celebrity sightings

Pre-race in the Talladega garage area is ripe for celebrity sightings.
In my times here I’ve met quite a few - Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Ron White are just a few that come to mind.
Today was no different as I strolled with good friend Rachel Baribeau, a radio personality in Columbus, Ga.
Heading into the gate I realized I was directly behind American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. Rachel and Taylor go way back, so we stopped and spoke with him for a bit.
Later in our walk we ran into Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville.
Again, Rachel was the one to crank the conversation up, sharing a hug with the coach.
Tubs then looked at me and gave a friendly, “Hey boy”.
Not being sure if Tuberville actually knew who I was seeing as I’m not one of the Auburn beat writers, I introduced myself. Before I could finish he came back with, “Oh, I know.“
There were several other celebs in the garage, but apparently Rachel and I were in the minority who had no idea who we were looking at.
You can always tell the celebs…..they’re the ones with a throng of people around taking pictures and grabbing quick autographs.
Right now we’re looking at 10:50 a.m. The driver’s meeting starts at 11 so I’m off to the building next door to catch that.
Following the meeting, Tony Stewart is expected to “officiate” a psuedo tennis match between several writers on the big Talladega logo in front of the media center. Should be entertaining.

Back in Talladega

My eyes are burning and my legs are numb. Us sportswriters don’t normally do the early morning thing, and jumping in the shower at 4 a.m. to get on the road by 5 a.m. is….well…...pretty darn early.
But hey, I get to cover Talladega. What more could you ask for, right?
As I write this blog, I sit in the infield media center of Talladega Superspeedway. It’s the same media center I’ve been to many times before - also the same center actor Will Ferrell joked about on his return to Talladega after filming the movie Talladega Nights…“nice wood panelling”.
We’re hoping for some good racing today if mother nature will cooperate. Apparently she already did a number on the track area in the night time hours as it apparently poured down for some time, leaving everything in the area soaked.
It’s 7:52 and I’m among just a handful of reporters hanging out. I’ve got writers for vehicle companies over my right shoulder sharing stories. One guy even discussed how Tony Stewart has challenged him to a tennis game for charity.
Anywho, it’s time to make my rounds through the garage area and see what cookin’ outside.
More in the blog will come as the day progresses.

Saturday, what a day

Lots going on today.

The biggest on most minds is, of course, the NFL draft, which is starting about three hours from now.

I’m not sure there’s ever been a draft with this much uncertainty across the board. O-A News AU beat writer Collin Mickle and I were discussing yesterday the lack of star power and can’t-miss prospect in this year’s draft, and we both agreed that Darren McFadden, Jake Long (who’s already signed with the Dolphins as the No. 1 pick), Chris Long and Glenn Dorsey were the only can’t-miss players in the draft.

A decade or so ago there would’ve been a ton of movement, and there still may be, but in years where there aren’t a whole lot of stars teams usually try to trade down. Unfortunately for those teams picking near the top, only a couple of teams actually want to trade up this year thanks to what some call antiquated notions of the value of draft picks (as ESPN the Magazine did a decent job of illustrating in this story.

I personally can’t see how you let talents like McFadden and Dorsey slip down, but then I guess that’s why I’m not running an NFL franchise.

Wanted to say more, but have to get ready. I’m taking the family to CityFest. I hope they have hot dogs.

Late night rambling

A few thoughts before I watch Lost (God bless DVR) and go to bed.

I caught the tail end of the Jazz-Rockets game tonight, which was probably the second-best game of the NBA playoffs so far (Nothing, of course, could top the Spurs-Suns game that none of us got to see because of some home giveaway, but I digress).

The Rockets took a dramatic win to pull within 2-1 in the series.

The Western Conference playoffs have been pretty amazing thus far in that even the games that haven’t been close have been wildly entertaining, and the Eastern Conference hasn’t been terrible.

It’s an exciting time to be an NBA fan, what few there are left. I was a dormant one for a decade or so but hopped firmly back on the bandwagon this year (there are many things I’m not, but a frontrunner isn’t one of them). It’ll be interesting to see if the NBA can start building a strong fanbase again.

A Celtics-Lakers finals would certainly help, but I kind of see Utah or New Orleans coming out of the West to meet Boston.

Here in East Alabama there are plenty of happenings.

Opelika will travel to face Satsuma in the second round of the AHSAA Baseball Playoffs today. I like the Bulldogs’ chances in this one. With their strong pitching staff, I can’t really see very many teams being able to beat them two out of three times.

Tallassee, however, has a much taller order at St. Paul’s. The Saints are always a strong baseball team, and the Tigers will have their hands full getting out of Mobile alive.

Springwood will also host Meadowview Academy of Selma in the AISA first round. That should be a barnburner between two fairly strong teams.

And, of course, there will be some baseball series over in Tuscaloosa. I honestly have no idea how that one could go (I could see either team sweeping or taking two-of-three).

Back at reasonable hours with more thoughts. Time to get reacquainted with Jack, Locke and Sawyer (belated thanks for ending the strike, Writer’s Guild).

Hello

You don’t see my name much around here, and with good reason - I’m a lousy writer.

I’m the guy who puts the sports section together each day, and with all that going through the AP Wire and reading our stuff I wind up with plenty to talk about, and nowhere to share it.

Well now management, against its better judgment, has given me a blog.

Since I’m not out on the beat at Auburn or around the high schools in our area, I won’t be saying a whole lot about those.

But, being the only Alabama native on the O-A News sports staff, I do know a bit about what’s happening and will chime in when I can.

This blog will largely be devoted to college football once the season comes around, and I’ll come in with the occasional not nearly as informed opinion on other matters throughout the course of the year.

I’ll try to update once or twice a day with something. Hope you enjoy.