When Michigan fires Hoke will the Les chatter begin

Terry, I am sincerely glad to know that someone level-headed as you started a Bama forum. I may sign up later.

Yeah vamp. NO opponent forums like over-the-top stuff. You have to support what you say and keep the emotionally based comments to a min.

Think of it like a college-aged Catholic boy attending a Baptist church with a hottie he's hitting. You're going to see some things you don't like, understand, or agree with. Don't get caught up in it, you're not there church to worship, you're just there for that pussy.

 

Right Red, some love the NFL, some, not as much. Karl Dunbar couldn't wait to get back into the NFL as a coach. He's with the Jets now. Jimbo had a shot to go with nick to Miami, but passed. He stayed at LSU with Les, he also had the Miss St locked up before he passed on it, then they hired Sly Croom. Jimbo was thinking about it, but after talking with a few coaches, he passed. He waited till something good came up. He has worked with the Bowdens over the years, when the Fla St job came open, a no brain er. If he had taken the Miss St job, he would have had a little trouble filling his staff, then, would he have been stuck there, or jumped at another job? Too much goes into taking a job, just to take one, many coaches I know, think about the family first. Like I said, when Les went to Grimes, he and Cam had to make a great offer. Do you know how hard it is to tell your wife and kids, "Yep, we have been here a year and have to move!" He wasn't getting fired. When Grimes left Va Tech, Stacy Searels took his place. Stacy had just been let go at U Tx. Stacy was on the first staff Les has at LSU. I made a mistake when Stacy was being hired, the night before nick was going to offer him the job, a coach I know told me that Jimbo had called him to say that nick was gonna offer Stacy the OL job. I was talking with a sports talk guy and told him that nick was gonna hire Stacy. The next morning, the Sports Guy asks nick before the press conference if he was gonna hire Stacy. The word was nicks veins in his neck popped out and his face turned red. From then on, he thought his office was bugged, cause he had just offered the job to Searles. I never did give that Sports guy anymore info.

nick also tried to get Tommy Moffitt with him into the NFL, but had to get a friend I know instead, Bert Hill. Bert was up in Detroit when Eric Andolsek played there. I got to sit and talk with Bert years back, we talked about what Eric would have done in the NFL if he wouldn't have been killed. No doubt an All Pro, NFL HOF.

A good story on Eric:

Spielman found common bond with foe-turned-friend from bayou

By Rob Oller The Columbus Dispatch • Monday January 7, 2008 6:20 AM

Photo courtesy of Andy Andolsek
Chris Spielman, right, and Eric Andolsek (76) were captains for Ohio State and LSU when the teams met in Baton Rouge in 1987.

Spielman found common bond with foe-turned-friend from bayou -
NEW ORLEANS -- The scuffle's outcome was as 50-50 as the coin flip. Either Chris Spielman was going to land on his head or the jughead across from him was going to fall on his tail.

Spielman didn't give ground. Neither did Eric Andolsek, the hulking Louisiana State offensive lineman who stood across from the Ohio State linebacker, waiting for the coin toss on that blue-skied Sept-ember day in the bayou.

The year was 1987 and the Buckeyes were making their first trip to LSU's Tiger Stadium. As kickoff approached, Spielman met at midfield with the referee and team captains, including Andolsek, who stared a hole through him.

"Eric is looking all mean and nasty and trying to intimidate us at the toss," Spielman said last week. "The next thing I know we're interlocked and I'm thinking, 'Man, the strongest human being in the world has ahold of me. It's going to be a battle.' "

Officials separated the two players before fists broke free, but not before Andolsek had connected with a forearm shiver. The 270-pound senior undoubtedly shoved Spielman a few more times during a game that ended in a 13-13 tie when LSU blocked a last-second field goal attempt.

"I don't remember shaking hands with anybody after the game. I was probably pouting and storming off the field -- as I always did," Spielman said, chuckling over the memory of an emotional young man whose world view was constructed on putting people down, on the ground. Nothing mattered beyond the "me," so hating the other team made perfect sense.

Many of us aren't any more mature than that when channeling college football. Our players are the good guys. The opponent is evil. Nasty attitudes escalate even further when the opponent comes from some far-off land, like Louisiana, and when the face of that enemy is some good old boy who talks funny. And when a national championship is on the line, as it will be Monday night in the Superdome.

Fortunately, enlightened awareness is possible. We're the same more than we're different. Football doesn't have to divide. It can unite. The Spielman-Andolsek story proves it. What began as an ugly fracas between a Wheat-ies cover boy from Massillon and a crawfish catcher from the delta town of Thibodaux, La., bloomed into a deep bond built on mutual respect. It ended with Spielman delivering his best friend's eulogy.

Some background. Except for cultural differences, Spielman and Andolsek were the same person. They just didn't know it until about seven months after the confrontation at the coin toss.

Both were addicted to working out, even lifting weights together on each of their wedding days. Both preferred simple living. Both married their high school sweethearts. Both put a premium on family.

"Two guys with the same mind-set who came from different worlds but had everything in common," Spielman said.

Spielman wasn't yet thinking that way when Andolsek entered the bus for Detroit Lions rookies in the spring of 1988. The Lions had drafted Spielman in the second round and the LSU lineman in the fifth.

"We're at minicamp and Eric is one of the last ones to get on the bus, and I'm sitting alone," Spielman said. "Here he comes and I'm expecting to see this grumpy, smelly lineman. All the sudden he's got the best smile on his face and says, 'Hi Chris, how you doin'?' "

No staredown. No forearm shiver. No enemy. The teammates became roommates and eventually visited each other's hometowns, trips that wiped clean the stain of stereotyped ignorance associated with the "other" side.

"A meat-eating potato guy becomes best friends with a guy who eats crawfish and crabs for breakfast? How does that happen?" said Andolsek's older brother, Andy, pausing before answering his own question. "Because football was at the core."

Only one football decoration hangs in Spielman's weight room at home. A framed No. 65 jersey once worn by Andolsek, a reminder of how love and respect for the game help cast aside the cultural differences.

In a perfect world, the jersey would not be there. But on June 23, 1992, Andolsek was cutting grass near the road that runs past his rural home in Thibodaux when a driver lost control of his flatbed truck and hit the player, sending him almost 400 feet into his sister's yard. The 25-year-old never saw it coming, but his life helped a former Buckeye see beyond the weight room walls.

"He opened my eyes to a lot of things," Spielman said. "I'll never forget him."



Sorry if I was a little long winded.

 

I mentioned the sportsbook with you in mind. I had one last year but this years is like that one on 'roids. I'll have to admit I'm proud of how it turned out. It's realistic, to the point of a bookie charging a vig and keeping the winnings, lines changes which pay on when you bet, and a few other little bells and whistles.

The members have run off more Bama fans that were over the top than rival fans. There are still some that let their fandom show, no doubt.

Biggest request is just don't be stupid and if you say something, be ready to back it up.

 

@VampMuse , listen to @lsutiga. He's in love with the USC boards.

 

Don't hate cause you're lil backwoodz country azz is too sheltered to socialize on a National level like a big tiga.

 

Hey, she almost got a shot at the title. Give her time to ease into it.

 

Can't give her too much slack. tirk's not here to pull her chain so I guess it falls on you and me to keep her in the yard.

 

How do you get this? @lsutiga .

 

I'm lost? How do you get what?

If you are asking how anyone "gets" "you" then that sort of narrows the field to me and a handful of others.

If you are asking how to get the @ sign in front of your name I'm pretty sure you just answered your own question.

But I can help if you'd like