Pro football: NFL preview capsules. 3C
S A T U R D A Y , O C T O B E R 16 , 2010
BALL UA men’s basketball team holds first practice TUSCALOOSA | The second season of the Anthony Grant era began Friday as the Crimson Tide basketball team held its first official team practice of the 2010-11 season with a two-hour workout in Coleman Coliseum. The Tide finished 17-15 (6-10 SEC) last season. “The experience we gained last year; I don’t think there’s any substitute for that,” Grant said. “The lessons learned can be hard lessons and we learned our share of hard lessons last year. Hopefully, the things we took away from that will make us tougher, make us more prepared and know what to expect as we go into the preparations here this season.” The Alabama offense welcomes back three of its top four scorers from a season ago in JaMychal Green (14.1 ppg) freshman AllSEC standout Tony Mitchell (9.2 ppg) and Senario Hillman (7.9 ppg). Green also helped the Tide defense as he led the team in blocks (52) and rebounds (7.2 rpg). Alabama returns eight players in all. This season’s roster also has five newcomers in Jason Carter (F), Kendall Durant (G) Carl Engstrom (C), Charles Hankerson Jr. (G/F) and Trevor Releford (G). Carter and Releford were both ranked as four-star recruits by rivals.com. Releford was also named the best ball-handling prep guard by SLAM Magazine and earned the honor of the Kansas City Star’s AllMetro Player of the Year. Grant is excited by the progress he has seen from Releford so far, saying, “I think he’s got a chance to be a very good player with what he brings to the table both offensively, and he has great leadership skills as well.” The Tide will continue its preseason practices and preparations leading up to the team’s debut on Nov. 2 in an exhibition contest against Talladega College. The regular season tips off on Nov. 12 when Florida A&M opens the home schedule.
UA gymnasts to sign autographs on the Quad TUSCALOOSA | The Alabama gymnastics team will be signing autographs on the Quad today from 5:306:15 p.m. prior to the UA-Ole Miss football game. The Crimson Tide’s roster features eight freshmen and 10 veterans. Among the upperclassmen signing today will be senior AllAmerican Kayla Hoffman as well as junior All-Americans Ashley Priess, Geralen Stack-Eaton and Rachel Terry. The Tide is coming off its 28th consecutive NCAA championship appearance and its 26th year in the top-6.
UA women’s basketball team to sign autographs on the Quad TUSCALOOSA | The Alabama women’s basketball team will sign autographs from 5:30-6:15 p.m. today on the Quad prior to the Alabama-Ole Miss football game. Crimson Tide fans will have the opportunity to meet this year’s squad that consists of seven returning letterwinners and six newcomers. Alabama will play its only exhibition game on Saturday, Nov. 6, when it hosts the University of Alabama in Huntsville at 2 p.m. The Tide’s first regular-season contest is Friday, Nov. 12, against Tennessee State. The women will play the first game in a doubleheader with the men’s team beginning at 5 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Due to an early deadline, results of Deontay Wilder’s boxing match with Harold Sconiers is not in today’s edition. For results of the match, visit www.tuscaloosanews.com. Also, Game 1 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers is not in today’s section.
Sports
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
WEST ALABAMA FOOTBALL
UWA’s game with College football’s best Reddies features explosive offenses
TRADITIONS
By Andrew Carroll Sports Writer
In preparing a game plan for today’s homecoming opponent, coach Bobby Wallace discovered a mirror image of his University of West Alabama football team. West Alabama leads the Gulf South Conference in total offense with a 485.8-yard average. Henderson State ranks second with a 460.5-yard averHenderson State age. The Reddies rank No. 1 in at West Alabama the GSC in passing offense ■ When: 5 p.m. with a 349.8-yard average. ■ Where: Tiger UWA is second at 337.2. Stadium, Livingston “Both teams are very, very ■ Records: West Alasimilar,” Wallace said. “We bama 4-2, 2-1 in GSC; both have explosive offenses. Henderson State 4-2, Our defenses are kind of in 3-1 the middle in the conference. ■ Series: Henderson “Our players are aware that State leads 11-4 it’s homecoming and we’ll ■ Last meeting: Henprobably have a little bigger derson State won, 38-6 crowd, but they’ve got to re- in 2007 alize this is a big game for us. Henderson State is 3-1 in the conference, and they play the rest of their conference games at home. Whoever comes out of this with a win will be in the hunt for the conference championship. That’s how important this game is to us.” SEE EXPLOSIVE | 5C
Good luck charms, bands, banners, chants and cheerleaders. Look around a college football game and almost anything can qualify as a tradition. The best ones though have some combination of history, originality and plain old coolness. Here are The Associated Press’ 12 best college football traditions: HOWARD’S ROCK A friend of Frank Howard’s gave the Hall of Fame coach the big rock back in the early 1960s and the story goes he used it as a door stop for a while before a Clemson booster club member placed it at the top of the hill behind the east zone the Tigers run down to enter the stadium . The first time they ran past it before a game in 1966, they beat Virginia. The next season they started rubbing it for luck before running down the hill and the Tigers have been doing it ever since. MIAMI’S SMOKY ENTRANCE The smoky entrance became a part of Miami football back in the 1950s when fire extinguishers were used to create the cloud. The effect stuck, and when the Hurricanes turned into the most dominant program in the college football in the 1980s, their sprint onto the field through the smoke suited the team perfectly. They took the field like a wrestler entering the ring and talked just about as much trash as anyone Vince McMahon ever employed. SCRIPT OHIO At Ohio State it’s simply called TBDBITL (The Best Damn Band in the Land), and it has been spelling out the script Ohio at football games since 1936. The big moment comes at the end when a sousaphone player dots the “i.” Honorary i-dotters are rare and include Bob Hope, Woody Hayes and Jack Nicklaus. TIGER WALK Two hours before kickoff, the Auburn Tigers hoof it to Jordan-Hare Stadium from Sewell Hall down Donahue Drive, with thousands of fans lining the street to wish them luck. It started in the early 1960s, and now similar walks are done by other teams. YELL PRACTICE Most schools have pep rallies the night before games. At Texas A&M, it’s yell practice. Yell Leaders are elected and use various hand signals that coincide with the different yells to guide the fans. Some yells praise. Some scorn. And at the end of their Friday night session, Aggies kiss their dates, also as practice for gameday. Every time A&M scores, Aggies are supposed to “mug down.” USC SONG GIRLS Not cheerleaders. Song Girls. The most famous cheer squad in college football was started in 1967 and are as synonymous with
Southern California as Heisman Trophy-winning tailbacks. And the Song Girls never landed the Trojans on probation. THE SOONER SCHOONER When Oklahoma scores, matching white ponies named Boomer and Sooner take a victory lap pulling covered wagon dubbed the Sooner Schooner. It first appeared in 1964, became the school’s official mascot in 1980 and it famously drew a delay of game penalty in the 1985 Orange Bowl that helped cost the Sooners three points in a 28-17 loss to Washington. MISSISSIPPI STATE COWBELLS Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Miss., is far from the biggest stadium in the Southeastern Conference, but at times it can be the loudest when those cowbells start clanging. The tradition goes back to the 1940s and SEC opponents have been trying to get the bells banned for almost as long. The league finally implemented a rule prohibiting artificial noisemakers from games about 10 years ago, but the only cowbell that would get you into trouble at Wade Davis would be one still attached to a cow. GO BLUE The Bump Elliott years were not particularly good ones for the Wolverines, but he is credited with helping start one very cool tradition in 1962 when he allowed the Wolverines to take the field at the Big House running under a huge GO BLUE banner. It measures 40-feet long by 4-feet wide and the players touch it for luck as they pass by. Michigan’s defense clearly hasn’t been touching the banner enough lately. CAL’S TIGHTWAD HILL Officially it’s called Charter Hill and it lies on the east side of California Memorial Stadium. Golden Bears fans have been watching their team play for free there since the 1920s. In typical Berkeley fashion, visitors police themselves and are expected keep the place tidy. There is only one rule on tightwad hill: No red clothing. Rival Stanford wears red. RAMBLING WRECK OF GEORGIA TECH The first mention of a Rambling Wreck was back in the 1920s. It was what members of the school newspaper called the 1914 Ford driven by one of the deans. In 1961, the school made it official, buying a 1930 Ford Cabriolet Sport Coupe for $1,000 from a pilot in Atlanta who had it parked in front of his apartment building. Packed with cheerleaders, the shiny gold antique leads the Yellow Jackets on the field these days. THE WORLD’S LARGEST DRUM It takes about four band members to push around the carriage that holds Purdue’s Big Bass Drum. The exact measurements are a secret, but it’s about 10-feet tall and 4-feet wide. It debuted in 1921 and has been refurbished several times since.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABOVE: University of Miami mascot Sebastian the Ibis leads the team onto the field during introductions before the Hurricanes’ game against Florida A&M in Miami earlier this season. The smokey entrance became a part of Miami football back in the 1950s when fire extinguishers were used to create the cloud.
PHOTO | STEWART GINN
West Alabama’s T-Ray Mitchell (21) rushed for 188 yards against Lambuth earlier this season. The Tigers, who average 485.8 yards on offense, face Henderson State, which averages 460.5 yards on offense.
STILLMAN FOOTBALL
Tigers’ Cole ready for Freeman’s visit By Andrew Carroll Sports Writer
Stillman College coach L.C. Cole wouldn’t mind sitting down and breaking bread with Rich Freeman, a former protege. But for about three hours today the two will be on opposite sidelines. Freeman brings a big, talented and experienced Morehouse College football team to town to face Cole’s squad. Morehouse won its first five games for its best start since Morehouse College 1930, but the streak ended at Stillman College with a 31-15 loss to Tuskegee. ■ When: 5 p.m. Stillman, which fell to Concor- ■ Where: Tigers Den, dia 18-17 last Saturday, is seek- Tuscaloosa ing its first victory. ■ Records: Stillman “It’s always good to see 0-6, 0-5 in SIAC; Moresomeone you know doing house 5-1, 4-1 well,” Cole said. “I figured it ■ Last meeting: Morewould start coming along for house won, 40-27 last him. season in Atlanta “I think we’re getting there in spots. We just have to keep going at it. I’m not expecting anything different for this game. I expect us to fight Morehouse down to the wire and play for 60 minutes. It’s going to happen for us. Once we get a victory, you’ll see a whole different football team.” When Cole took the job as head coach at Tennessee State, Freeman had finished his eligibility as a player. Cole convinced him to get into coaching as a graduate assistant. Freeman coached with Cole at Alabama State and Lane College. Cole also has background ties with Morehouse assistants Leon Murray, Alphonso Walker and George Copeland. SEE TIGERS | 5C