The John Needham Commentary

[King Tiger Tank 0]

The Alabama Game 2004

I dedicate this commentary to David Housel. Without his guidance I never would have started the John Needham Commentaries. David, I love ya brother! War Eagle! War Eagle Forever!

War Eagle to the great Auburn Nation! My name is John Needham and these are commentaries! The Alabama 2004!

Before I start in on the Alabama game, I would let to take a moment and say something about last week’s game against Georgia.

Well, How bout them DAWGS! HAHAAAAAHAAAA! Well, How about being 10-0! I am so proud of my boys. Friday night, my wife and I attended a “Beat Georgia” party at the private residence of Tim and Delores Kennedy in Ashton Park of Auburn. Wow! You should have seen how they had their house decked out. In the yard, they had signs showing Aubie doing different things such as “driving a car” or another wearing a superman outfit and “flying up, up” and other signs with phrases on it like “Welcome to the Jungle.” The food was spectacular as well. We had barbeque pork, chicken fingers from Guthrie’s, slaw, beans, rolls, pickles, and everything you can think to drink. UNREAL! Way to go Tim and Delores! Ya’ll did a good job!

Dawn came to Auburn, AL on November 13, 2004. It was a chilly morning with a lot of cloud cover. Waking up at 6:00 AM, got into my clothes about 6:20 AM and then to my tailgate at 7:15 AM. UNREAL! The greatest game in the history of Auburn football athletics would be played today and I would be there to see it. If it wasn’t for Tim Kennedy I wouldn’t have had a place to park. You see ole Tim got to bed around 1:00 AM and woke up at 5:00 AM and at the tailgate around 6:00 AM. That’s a REAL AUBURN MAN! Well, when I got there Tim had a job for me: Guarding parking places. I don’t know about you but guarding parking places can be a stressful thing. I remember watching a truck drive up some distance way. A lady stepped out and she was NOT happy. Apparently, someone had taken her spot and she went about to fond that person. She looked like my wife when she’s mad at me: Head-up, face beat red, and walking at a pace that would match the speed of a full cavalry charge. That lady found her man and she got her parking spot. You know there is an unspoken trust understood among all tailgaters. When a parking spot is flagged or has a fold-out chair sitting it, you DO NOT, DO NOT move it simply because it’s easier or convenient for you.

On to ESPN College Game Day. That’s right! You knew it and I knew about it along with another 5,000 who showed up to be part of what has become greatest national football pre-game show. Lee Corso aka “The Coach”, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreet! What else needs to be said! I knew I wouldn’t get close enough to the stage to see any of the action because I got there too late. So, I walked towards the RVs hoping I could find someone who would allow me to watch the opening the show on their TV. I found one. John Montgomery of Birmingham, AL was good enough to allow me to join his tailgate. I mean win the cameras went live at 9:30 AM CST, the hair on the back off my neck stood up! War Eagle!

Next came what I believe was the game day changing moment. I was excited and was telling people “War Eagle” when a Georgia fan walked up to me. He told me where to stick “War Eagle”. Guess what happened next? That’s right! I HEXED HIM! He stood there in shock! I told him he just lost it for his team and walked away.

Next, Tiger Walk. Well, what can you say about that? There must have been 25,000 people; A sea of Navy and Burnt Orange. It was, in my opinion, the largest and biggest Tiger Walk since the 1989 Auburn-Alabama.

After Tiger Walk, I went back to my tailgate. There was DJ. DJ and his girl friend, Brenda are new to our tailgate. They are from Chelsea, AL. I first meet DJ at this year’s Arkansas game. DJ met up with Kennedy at the Tennessee game and since then it was love. HAHAHAAA. No Really. DJ is a super guy. He brought the finest spread of food to a tailgate I have ever been apart of at the Arkansas game and it matched it again for the Georgia game. By the way DJ, thanks for giving me some food when I needed it to counter the other stuff I was drinking….Heeeheeee!

Next up, game time! There is no other word I can use to describe it except: UNREAL! I watched my tiger’s just whip the snout out of the Georgia Bulldogs. But, I got to make a new friend while watching the game. A Georgia family was sitting next to me during the game. I cannot remember their names now, but I got the opportunity to hold the DAWG NATION’s newest son, three month old Bryson. He was cute!

In the fourth quarter THE HAZE reappeared in section 110! Bits and pieces of Burnt Orange and Navy paper strands went sailing through the air. The HAZE could be seen well. It reflected off the Stadium lights and with night drape background, made for a magically moment.

Going to Toomers Corner and standing on the rock in the middle of downtown Auburn and 30,000 other Auburn fans was great. I had my Tiger Eyes flag in one hand and preached to the choir, with the other. I tell ya, TOOMERS CORNER BECAME AMEN CORNER Saturday evening until the weeeee hours of Sunday morning. BELIEVERS proclaiming their love for Auburn were everywhere to be had.

I then had an idea to go back to the ESPN Game Day. I remembered that there was ESPN Game Day FINAL. I thought everyone would be at Toomers Corner celebrating; maybe I could get a front row it. So, I walked back to my tailgate and on the way I passed the www.toomerheads.com tailgate where I met Lewis. I introduced myself and he said he knew me. I said where? He said I wrote an internet sports column on www.autigers.com! I cannot tell you what that meant to me. Hearing someone else say they appreciate your work is like…GOLD. It makes you feel better about yourself. Well, I was right! I got a front row sit, along with a few others. People were saying things like “CORSO FOR PRESIDENT”, “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF US NOW HERBSTREET?” and “Its Great to be an Auburn Tiger” It came time to broadcast a lot sooner than I thought. The ESPN camera man passed by us and I wasn’t real sure if I got on until I got home. If you recorded ESPN Sports center look toward the last 10 minutes of show. After “The Coach” says “Auburn is going to beat Alabama!” the camera view swings back to fans and you can see me if you pause the VCR or your DV-R just right. I’m to the left of a little boy and girl holding up a sign that says the following:

USC vs. OU

ORANGE BOWL

“NOT SO FAST”

USC and AUBURN

The guy with the long sleeve orange fleece and the white hat! That’s me! I got to be on ESPN Sports Center for 2 ½ seconds. Like they say in the VISA commercial: Priceless!

What a way to end a day! 10-0 and WAR EAGLE!

Now that the Battle of the Deep South has been decided, it’s now time to turn our attention in our in-laws. It’s time for the BATTLE AT BRYANT-DENNY 2004!

"All of a sudden, bang! bang! bang! go three or four guns.... The boys jumped for the river - both of them hurt - and as they swum down the current the men run along the bank shooting at them and signing out, 'Kill them, kill them!' It made me sick.... I wished I hadn't come ashore that night to see such things."

Huck Finn's horror at the bloody conclusion to the Shepherdson-Grangerford feud comes early on in his adventures as he and Jim make their way down a most unpeaceful Mississippi River. The frontier of the old south was perhaps even more prone to violence than that of the more familiar old West, and the family feud, in particular, spread the length and breadth of the South. This regional phenomenon reached its most murderous intensity in the Appalachian Mountains, where families fought families with firm determination well into the 20th century.

The most famous of these clan wars, the Hatfield-McCoy feud, has become an enduring part of our national folklore. At its peak it increased tensions between two neighboring states, and it ended only after the United States Supreme Court intervened. That was exactly 100 years ago; this month Kentucky and West Virginia will commemorate the conclusion of the feud.

The Hatfields and McCoys lived near the Kentucky-West Virginia border, along the valley of the Tug Fork River, off the Big Sandy River. The region remained largely unspoiled frontier until the late 19th century, rarely penetrated by the civilizing influences of outside society and its institutions. Families living in crude log cabins eked out a precarious existence in the remote recesses of heavily forested valleys.

Both clans were part of the first wave of pioneers to settle the Tug Valley. William Anderson ("Devil Anse") Hatfield, the patriarch of his extended family throughout the years of the feud, was born in 1839. Photographs reveal him to have been a huge, raw-boned, shaggy-haired troglodyte - "six feet of devil and one hundred eighty pounds of hell," as one of his contemporaries described him. Randolph ("Ran'l") McCoy, the leader of the McCoy clan, was born in 1825 and had many of the same physical characteristics as Anse: a full beard, sullen gray eyes, and broad shoulders. Supreme Intervention

Anse and Ran'l were both prosperous yeoman farmers, although their crude cabins and lifestyle gave little evidence of their wealth. Anse, for example, owned several thousand acres of prime timberland. Both families were heavily involved in the manufacture and sale of illegal whiskey.

The Tug Fork marked not only the boundary between West Virginia and Kentucky but also the dividing line between the two clans. The Hatfields occupied the West Virginia side of the river, the McCoys the Kentucky side. Communication within each clan was generally by "backwoods wireless telegraph," a collection of unusual animal sounds and birdcalls signifying everything from the arrival of a stranger to a family gathering.

The origins of the feud are lost in the mists of history; there were already bad feelings between the two families in 1878, when a dispute over the ownership of two razor-backed hogs in a Hatfield pigsty provoked the first recorded incident of violence. The McCoys, upset when a court decision over the pigs went against them, ambushed a group of Hatfields who were deer hunting. No one was killed, but a few days later Staton Hatfield fired on two brothers, Sam and Paris McCoy, injuring one before he himself was killed by a single shot through the head.

SOURCE: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~dmcco01/.../diversion.html

That’s right! This fight is all about family! Businesses relationships have ended and marriages have broken up over this game. It’s Auburn vs. Alabama. It’s the game that decides whether on not you can enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner with your Alabama in-laws! It’s the one game of the year where you can through the record book out of the door. Both teams come into this thing as naked as a new born baby. Now, usually the one favored win usually does! But to quote Lee Corso, “NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND!” Remember what happened to Alabama in 1989. They came into Jordan-Hare Stadium undefeated 10-0! Alabama was favored to win. Look what happened! Auburn over Alabama 30-20! Then look at what happened in 1984. Auburn was favored but Alabama walked away with the victory and again in 2002. Alabama was heavily favored. Even Paul Finebaum said Auburn had “NO CHANCE”. Looked what happened! Auburn over Alabama!

For the 69th time these two titans will meet at 2:30 PM CST on Saturday afternoon! Auburn comes into this battle UNDEFEATED and Alabama would like to do nothing better than to de-rail Auburn’s BULLET TRAIN. Alabama has nothing to loose! So, you can beat they throw everything at our tigers, including the kitchen sink! The Tide will not go away. I don’t care to hear that, “They don’t have talent!” How many times has the shoe been on Auburn’s foot! Believe me; Auburn will have to bring their A-game to beat Alabama!

Now, having said that Auburn is on a mission as well; a mission that started with Louisiana-Monroe and one that will end with Alabama. We have but ONE GOAL in mind when our Plainsmen travel to Tuscaloosa: THAT GOAL IS TO BEAT HELL OUT OF THE UNIVERSITY ALABAMA! What is at stake for Auburn? An 11-0 UNDEFEATED SEASON and a possible BCS bid to the ORANGE BOWL in January to play for the Waterford glass football! What is at stake for Alabama? Nothing except taking a red-hot poker and sticking it in our eye!

So, in closing I would like to say this. THIS IS OUR TIME ALABAMA! And the destiny of the 2004 Auburn Tigers will not be denied! In April 1865, 15,000 union cavalry invaded the heart of Alabama. The purpose of the raid was to bring the TOTAL WAR concept on the industrial base in Alabama, which up to this point had largely gone untouched in the 4 years during “Mr. Lincoln’s War!” The invading union force earned the nickname “WILSON’S RAIDERS” named after the General leading the assault. One of Wilson’s targets was Tuscaloosa, specifically THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA! The school trained soldiers for the Confederacy and it had an armory, which Wilson wanted, destroyed. When the RAIDERS left Tuscaloosa, only one building was left standing: The University’s Presidents house!

When Auburn leaves Tuscaloosa on Saturday, we might not burn Tuscaloosa down but we will be 11-0 and one step closer to Miami.

War Eagle! War Eagle Forever and Beat Alabama!

[BamaGrad03 0]

Actually...there were two buildings left standing....but whatever.