Music Friday: "Bearden 1645" & "Social Skills"

I had been waiting for a new album by John Fullbright for a good while, and one finally came out this year titled The Liar. 

Below are a couple of tasty cuts from the album. 

Enjoy.

Sunday Hangover: Mississippi State

In contrast to the debacle in Knoxville, the defense played, especially the secondary, played well. 

State scored in the final seconds, unfortunately. This could have been a shutout. 

As for the offense, Alabama put up 30 points, but it seems like it could have been much more. 

I was disappointed how the Tide didn't run the ball as effectively as they should have. But the bounce back performance of the defense was something good to see. 

The offense needs to work on finding consistent playmakers from the wide receiving corps. 

The Tide is off next week, so I might go to a local college football game when Tennessee Tech visit EIU. 

Music Friday: "Happy Homes"

I was listening to Benjamin Booker's first album today before my day went haywire with that damn work thing. 

Here's a cut from that album. 

I just checked his website because I had hoped he was going to put out a new album sometime soon since Witness came out in 2017. There doesn't seem to be much happening with him right now. 

I hope he puts out a new album soon. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I recently resubscribed to Mother Jones after not having a subscription for a couple of years. In the first issue I received this year, there's an excellent recount about how the GOP, from a historical perspective, has aided and abetted extremism and white supremacy for decades. 

It didn't start with Moscow Don. The Republican Party has been pandering to racists and nativists and angry white people for decades in order to get votes. 

The article is by David Corn and is titled "The Elephant in the Room" in the physical magazine but has a much longer title on the website: "It Didn't Start with Trump: The Decades-Long Saga of How the GOP Went Crazy." 

The article appears to be a précis of Corn's book American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy. I'm thinking of buying it, but I'm concerned it will just make me more angry than I already am. 

Regardless, as Corn relates in the next to last ¶ of his article, "But since at least the 1950s, the party has consistently boosted extremism, prejudice, paranoia, and rage. Sometimes this has led to the GOP prevailing in political battles. In other instances, voters have beaten back the cynical gambit." 

As someone who has strong opinions about football uniforms since I watch a lot of American football, I have to say that the orange helmets and uniforms that the Chicago Bears wore last week were terrible. 

Those helmets made me call the Bears team the "Great Pumpkins." And like the Great Pumpkin of Peanuts fame, they didn't show up at the end of the game in that snooze-fest that saw the Commanders beat the Pumpkins 12 to 7. 

I am rewatching the HBO series Deadwood, and I got to episode 7 of season 2 and was reminded of this great scene, which has Swearengen giving advice to Merrick about stopping moping around and feeling bad for himself.

I deal with so many people who make excuses when times get rough. They need to listen to Al. 

Here are some interesting factoids and stats from this month's "Harper's Index""

• Percentage change since 2019 in the portion of Americans who believe environmental laws are worth the cost: -23
• Percentage of U.S. voters who view climate change as the most important problem facing the country: 1
• Of U.S. voters under thirty who do: 3
• Portion of American young adults who have considered enlisting in the military: 1/10
• Portion of those who are ineligible to enlist: 3/4
• Percentage increase since 2019 in the number of independent bookstores in the United States: 34
• Percentage of undergraduates who say they encounter at least moderate difficulty with online learning: 94
• Percentage of Democrats that Republicans believe are atheist or agnostic: 36
• Percentage that are: 9

I guess I'm part of that 9 percent. 

Sunday Hangover: Tennessee

I still haven't watched the game because the weekend was spent traveling to and from a baseball tournament. 

Yesterday I did get to hear the last half of the fourth quarter though as I was driving home after our two pool-play games. 

It's hard to win a game with 17 freaking penalties, but Alabama almost did. If Reichard made his kick, we're having a somewhat different conversation about the game.

However, the conversation about how the defense needs to get its shit together is a conversation to be had regardless of win or loss. 

One matter remains consistent though. I hate Tennessee. 

Music Friday: "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" & "We Didn't Start the Fire"

I was listening to the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame radio station the other day, and "You Didn't Start the Fire" came on, and I was reminded of some of the songs I like from Billy Joel. 

Here are a couple.

Sunday Hangover: Texas A&M

It was a win, but it was an ugly win. 

It's a win nonetheless. 

It came down to a goal line stand at the end. 

With Milroe having so many turnovers, the defense was put in a bad position twice, which resulted in 14 points. 

The Tide had 288 net yards of rushing, which is promising. However, the Aggies stacked the box and limited the Tide offense too often. Milroe rarely threw down the field to loosen up the Texas A&M defense. 

I think Milroe will become a very good quarterback for Alabama, but last night was a trial by fire game. 

I'm very concerned about the Tide's trip to Knoxville next Saturday. I'm sure Saban will keep it very quiet as to whether Bryce Young is going to be available just like he did for this game. 

Music Friday: "In God's Country"

A couple of weeks ago my nephew texted me and told me that he was listening to this song, and it reminded it of me. 

I don't know why he associates me with the song, but it's a good one. 

Sunday Hangover: Arkansas

If you're a fan of big plays, the game in Fayetteville was one you should have liked. 

The big news, of course, is the injury to Bryce Young. It's being officially called a shoulder sprain, so hopefully he'll recover with no aftereffects.

The Razorbacks pulled the game close at the close of the third quarter, but Alabama then proceeded to get a touchdown run from McClellan and two long touchdown runs from Gibbs. One was 72 yards, and the other was 76 yards.  

While the Tide did not open up the passing playbook extensively with Milroe in for Young, they also chose to run the ball to eat clock and control the game. 

It worked. 

We'll just have to wait and see if Young can recover and be ready for next Saturday's matchup against A&M. 

If Milroe starts, we're likely to see a more run-centric game plan since Milroe is really damn fast, and they'll want to protect him a bit with easy throws. I guess the positive will be that he's likely to have all kinds of reps with the first-team offense this week. 

And they recruited Milroe for a reason. He's talented but just young and inexperienced.