Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like the 2010 SEC Championship Game. Recently (last night), I watched my DVD copy of the 2010 SEC Championship Game, one of 4 special DVDs that I purchased to commemorate Auburn’s national championship season. This particular DVD is my favorite because that was my favorite game of that season. Auburn’s offense was relentless against South Carolina that day and, other than a poor opening drive and some breakdowns here and there, AU’s defense played well too. Watching this DVD brought back a lot of great feelings – feelings that I haven’t associated with Auburn football for the past two seasons. I don’t know if Auburn will play that well ever again but it was neat to travel back in time and make mental notes of things I couldn't have possibly known back then.

• There’s not a lot of sense in getting worked up with college football recruiting. Two star freshman running backs from this game (Michael Dyer and Marcus Lattimore) left their schools before graduating, under very different circumstances. I would argue that neither lived up to their hype. 
• Ellis Johnson (South Carolina’s defensive coordinator at the time and Auburn’s current DC) apparently worked wonders with the South Carolina defense that year. They led the conference in sacks and were the best against the opposing rush. One would think that he could do the same with Auburn’s talent. Still, his abysmal record as Southern Miss’s head coach last season keeps me from getting my hopes up too high.
• A lot of Auburn players from this game are no longer on the team, and it ain't because they graduated. Same goes for coaches. While watching the DVD, it was easy to notice that Trooper Taylor’s antics hadn't reached a level of annoyance yet and Chizik’s slow, back-and-forth pace on the sideline masked his ineptness. With Cam Newton running the show, third-and-long didn't scare the heck out of me because Gus Malzahn’s offense was unstoppable. Everyone was happy.

I’ve always said that every...single...last star lined up perfectly for Auburn that season. The favorable road schedule, Cam’s legendary season and some lucky breaks along the way all contributed to the magic – nothing could stop it. Let’s hope for a repeat of that season soon! 

This week, I love family walks. Despite a recent cool snap, the weather has been a little warmer, which goes well with the longer days. Julie and I have recently developed a nice routine of taking Graham for a stroll around the neighborhood after dinner each night. Graham loves, loves, loves riding in his car, a wonderful gift from my coworkers. We like it too because it seems to zap any leftover energy from Graham before he takes his bath and goes to sleep. I like these walks for other reasons too. Julie and I have great walk-n-talks and they give me a good reason to move around after eating as opposed to hitting the couch.

"Stop looking and start pushing."

The only bad part about these walks is the nightly fit Graham pitches when it’s time to come inside!

This week I don’t like email elitists. I created my Hotmail account in 1998 and had no security issues with it up until last year, when it (along with my bank account) was hacked after linking it to my iTunes account (coincidence??). In college I had an Excite account and a Yahoo! email address as well. Within the last year or so, I opened a Gmail account and, more recently, I created an Outlook account, which is what all Hotmail accounts have been converted to – at least in appearance. Through it all, I’ve gathered that email is email is email. There wasn't a lot of communication about this Outlook conversion and it left a lot of people confused. It really gave Gmail elitists (who don’t want you to know that they also use Hotmail) an opportunity to proclaim Gmail’s greatness, with no facts to back it up. The same people have been quick to blame Hotmail for spawning of SPAM and they make sarcastic comments about Hotmail’s longevity. What they overlook is Hotmail’s worldwide use – up until LAST NOVEMBER, Hotmail was the most-used free email provider on the planet.

To all the keyboard warriors out their bashing Hotmail: get over yourself and please realize that you’re making an argument about two providers of an EXACTLY IDENTICAL service. Email is email is email.