an issue at Auburn, then the coaches would not have made such a recruiting push for him last winter. He appears to be the program’s quarterback of the future. At least it appears he’s being molded as such.

Football coaches want to win games, period. They do not care if a quarterback is black, white, purple or green with yellow polka dots. They will play the QB they believe gives them the best chance to win. They know their jobs are on the line. If they play the wrong quarterback, then I would say that fault lies more on a poor judge of talent rather than anything else.

Play the race card for something meaningful in life like unfair taxation or job discrimination. Football is a game.

THE GAME WILL KICK OFF AT 11:21 A.M.

That’s right. A nightmare under the sun.

There’s still time to re-launch this gimmick with a new, fun one. Since it’s Halloween, why not encourage fans—namely the kids—to wear their costumes to the game and dub the event Jordan-Scare Stadium? Why not a pre-game costume contest with the top three presented on the Jumbo Tron for the final voting to be made by fan applause? Oh well. I’m not a marketing guru. I just work at the O-A News.

I also wonder how many Halloween-ish puns or catch phrases will be over-used in Sunday morning game stories from sports writers and folks making headlines. I look forward to seeing them.

Less cold—and that makes it worthwhile.

Did I mention it was cold? 48 degrees and windy at 5:45 p.m. according to the folks at the National Weather Service. That’s really freaky cuz it’s Oct. 17. It was summer just, like, yesterday. And now we’re playing football in an ice box.

Oh well, it wouldn’t be an Auburn football game if Mother Nature wasn’t involved. The West Virginia game saw Biblical rainfall. The Ball State game saw a lightning storm. Tonight, it’s Siberia. Maybe the Ole Miss game on Halloween will bring a volcanic eruption.

Anyway, this has got to be the COLDEST October game I can remember. I believe Auburn played Arkansas in the snow back in 1993 in Fayetteville, Ark., but I wasn’t there so I can’t vouch for it.

So what are the coldest Auburn football games I’ve covered? I’ll try to spit out a few off the top of my head.

* 1996 AU-Georgia was brutal. The game lasted four overtimes after regulation, so 87,000 folks suffered hypothermia together.

* 2000 AU at Alabama brought sleet, wind, rain, and 38 degree temps at kickoff. I had to write my stories from the Bryant-Denny Stadium press box kitchen to keep warm.

* 2002 AU-Georgia wasn’t as cold as 1996, but the darn wind made it feel like it. It’s hard to take notes when you can’t move your fingers.

* 1995 AU-Alabama. Huddled with strangers near the sideline at the end.

I probably missed one or two. But all of the cold games were in November, like they should be. Tonight’s Arctic blast, however, is freaky. I ain’t standing on the sidelines at the end of tonight’s game. No, sir. I’m headed straight to the warmth of the interview room. If something meaningful happens, I’ll see it on the TVs there.

I suppose the gimmick urging Auburn fans to don navy colors to the Oct. 31 game against Ole Miss another way to foster school spirit (and purchase navy Auburn shirts solely for this game), but I’ve got a raised eyebrow. Ole Miss colors are navy and red. I suppose the Rebel fans could get lost in the sea of navy, but what if they choose to wear red?

Nightmare? I can assume this game will be played under the lights, but that announcement has not yet been made. What if it’s a daytime game? Then the nightmare gimmick is lost. Since it’s a pretty big game, I do believe, however, it will be played at night.

And since the game is on Halloween (wouldn’t orange be a more appropriate Halloween color?), why not a more fun promotion? Why not encourage fans to dress in a more seasonal garb, wearing masks, costumes, etc., and call the event Jordan-Scare Stadium (with no offense to Cliff Hare)? It could be a four-hour costume party. Maybe AU defensive coordinator Ted Roof will disguise coverage schemes. My kid will wear a mask because he said he wants to. AU is not imposing its will upon that little monster.

Mike Thomas will be difficult to replace. Below is the full text of his letter sent to friends and colleagues within the program:

Dear Dixie Youth Family,

Mike

NASCAR’s inaugural Hall of Fame class was released Wednesday with some scrutiny, but scrutiny always seems to follow polls and elections anyway. The group consisted of Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Bill France Sr., and Bill France Jr. Not a bad group, obviously. Each were major contributors to the growth and prosperity of the sport.

But if I were voting ... here’s my top five in no particular order: Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr., Junior Johnson and David Pearson. The difference in my five and the inaugural class is Pearson and France Jr. Nothing against the Frances, but I’d prefer to see one NASCAR czar enshrined at a time instead of taking up 40 percent of the class. Big Bill had his era and get inducted first. His son followed with growth in the 80s and 90s. Let him get inducted in the second class.

David Pearson is the only driver besides Richard Petty to amass more than 100 wins (105). I’m not sure if he wasn’t better than Petty or Earnhardt.

So with the first class chosen, here’s how I would vote the 2010 class (not that NASCAR will ask): Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Lee Petty. If Waltrip is inducted next year, I hope the man doesn’t ham it up and grab all of the attention. The spotlight should fall on five winners, not one.