Auburn update, 7/1
BREAKING NEWS @ 8 p.m.: Margaret Hoelzer finished second in the 100m back finals and wins a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. She joins Mark Gangloff.
Hey everyone. It's another day in the neighborhood. I know some of you all aren't that into swimming. I understand. I really do. It's just that I get kinda jazzed about the Olympics and, well, there's not much going on right now in the Auburn world.
I figure if some current and former Auburn peeps are handling business on their sport's biggest stage, you'd probably have at least some tertiary interest.
Did you all hear the Roundtable on WMSP this afternoon? Doug and Baggy still are talking about the Jimmy Johns situation. The topic today was about how perhaps the return of athletic dorms could help curb that kind of lawlessness. Eh. Johns is a kid who made some really awful decisions. I don't put that at Nick Saban's feet. I also don't think there is a "solution" because there really isn't a "problem" ... aside from Johns' chances of living outside captivity before, say, 2015.
I mean, how badly does it suck to be Jimmy Johns right now? Regardless of your athletic orientation, his situation is sad. He's too young to have run that astray by his own devices. Someone gave him a whole lot of bad advice, you know?
As expected, Auburn has shifted its athletic broadcasts to XM Radio. This was a move to conform to the SEC's push toward XM. I am a Sirius subscriber. I am none too happy about this. Of course, XM and Sirius have gained preliminary clearance in their plan to merge. Surely I'll be hearing these SEC games before long...
TUESDAY MORNING AT THE OLYMPIC TRIALS
WOMEN
Prelims: 200m IM (106 competitors)
4 -- Ava Ohlgren, 2:12.28 ... through to SEMIS
8 -- Julie Stupp 2:13.97 ... through to SEMIS
19 -- Emily Kukors, 2:16.13
34 -- Erica Meissner, 2:18.28
41 -- Kelsey Winters, 2:18.82
51 -- Melanie Roberts, 2:19.16
81 -- Emile Ewing, 2:20.96
Prelims: 200m Freestyle (103 competitors)
19 -- Emily Kukors, 2:00.40
39 -- Margo McCawley, 2:01.80
80 -- Emile Ewing, 2:03.82
85 -- Julie Golden, 2:04.07
86 -- Melissa Marik, 2:04.10
101 -- Caitlin Geary, 2:06.60
MEN
Prelims: 200m Butterfly (79 competitors)
13 -- Andrew Callahan, 1:59.70 ... through to SEMIS
14 -- Tyler McGill, 1:59.75 ... through to SEMIS
15 -- Robert Looney, 1:59.81 ... through to SEMIS
22 -- Andrew Mitchell, 2:00.88
26 -- Will Dove, 2:01.25
34 -- Logan Madson, 2:01.76
51 -- Mark Johnson, 2:02.83
TUESDAY NIGHT PREVIEW
*Tonight's action will be televised on USA Network from 7-8 p.m.
I have give a belated congratulations to Spain, which won the 2008 Euros on Sunday with a 1-0 win against Germany. I thought Spain really played well in the knockout stages. They have a lot of great midfield/striker guys who manned up for a change. This was Spain's first significant championship in two generations. It's about time.
The best match of the tournament, though, was Turkey beating the Czechs 3-2 after being down with 15 minutes remaining. I'll remember Turkey's play for the rest of my life.
If you enjoy Guitar Hero III like me, you'll probably be geeked to know there is some free DLC waiting for you this week. The guitar theme from "Top Gun," performed by Steve Stevens, soon will be added to my catalog. In case you've forgotten the tune, there is a video for your nostalgic enjoyment.
(EDIT: How awful is this video?)
Hey everyone. It's another day in the neighborhood. I know some of you all aren't that into swimming. I understand. I really do. It's just that I get kinda jazzed about the Olympics and, well, there's not much going on right now in the Auburn world.I figure if some current and former Auburn peeps are handling business on their sport's biggest stage, you'd probably have at least some tertiary interest.
Did you all hear the Roundtable on WMSP this afternoon? Doug and Baggy still are talking about the Jimmy Johns situation. The topic today was about how perhaps the return of athletic dorms could help curb that kind of lawlessness. Eh. Johns is a kid who made some really awful decisions. I don't put that at Nick Saban's feet. I also don't think there is a "solution" because there really isn't a "problem" ... aside from Johns' chances of living outside captivity before, say, 2015.
I mean, how badly does it suck to be Jimmy Johns right now? Regardless of your athletic orientation, his situation is sad. He's too young to have run that astray by his own devices. Someone gave him a whole lot of bad advice, you know?
As expected, Auburn has shifted its athletic broadcasts to XM Radio. This was a move to conform to the SEC's push toward XM. I am a Sirius subscriber. I am none too happy about this. Of course, XM and Sirius have gained preliminary clearance in their plan to merge. Surely I'll be hearing these SEC games before long...TUESDAY MORNING AT THE OLYMPIC TRIALS- Ava Ohlgren didn't disappoint in the 200 IM. She finished fourth behind three former Olympians. Not too shabby. It'll take a lot to move into that second spot, though.
- Auburn moved three swimmers (one current, two former) into the men's 200 butterfly prelims. They finished no better than 13th in the morning heats.
- Erica Meissner and Kelsey Winters had some impressive swims in the 200 IMs. Neither qualified for the semis, but they knocked at least two seconds off their qualifying times. That's really impressive.
WOMEN
Prelims: 200m IM (106 competitors)
4 -- Ava Ohlgren, 2:12.28 ... through to SEMIS
8 -- Julie Stupp 2:13.97 ... through to SEMIS
19 -- Emily Kukors, 2:16.13
34 -- Erica Meissner, 2:18.28
41 -- Kelsey Winters, 2:18.82
51 -- Melanie Roberts, 2:19.16
81 -- Emile Ewing, 2:20.96
Prelims: 200m Freestyle (103 competitors)
19 -- Emily Kukors, 2:00.40
39 -- Margo McCawley, 2:01.80
80 -- Emile Ewing, 2:03.82
85 -- Julie Golden, 2:04.07
86 -- Melissa Marik, 2:04.10
101 -- Caitlin Geary, 2:06.60
MEN
Prelims: 200m Butterfly (79 competitors)
13 -- Andrew Callahan, 1:59.70 ... through to SEMIS
14 -- Tyler McGill, 1:59.75 ... through to SEMIS
15 -- Robert Looney, 1:59.81 ... through to SEMIS
22 -- Andrew Mitchell, 2:00.88
26 -- Will Dove, 2:01.25
34 -- Logan Madson, 2:01.76
51 -- Mark Johnson, 2:02.83
TUESDAY NIGHT PREVIEW- (ON TV*) Margaret Hoelzer goes for the 100 back championship tonight. She had the third-best time in prelims.
- Tyler McGill, Robert Looney and Andrew Callahan race in the semis of the 200 butterfly tonight. They were at least two seconds off the pace in prelims.
- Ava Ohlgren and Julie Stupp go for the 200 IM championship tonight. Ohlgren had the fourth-best time in prelims. The top three times came from Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff and Whitney Myers. All are former Olympians.
*Tonight's action will be televised on USA Network from 7-8 p.m.
I have give a belated congratulations to Spain, which won the 2008 Euros on Sunday with a 1-0 win against Germany. I thought Spain really played well in the knockout stages. They have a lot of great midfield/striker guys who manned up for a change. This was Spain's first significant championship in two generations. It's about time.The best match of the tournament, though, was Turkey beating the Czechs 3-2 after being down with 15 minutes remaining. I'll remember Turkey's play for the rest of my life.
If you enjoy Guitar Hero III like me, you'll probably be geeked to know there is some free DLC waiting for you this week. The guitar theme from "Top Gun," performed by Steve Stevens, soon will be added to my catalog. In case you've forgotten the tune, there is a video for your nostalgic enjoyment.(EDIT: How awful is this video?)
posted by Jay G. Tate at
2:28 PM
16 Comments:
Are you saying that I can't listen to Auburn on the regular old FM radio anymore? Surely you jest.
I still can't believe they were talking about that too. But it is the slow part of the summer.
I think the AUNetwork will still be around. Auburn just made a "choice" for their satellite distribution.
The FM stuff is just the same.
I like to listen to other SEC games, and occasionally Auburn, on Sirius. That won't be happening anymore.
Just a quick correction: We didn't base today's show on the Johns situation. We were talking about the problems UGA is having (three players arrested in the last few days, six in the past few months). Doug's argument is that player dorms would solve these problems. My argument is a combo of there is no real problem, recruit better kids, crap happens.
Anyway, the Johns situation was brought up once or twice. That was all.
I only listened for one segment and two callers discussed Johns' situation. My bad.
Great show you two have going there. If you ever need an Auburn writer on the show, you know where to find me.
Josh, you know what kept me out of trouble? Praise and Fear. That translates into, "If I do this, my parents will be very disappointed ... and then they will kill me." But if you don't give a damn, then you don't give a damn. Dorms or no dorms. The problem is what the problem has always been. There are people who feel entitled and above reproach because they are good at something. So, they do whatever they feel like because they are too stupid to realize that they are not what they thought they were. Johns is actually lucky. He has been forced to figure it out and will eventually be able to start over. Then there's OJ. He'll never figure it out.
jg, i took my first venture into the world of rock band last weekend. let's just say i wasn't too successful. major props to anybody who can do that on expert or whatever. i couldn't make it through beginner w/o being booed offstage. :(
that is a pretty shoddy video (top gun).
Nice work, Scottie. That game is a ton of fun. You'll catch on.
I can play guitar and bass on expert with mixed levels of success. I cannot play drums on easy.
Croats.
Phred,
Great comment!
Jay G, I this is off-topic but I notice that Auburn has a TON of sophomores (I count 24) and like 11 freshmen, 15 jrs., and 14 srs. (already mentioned by Phred before).
Does that seem like a lot of Sophomores or is that normal?
I'm not Jay G., but I'll try to answer the question anyway.
I think the reason there are so many sophomores on the roster is because so many members of the signing class of 2006 redshirted, and so few members of the signing class of 2007 did so.
2006 redshirts:
Mike Berry
Mike Blanc
Neil Caudle
Zach Clayton
Bart Eddins
Zac Etheridge
Mario Fannin
Michael Goggans
Tim Hawthorne
Byron Isom
Darrell Roseman
Ryan Shoemaker
Craig Stevens
Terrell Zachery
(Wow. That's a lot of redshirts, and that doesn't even count the six guys who redshirted and are already off the team.)
2007 non-redshirts
Kodi Burns
Josh Bynes
Wes Byrum
Antoine Carter
Bo Harris
Mike McNeil
Ryan Pugh
Chaz Ramsey
Chris Slaughter
Brent Slusher
Ryan Williams
Lee Ziemba
That's 26 total sophomores, and that doesn't even count all the walk-ons (Rick Cherry? Wade Christopher?) listed on the official website.
That's nice work, LBS, and your analysis is right on. There's a crunch in that sophomore class because many of the 2006 newcomers redshirted and many of the 2007 newcomers didn't.
You know someone who intrigues me for no reason? AJ Greene. He was perhaps the most reviled kid in spring ball -- coaches were just killing him almost daily -- and it'll be interesting to see how that situation affected him.
I really think he has a chance to be good.
wow. those sophomores have a chance to make one heckuva senior class in a few years. i hadn't realized there were that many. thanks.
What's the story on the new Baseball coach. I haven't heard anyone say anything about him.
I think that athletic dorms might help a new coach for the first year or two until the staff learns the kids. The NCAA recognizes that athletic dorms serve to hide as many problems as they prevent. Recruiting only "character" kids sounds good, but there is only so many of them to go around. Most of the problem kids come from seriously disadvantaged situations without mentoring or familial education emphasis. Some folks say that the coaches can't become the parents, but in some cases, if that doesn't happen then the kids will fail. I say do as much as possible to save these kids.
Read "From the Blind Side". that kid did not even begin to know what to do in order to succeed.
Aside from recruiting character, CTT/staff get involved enough with the kids to know when/how to head off problems. Accordingly, when the kids go bad in spite of all the effort put into them, the discipline is substantial and without apology.
If CNS had taken a much more involved/stricter approach, then some of those arrests would have been avoided. He may have had to kick some folks off the team prior to last season and may or may not have lost more games, but he would now have better control and less kids arrested.
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