News of the day, 11/20

Hey everyone. I've got a suprise for you today. Gordon Borges got back with me and said he didn't mind if I posted the email I referenced last week. I thought it was exceedingly cool for Gordon to take time to basically get his son's back in what have become some tough times.

It's clear to everyone involved that Al Borges may or may not be here next season. The offense isn't exactly thriving and Kodi Burns' play didn't really provide the 2008 affirmation a lot of people expected. It's pretty neat that even in this age of coach-as-celebrity that a father would still take the time to get his son's back. You can find that below.

I've also got something to say about Tuberville's alleged commentary about being at Auburn next year. I wouldn't read too much into that statement. I'm not saying he's leaving. I'm just saying that what Tuberville said is not the same as I'll be here next season.

With emails this smokin', you know it's the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

OK. I got some requests for the Gordon Borges email. I'm glad he agreed to share because, well, this is the kind of stuff that I really enjoy reading...

Gordon Borges [--address redacted--]
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 12:06 PM
To: Tate, Jay G.

I have had the privilege of following Al Borges' career for
22 years. During that time Al has been associated with five 1A Head coaches. It's my opinion that Tuberville is without question the best of the lot, and this includes the Guru at the University of Oregon.
In my judgment the Auburn fans & school administration should give Tuberville their unqualified support. It should be remembered that his enviable record over the last 4 years reads 40 & 8 to date!!
Forgive my bias but part of that amazing ACCOMPLISHMENT has been the offensive prowess of Al Borges.
13 & 0 in 2004 tells it best.
We have a good team now but not a great one..
2008 will be something different.

Gordon Borges
Al Borges' father

As far as Tuberville's Monday comments about his situation at Auburn, I cannot believe how far this has gone. I'm at the gym this morning and I see something about how "Tuberville plans to stay at Auburn" moving along the CNN crawl? Tuberville on CNN? Talk about a slow news day.

Let's examine this.

Here's the quote: ``I love Auburn. I love the Auburn people," Tuberville said. ``They've done a lot for me and I hope we've done a lot for them. We're going to be at Auburn as long as they want us here. We're fired up about that."

I'll go into more detail about this in my weekly "First and 10" column that runs Saturday morning. Until then, ponder what he's actually saying. He'll be at Auburn as long as Auburn wants him. That is his strongest statement to date about possibly leaving the program someday soon. There's no doubt about that.

Still, that is not an air-tight statement. No way. Look, I currently consider it likely that Tuberville will be Auburn's coach next season. I'm not saying he's leaving. I'm saying that a decision hasn't been reached on that. His statement on Monday, at least in my mind, was mostly damage control after what was an odd decision last week to completely avoid the subject.

This is a rare break from protocol, but I wanted to post part of an email I received today from a guy named Hank. Most HABOTN readers send me nice emails full of rainbows and butterflies. Those are swell. I do like the occasional dig, though, and this email gets consideration for the HABOTN Hall of Fame.

``You stated that your good buddy Neal McCready was not biased that he loathed everyone equally. Is this your position as well? I expect a beat writer to at least be a sports fan. I don’t want a cheerleader like half the Alabama sportswriters. I think that what happened to Neal was wrong but he set himself up for the fall. He wanted to be controversial like Finebaum. I have listened to him spew the same hate for Tuberville that you do. If you need someone to use as an example of what a beat writer is look at Philip Marshall. He doesn’t create controversy he reports the news. He states his opinion. One that is based on what he sees from following the teams he covers. If you decide in the future to resort to professional journalism rent a banner or take out an ad and let someone know. Until then I am sure I can find decent coverage of Auburn sports without wasting my time with the crap you continue to put out."

At least I got Phillip's name in the blog again. Weeeee.