EchoBooming in Birmingham

We’ve played Memphis 8 times in our 10 years of D1 Football.

We’re 6-2 in that series with all 6 wins coming in the last 6 years.

We hope to make it 7 in a row this weekend (we seem to have Memphis’s number, much like Southern Miss has ours, and Memphis has Southern Miss’s).

Well, a few creative Blazer fans had an idea to start a tradition (as we often have to do with a Football team as young as ours is), and they sent a few emails to some people in the UAB athletic department.

A few more calls were made to some local artisans over at Sloss Furnaces, and they put together a little 100lb cast iron slab of ribs that the winner of the Football game gets to take home with them…

Then a few more calls were made and a few big names in BBQ from both Memphis and Birmingham decided to show up and hold a little competition for who can kick out the best in smoked pork…

Confirmed to be there are
Full Moon
Dreamland
Two Brothers
Buffalo Rock

The competition kicks off @ 12 noon, and the game kicks off at 6PM Saturday @ Legion Field.
See http://www.battleforthebones.com/ for more info.

From Pat Forde of ESPN.com, The five most startling sights on the recruiting trail this July::

Mike Davis (3) wearing green — in Indiana. After five melodramatic years as coach of the home-state Hoosiers, it was something to see Davis flying the colors of the UAB Blazers. His smile, though, has rarely been wider. As Davis told The Minutes, “You have the second-best job in America. I have the best.“ Davis said he’s gained 15 pounds since being in Birmingham, feasting on southern cooking. Guess he’s over the Alford Flu that kept him out of IU’s home game against Iowa.

It’s July in Alabama, less than 50 days from College Football, and I can’t wait for Basketball to start….

That should tell you how much confidence I have in Watson Brown for ‘06.

GO BLAZERS!

Coach Mike Anderson took the Missouri coaching job over the weekend, taking with him “The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball” and 4 years of 20+ wins per season from UAB.

You will be missed…

Later Tater…

Coach Zimmerman has a great blog over on AL.com that really gives you an inside look at what coaching on this level involves.

Check it out..

I always love seeing Coach Z on TV or at the games, you can tell by the expressions on his face and the attitude that he takes with the players (and they take with him) that he *really* enjoys his job, and the players really enjoy him being their coach.

Wildcat, it’s what’s for dinner!

GO BLAZERS!

Bartow Arena was a madhouse of Green & Gold last night as the Blazers (21-5, 12-2) exacted revenge on the #3 ranked Memphis Tigers (26-3, 12-1). Memphis was ready for UAB, but they weren’t ready for the Bart.

I have never experienced as much excitement, pride, and school spirit at *any* sporting event in my life. More than the iron bowl that I attended in 2004, more than the C-USA basketball tournament in 2002 when the Blazers faced Louisville in the finals on their home court, even more than the quadruple overtime then shoot-out ending of the first ever game of the last iteration of the Birmingham Bulls hockey team when I was like 12 (and everything *seems* better when you experience it at a young age).

I’m still geeked up over the win!

Now, it’s Marshall on Saturday to close out the regular season, and then the C-USA tourney in Memphis at their home-court, Fed-Ex forum, starting Wednesday. We’ll have a first round bye, and likely be in the same bracket with UTEP. If everything goes as planned, we’ll face Memphis again in the conference finals. The Tigers will be ready, and we’ll have to contend with their home court for the second time this season…

More pics after the jump…
(more…)