Sunday Hangover: Auburn

What a frustrating yet ultimately rewarding Iron Bowl. 

Alabama played like crap on the offensive side of the ball for over three and a half quarters until they finally woke up and got their collective shit together for a 98-yard scoring drive. 

It was a finally satisfying Iron Bowl win at Auburn. The four overtimes made Auburn fans believe, but the pass to Metchie finally broke Auburn hearts. 

I love it when the Tide breaks Auburn hearts. 

Two freshmen stepped up their games in this win. Ja'Cory Brooks caught the long touchdown pass from Young. And in the fourth OT, Kool-Aid McKinstry batted down the Finley's pass in the end zone. 

Auburn's DC Derek Mason had an effective game plan that I'm sure UGA will try to duplicate and improve upon. Regardless, I was surprised that George was left out there that long at RT. Owens did a much better job once they put him in at RT about two quarters too late. 

Alabama has to be a heavy underdog in the SEC Championship, which is a position they aren't used to being in. 

Music Friday: "Black Man in a White World"

Thankfully justice was meted out in the Ahmaud Arbery case. 

We still have to do so much better, however, regardless of how the psychopaths on FoxNews stir up racist white people and scare people about "critical race theory" or how schools are indoctrinating kids about this or that. 

Fuck FoxNews. 

Fuck Tucker Carlson. 

Fuck racists.

Fuck 2nd amendment idiots. 

Sunday Hangover: Arkansas

Kudos to Arkansas. They played one hell of a game last night, but I expect a much better effort from an Alabama defense that should be playing better than they are right now. 

The defense still has major gaffes and miscommunication happening that has to be cleaned up if they want to win the Iron Bowl and have a chance versus Georgia in the SEC Championship. 

As much as there is a focus on what Alabama didn't do well on defense, they did secure their spot as winner of the SEC West with the win last night. 

But the defense. Jeez, they have to get it together. 

As much as I pine for the Saban-era playing style of joyless murderball, what Bryce Young did last night was impressive. He set the record for most passing yards for an Alabama QB and threw five touchdowns, three of which were to the speedster Jameson Williams. 

Metchie and Williams dominated the receiving yards as well as Brian Robinson rushing for 122 yards on 27 attempts. Trey Sanders carried the ball just one time. 

The Tide needs to run the ball better, but I don't think we're that kind of club this season. As much as it pains me to say it, but the Tide is a passing-focused offense. They just need to keep Young clean. 

Next up is the trip to Auburn. 

Music Friday: "Rogers Park"

I was listening to the various albums of Justin Townes Earle as I was working this morning, and I was struck again at how good Harlem River Blues is as an album. 

In my opinion, it's his best album and a true masterpiece. 

"Rogers Park" stuck a chord with me for whatever reason today. 

RIP JTE.

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Collard-Style Kale

The benefits of eating kale has been well documented by various nutritionists and food-obsessed folks. It's good for you. We all get it.

I've always been a fan of slow-cooked greens like collard and mustard greens. But I still had kale in my garden here in east central Illinois even though it's mid-November. Kale is not only good for you, but also it's hardy. 

So I made some kale in the style of old fashioned collard greens except that I added some cubed ham that needed to be used. 

Ingredients

A pot full of kale, stems taken out and chopped coarsely 

1 smoked ham hock (or a turkey leg would be better imo)

Water

1 package of cubed ham

Salt and pepper to taste

Smoked paprika

Roasted garlic powder

Process

Drop the ham hock or turkey leg into a large stock pot. Chop up the kale and place in and fill the pot with water to just cover the kale. Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add in the smoked paprika and garlic powder and some salt and pepper. 

Simmer for three or four hours till the pot reduces down by at least half. About  two hours in to the simmer, add in the cubed ham. Near the end of the simmering check the taste of pot licker and add salt and pepper to taste. Be careful to not add too much salt if you're cooking it substantially longer. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tacos

I made these tacos last week, and I thought they turned out well. I'm a fan of chicken thighs because they have good flavor, and they're ideal for a frugal shopper like me. 

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 lbs. of boneless chicken thighs, trimmed

4-5 chipotle peppers (canned) in adobo sauce, chopped

1/4 cup of water

Penzey's Adobo seasoning

Roasted garlic seasoning

Ground cumin

Penzey's Salsa & Pico seasoning

Process

Trim and chop up the thighs into large chunks the night before you want to put them in the slow cooker. Chop up the canned chipotle peppers. I use the canned chipotles from Aldi. Mix them together and keep in the fridge overnight.

In the morning place the thighs into the slow cooker and add water and seasoning. Cook on low for 8 hours and shred when ready to serve with tacos and whatever you like to have on your tacos. 

Music Friday: New Mexico State

The hope was that against the Aggies of New Mexico State the Tide would get well. 

They didn't. 

Roydell Williams, the back-up running back, and Jo Jo Earle both went down with injuries, and it sounds as though Williams will be out for a while. So that makes running back depth even more thin. B-Rob is the starter of course, but now Sanders has to step up and provide quality effort. 

As much as I like watching the back-up players do their thing in these blowout games, watching Demouy Kennedy and Christian Leary tote the rock was a bit strange. Those players' primary positions are linebacker and wide receiver. They got pulled into to play running back because of so many RBs getting hurt. 

With three starters out on the offensive line, the reshuffled line played much better than they did against LSU. Then again, the Tide was playing NMSU. 

There's been talk about some defensive linemen from Georgia being in the running for Heisman. 

But if there's any defensive player who deserves to be in the running for Heisman, it's Will Anderson. 

As Aaron Suttles for The Athletic points out, Anderson is only behind the late, great Derrick Thomas for average sacks per game. Anderson is at .85 sacks per game after not recording one in his first seven games as a freshman. He has 12.5 sacks this season over 10 games. 

Next up is a tough Arkansas squad at home. 

Music Friday: "Murderer of Blue Skies"

When I woke up this morning, I had a song by Alice In Chains in my head. And now I can't remember which one it was. It's one of the band's lesser-known songs. 

Today as I was doing work this morning, I revisited Chris Cornell's fine album Higher Truth. 

Here's track 7 on that album. With the dark skies around these parts, it feels like there's a murderer out there. 

Sunday Hangover: "LSU"

I know our offensive line has not played up to the performance of last year's line, but last night was really bad. 

Once the starting center got hurt, they moved Owens to center and had George play right tackle. The line play got even worse. That's the worst running game performance I've seen as a Tide fan. 

No bueno.

Young, Williams, and Metchie had solid performances, so I'm not worried about facing Georgia right now. 

Hell, I'm worried about Arkansas. Thankfully, the next game will come against New Mexico State. Then it's Arkansas at home and Auburn down the road. 

Will Anderson was all over the field last night and is the emotional heartbeat of this squad: 12 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. 

Time to get the running game better and get better at pass blocking. 

Music Friday: "Take the Long Way"

One album that I haven't listened to enough is Pearl Jam's 2020 release, Gigaton. 

I still need to see this band in concert. That's a major regret of meek concert-going life. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I am against a verbal trend among sport broadcasters. When a player suffers an injury, many of these talking heads leave off the word "injury" in their reporting. For example, a broadcaster could be talking about a player who has an ankle injury, and the person says the player has "an ankle." Of course he has an ankle. In fact, he has two of them. What he has is an ankle injury, not an ankle. 

I think I've also complained about how sports commentators like to use the term "washed" for the extra syllable phrasing of "washed up." If someone is washed, that term means they've undergone some kind of cleansing process. Washed up means that a player is no longer playing at the level of play he or she is accustomed to. 

Tottenham Hotspur sacked Nuno. I liked Nuno because he was not a bullshitter, but he was not the right man for the job, unfortunately. It sounds like they're in talks with Conte. 

The debacle last night in the Twin Cities makes me question why I ever became a Vikings fan. They lost to a team led by a QB who had only thrown three passes in the NFL. Zimmer better start winning, or he's going to be out of job like Nuno.