TGIF!

That's the latest standings for the SEC Men's Conference. The Tide has three games left before heading into the Conference Tournament. With two of the three coming on the road it's going to be hard to when out. Let's hope we can get the majority with two. If so, we'll finish 6-10.

Tomorrow night will be the next game at Oxford. It will be televised on Raycom Sports at 1:00 PM CST.

The Tide will be finally saying goodbye to A.C. Carter. The former receiver and fan favorite will be heading to App State to be an assistant coach.

Below is a quick clip of what role he has played with the team.

Big News from Saban presser.....

There were many important things that came out of Saban's 41 minute press conference today. The headline was the indefinite suspension of Prince Hall. He has been suspended for all spring workouts and practices. Saban said that he once again violated team rules. You may remember Saban also suspended Hall for the season opener last year. It may be hard for Hall to see the field at Alabama again. Also, he mentioned Rashad Johnson will not be suspended because of his recent arrest. There was also some developments in the coaching situation. Kevin Steel and Kirby Smart will now be Co - Defensive coordinators. Saban also chastised the media again. At one point he asked a reporter if he throws his children out of the house when they mess up.

Here is a the entire press conference.

Take me out to the ball game

The Alabama baseball team begins their season tonight at 6:30. They are facing the Cal Poly Mustangs in the first game of a two game set. The second game will be Saturday at 2 pm. One thing the Crimson Tide baseball team has this season is experience. Alabama’s projected opening day starting lineup has combined for 451 career starts, including veteran players Alex Avila (112 games started), Ryan Rhoden (89), Matt Bentley (76), Kent Matthes (64), Jake Smith (39) and Brandon May (41). Jeff Texada (26) and Will Stroup (4) have combined for 30 career starts, while true freshmen Josh Rutledge and Ross Wilson will make their collegiate debuts in the 2008 season opener. Lets hope the team can put all the off season drama of Coach Wells leaving and them coming back behind them.

Bama Hoops Drinking Game

I know that we only have five games left and it's not looking too good. Earlier I posted that we had a good chance of going 6-10 in the conference. I hope that comes true. But with that, let's add a little fun to the end of the season by starting the Bama Hoops Drinking Game...

Take one sip (or half shot liquor applicable) if:

• The game is televised via Raycom Sports
• Opposing team has a turnover
• Alabama hits a three
• Alabama takes a timeout
• Opposing team gets a foul
• Alabama gets up by five
• Alabama gets down by five
• An Alabama player gets fouled
• Any player gets a chest bump from another player
• Any player gets a high five from another player

Take two sips (or full shot liquor applicable) if:

• Alabama player makes a dunk
• Alabama gets up by ten
• Alabama gets down by ten
• The camera pans the cheerleaders
• The camera pans the dance team
• The camera pans the Mark's Madness crowd
• The camera shows Gottfried with one arm crossed and the other on the chin
• An Alabama player gets fouled and one

Take three sips (or one and half shot liquor applicable) if:

• An Alabama player misses a dunk
• The camera pans the band
• Gottfried takes off his jacket
• Gottfried puts his jacket back on
• Any player gets a butt slap from another player
• The towel boy comes out to mop up sweat on the floor
• Intentional foul is called

Take four sips (or two shots liquor applicable) if:

• Any player fouls out
• Technical foul is called
• Announcer talks about football
• Senior John Dill gets playing time
• The camera pans the guy from Mark's Madness with the crimson blazer

Chug a beer (two gulps from the bottle liquor applicable) if:

• Alabama loses
• Alabama wins
  

UA freshman tackle Jeremy Elder arrested on charges of robbery

The Rap Sheet has been following the story today.

This mornings post.

More details mid-day.

UAPD Advisory Report.

When the ignorant douche bags of the world open their mouth

If you haven't already been informed, some attention has been drawn to Alabama and Coach Saban with accusations of intentionally over signing during this seasons recruiting class and will have to cut players off scholarships.

It all starts with an article from the Montgomery Advertiser.

It all could have been let go easy, but then we have the ignorant douche bag that decides he wants to open his mouth.... and find out his eyes are bigger than his stomach.

He extends some garbage of an article here. (From the looks of this guy, the only thing he could qualify to have remotely any knowledge on would be World of Warcraft)

Our friends at RollBamaRoll decide to reply with a tasteful piece.

Ignorant douche bag whines about his ignorance.

RollBamaRoll sets him in his place. (warning: foul language)

I hate that there are going to be people that are completely unqualified to attack the school and fans of Alabama as we begin our success that we are working hard for. I guess it just makes that success so much sweeter.

The SEC Half Case

If you were to go to the store maybe like the World Market, or let's call it the "SEC Market", to buy a mixed half case of beer. Each bottle you pulled out, which SEC school would you compare it to? Well, here at Tipsy Tiders, we've thought about this multiple times. Here's what we came up with...


University of Florida – Corona Extra

Who wouldn’t want to be partying right now down at UF with the number one fun-n-sun beer? I bet that Florida sun is feeling good today.



University of Georgia – Sweet Water Georgia Brown

Home grown, starting to become highly recognized, and a good taste.



University of Kentucky – New Castle

It’s always going to be there whether you like it or not.



University of South Carolina – Bass Ale

The old ball coach wouldn’t want it any other way.



University of Tennessee – Coors

Always trying to advertise itself as one of the top, but everyone knowing that no one drinks (cares about) them.



Vanderbilt University - Michelob Ultra

Giving that “Really, I like dark beer, but don’t want all those carbohydrates”. “Also, did you know that carbohydrates or saccharides are simple organic compounds that are aldehydes or ketones with many hydroxyl groups added, usually one on each carbon atom that is not part of the aldehyde or ketone functional group. Carbohydrates are the most abundant of the four major classes of biomolecules, which also include proteins, lipids and nucleic acids…”



University of Alabama – Guinness

What, you knew it was coming. Classic rich in tradition and history, while bringing a stout competition to the table against any opponent.

University of Arkansas – Miller High Life

"The Champagne of Beers", does that make sense to you. Of course it does to us pigs; it’s like saying we are “the ballet of football”.

Auburn University –Budweiser

Everybody has that uncle that comes around at family get-togethers with a cooler full. They are proud they have their Bud, but what is so sad is they do not know any better.

Louisiana State University – Natural Light

It’s easy to go down, less filling, and cheap. The perfect combination to get the most in and down as possible. One’s never enough. We over indulge until we regret it the next day.

University of Mississippi – Sam Adams

Sam Adams is the only way, seasons (summer ale, winter lager, octoberfest) come, seasons go.

Mississippi State University – Colt 45

Do you really need an explanation?

Let us know what you think. Give us your SEC half case.

New Rule Changes to Come?

Rivals.com is reporting a new NCAA proposal. This proposal has rules designed to speed up the game. The committee is recommending a 40 second play clock similar to the one the NFL has and also starting the clock on a referee's signal after the ball goes out of bounds. Another major change they are recommending is the abolishment of the 5 - yard facemask. These are just a couple of the proposed recommendations you can read the full article here.

Say it ain't so Joe

Tide Sports is reporting that Joe Kines has accepted the position of defensive coordinator at Texas A&M University. He will replace former Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring which bolted for the Dallas Cowboys before ever coaching a practice at Texas A&M. While it was the best move for Joe, I still hate to see him go. He has been serving primarily as a fund raiser for the athletics department. We all know he belongs on the field. I mean who could forget his halftime speech at the Independence Bowl against Oklahome State. (It is below just in case you did) Well best of luck to ya Joe.

Mid-week Miscellaneous

Had some friends send over two images this morning. One is the plans for Bryant Denny's final expansion. Another is the 2008 SEC helmet schedule.

The Crimson Tide Football program has worked out to schedule 2 games against Georgia Tech for the 2013/2014 seasons.

Joe Kines has been reported to have interviewed for the defensive coordinator position at Texas A&M.

The men's basketball team will host Ole Miss tonight at 7:00 PM CST at Coleman Coliseum. The Tide is 13-11 overall and 2-7 in the SEC. The game will not be televised, but you can find it on your local radio. Earlier this week I gave my two cents about the 7 left to play.

Julio Jones testified as a witness in a murder case from back in May of 2007. Not sure what the outcome was. Let us know if you have heard anything.

If you get a chance, you might want to stop by SI.com and check out the new swimsuit edition that was released yesterday. Here's a little preview...

Also, you might want to go over to RollBamaRoll to check out the championship round of the Girl Fight '08. COB today they will crown a new RBR sweetheart.

A day to laugh

Just thought we could get some chuckles from the last two places we've seen ole Tubbs....

The sign on the store says "Auburn Merchandise 50% off". They should give that stuff away for free.

Tommy might want to find a better recruiting strategy next year.
"Over the last few years, particularly when things have gone sour, Tommy Tuberville has reached deep into his bag of magic tricks and played the Jetgate card. In other words, the Auburn administration and trustees cost me a great recruiting class during the turmoil and we are paying for their sins now.

You heard this again in September when Auburn started the 2007 season like a drunken frat boy on the last night of Mardi Gras, stumbling to a disastrous 1-2 start.

Now the results from the 2008 recruiting class are in and Alabama's Nick Saban has soundly beaten Tuberville to a bloody pulp. What's interesting is even Tuberville could see this historic beatdown coming. It's been in the making since Saban arrived on the tarmac and was given the Elvis treatment.

What did Tubby do at the apex of recruiting? He went duck (or job) hunting in Arkansas." - More from Finebaum, Party's over for Auburn, Tuberville


"As we all know, Auburn has reeled off six consecutive wins over Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Intuitively, you would think that would mean something to somebody, but you would be wrong. As National Signing Day officially and affirmatively showed, Auburn has six straight wins over Alabama, yet not a single top recruit in this state who cares the least little bit about that fact." - More from RollBamaRoll, The Recruiting Iron Bowl

2-7 with 7 to play

This weekend the men's basketball team fell to Kentucky to put us 2-7 in conference play. We currently have 7 games left hosting Ole Miss this Wednesday at 7:00 PM CST.

If you take a look at the remaining schedule, we'll have Ole Miss twice, South Carolina, Auburn, Arkansas, LSU and Vanderbilt. Given that one of the Ole Miss games are at home with also Arkansas and Vanderbilt, I'll say we can atleast pull off two of those three. We have a good chance of getting two more w's against LSU and Auburn again. It's going to be hard to beat Ole Miss twice, and even though South Carolina's record looks similar to ours, I think it will be tough to get them in Columbia.

So with that said, it looks like we could be finishing up 6-10 in the SEC with a total of 17-14 for the season giving us a winning percentage of .548 but with a .375 in the SEC. This would tie with the lowest winning percentage in conference play Mark Gottfried has had since his first season, 1999-2000, where the Tide went 13-16 total. This also might be the second time Coach Gottfried and the Tide might not see post season play.

Here's a look at the conference standings thus far:

Lance Thompson: 2008 Recruiter of the Year

Alabama's Outside Linebackers coach, Lance Thompson, was named the 2008 recruiter of the year by Rivals.com.

Coach Thompson was the primary recruiter for Mark Barron, Glenn Harbin, Destin Hood, Star Jackson, Julio Jones, Robert Lester, Ivan Matchett, Jermaine Preyear, and Burton Scott. He also helped out with Jerrell Harris.

That give's him a total of two five-star, six four-star and two three-star signees. Just his recruiting efforts alone tide Auburn's five-star list and signed two more four-stars than them. If compared to Tennessee's class, he signed two to their zero five-stars and two more four-stars.

I know all the numbers do not mean anything until they get out on the field. Thompson's got some good talent to work with. As defensive coordinator at UCF he produced a pair of All-Conference USA First-Team selections. We should really look forward to what is is going to do with Jerrell Harris, Don'ta Hightower, and Courtney Upshaw.

Big day for the Tide

It was a big finish for Alabama today as we had three huge recruits commit to top off the 2008 recruiting class putting Alabama atop the national recruiting list. Julio Jones, Jerrell Harris and Marcel Dareus.

Alabama landed three five stars this recruiting season: Julio Jones, Burton Scott and Tyler Love. The probable quarterback of the future, Star Jackson signed his LOI today as well.

The Tide is ranked top both in Rivals.com and Scouts.com recruiting class. It's been an amazing run and now we get to see what all Saban and staff can do with them.

---

On another note, Auburn is pretty dissapointed in the way things went over the course of today and the recruiting season.

Some comments from al.com's Auburn blog:

Posted by arklight:
Let's not kid ourselves. CTT and staff need to look in the mirror and try to figure oput how we lose THREE of our long time commitments right before signing day. They might want to make a committment to better in state recruiting, maintaining a consistent coaching staff, and putting to rest issues of job security sooner rather than later. Let's be honest this is a 9-3 or 8-4 class...Nothing special, nothing terible. It's time CTT either steps up his game now that he doesn;t have Shula to kick around, or next year, just don't flirt with other schools...Take the job.

Posted by tigerzbaby:
I think we got a good, solid class. True, Bama's is highly ranked *IF* you care about stars. I do not look forward to hearing all the smack that we will no doubt have to listen to as a result, whether it's founded or not they love to dish it out.

Posted by AUDude1:
OK everyone - let's not get all freaked out. This story will be extremely old news in just a few weeks. Remember, it is a COMBINATION of recruiting clases over a 4-5 year period that constitutes the team.
We all knew that Davis and Fortson were lost causes anyway.
For now, we still have some pretty good backs for the next few years in Tate, Fannin, and Lester (1 more year for him).

Posted by Tottenham:
Just wondering:
1) Would it have been better to sign fewer players and hold those scholarships (under the 85 limit) for future classes? Would it have been better to stick with quality and limit the quantity?
2) How much pressure will there be to have a top signing class next year? This year, not so much, because of last year's great class. But I'm pretty sure that two in a row would have long lasting effects.
3) In evaluating the misses in this class (vis a vis the head to head matchups with Bama and the loss of previously committed players) why isn't the DB from Auburn High (whose name escapes me at the moment) who signed with Florida mentioned?
4) What need was Auburn not able to address?

Posted by shug1957:
We will have to work hard for everything we get from this day forward. We have no more Mike Shula to laugh about.

I know it hurts you to read the frustration that is coming from the Auburn community. I think they are starting to realize the excitement we had when Coach Saban was hired. He did a good job this past season, but now it's time to truly watch him and his staff work.

Any thoughts on today?

Need that John Hancock

[Last updated: 2:05 PM CST]

Here's the signing schedule for the commitments:

• Jermaine Preyear - signed
• Devonta Bolton - signed
• Glenn Harbin - signed
• Terrence Cody - signed
• Robby Green - signed
• Ivan Matchett - signed
• Mark Barron - signed
• Destin Hood - signed
• Melvin Ray - signed
• Brad Smelley - signed
• Chris Jordan - signed
• Kerry Murphy - signed
• Courtney Upshaw - signed
• Don'ta Hightower - signed
• Damion Square - signed
• Wesley Neighbors - signed
• Brandon Lewis - signed
• John Michael Boswell - signed
• Burton Scott - signed
• Barrett Jones - signed
• Star Jackson - signed
• Undra Billingsley - signed
• Robert Lester - signed
• Michael Williams - signed
• Tyler Love - signed
• Corey Smith - signed
• Alonzo Lawrence - signed
• Chris Jackson - signed

Here's the signing schedule for the top uncommited with interest in the Tide:

• DE Robert Quinn (signed w/ North Carolina)
• DT Marcel Dareus (signed w/ Alabama)
• DB T.J. Bryant (signed w/ USC)
• WR Julio Jones (signed w/ Alabama)
• LB Jerrell Harris (signed w/ Alabama) - to make it a little dramatic, Harris had all his hats in front of him, walked to the podium, reached under and pulled out a Bear Bryant Houndstooth hat... nice!

MyFoxAl.com says they are going to cover live signings of both Dareus and Harris.

Since Mobile's wkrg.com site is having some trouble (probably due to high traffic), check out Julio's decision on ESPN.

With Julio and Dareus signing with the Tide, that puts us up on the top with both Rivals.com and Scout.com

Julio's LOI video:

I'm liking the attention

Title traits(rivals.com).... Schools to watch(espn.com)... Best recruiting class(foxsports.com)...

I'm liking all the attention and looking forward to where it can take us. Read up and wait up for tomorrow.

Countdown to signing day

MemphisTider figured out why the Alabama/LSU basketball game was sold out. Burton Scott, Julio Jones, Robert Lester, Mark Barron, and DJ Fluker were all seen at the game.

Now that Steele has made his decision to stay with the Tide, let's hope we can bring in some big signees Wednesday to finish up one of the best recruiting classes we've ever seen.

Currently, Rivals.com has us ranked third in recruiting class with being 56 total recruiting points behind number 2 Notre Dame and 69 points behind the leader Florida. The next closest in total points is Georgia trailing by 236.

Here's some top recruits that will be making their decision this week:
Tuesday

• Mark Ingram, RB, Southwestern Academy

Wednesday

• Julio Jones, WR, Foley
• Jerrell Harris, LB, Gadsden City
• T.J. Bryant, CB, Lincoln (Fla.)
• Marcel Dareus, DT, Huffman
• Robert Quinn, DE, Fort Dorchester