Last night Deb and I went to the Auburn vs Alabama State mens basketball game, which always turns out to be a great game. Deb took her knitting to see if she could get Aubie to pose with her and her knitting and Aubie was more than happy to do that and then some. It was great fun and Auburn did pull out a win in the last few minutes of the game.
So this is basically old news now, Gene Chizik is now the new Auburn Tigers head coach we have all been waiting on now for about 2 weeks. I almost felt obligated to post something about the new head coach living here in Auburn, after all, how often do we welcome a new head coach for the football program (that was a rhetorical question only). It didn’t even take a rumor from ESPN to start the endless grumblings and he even had people how up at the airport for his arrival, and not in the same way Nick Saban was greeted by Alabama fans (though he really does seem popular with the players and coaches). I was totally willing to give the guy a chance and let him actually land in Auburn before nailing him to a cross. He was the defensive coordinator for Auburn (and a popular one), was part of the undefeated team, won a national championship at Texas, then… Iowa.
How hot was and is this topic. Well according to Google, “volcanic“, and this was on a night that was competing with the Heisman Trophy of all things. Several times within the 12 hours before and after he hit the #1 search term on google (and I am not sure how much higher you can go on google as far as hot topics than volcano), and after a full 24 hours of the news he is still sitting at #7. To bad google hot topic trends doesn’t count in the BCS rankings. Of course, that really tells me that a whole bunch of people had never heard of Chizik and had no idea who Auburn had just named to be the next head coach.
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I really hope he doesn’t read a lot of blogs and online media. I started looking around at the usual suspects and the overall negative tone was deafening. Really my only question is if Chizik is the person to lead Auburn football back to a National Championship (it has been over 50 years of course). Auburn football should be up in the top tier of NCAA football teams right up there with Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Penn State, and of course Alabama. So why did we not go get the biggest name that money could buy?
Maybe money really doesn’t buy happiness, or 12 wins and a National Championship (just ask Alabama, they came real close). Auburn had to pay about $750,000 to buy Chizik out of Iowa State, and apparently Iowa State is basically thanking Auburn for taking him off their hands. Now really, I know he didn’t win a game in the big 12 but what kind of recruits can you get in Iowa State when you have to compete with Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, and the big Nebraska? Still, he has landed in Auburn and he will be the next head coach. If Auburn wins football games next year everyone will sing Jay Jacobs praises, but the Auburn fan base expects wins, and not just five.
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I am willing to trust the higher ups at Auburn and give Chizik the chance Auburn is willing to take. He appreantly visited our church when he was living here as the defensive coordinator, so maybe he will come join us for worship again. I know he will be welcomed the same as anyone else on Sunday mornings. We can all have an opinion but no one at Auburn wants to win football games more than the kids, the coaches, and the University itself. I have to think that somehow, they think this will be the way to do it come the fall of 2009. Hopefully he and his family can withstand the pressure until that first kickoff game in 2009, it is a long way off.
If there is one place where the Church should be involved and actively participating is helping those who need help. I had a chance to visit the operation area of the Auburn United Methodist Church food bank on Thursday and they were preparing to give away 500 turkey dinners, 800 bags of fresh corn, milk, eggs, potatoes, and everything else you see in the boxes in the photos below.
I snapped this one shot with my phone on my way out, it was really neat to see this many meals lined up, but also a reminder of how many people were going to be here on Friday to pick up these boxes. If you ever want to help out AUMC does this every Friday, I am sure they would love to have help boxing things up even when it is not Thanksgiving.
Last night was the grand finale of sorts for Encounter with Grace Campus Ministries. There is one more left but they had everyone come last night to what turned out to be an incredible night of music, worship, and reflecting. Brett Younker joined the band last night to lead a few songs with Daniel Bashta (who just got back from China two days ago) and the two together were great. Brett led worship last year and for several years prior to this year and many people told me how great it was to see him back in Auburn.
Here are a few of my favorites shots of Brett from last night.
I got back the last of my expired rolls yesterday. This time it was on the Kodak BW400 (consumer version, not professional grade) film that was also about 5 years old. The grain is pretty significant and the scans are not all that great as far as color correction goes, but then again, for 5 year old expired film, it’s not bad.
This first shot was out my front door during a tornatic rain storm we had just a few days ago. Hard to believe it was 75* with thunder, rain, wind, etc and yesterday it was below freezing. I like this particular shot, the grain of the age of the film is covered up by the image itself. The Auburn Basketball game was from last week, not 50 years ago. You can see Jeff Lebo on the sidelines among other current Auburn Basketball players.
The game was much better than I would guess many expected, but Auburn had a chance to win the game at the end with 15 seconds to go on the 14 yard line with 3 plays to punch it in and just couldn’t do it (see AP story). No help from the refs in this game and all there is left of the 2008 season is the Auburn vs Alabama game on November 29th.
Here are some of the photos from the game today. I am in the process of uploading the remainder to my gallery. You can check the Auburn vs Georgia 2008 gallery later today and it should be completed some time tonight. In the mean time, here are 4 photos from today’s game vs Georgia. The one shot below is Mario Fannin scoring the first touchdown of the game as he dives into the endzone.
It seemed like a long season this year, and at this point the program can probably use a break. I hope to see Tommy Tubberville back next year but this was a tough season for any coach.
Today was Auburn’s opening day game in men’s basketball. Final score was 75-60 and a win against Missouri State. The Auburn basketball team looked good and Deb and I had a nice evening out. Our Friday Feet photo this week is from Mike & Ed’s Barbecue in Auburn. If you are ever in the Auburn area give them a try, great BBQ (pork or chicken), one of many in the Auburn/Opelika area.
Today Auburn finally ended up with a win after 4 straight losses starting with Vanderbilt back on October 4th and ending with Mississippi last week. The weather was great and the game moved along nicely since it was not on TV this time. No “red hat” referee was even on the field which was nice and the pre-game and homecoming festivities were enjoyable as well.
This week was the Ag Roundup in Ag Heritage Park where Auburn showcased the Auburn University Mobile Gasification Unit which converts wood chips and woody biomass into electricity (see more at the NRMDI website or their blog) and they also offered up some great southern food at the Taste of Alabama.
Below are some of the photos I took throughout the day. You can see more of the photos from today at the Auburn vs Tennessee Martin gallery. (Sorry for those who are not on DSL here). Most of the day was spent in the sun (the North endzone will do that) but it was not so hot you couldn’t stand it like previous day games. I was able to get some pretty good shots of the band this week. The Auburn band is usually pretty accessible and this week was no different. So for those band mom’s out there, just click on the gallery above to see more like the ones below.
The next two weeks will probably prove to be very difficult for Auburn. All we have left in the season is Georgia, who always seems to be able to win in Auburn no matter what kind of season we are having, and of course the Auburn vs Alabama game on November 29th in Tuscaloosa. I am sure all those Bama fans are licking their chops at this point. For them, I would hate to get over confident and loose out on a national championship birth by loosing to Auburn but stranger things can happen.
It is still Friday at the moment, so I didn’t miss my Friday feet post, just came later in the day this time. Tonight Deb and I went to the opening game of the 2008-2009 basketball season here in Auburn. It was a long day and it was nice to sit down for a few minutes and watch a game. Below are a few shots from the game tonight against Morehouse College.
If you haven’t heard yet Encounter only has a few more nights in Auburn before the ministry moves to Hong Kong. If you haven’t been out to the student activities building on the Auburn campus to participate with Grace Campus Ministries you have about two more chances. This coming Monday and the Thursday about 10 days later on November 20th. Below are a few shots I took this past Monday.
This semester has been a completely new challenge to me to find new ways to shoot in almost complete darkness while the band performs. For the past several months I had tried to get a shot of the drums but (by design) the drums sit in almost pure darkness. I was finally able to grab a shot as the sticks flailed through an led light on the other side of the stage.
Daniel Bashta, the worship leader, (who happens to be in Shanghai China right now) gives great meaning to the thoughts of intense worship. I love capturing Daniel’s eyes as he plays for his Lord. Many times I watch and know that he probably feels like he is in a room by himself and God having a conversation. I have really enjoyed getting to know Daniel and his wife the past several months.
If you are around the Auburn area, come by campus next Monday night.
on I Have Now Joined the Ranks of Church IT?
