News of the day, 2/1

Hey everyone. Disappointing Thursday night for me. An itsy-bitsy little "rain event" knocked out my cable service (hugs and kisses, Knology) from 7:54 p.m. until a few minutes past 9 o'clock, eliminating my ability to see the LOST premiere.

I actually had a conversation with my television, quietly taunting me with its seemingly innocent blue screen. I yelled at one point. The television never responded.

Highly unhappy, I was.

I got an iTunes girt certificate for Christmas and, you know, this would be a swell time to redeem said code. Thank you, Citibank, for providing me a "free" iTunes gift card and critical relief in my time of need.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Tommy Tuberville is making his final in-home visit today. The lucky winner is Darvin Adams, a 6-foot-2 wideout from Kennesaw, Ga., who committed to Auburn last summer. Tuberville began his day at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy, home of TB recruit Enrique Davis and OL commitment Jermaine Johnson, and will stop by Adams' pad before heading home.

"I'll be happy to get home," Tuberville said. ``It's a grind out here on the road."

Auburn has made a small adjustment to its football schedule. The West Virginia game now will be a Thursday night game on Oct. 23. It will be televised by ESPN.

The game initially was scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 6, which now includes an Auburn home game against Southern Miss.

The revised schedule is included in my little Advertiser story.

News of the day, 1/31

Hey everyone. My lovely lass DVR'ed "Through the Looking Glass" last night, so I'm now fully up to speed for tonight's season premiere of LOST. As you know from yesterday's blog, I'm highly geeked about this.

I know you're here for Auburn. So let's talk about Auburn.

Thanks to residents of 49 American states for making this the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net. Maine is the lone holdout since December 15. That's really disappointing considering all the nice things I said about you during my trip to "Vacationland" in 2000.

Coach Jeff Lebo said last night, and re-iterated today, that F Korvotney Barber's broken left wrist is not healing as quickly as expected. The junior was due for a re-assessment this week, but that has been delayed a week. That means Barber's best-case scenario for a return is the third week in February. Remember that he hasn't practiced since the injury in late December.

Barber is six minutes past the NCAA's medical-redshirt threshold. College athletics' governing body extended the redshirt window to 30 percent of the season this year (up from 20 percent), so it's unlikely that Barber will receive leniency from the NCAA.

He's still expected to apply for a waiver.

HABOTN fave Bryan Matthews, who is 40, has word that Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., deep snapper Dax Dellenbach has committed to play football at Auburn beginning this summer. If you're wondering why Tommy Tuberville would dedicate a scholarship to a long snapper, well, I don't have a great answer for you. I will at some point.

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LOST AREA
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Michael Emerson, who plays the manipulative Ben Linus on the show, spent nearly two years in Montgomery (93-95) at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Emerson met a gal there by the name of Carrie Preston, she played Ophelia during ASF's 1995 reprisal of "Hamlet," and the two actors married in 1998.

The downside for Auburn fans: Emerson attended ASF because the institution, in conjunction with University of Alabama, offered a master's degree in fine arts. So he's technically a Bammer, though I'm fairly sure he isn't a big Crimson Tide fan per se.

Here's an excerpt from a recent interview he did with The Reel Deal:

I knew that there was one thing that I wanted to do and that was to pursue a career in the classics on stage. And when I heard about this training program at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, it looked to me like that was the answer to my dreams. That this was a way for me to withdraw from the mad scramble of my so-called career and be able to focus on something that I was interested in and that I felt passionate about.

Now, it did involve some sacrifices. One of them was freedom of movement. It meant moving to Montgomery, Ala., for two years and being in the clutches of a big institutional theater for that period of time. And I mean long hours and a ridiculously heavy load between my academic work and my stage work. It was kind of overwhelming and occasionally made me feel fairly desperate. Often, there were days when I just wanted to get in my motor vehicle and drive anywhere that was away from Montgomery.

But in the end, I got through it. And I was glad to have done it because it was tremendously focused and it took me off the treadmill of my former life.

There's a picture of Evangeline for those of you itching for a shot of this gal.

News of the day, 1/30

BIG NEWS: DL Jomarcus Savage, he of J.O. Johnson High fame, announced this morning that will sign with Auburn on Feb. 6. The word is that he'll be playing that Quentin Groves-style DE/LB hybrid position, but I'll believe it when I see it. He profiles best at end. He chose Auburn over Tennessee.

BIG NEWS AGAIN: DE Andre Wadley, he of Hernando, Miss., fame, announced this evening that he will sign with Auburn as well. That's two of the Tigers' top DL targets in six hours. He chose the Tigers over Tennessee and Mississippi State.

LSU 81, Auburn 80: LSU guard Marcus Thornton scored 38 points on 14-of-23 shooting. Nuts.
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Hey everyone. Another day in the lush, tropical paradise that is lower Alabama. As you can see at left, the lovely Elizabeth Mitchell (known to most as "Juliet") reminds you that LOST returns on Thursday night. Oh yes. More on that below.

We're so gleeful that you're spending time with us here at the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Savage's commitment adds some significant luster to the Tigers' overall recruiting effort. The HOTTIES know, from reading the blog comments, that I think Auburn's recruiting haul is on par with what it usually lands on National Signing Day. Tommy Tuberville's group had a slow start, no doubt, but the (relatively) recent additions of DB T'Sharvan Bell and WR/TB Onterrio McCalebb and DT Charles Deas and now Savage have the Tigers back on track.

It won't be a nationally adored class. It never is.

We here at HABOTN headquarters have been known to watch, I don't know, every episode of LOST ever produced. And web clips. And other associated time-wasting endeavors.

The season 3 finale, which aired May 23, 2007, is called "Through the Looking Glass" and re-airs tonight on ABC at 8 p.m. That was the best LOST episode I've ever seen.

The season 4 premiere airs Thursday night at 8 p.m. A recap show begins at 7.

Eight new scripts were written prior to the writer's strike. All eight have been produced and are ready to roll. The show's producers have said the season should include at least eight additional episodes, but they can't begin making them until the strike ends and the writers resume their role in the magical process.

Below, I have included a link to an 8-minute recap of the entire series.

News of the day, 1/28

Hey everyone. Big night for our favorite HOTTIE on Sunday when the lovely Jenna Fischer (and her castmates from NBC's "The Office") won a Screen Actors Guild trophy for best comedy series cast. When she wins, we all win.

UPDATE: The company that hosts my blog is scheduled to have an outage at 6 p.m. CST today, so that may cause a problem. No, it's not your internet connection.

As for legitimate news, Auburn center Boubacar Sylla won't return this season. He suffered a "stress reaction" (just short of a stress fracture) in his left ankle 10 weeks ago. The ankle has improved, just not dramatically. The hope is that additional time will help the bone repair itself. I can't say he was going to be a major player this year or anything, but he's 7-foot-1 and surely that would have helped in some capacity.

Things are reasonably quiet on the recruiting front. The team snagged a commitment today from Williamson QB Brandon Smith. I'll talk more about that below.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to peruse the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Questions? Comments? You can email me at: jgtate@gannett.com

So on the Brandon Smith thing ... I've never understood the reasoning behind signing with a school while concurrently admitting that you can't make the grades to get into said school. I suppose Auburn could trumpet this as it getting some goodness out of a mostly disappointing recruiting situation in Mobile (Alabama has been better there so far), yet it's not like Smith is going to afford Auburn name recognition. With that said, he's loaded with tools and has the kind of skill set (strong arm, quick feet, above-average running instincts) that OC Tony Franklin values. Maybe he'll actually play for Auburn one day. Or not. Most of them don't.

I'm not a swami and I'm not a recruiting expert, but I believe Anniston High OT Antoine McClain will sign with Auburn. I still believe RB Enrique Davis will do the same.

I still haven't heard anything official on the game at West Virginia. Recall that there was plenty of talk in December that Auburn's trip to Morgantown, W.Va., was going to be rescheduled and that ESPN was going to be involved. I've asked about that. I get a lot of I-don't-knows on that one right now.

It sounds like J.O. Johnson DT Jomarcus Savage has made a decision. He'll choose between Auburn and Tennessee at a press conference on Wednesday morning. Savage (6-2, 260) could be a Sen'Derrick Marks-style recruit: Short on hype, long on drive.

Photo credit: The Associated Press