Not Sure Why a Brit is an Alabama Fan, but Why Not?

Roll Tide peace and love 😎✌️🌟💖☯🎶☮ pic.twitter.com/R6bb9Uecin

— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) December 31, 2016

University of Alabama Football

It was one of the greatest college games of all time: the University of Alabama beat Clemson Monday night to win the national championship.

It was college football at its best, with two well-matched, immensely talented and splendidly coached teams fighting it out to almost the last second.

The pundits gave a lot of credit to Nick Sabin. According to the Los Angeles Times:

Early in the fourth quarter of a deadlocked Southern dust-up Monday night, Alabama’s stoic boss man lost his mind.

He ordered his team to attempt to kick the football to itself.

The game was tied, a college football championship was at stake, and Alabama’s curled-lip curmudgeon decided this was the perfect time to play a trick.

An onside kick? Really? Really.

The Alabama popup was perfect, the Clemson kids were perfectly fooled, the ball was recovered by Alabama, the momentum was lost by Clemson, and Alabama stunningly blew open a tie into a 45-40 victory in the College Football Playoff championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Before describing how the Crimson Tide ultimately washed over an inspirationally game group of Clemson Tigers — who fought the inevitable down to the last dozen seconds — can we just get this game’s most compelling takeaway first?

Nick Saban is now the best coach in college football history.

Alabama, used to dominating with rather conventional football, was not dominating against Clemson. Sabin explained:

“When the other team squeezes the formation like that, we call the ‘pop kick,’” Saban said. “I made the decision to do it because the score was [24-24] and we were getting tired on defense, and if we didn’t do something to take a chance and change the momentum of the game, we wouldn’t have a chance to win.”

That it worked so well was not a fluke. Alabama players had been practicing it. Saban’s teams are prepared.

Clemson Coach

Folks in Alabama can be happy for a multitude of reasons, one of them being that the coach of opposing Clemson, which played brilliantly all season and brilliantly against Alabama, is a native of their state. As ESPN put it, “Dabo Swinney overcame pain and poverty to be on the cusp of history.” Swinny actually played for the Crimson Tide in the early 1990s, although he was far from a star player. But he must have learned some important lessons. And he must have learned a good many since.

And Saban and Swinney are good buddies, who respect each other and have learned from each other. Indeed, the older and much more experienced Saban insists he continues to learn from younger coaches.


This is as good as college football gets.

Heisman Winner Derrick Henry on Faith

From the Christian Post:

After winning college football’s most prestigious award Saturday night, University of Alabama running back Derrick Henry praised God and advised aspiring young athletes to keep God first while pursuing their dreams.

The 21-year-old Henry, who set a new Southeastern Conference record for nearly 2,000 rushing yards this season as a junior, fulfilled what he called a “lifelong dream” when he was named the 2015 winner of the Heisman Trophy in New York City on Saturday.

“First off, I just want to thank God for bringing me here and winning the prestigious award,” Henry, who scored 23 touchdowns this season, said during his acceptance speech. “He’s been so good to me in my life and I have been honored and blessed with this opportunity. Since I was a kid, it has been my lifelong goal and a dream of mine. I am just so thankful.”

After thanking his mother and father, Henry then thanked his grandmother, who he says helped to make him into a man and taught him the importance of keeping God at the center of his life.

“My grandmother, the woman who made me into the man I am today, I want to thank you so much,” Henry exclaimed. “Even though you couldn’t be here, I feel you in spirit and I love you so much. You made me into who I am today — hard work, dedication and just doing what I wanted to do. You always told me to keep God first and pray that I always make it far. I just want to thank you and let you know that I love you and that I am praying for you.”

The Florida native then thanked his teammates, brothers, other family members and his college and high school coaches for helping him to get to this point. After going through his list of acknowledgments, Henry then turned his attention to the children listening to him.

“I just want to talk to the kids who are watching this TV and listening to me today. I just want to give you all advice. I am hoping that I am somebody you can idolize yourself behind and look up to because God is everything and always keep God first,” Henry urged. “Always pray; don’t be afraid to pray. He always hears you cry. If you have dreams, chase them. If you believe it, you can achieve it and God will be there every step of the way. I am a living testament, man.”

Henry then explained that he gets on his hands and knees every night to pray.

Such attitudes will be sneered at in certain quarters, but not in Alabama, not among black people, not in the NFL and certainly not among fans of the Crimson Tide. In other words, not among the people who matter.

Politically Incorrect to Call a Beauty Queen . . . Beautiful

The BCS college championship game was such a blowout that the only interesting storyline has to be something other than the game, and ESPN announcer Brent Musburger provided it.

(NEWSER) – If you haven’t heard the name Katherine Webb today, you missed a lesson in instant celebrity-making. Webb, also known as Miss Alabama, is the girlfriend of Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron, whose team won the BCS title last night. But Webb’s celebrity turn began early in the game when ESPN cameras found her:

Brent Musburger: “Wow, I’m telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women,” the 73-year-old announcer said. “What a beautiful woman. Wow!” The cameras went back to her again and again as her Twitter following grew.

ESPN: “We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that.”

Webb: “It was kind of nice,” she tells AP. “I didn’t look at it as creepy at all. For a woman to be called beautiful, I don’t see how that’s an issue.”

Twitter: As of this evening, the 23-year-old Webb had more than 180,000 followers. She had a few hundred before the game.

So the politically correct prudes found Musburger’s comment “went too far,” but the woman who was the object of the comment — the only person in the world with any standing to be offended — didn’t mind being called beautiful.

So she’s not only drop-dead gorgeous, she’s a very sensible lady.

Feminists, eat your hearts out.