Easter... Church... and other stuff

As the day ends and the dye still stains our hands, the kids are on a sugar high that they may never recover from, and we are so tired that we are just ready to dive into the bed and not wake up for weeks.

Today was pretty special for me, as we spent the day with Carla (my fiance) and most of her family. There were kids everywhere, Easter eggs, candy, FOOD, and everything that goes into a family get together. But that isn’t the only reason it was special. This morning, Easter Morning, Carla was recognized as a new member of the church that I am a member of. She got up, made sure that 3 people other than herself got ready, and made it to Church almost on time!!!! ~WINK~

The Sunday School class was great as we laughed, learned, fellowshiped and prayed together. I am blessed to be a part of a Church family that is loving, caring, forgiving, and accepting. After SS, we went to the worship service where we took up an entire row with our future blended family. As I looked down the aisle, I wondered why God has blessed me with such a wonderful woman and a family that doesn’t mind worshiping together.

After Church, we rounded up the troops and headed to Jasper to be a family. Why not? We will be family in every sense of the word before too long. It was refreshing to be a part of organized chaos. I absolutely do not mean that in a derogatory manner. You see, my folks and family’s idea of family time is no longer than an hour and is more structured than a military tribunal. The kids have their place to eat, adults have theirs, and everything is so streamlined to make sure that we don’t have to spend any more time together than necessary. So to be welcomed with a hug, and told goodbye the same way, well, it did my heart good.

I am not a smart man. I do have lots of common sense and street smarts though, and all those things tell me that I have found where I will be for the rest of my life. The kids all got along well, the adults enjoyed each other and their time of fellowship.

Now as tomorrow gets here, and becomes today, my problems, my worries, and my stressed all seem to surface with the sunrise. But what a true Gift from God to have time, even if only a moment to forget the worries of life and just feel loved.

Pray for my family and my future family as we move toward becoming blended. Pray that our steps are ordained by Christ, and that we are able to listen, hear, and follow the instructions that God gives us.

Enjoy the picture of the fam. I just wish Daff and Angel (+kids) and Thad and Becky (+kids) had been there for it. There will be PLENTY of other times for that.

God Bless, and I love you all...

Charlie

A Letter to Shane

Recently, Shane from Centerpoint posted in his weekly column on the Finebaum web site an article intitled "The Fall of the Auburn Empire". I felt I needed to rebut and reply.

Shane,

Thank you for the laughter and the humor you provided in your latest column. You love to talk down about Auburn and their certian demise, but the problem with that is, rarely do your bold predictions come true. You start a "Tubby Watch" almost annually, because you are certain that Tommy Tuberville is going to take of at the first real opportunity. Again, you have been wrong time after time after time. Sooner or later your may get it right, then you will undoubtedly post a boastful and arrogant article about how you are always right. Every year you predict that Alabama will certainly end the losing streak to Auburn, and again sooner or later you will be right, and again you will post a pretentious and loudmouthed diatribe about how you were right.

You speak of envy and jealousy on the part of the Auburn faithful, the problem with that is you have to have something we want first. Would we pick Nick Saban over Tommy Tuberville? No, would we choose 5 star athletes without character and honor over true gentlemen with dignity and poise? No, not a chance.

You spoke of the lobs pitched to Jason Campbell concerning discipline and good order, well, Jason connected and hit them out of the park. You, just like every other Alabama fan that I have met love to throw the name of Tray Blackmon out there, but I challenge you to find another, dig as deep as you wish. Tommy Tuberville has created a sound and swift way of dealing with things, and Tray's suspensions have been felt. He is an impact player that missed some key games. I guess when you are at the Capstone, La. Monroe is a key game as well. What is missing from the equation is Tray going to the media and talking about his punishment in a flippant and downright rude manner.

The only thread of truth that I found in your piece was that about Tuberville and staff getting out worked. Well, the only thing I have to say about that is that I doubt that happens again. When faced with adversity, Coach Tuberville has always answered his critics and answered them loudly. He has time and time again proven his critics wrong, and made his fans sit in awe of his decision making. No one thought the hiring of Al Borges was a good one at the time it was made, as well as the hiring of Tony Franklin. The Al Borges Hire turned out to be one of genius, I suspect that the Franklin Hire will as well.

Shane, you talk about how smart kids wont buy what Tuberville is selling, and I tell you, you couldn't be more wrong. Tuberville simply got out worked this year, a mistake that isn't likely to be repeated. There are an endless number of recruits that will chose Auburn over Alabama, and continue to make the program on the plains one to be reckoned with.

You wrote of Nick Saban's sure fire success, and I also think that he is the best thing at Alabama in a very long time. I believe that the streak will sooner or later end, and I believe that Auburn will still have the better program. I believe that Auburn will win both SEC and National Championships and I believe that Auburn will be fine. I like Tommy Tuberville, I like him as a man, I respect him as a coach, and I love him as a Christian. He has dignity, honor, respect, character and values, all traits that usually end up on top. Weather or not Tommy Tuberville is at Auburn for one more year or a hundred, Auburn is a better place because of him. Whenever he leaves, the program will be in better shape than it was when he took over.

So Shane, until you have something more than a bunch of 17 and 18 year old kids to hang your hat on, you might want to think about keeping your mouth shut. You see, when you put all your eggs in the basket of immature, undeveloped kids, you are bound to be let down.

As you said.... "More to come"!

Tuberville and Discipline

Legal troubles and arrests are nothing new to the college football landscape, however, the frequency that you see them is growing at an alarming rate. Gone are the days when the head coach could simply drive to the station and have the player released into his custody. Gone are the days of running stadium steps to right whatever wrong was done the weekend before. Gone are the "wink and a handshake" way of dealing with things. In the days of Bear Bryant, Shug Jordan, Pat Dye and Gene Stallings, student athletes could make a mistake without the entire world knowing about it. There was no Internet, no chat rooms, no message boards, no youtube, only word of mouth and an unwavering trust that the head coach knew how to handle things. The thing is that in those days, mommas ALWAYS sided with the coach, and daddy's doubled the dose of discipline based on the infraction. I know we are talking college football here and not elementary school, but are things that different? I don't think so.

With all of this said, there seems to be a stark and glaring contrast between the two discipline styles at the two universities currently. Nick Saban has tried the "you better not screw up" approach, the problem with that is that if you aren't willing to follow thru with your threats, you are soon exposed to be soft and easy. No different than if I tell my kids to have a good report card or they will lose television privileges, only to waffle on that and not follow through. Pretty soon they realize that their actions have no consequence and they choose to do whatever it is that they wish to do. Nick Saban is at that point right now, and instead of trying to fix the problem by getting tough on discipline, he talks down to the media, and scorns the police department. Nick Saban should look no further than about 180 miles east at the precedence set by his counterpart, Thomas Hawley Tuberville. You can count on one hand the number of team problems that Tuberville has had to publicly explain in his nine years at Auburn. There have been a couple of repeat offenders, but that list is way shorter than the first. The Alabama faithful love to throw out the name of Trey Blackmon. For argument sake, lets give them that one. After him, name another repeat offender. Name someone else that he has had to make understand who was in charge time and time again.

Recently, Jason Campbell was on the Paul Finebaum show, and when poked and prodded about the discipline of one Tommy Tuberville, Campbell responded definitively, by saying that you were lucky if you got a second chance. That if you caused Auburn University to have to get the egg off of their face, then it would be the athlete to pay the price, and it didn't matter if the player in question was a starter or a scout teamer. Without hesitation and with complete confidence, Jason Campbell said that it was both the players and coaches that kept the good discipline and order.

We'll have to see how the latest recruiting class pans out. No doubt that Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide have gotten themselves some blue chippers, time will tell if they turn into orange jumpsuits.

Enjoy the video of my fiance' and me at the Chick Fil A Bowl... The irony is that she is an Alabama fan!!! But she looks sexy in orange and blue!!!!