Egg Bowl 2009

Wow. Not sure anyone saw that coming, or at least not in that way. But the bottom line is the Dawgs absolutely trucked the Rebs in the 2nd half. It was complete and total domination, every bit as dominating a half as the Rebels put on the Dawgs a year ago.

The offensive philosophy was fairly vanilla in the 2nd half, run it, run it, run it, run it, mix in a pass, run it, run it, mix in a pass, etc. And it flat worked. The energy was electric. The place was rockin' in the 3rd and 4th quarters, especially for an 11:21 a.m. game. Chris Relf played mistake free ball and ran the read option well. Boobie (Anthony Dixon) ran hard as usual. After having just 17 yards in the first half, he ended the game with 133, all but certainly locking up the Conerly Trophy.

And yes, if you think you saw me in the middle of the pile with Corey Broomfield after his 65 yard pick six, you did. I got destroyed. While I was congratulating Broom on the pick a solid 10+ guys jumped on. My sunglasses went flying, piece by piece. It was all I could do to stay upright. I tried gently reminding them that I'm not quite 5' 10" and oh by the way, I don't have pads on. But to be honest, it was worth it. It was an incredible moment.

The defense played well, limiting arguably the most exciting player in the league, Dexter McCluster. He had a couple of big plays, but he was never allowed to establish the 6, 7, 8 yards per carry that he had done the last several games.

So, for 365 days, the Dawgs are kings of the state.

Go Dawgs!

Long weekend. Jamie and I ended up going to Little Rock to the State game. Left town around 1:15 - of course the plan was to leave at noon. Got to The Peabody in Little Rock just short of 6:00 p.m. Team arrived shortly after us, so I visited with some of the players and coaches before heading to dinner.

We stayed at this same Peabody when the Dawgs played in the NCAA tournament here two years ago. The hotel itself is okay, but Little Rock has done a really nice job with its downtown. A little like a mini-Memphis downtown revitalization. There is a neat, hole-in-the wall restaurant called the Flying Fish. Had a bucket of PBR's and a fried oyster sandwich. After eating and drinking all of that we needed the stroll back to the hotel and to find the bed.

I got an early start Saturday with a 4-5 mile run. With soccer, I haven't run a lot lately. It was nice to run along the Arkansas River and through downtown Little Rock. Nice time to relax. After the run it was time to suit up and head over to War Memorial Stadium for an 11:21 a.m. kickoff (those odd times crack me up. 11:21. that "21" is funny to me). Dawgs showed some life early and then came out in the second half and went 95+ yards to get within a touchdown. Unfortunately mistakes and the lack of attention to detail cost us. That coupled with the fact that Ryan Mallette is really, really good. At the end of the day it was Arkansas 42, Mississippi State 21.

Time to load up and make the return drive to Starkville.

Sunday brought church and Total FC soccer in Tupelo. I thought we played well enough to win on Sunday, but we just couldn't get the shots to fall. We had at least 6 corner kicks and we usually score off a corner when we have that many, but not today. We left with a 4-4 tie. On a positive note, I drove and carried AJ (Jamaica), Desire' (Ivory Coast), Alco (Spain), and Tundy (Nigeria) with me. I felt like an ambassador to the United Nations. They are really good guys. A few of them will be here alone over Thanksgiving. Jamie and I are thinking about inviting them over to our house for Thanksgiving. I hate to think of them spending it alone.

Soccer friendly

What a great time last night. Our Total FC soccer team played a friendly with Columbus High School in Columbus. We only had 10 players so we had to borrow a keeper from them. Of course they gave us a 9th grade kid that weighed maybe 140 pounds soaking wet. To his credit he played a really nice game.

We have a few guys on our team that are incredibly good. As a result we jumped out early and never really looked back. I think we won probably 10-3 or 10-2. I thought we controlled the ball at times and made several really good runs. I felt much more comfortable and played my best game back. There is not a better feeling when playing defense than making the sliding tackle when the forward is inside the 18 with an empty net because the keeper got caught out of position on the other side. There is just something awesome about sports, team sports in particular, when you make a great play and the rest of the team runs over to help you up and congratulate you. Really cool feeling.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Pretty sure I re-injured my left quad but nothing several motrin and a wrap can't cure!

Unfortunately as great as last night was, it's back to the reality of it's only Thursday. Wow, how is it only Thursday?

The weekend roundup . . .

Great weekend! Friday was a great day despite the Jackets' 51-7 loss at South Panola. Friday brought with it some rough weather but I love weather - good or bad.

Saturday turned out to be a great day. Got a near perfect run in Saturday morning. I didn't run too hard, just a nice comfortable pace.

Spent a fair portion of the rest of the day watching college football and even throwing the football around myself some. Obviously Saturday night brought Mississippi State football and trick-or-treating for the kids. Went over to friends' house for both. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you were the kids) most of the houses in the neighborhood we were in were empty, which meant we got back to the game quickly.

If you know me you may know I am extremely superstitious when it comes to sports. I usually find a particular spot to stand in when we are doing well and stick with it. Or I may develop some ritual I repeat throughout the game. Well, last night I found spots for all the guys and made them sit (or stand) in that exact spot. It took me until halftime to find our spots. We even had offensive and defensive spots. I know, I know. I'm fairly out of control with this stuff, but I'm at least a little convinced I had a small part in the win. Anyway, after all rituals, the Dawgs picked up a 31-24 road win in the SEC, always a tall task.

Then I got up this morning, went to town to grab doughnuts for the kids and got the day off to a great start. Now it's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon and I am preparing to head to Tupelo for our soccer match. We are in a must-win position if we are to make the playoffs. We are somewhere in the 7th or 8th spot out of 12 and have to finish in the top half to make the playoffs.

Big week ahead with a ton to do: 3 flag football games, 2 kids' soccer games, my soccer practice, circuit court trial in Lee County on Wednesday and Thursday, and several other important deals. It's one of those weeks you just do your best.