Sunday Hangover: Auburn

I enjoy watching Auburn students cry. 

This season's Iron Bowl was frustratingly glorious. 

4th and goal from the 31, and Milroe throws a dime to Bond in the back corner of the end zone. Apparently, the name of that play is "gravedigger." 

I highly doubt Alabama makes the four-team playoff even if they beat Georgia. They are just too many unbeaten teams, and I would bet that Texas beats Oklahoma State in the Big 12 championship game.

I still want the Crimson Tide to win of course.

However, I'm not confident at all because of the way Auburn ran the ball on us. Auburn is one dimensional. Georgia is not. 

As Coach Saban intimated in the post-game interview, Alabama finally got some good luck at Auburn. Usually it's the other way around.  

Musing of the Moment: Harper's Indexes

Here are some interesting stats and numbers from the November and December Harper's Indexes:

• Percentage by which U.S. women are more likely than men to have a tattoo: 41
• Portion of U.S. adults with tattoos who regret getting at least one of them: 1/4
• Increase since 1984 in the median age of first-time U.S. home buyers: 7
• Portion of prospective U.S. home buyers who say they consider climate change when evaluating where to live: 4/5
• Percentage change this year in sales of Bud Light: -16
• In sales of Modelo Especial: +11
• Factor by which beer imports from Mexico have increased since 2013: 2
• Percentage by which beer imports from other countries have decreased: 29
• Percentage change in the divorce rate between 2008 and 2020: -31
• In the divorce rate between 2020 and 2022: +2
• Percentage of millennials who are not planning to get married: 21
• Of adult Gen-Z-ers who are not: 7
• Percentage of U.S. adults who say the political system is working "very" or "extremely" well: 4
• Who express little confidence in the future of the political system: 63
• Who say there is too little attention paid to the important issues facing the country: 78

I have noticed women tend to have more tattoos than men these days. I had a student write a paper years ago that went against the conventional wisdom that tattoos people get are there to show one's individuality. His take was that getting a tattoo was more of a herd mentality issue with many people getting the same kinds of tattoos (certain trends), especially women. 

The so-called conservative war against Bud Light because of a transgender spokesperson is so stupid. Apparently many of these Bud Light drinkers are switching to Modelo, which is humorous because during the Trump administration that company ran TV ads that were clearly trolling Moscow Don and his hateful speech about Mexicans and immigrants. That's some serious irony. 

The rise in the divorce rate obviously has a number of factors, but it's possible the pandemic was a significant cause--and possibly the support of a certain presidential candidate. But then again, that increase should have happened in 2016. Maybe it was because certain people voted for that charlatan a second time?

With the GOP having an advantage with having two Senators for dinky population states and the stupidity of not giving Puerto Rico and D.C. statehood and an uninformed citizenry voting for candidates for stupid reasons, it's no surprise 78% think the political system is not paying attention to climate change, economic inequality, pollution, the wage gap, educational issues, good jobs in the U.S., and other concerns. 

The House, for example, has done next to nothing for years under GOP leadership. Many members of Congress are more concerned about winning elections and raising campaign funds than actually doing something to make the country better. They just want to do some political hokum to get votes. 

The GOP asserts that the "government" doesn't work. Then they get control of a significant branch of it and show everyone that it doesn't work because of their leadership. A dog chasing its own tail. 

Sunday Hangover: Chattanooga

The outcome was expected. The Tide took care of business quickly in the game, and the Mocs got a great payday for their program. 

Surprisingly, Ty Simpson was the leading rusher of the game. He outgunned Jam Miller by one yard with 78 yards of rushing. People tend to label him as a pro-style QB, but if I remember right, we was classified as a dual-threat QB by recruiting services. 

In addition, he looked good when he was given a chance to pass the ball. 

The major positive is that Alabama got to give playing time to lots of guys. 

Next up, of course, is a trip to Auburn, a team that somehow lost to New Mexico State and paid them for the match. 

I expect it to be a tough game for the Crimson Tide regardless of how Auburn lost to the Aggies.  

Music Friday: "God Shuffled His Feet"

I think one of the underrated albums of the 90s is God Shuffled His Feet by Crash Test Dummies. 

Here's the opening track of the album. 

Sunday Hangover: Kentucky

With Alabama's win versus Kentucky and with Georgia manhandling Ole Miss, we're back to a SEC Championship of Alabama versus Georgia. 

Alabama dominated Kentucky. 

Milroe was excellent again, and Alabama seems to have found an identity. The OC has built in some QB runs. That wrinkle coupled with Milroe's improved passing has created a fun offense. 

There were some significant mishaps though. McKinstry having a ball go through his hands on a punt return, which then gave the Wildcats great field position, and Milroe throwing a pick when he should have thrown it away were not good.

But the dude threw for 234 yards and three touchdowns. And he ran for 36 net yards and three touchdowns. 

I thought the Tide's defense would get a few more sacks. They only had three. But they totally shut down Kentucky's run offense. One of the best RBs in the SEC only gained 26 net yards. 

The Tide had 9 tackles for loss. 

For whatever reason, Lawson was out, but Campbell played admirably as the defense's signal caller. 

Next up is Chattanooga before the Tide travel to Auburn, who is a team that has improved. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Salmon Spread

I was browsing through the cookbook that my parents' church made decades ago and rediscovered this recipe that my Mom contributed to the cookbook. 

Thanks Deloras - love and miss you.

Ingredients

1 can of salmon, drained well

1 package (8 oz.) of softened cream cheese

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of horseradish

1/2 teaspoon of liquid smoke

2 tablespoons of cooked onion

1 green onion, chopped finely

Salt and pepper to taste

Process

Set out the cream cheese for a couple of hours, so it softens. When you're ready to make it, dump the canned salmon in a strainer and push down with a spatula to drain well. Sauté the onion. 

Put the cream cheese and salmon into the standing mixing bowl. Add in the lemon juice, horseradish, liquid smoke, green onion, and cooked onion. Mix well. 

I'm going to use it on bagels and crackers. 

Music Friday: "What About Us"

Here's a song that follows up the outstanding title/first track of This Land by Gary Clark Jr. 

Sunday Hangover: LSU

The second half didn't start out well for Alabama. LSU got the kickoff, marched down the field, and scored a touchdown. After that negative though, they didn't score again. 

The Tide dropped 42 points on the Tigers. 

Alabama featured a run-centric offense for the most part with a lot of key runs from Milroe, who had four touchdowns and netted 155 yards of rushing stats. 

I think we'll see more of this kind of game plan with Milroe doing more with his legs. The great development is that Milroe seems comfortable passing too. Usually he's excellent with the long passes. 

But last night he didn't hit any of the long, deep pass plays but instead did well on the short and intermediate routes, which is a significant change of form. 

During the broadcast, the commentators were intimating that Turner could have been called for targeting Daniels on the play that knocked him out. I don't think so. To me, it was a clean, hard hit. He didn't use his helmet as a weapon. He just hit him hard. 

Music Friday: "Overfloater"

I've listened to a lot of Soundgarden this week. 

One of the underrated songs on Down On the Upside is "Overfloater." It's a great tune that I think most people don't think of when they think about great Soundgarden songs. 

So here you go.