[Belated] Sunday Hangover: Bye Week

With the Nasty family running the Hot Chocolate Run 5K in Chicago Sunday morning, driving back to Charleston afterward, and then watching the Cubs finally win a game of the World Series in Wrigley, I forgot about posting my so-called thoughts about the bye week. 

I'm concerned about how well Auburn is doing. I hope Georgia can get it together to defeat them in two weeks. 

But it's been a tough season so far for new coach and former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart. 

South Carolina beating Tennessee was surprising. Muschamp is putting together a decent record without much big-time talent. 

Ohio State barely got past Northwestern. The smart money will probably be betting on Michigan when Ohio State plays them. 

Clemson and Washington keep winning. 

I'm perplexed that I am not able to watch the game this Saturday versus LSU because the family is going to a traveling Price Is Right performance on Saturday evening. If Alabama loses, I better win a damn car at the event. 

Music Friday: "24 Frames" & "Songs That She Sang in the Shower"

I haven't really delved much into new music lately, so I'm sharing a couple of tunes from Jason Isbell. 

Sunday Hangover: Texas A&M

It was another big win for the Crimson Tide yesterday. Texas A&M is a difficult team, but the Tide made them one dimensional by shutting down their running game. A&M's one running back, Ford, gained more yards than I liked, but the D pretty much made Trevor Knight pass the ball and limited his running, which had to be a huge priority yesterday. 

Alabama let the Aggies hang around by kicking two field goals and missing one, so when A&M went up 14 to 13, I got nervous. 

But the Tide offense finally started capitalizing on its opportunities and scored twenty unanswered points, with one touchdown being another scoop-and-score by Jonathan Allen. 

The horrible loss was that Eddie Jackson broke his leg and will be out for the rest of the season. He's an All-American type player at safety and an outstanding punt returner. He was the leader in the secondary. 

Losing Jackson stinks. 

The Tide will have an off week to prepare for playing LSU in Baton Rouge.

Music Friday: "Blood"

One of my friends on FB recently posted about how Pearl Jam is his favorite band. 

In honor of Mr. Grone, I offer "Blood."

Sunday Hangover: Tennessee

Ass-whoopin'. 

Taken out behind the woodshed.

Total domination. 

That's what that game was. 

Besides a brutal sack that made Hurts cough up the football and then the Tennessee offense had a short field to score, the Vol offense didn't do much yesterday. They only managed 11 first downs, 32 net yards rushing, and 131 net yards passing. 

The Crimson Tide ran the ball well with Hurts being the leading rusher: 132 net yards and 3 touchdowns. Scarbrough contributed 109 yards with one huge run for a score, and Harris provided 94 net yards. 

From the look of it, the running game has gone back to having three solid contributors at running back (Harris, Scarbrough, and Jacobs), which reminds me of the running trio of 2009: Ingram, Richardson, and Upchurch. However, Hurts is a clear threat to defenses. That's a wrinkle we saw when Blake Sims was QB. 

Hurts needs to improve as a passer. He missed some guys yesterday, and Saban was quite vocal about getting better in that phase of the game. 

Next up is Texas A&M, a really good team. 

[Belated] Music Friday: "Blue Train"

Here's a classic in jazz history, "Blue Train" by John Coltrane. 

Stay Positive: Power Man and Iron Fist

I finally finished Luke Cage last night. It was a good series, but I think I enjoyed Jessica Jones more. One plot line I had a hard time buying was that Diamondback was Cage's half brother and that he somehow became this major crime kingpin. So I had to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the show. The first season did provide some surprising plot twists, and I guess I didn't really know Cage's origin story. At least I didn't remember it.   

I got this comic book in the mail this week. 

I read all of it, the collected issues (1-5), in one sitting. Issue 5 is hilarious. I mean laugh-out-loud hilarious to me. 

As you can imagine, I'm geeked up about this upcoming series. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Unfortunately, whenever I buy Skittles or Tic Tacs, I'm going to feel weird doing so. Thanks to Donald Trump for ruining that for me. 

This issue reminds of how Bill Clinton made me think of cigars in a different light. The difference, I believe, is that Lewinsky was probably cool with that. 

I was surprised that Monica's name didn't come up in the second presidential debate. Trump was throwing everything else at Hillary. 

If Trump loses, I hope he takes down the GOP and split the party into two factions: the Tea Party people and somewhat reasonable and civil conservatives (like the people who write for The American Conservative). I don't think that'll happen though. If Trump loses, it'll certainly damage the Republican brand for a short while. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I detest people who tell me that I "should believe in God" and people who want to insert all kinds of religious-based nonsense into politics and government. Now we have people wanting to put "In God We Trust" on cop cars and governmental buildings. As a curative to this crap, read "The Danger of Claiming That Rights Come from God" from Psychology Today. 

This happening is a bit of a surprise, but The Atlantic has endorsed Hillary Clinton for the presidency. That current affairs/cultural magazine has only endorsed a presidential candidate twice before with Lincoln and Johnson. Check it out: "Against Donald Trump." 

Here a some juicy quotations from the article: 

• We are impressed by many of the qualities of the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, even as we are exasperated by others, but we are mainly concerned with the Republican Party’s nominee, Donald J. Trump, who might be the most ostentatiously unqualified major-party candidate in the 227-year history of the American presidency.
• Donald Trump, on the other hand, has no record of public service and no qualifications for public office. His affect is that of an infomercial huckster; he traffics in conspiracy theories and racist invective; he is appallingly sexist; he is erratic, secretive, and xenophobic; he expresses admiration for authoritarian rulers, and evinces authoritarian tendencies himself. He is easily goaded, a poor quality for someone seeking control of America’s nuclear arsenal. He is an enemy of fact-based discourse; he is ignorant of, and indifferent to, the Constitution; he appears not to read.
• We believe in American democracy, in which individuals from various parties of different ideological stripes can advance their ideas and compete for the affection of voters. But Trump is not a man of ideas. He is a demagogue, a xenophobe, a sexist, a know-nothing, and a liar. He is spectacularly unfit for office, and voters—the statesmen and thinkers of the ballot box—should act in defense of American democracy and elect his opponent.

In light of Friday's bombshell from the Washington Post about Donald Trump, the Tic Tac company made some comments: "Tic Tac Denounces Donald Trump." 

Sunday Hangover: Arkansas

The Tide offense pretty much did whatever they wanted against the Razorbacks. 

On the first series of the game, Alabama marched right down the field, but Jacobs fumbled after being clocked on his funny bone. He was cleared to come back in the game in the second half, but the coaching staff held him out. As a result, Damien Harris rushed for 122 yards, and Scarbrough got more playing time. He gained 58 yards on 7 carries. 

It was great having Stewart back. He had an outstanding game in receiving. Hurts also hit TEs Howard and Forristall for long gains, but the balls were a bit behind them. If they would have been thrown more accurately, both might have gone to the house on those plays. 

The D played great at times, but in some series, Austin Allen carved up the secondary with accurate throws. Cornelius is the Razorbacks' best receiver, and he had 146 yards receiving. How he had that good of a game is disconcerting. 

If Alabama wants to beat Tennessee next Saturday, the Tide's passing defense will need to be much better. 

Music Friday: "All I Ever Wonder"

If you want to listen to some old school R&B, St. Paul and the Broken Bones is the band you might want to listen to. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Instead of focusing so much on the how Trump maligned a former Miss Universe, I think the media needs to focus on how Trump needs to lose weight and the horrible effects of tanning beds. 

Esquire reports that Let It Be by The Replacements is Tim Kaine's favorite album and then does a bout of pop psychology about that choice. 

As an avid book reader, I am troubled by books not providing the traditional "About the Type" information. For example, here is the "about the type" statement for Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me: "The book was set in Bembo, a typeface based an old-style Roman face that was used for Cardinal Pietro's Bembo's tract De Aetna in 1495. Bembo was cut by Francesco Griffo (1450-1518) in the early sixteenth century for Italian Renaissance printer and publisher Aldus Manutius (1449-1515). The Lanston Monotype Company of Philadelphia brought the well-proportioned letterforms of Bembo to the United States in the 1930s."

Random Notes from a Crank

With college football on Saturday and us doing stuff on Sunday, I forgot that Luke Cage was available on Netflix this past Friday. I'm only a few episodes in, but I like it a lot. 

One of my favorite classes I had as an undergrad was Mythology. I stumbled across this article via Scientific American the other day: "Scientists Trace Society's Myths to Primordial Origins." I like the research this person is doing, but you can see these patterns just by studying world mythologies. There are four types of creation myths and two types of fertility myths. Reading Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Frazier's The Golden Bough, and Mencken's Treatise on the Gods can do everyone a lot of good. Reading those could certainly help people from saying their religion/mythology is the "right" one. 

One of my dad's stories that he has related over the years is that when he was in Iowa and went to bar and asked the waitress for a Griesedieck, he got slapped. The company is apparently going to open a brewery sometime soon. 

I read recently that ABC is reviving The Gong Show. I look forward to that. In that same article, the author relates that both the 20,000 Pyramid and The Match Game were aired this summer, and they'll be back. How the hell did I miss those? 

A listicle about the "20 Saddest Cities" came across my FB feed, so I figured to click away. Some of my quick takeaways are the following:

• Don't move to Ohio.
• I'm surprised St. Louis and Indy are on it.
• Knoxville is supposed to be great, I'm told.
• Detroit and Buffalo are not surprising.
• Same goes for Birmingham.
• I like Louisville, and how can it be sad with easy access to such a diversity of bourbon?  
• Memphis has the second-highest violent crime rate in the nation? Wow.

[Belated] Sunday Hangover: Kentucky

It's been a while since Alabama played Kentucky in football. 

As we've seen in past games this season, the Tide's D played well. Harrison picked up a stripped ball for a touchdown, which adds yet another non-offenisve touchdown to the season. 

As for the offense, they put together some good plays in the first half but didn't put together many decent drives. Despite Coach Saban barking at Hurts for not hitting a wide-open O.J. Howard on a long pass and some other gaffes, the freshman quarterback played fairly well. 

Ridley had a heck of a game. So did true freshman Joshua Jacobs. He rushed for exactly 100 yards. During the game both Mrs. Nasty and I commented that he reminds of Mark Ingram, one of my favorite Alabama running backs. My next dog will probably be called Ingram even though it'll probably be a female. 

The next three games are going to be tough: at Arkansas, at Tennessee (who seem to be able to pull wins out of their ass), and vs. Texas A&M.