Call it scratching one off the bucket list. Last Sunday, I was fortunate enough to take my 82-year-old grandfather to his first game at Turner Field. Braves beat the hapless Nationals 8-5. Jair Jurrjens got the win. Pop Clyde's boy Chipper started off pretty sluggish, including one of the nastiest errors I've seen in a while by a pro, but he knocked in two on the way to the win. It took a lot of driving, but it was one of those moments you'll never forget. I've wanted to take him over for a long time, and it was worth every minute.
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A week goes by...slowly.
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I suppose I cashed in today, though. I got up early and headed down to Auburn with former intern Hoke and his old man. Great day, great weather and a great turnout. 45,000 showed up (this isn't a capacity shot) to support Coach Chizik and the progress he has made.
While people want to mock it, the scoring system made perfect sense. I mean, it was unit on unit...not some sort of division of teams. I get it. And depth is an issue, so it made that all the easier.
But what did
I gain from the glorified scrimmage? One simple thing - Neil Caudle is the starting quarterback at Auburn. Right now. I'm not opposed to Tyrik Rollison coming in and starting as a true freshman. But Caudle is so far ahead of Burns it's just stupid. Burns can't throw the ball. He couldn't two years ago, or last year...or now. The quarterback "race" is the only thing that looked clear today. The rest was a lot of base defense that was not agressive...a lot of injured players sitting....and a lot of Gene Chizik changing shirts. Dude wore orange in the first half and blue in the second. At least it wasn't Cyclone yellow. Some columnist from Mobile may have questioned his loyalty.
So after I returned from the Plains and finished work, I hit up BottleTree for the Living Things/Electric Six show. Above, is the Living Things. Great band. I had not heard a lot of their stuff, but they put on a terrific show. And they had distractions.
That's right. A guy in a bunny suit was there. There was also a midget. Literally, a midget. I was standing in front of her at one point and didn't realize it. My friend pointed it out. But, what are you supposed to do? I can't help that I'm the tallest guy in the bar and you are two feet tall. You should probably, like, join Netflix.
Electric Six....terrific show. I don't have a ton of interesting things to say here. I got their vinyl...and I think that's one of the most terrific ideas going on in music right now...buy the vinyl, download the digital for free. Anyhow, check 'em out. It's way too late, I've been awake far too long and I may be driving to Mobile tomorrow.