Round and Square: Alabama

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Showing posts with label Alabama. Show all posts

Friday, July 18, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Crimson Gymnastics

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On this date on Round and Square's History

18 July 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 07-18
18 July 2013—Asian Miscellany: Dynamics of Ethnicity (a)
18 July 2012—Fieldnotes From History: Provincial Elections (n)
18 July 2011—Le Tour de la France: Reaching France

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, let me thank Lederhosen Pug for this opportunity to do a little reporting from Alabama. I 'preciate it, pug.

You may think that I am just a good ol' boy who watches football, but I have been a big fan of Crimson Tide gymnastics and the storied collegiate program that an iconic coach has created.

[b] Flying High RF

Sarah Patterson came to a town obsessed by football and crafted one of the best gymnastic programs in the entire country. She will be stepping down, but we will never forget her.

Take a look at the New York Times article about her:

Sarah Patterson New York Times

Let's not forget, either, that she was hired by the legendary Bear Bryant.

Icons all.

Roll Tide.

[c] Big Goal RF

Monday, June 30, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Passing the Torch

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One year ago on Round and Square (25 April 2012)—Seinfeld Ethnography: These Pretzels...
Two years ago on Round and Square (25 April 2011)—Breaking the Vessel: Managing History

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention,I want to tell you that I will be going away for a while.

This is how it works, and I plan to serve my time, "keep my nose clean" (as Detective Rockford said in the 1970s), and maybe show up for a cameo on Round and Square every once in a while.

[b] One kind of autumn festival RF

For the month of July, though, RSQ readers are off to Bavaria.

I am proud to be able to introduce my successor the next month of posts. He (this is an assumption based upon clothing, but I could well be wrong) will tell you as much about Bavaria as I have taught about Alabama.

There will even be some football, too.

Please welcome...Lederhosen Pug.

Roll Tide.

[c] Just for a moment RF

[Originally posted on June 30, 2014]

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Iron Bowl

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One year ago on Round and Square (24 April 2012)—Primary Sources: Good Morning, Mother
Two years ago on Round and Square (24 April 2011)—Endings: Primitive Classification

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I want to complete my "substantive" posts this month with a nod toward the Iron Bowl.

[b] Auburn Gateway RF

That's what we call it down here when my Crimson Tide play the Auburn Tigers. There is mutual loathing (sometimes taken to criminal levels), but I have had a lot of time to think these days, and I am renouncing my previous antipathy for Auburn.

Mind you, I still want to crush them every year, but this is really Alabama pride.

The whole darned state.

I'll be thinking about that while I listen to the game (while square-dancing on my houseboat...on Alabama's navigable waterways).

Beat Auburn, but let's not kill their trees.

Roll Tide.

[c] Save the date RF

[Originally posted on June 29, 2014]

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Coach Saban

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One year ago on Round and Square (17 April 2012)—La Pensée Cyclique: Chinese Thought (and Civilization)
Two years ago on Round and Square (17 April 2011)—Beginnings: Civil Twilight

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I would like to utter a 'bama sacrilege that everyone thinks, but few dare openly acknowledge.

[b] Sacrilege RF

I have little to lose (and a lot of time to think these days), so I have been reviewing all of the coaches in Alabama football history.

And you know what?

Coach Saban (the current guy) may be even better than the Bear.

Shocking.

Roll Tide.

[c] Coach Tide RF

[Originally posted on June 28, 2014]

Friday, June 27, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Bowl Big

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One year ago on Round and Square (16 April 2012)—Fieldnotes From History: Stinking Drunk
Two years ago on Round and Square (16 April 2011)—Endings: Civil Twilight

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I want you to know that the Crimson Tide has played in an NCAA-record sixty bowl games.

[b] Bama Rose RF

Sixty. From 甲子 to 癸亥, that's a beautiful series.

There have been Rose, Orange, Cotton, and other bowls.

There has even been a Meineke Car Care Bowl, and there might have been a Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl (these are real things).

Let's not kid ourselves, though. We like Big Bowls.

Rose Tide.

Roll Tide.

[c] Roses RF

[Originally posted on June 27, 2014]

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Closing In On 1,000

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One year ago on Round and Square (15 April 2012)—Hurtin' Country: Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
Two years ago on Round and Square (15 April 2011)—Seinfeld Ethnography: Elaine Exclaims

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, let me just say that the Crimson Tide boast(s) 838 NCAA Division 1 victories. Now that's a lot.

[b] Hundreds RF

That means that we could top the 1,000 mark at some point in 2030. By then, I'll be sixteen years out of rehab, and square-dancing on my houseboat (on Alabama's navigable waters).

It would be a little closer if we hadn't gotten caught cheating a few times, and had to "vacate" (I love that term) several dozen wins.

Oh, well. Getting caught is sometimes part of the process.

Roll Tide.

[c] Coin Toss RF

[Originally posted on June 26, 2014]

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—122 Football Seasons

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One year ago on Round and Square (14 April 2012)—Fieldnotes From History: Temple Diviniation
Two years ago on Round and Square (14 April 2011)—Beginnings: Mansfield Park

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I want to tell you that football (the American kind) has been played at the University of Alabama since 1892.

[b] Don't Stop RF

That's the year a geeky football powerhouse-to-be called the University of Chicago opened a few Oxford copycat doors.

I am not sure if they ever played, but I am looking into it. All I know is that Alabama never stopped letting football dominate academics, and Chicago blinked (way to go, Robert Maynard Hutchins...I hope you're happy with your old Heisman and academic respectability...and Division III football today.

Whoo-hoo.

Moi? I'll bask in fifteen national championships and concede Chicago a few of those "Nobel" things I've heard about.

Roll Tide.

[c] Noble? RF

[Originally posted on June 25, 2014]

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Yea, Alabama

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One year ago on Round and Square (13 April 2012)—La Pensée Chinoise: Chinese Civilization (and Thought)
Two years ago on Round and Square (13 April 2011)—Breaking the Vessel: Crafting a History

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I want to tell you about the University of Alabama's fight song.

[b] Roll, Alabama RF

It has been around for a long time (there's even a Rose Bowl reference in there, and I like to think it refers to our victory in the 1926 New Year's Day game).

Yea, Alabama 1:36

I don't consider myself musical (and almost no one else would, either). This is as close to musical perfection as it gets for me, though. After rehab, I'll play it every morning on the houseboat that will sail Alabama's navigable waters. We might even square-dance to it.

Roll Tide.

[c] Yea, Alabama RF

[Originally posted on June 24, 2014]

Monday, June 23, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Tier One Universities

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One year ago on Round and Square (10 April 2012)—Fieldnotes From History: Snake Alley
Two years ago on Round and Square (10 April 2011)—Katakana Culture: Slopes and Sunlight

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I would like to say that I think that the US News & World Report university and college rankings are utter nonsense.

[b] UAB RF

Still...my home state of Alabama has four Tier-One universities (University of Alabama, Auburn University, University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Alabama in Huntsville)...according to those stupid rankings.

This still makes me proud in an indefensible sort of way (and that has its own special ripple of pride).

Roll Tide...Pride (we'll get back to 'merican football tomorrow, and until the end of my contract.

Oh, and you have no idea who my successor will be next month. No idea.

[c] Tier One RF

[Originally posted on June 23, 2014]

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Minor League Baseball

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One year ago on Round and Square (9 April 2012)—La Pensée Chinoise: Primitive Classification
Two years ago on Round and Square (9 April 2011)—Exilic Response: Introduction

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I want to tell you that (even though football—the 'merican kind—is my passion...Roll Tide...I like to watch a little minor-league baseball too.

[b] Offering RF

Alabama has four minor league baseball teams right now, and I like to go to games whenever I can (no really an option at the moment, any more than square dancing, quilting, or houseboat drifting is). Still, there are four solid Southern League teams, and they play at the Double-A level (not bad...only Triple-A and The Show are bigger).

We have the Birmingham Barons, the Huntsville Stars, the Mobile BayBears, and my favorites, the Montgomery Biscuits. Who ever heard of a team named "the biscuits." Gotta love that.

Go Biscuits, and...Roll Tide.

[c] Rolling RF

[Originally posted on June 22, 2014]

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Navigable Waterways

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One year ago on Round and Square (8 April 2012)—Fieldnotes From History: Shrine Culture
Two years ago on Round and Square (8 April 2011)—Displays of Authenticity: Introduction

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

[b] "Navigable" RF

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I want to tell you that I like boats...and entrepreneurship.

And having said that, I will tell you that my home state has (at 1,300 miles) one of the longest navigable inland waterways in the nation.

This means that (after rehab) I can do some serious quilting on the houseboat I plan to purchase. It's going to be a new leaf (turned over)—straight and narrow, down the winding waterways.

Watery freedom. It sounds pretty good right now.

[c] Navigable RF

[Originally posted on June 21, 2014]

Friday, June 20, 2014

Roll Tide Guy—Hellen Keller

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One year ago on Round and Square (7 April 2012)—Fieldnotes From History: Headlines
Two years ago on Round and Square (7 April 2011)—Endings: Fargo

[a] I'm Innocent...Roll Tide PD

I'm Innocent...
Roll Tide

Click here for coverage of "Roll Tide" (watch the reaction of the agents at :57)

But now that I have your attention, I want to complete my little series on Alabama state symbols (other themes will soon follow, and only some of them are about football).

[b] Keller RF

You see, the official state outdoor drama is about Helen Keller. It is called "The Miracle Worker."

Alabama is the birthplace of Helen Keller, and we are proud. Indeed, watching "The Miracle Worker" makes me realize how far I have gone astray.

As I get my life back together, my Alabama pride and Helen Keller's inspiration will be my guides (as well as salamander activism, quilting, and square-dancing.

Roll Tide.

[c] Birthplace RF

[Originally posted on June 20, 2014]