Sunday Hangover: Tennessee

This game was over at halftime, possibly at the end of the first quarter when the Crimson Tide was up 21 to 0. The score was 35 to 0 at the half, and the teams tied in the second half by scoring 10 points each. 

I was hoping for another shutout, and I know that's greedy, but besides a dumb fumble by Drake near the goal line, Alabama pretty much did what they wanted. 

Norwood had an outstanding game, and Cooper started out the first quarter right with a 54-yard touchdown. 

Oddly enough, no back had a 100-yard game--Drake with 89 and Yeldon with 72 yards. 

Trey DePriest, a linebacker who doesn't get enough credit in my opinion, had a good game.

On the defensive side of the ball, true freshman Eddie Jackson is obviously in Saban's doghouse because he hasn't played much at all lately. Cyrus Jones got a lot of work at corner in this game, and then later John Fulton played when the second-teamers came into the game. The rumor I heard on the InterWebs is that Jackson's not taking his academics seriously enough, so he's riding the pine because of it.  

Next up is a bye and then LSU the week after at Bryant-Denny. 

Music Friday: "Cotton Mouth Man"

I don't know how much attention this album has drawn since James Cotton is an elderly blues musician, but Cotton Mouth Man is a solid offering for the blues/boogie-inclined. 

The title track below features Joe Bonamassa on vocals and guitar, and the album also features appearances by Gregg Allman, Keb Mo, Warren Haynes, Ruthie Foster, and Delbert McClinton. 

Check it out. 

A Dog Visits a Beer Festival

As some of my readers know, I'm a fan of craft beers. So when I saw the video of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's visit to the Great American Beer Festival, I thought I'd share. 

Sunday Hangover: Arkansas

The Crimson Tide did what they should have done last week against Kentucky. They got a shutout, 52 to 0.

The Tide looked good yesterday, a day when there were all kinds of upsets.

Like BTO, Alabama took care of business. For the second consecutive game, Alabama had two 100-yard backs because of Henry's 80-yard touchdown run in fourth quarter. 

Strangely enough, the score yesterday was the same score of the game when the Tide played in Fayetteville last season. 

Next up is Tennessee, the team that upset South Carolina yesterday.

Music Friday: "I Don't Want to Grow Up"

The Nasty family left this afternoon to travel to Iowa for my parents' 65th wedding anniversary. We go into Waterloo somewhere around 9:45 this evening. As we pulled into the parking lot of the Hampton Inn, this song was playing.

Seems fitting. 

"Playing at Violence"

I read Pacifique Irankunda's "Playing at Violence" article in The American Scholar recently. It reminded me of one of my former professors, a Vietnam veteran, who liked to talk about how he had never hunted after being "in country." "After hunting humans," he said, he lost all interest in using a gun and hunting.  

Having survived a civil war, Irankunda has similar feelings about violent video games. It's not a diatribe masquerading as an essay. Rather, the contrasts he presents will make you think about people's fascination with and enjoyment of war-based video games. 

Sunday Hangover: Kentucky

After a dominating yet shaky first quarter, the Crimson Tide got it together and finally started converting on their dominance. 

In the first quarter, both T. J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake fumbled balls deep in Kentucky territory with Alabama threatening to score. In addition, Kenny Bell had two dropped passes, and Yeldon dropped a possible touchdown pass (and smart play call by the OC) early in the game too.

If you're going by numbers, the Tide had 668 total offensive yards. Kentucky had 170. The final score was 48 to 7, but it could have been uglier than that. They probably left three possible touchdowns on the field. Alabama had two 100-yard rushers -- Yeldon with 124 and Drake with 106. Both backs had two touchdowns each. And Altee Tenpenny had a touchdown late in the game. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Cornerback Eddie Jackson didn't play because of an ankle injury, but Bradley Sylve played well opposite Deion Belue. A'shawn Robinson had yet another solid performance at DT and DE. The guy is a wrecking ball. He had six total tackles, two of which were tackles for loss, and two sacks. And this dude is only a freshman. 

One surprising part of the game was that true freshman Grant Hill played quite a bit at right tackle. He didn't start. Austin Shepherd did. But it's hard to tell whether this was just an opportunity to see how he would do or whether this indicates there might be a change ahead on the starting offensive line. As for another replacement, as far as I could tell, Landon Collins did fine working at Clinton-Dix's position. 

Next up is Arkansas at Bryant-Denny.

Music Friday: "Peace" & "47"

A new album that came out this week is Anders Osborne's Peace. Here's the title track.



And for the middle-aged crowd, I offer "47" in an album and live version.

A Map, History, & Music

If you like a map and history set to music, check out the video below. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The other day we were at the store checking out board games. Mrs. Nasty said she liked the board game Life. I never liked that game. It's depressing.

I'm an avid observer of doublespeak, academese, bureaucratese--what Richard Lanham calls "The Official Style." Another type of The Official Style is what I like to call administrative-speak. One word I've noticed quite a bit lately is "operationalize," which is long hand for "implement" or "get something done." So much for clear verbs. 

In contrast, this review of Billig's Learn to Write Badly: How to Succeed in the Social Sciences has a slightly different take on excessive nominalizations, prepositional phrases, Latinate terms, and other markers of academese. One could argue that such obtuse and crappy prose is a consequence of code grooming, but I still think it stinks and makes the reader work too hard. I'm for plainer language. 

Sunday Hangover: Georgia State

I can't remember the last time I saw Alabama's second-team quarterback in the game in the second quarter. That happened yesterday because the Tide had the game well in hand. 

The coaching staff took out AJ McCarron in the second quarter to let back up Blake Sims man the reigns of the offense. The second-team guys got a lot of action yesterday, which is a good thing. 

I have a number of takeaways from the game. 

Christion Jones, DeAndrew White, Kevin Norwood, and Kenny Bell have become the number 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d receiver. Christion Jones, in particular, has had an outstanding start to the season. 

Most of last season Amari Cooper served the role of number 1 receiver. What's up with him this year? He didn't play last game, and he didn't have any numbers on the stat sheet yesterday. He played in the game--but was clearly on the second wave of wide receivers. Coach Saban has said he's "banged up" a bit, but the sophomore has not been the game-breaking presence like he was last year. Whether an attitude adjustment is needed or he just needs to heal, I hope we start seeing the Cooper from last year. 

Chris Black has seized the opportunity to play the last couple games. He looks like a serious threat at wide receiver. He caught six passes for 54 yards. 

Blake Sims finally got the chance to run the offense without only having to hand off the ball to running backs. He looked good. As Saban said, Sims got to "run the whole offense, not just a bunch of zone reads."  

Cody Mandell only punted once. 

The defense had eight tackles for loss. 

Isaac Luatua and Alphonse Taylor are massive human beings.

It looks like Kenyan Drake has taken over as the number two running back with Fowler serving as the change-of-pace "big back." 

Most people would consider Alabama's game at Kentucky a lock for the Crimson Tide, but yesterday the Wildcats put up some points on South Carolina in Columbia. The Gamecocks won by a touchdown, 35 to 28. I don't know what that score tells us. Is Kentucky actually decent, or is South Carolina overrated? Or both? 

Music Friday: "Thirsty Man," "Shine On," & "Don't Be a Stranger"

When I did my Top Ten/Twenty List of 2011, I didn't have Blitzen Trapper's American Goldwing in the top ten. Looking back on the rankings now, I'd probably give it a better ranking. It has aged well. I know I listen to it more often than some of those albums in the 2011 top ten. 

And now this week the band's album VII came out. I'm liking it just as much if not more than the previous offering. 

I think the best way to describe the sound on this album is "funky alt-country."

Hope you enjoy "Thirsty Man," "Shine On," and "Don't Be a Stranger" from the Bing Lounge.