A few Blazer articles for the weekend:

- A look at the possible moves on the depth chart during today's scrimmage.

- A look at the competition for kicking duties.

- A little late with this one, but The Ciskie Blog has us finishing fifth in the East in C-USA and doubtful for a bowl, with Central Florida coming out on top and Memphis coming in at dead last.

- Unrelated, but Sly Croom dressed out and took to the practice field with his team this week (via EDSBS). No news if Watson plans to pull the same stunt in an attempt to motivate his trio of QBs.


















Gather round, kids, and let Grampa Watson tell you about playing for Vandy...

Strangers With Candy

When I saw in the paper yesterday that this was the Art/Independent picture of the week at Brook Highland I jumped for joy. Too bad the movie didn't live up to expectations. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, but if you've seen the show you've seen the movie. Jeri is still Jeri, Noblet is still Noblet, Blackman is still Blackman, and so on. The jokes were the same (though still enough to make me laugh), the plot is basically the first season boiled down to 90 minutes. Jeri gets out of jail after 30 years of depravity, returns home to find her father in a coma and with a new family, and decides to start her life over right where she left off in high school. There's nothing new here, except maybe the role of the comatose father being played by Dan Hedaya. An attempt at freshness was provided by cameos from Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Allison Janney as school board members and Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker as teachers, but none of them were really around long enough to do anything and were wasted. If you want to make a movie out of a TV show, it has to either be a continuation of the series or a fresh retelling, and this was neither. Too bad.

Blazer Names to Know: #6 Carnell Williams

Listed behind Sanders at CB is #6 Carnell Williams. Though listed at number 2 on the depth chart, the JR out of Wenonah will certainly see more significant playing time this season, providing depth at both the CB and Safety positions. He saw action in nine games last season and started the last five contests. He recorded 22 tackles (16 solo), one pass breakup, and forced one fumble in that time, with his season high of six coming in the win at UTEP.

The Birmingham News ran an article today touting Nick Coon's re-emergence as the top receiving threat for the Blazers. After being stuck behind Roddy White on the depth chart in '04, '05 saw him sidelined with various injuries. He's shown no signs of those problems during fall practice, so hopefully he'll stay healthy throughout the season.

Best out of quote context in the article:

"If it wasn't one groin, it was the other groin..."

Hmmm....to be honest, I'm pretty sure a bunch of planes getting blown up over the Atlantic by fanatical adherents to the Religion of Peace would spur anti-muslim sentiments in me a little more than hearing Bush use the term "Islamic Fascism." Seriously, pick your battles...

Today's "All This Talk of Getting Old, It's Bringing Me Down My Love" update courtesy Rock 99.5, who just played All Apologies.

Blazer Names to Know: #21 Kevin Sanders

Sanders, a sophomore out of Pell City, AL, holds down the starting CB spot opposite Will Evans. After redshirting in '04, he saw some game time last season playing in seven games (starting five of them). During that time he recorded 15 tackles (11 solo), two pass break ups, and a pair of interceptions. Though listed as starter on the depth chart coming out of spring practice, look for Sanders to split time with #6 Carnell Williams, who saw action in nine games last season while starting the last five.

UAB went through it's first practice with pads today, despite heat on the field topping 90 for the sixth straight day, and word is the receivers are stepping up to make some plays:

"I think our wide receivers are getting better and I saw that today," Brown said. "Courtney Smith made some plays today and Nick Coon is just having a fantastic preseason. Our whole wide receiving corp is playing much better than what we saw in the spring."

Hopefully the real life Nick Coon doesn't perform like his NCAA '07 counterpart and fumble every ball he catches if a defensive back even looks in his direction. I already cursed the paint off the walls in my apartment once...














He cost me the virtual UGA game, let's hope he makes up for it for reals...

Awwww.....

Today's "MY EYES! MY EYES! SWEET BABY JESUS, MY EYES!" update courtesy Daniel Edwards and New York's Museum of Sex.

Blazer Names to Know: #13 Will Evans

Starting CB Will Evans is another experienced defensive player that looks to contribute heavily in the upcoming season. Though listed at backup at the start of the '04 season, Evans was thrust into the starting role after starter Carlos Hendricks was lost to injury early on. He finished that season with 49 tackles (35 solo hits), two interceptions (one that was returned 30 yards for a TD against Cincinnati), and two pass break ups. Last season saw the return of Hendricks at starter, but Evans still saw significant action in 10 of the 11 games, finishing with 27 tackles (12 solo), one interception, and one pass break up.

Decieving Headline of the Day:

Bengals fans who spot bad behavior can call hot line

My initial thought was "who would rat out a member of the team they pull for?" Turns out it's bad behavior in the stands, not from the players.
















Hello, Police?....I'd like to report that I just saw Chris Henry...No, he wasn't doing anything wrong...yet...

Am I the only one vaguely disturbed by this advertisement?














The girl looks kind of scared, and it just seems sinister to me...

Blazer Names to Know: #48 Orlandus King

The final starting member of the linebacking corp, King was a JUCO transfer that made an immediate impact last season. A 2006 preseason first team all conference selection, he was the team leader in tackles with 85 (41 solo). Among them were 6 TFLs for -24 yards and 3 sacks, while also getting two picks in the wins over Troy and Memphis and forcing a fumble against Rice.

I'd like to salute CMT for showing reruns of Hee Haw, which has made me happier than I should really have any reason to be.












SAAAAAAALUTE!

JP Sports, we hardly knew ye...

ClayNation has an ode to the departed Jefferson Pilot Sports broadcasts up (via EDSBS), and #4 on his list of memorable moments caught my eye:

4. Dave Rowe. Dave Neal and Dave Baker. Say hello to the two announcers and sideline reporter for JP. Yep, all three have the same name. If you haven't experienced this announcing triumvirate of tomfoolery, consider yourself fortunate. Just imagine, it's like having three Bob Davie's calling one game. And the Dave humor. My God, if one more joke was made about them all sharing the name Dave, I felt like their producer was going to jump out of the broadcast booth tethered to a boom mike that was, inevitably, not working.













Dave Baker: The ears that swallowed Starkville...

Seriously, though, Saturdays just won't be the same without rolling out of bed around 11ish, stumbling to the fridge for the first Coke of the day, and flipping on the JP game while sitting on the couch in nothing but my boxers and swearing I'll take a shower at the half. Plus, flukey stuff always happened in the JP games: Run, Bo, Run!...Sly Zooking the Zooker...Vandy winning...all crazy moments of football, all brought to us by JP Sports. Here's hoping that Lincoln Financial (The LF Game just doesn't have that ring, does it?) will continue on in the fine tradition of background noise and saving us money on pay-per-view.

Blazer Names to Know: #41 Mastaki Smith

Starting at Middle ("Mike") Linebacker is #41 Mastaki Smith. Like fellow member of The Funky Bunch (I'm going to make that stick, damn it!) Marcus Mark, Smith had been a special teams standout his first two seasons with the Blazers before earning the starting job in the middle of last season. Smith finished '05 as the #3 tackler with 60 stops (including 29 solo hits, 2 TFLs and 1 sack). Incredibly, half of those 60 came in a three game span against Memphis, UCF and UTEP, with the UCF and UTEP games providing Smith with double digit games. Coming out of spring practice, Smith is still the clear No. 1, though look for sophomore Kris Guyton to work into the rotation regularly.

Dawg Sports has an exhaustive review of the UGA/UAB game up, including a link to a recipe for chocolate cake direct from UAB's health services. One thing he didn't note was that Chris Williams was the QB of the Blazers team that put a 16-13 scare into the Dawgs a few years back. He performed pretty well considering he was a redshirt freshman in his first collegiate start, going 12 of 21 for 97 yards with one pick. Here's hoping a few more years experience behind Hack will give us the edge we'll need to put the game away this time.

Blazer Names to Know: #55 Marcus Mark

Not only is Marcus Mark a starting linebacker for the Blazers, he's our best hope for the linebacking corp to earn the nickname "The Funky Bunch." Mark earned the starting SLB ("Sam") position last season, playing in all eleven games and starting seven. Prior to that, he was a special teams contributor in both '03 and '04 and earned his way into the regular rotation in '04, resulting in 10 tackles and an interception (that he returned 31 yards for a TD in the season opener against Baylor). Last season he recorded 26 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass break up, 2 QB hurries, and a forced fumble.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Will Ferrell, on a bad day, is still funnier than most people on their best. Talladega Nights is the only proof you'll ever need to know that is true. Coming off the huge success of Anchorman, Ferrell and director/co-writer Adam McKay have again created a character more sure of himself than he really has any right to be, and surrounded him with comic foils and setups that dictate a story, instead of a story dictating the characters. This time around, it doesn't work quite as well. While John C. Reilly does a superb job as sidekick Cal Naughton, Jr. and Bobby's kids steal every scene they are in, the pit crew is no Action News Team and Ferrell is left to carry more of the movie than he can. Fortunately for us, he's able to carry enough to make the laughs outweigh the groans enough that we forget them after a few hours.

Blazer Links for Sunday:

- An article from the Birmingham News about incoming freshmen and JUCO transfers getting immediate playing time, which includes today's Grampa Watson quote:

"The players are raving about Stanley Lykes," UAB head coach Watson Brown said. "They're saying `My gosh, coach, this guy can fly.' They say he's really good."

- Video of Watson, McSwain, and Offensive Tackle Julius Wilson at C-USA media days. Nothing much to learn here, but there are a few good highlights of Corey White and hey! Trev Alberts!

- Some quotes from UAB's media day. Apparently playing AND coaching at Vandy serves to effectively negate a coach's ability to feel the pressure to win:

"As far as I am concerned there isn't any pressure because I don't look at it that way." - Coach Watson Brown on the pressure to win

- After the first practice Friday, Watson seems impressed with three true freshmen receivers, including one Mike Jones.














Haters knock cause we on the grind and they not

- After the second day of practice, the defense is looking sharp. At least, that's what they say...