Tiger Wasteland

My first memory!

After that I remember:

-- being the first kid in the first grade to help the other kids learn how to read. (I especially remember the fact that the first word I taught to myself was "groceries" after thinking it was gross cherries)

--going on vacation to Miami just after my younger sister Melantha was born and going into a head shop in Miami and wondering what that wierd smell was (it was incense burning).

--being bullied by the crazy kid across the street (who was a friend until I threw a brick at him as a joke but he didn't think it was so funny) and getting punched in the nose when he finally caught me alone in the front yard one day.

--getting dropped off from school one day by a friend who was richer than we were and pretending to go into the neighbor's house across the street because it was nicer than ours. (It was brick and ours had wood siding.)

--it was On December 2, 1972, 72,000 people gathered at Legion Field to watch Alabama and Auburn play for the 37th time in their history. Auburn entered the game ranked ninth in the nation, while the Crimson Tide was ranked second with a 10-0 record. And it was: "Punt, Bama. Punt!" I remember this because the lesbian Dawn who lived next to us came out of the house screaming, "War Eagle!" at the top of her lungs! This was way before I developed my passion for the Auburn Tigers even though I used to have Pat Sullivan's number 7 on my 5th grade notebooks.

--being in the Boy Scouts and going on weekend jamborees and seeing the cute older guys in my troop naked in the shower which led to . . .

--when I first realized that I liked boys and not girls. It was in the 7th grade and I became the manager of the football and basketball teams which allowed me private "access" to the locker rooms. (I could not believe what I was seeing!) Oh my!

--taking a test in P.E. Yeah, for some strange reason in 7th grade we got a new coach and they made him do academic stuff too. (The one I remember may have had an influence on my love for college football at an early age: We had to list all of the major conferences and list all teams in each conference.) Remember this is back when they were: ACC, SEC, Big 8, Pac 10, SWC, Big 10 and WAC and the independents. Time does fly!

--relocating towns during the 9th grade. (Even though I was in the new town during 1st through 3rd grades and still remembered some of my classmates.)

--having crushes on several of my male classmates while pretending to have a girlfriend. I did more than just pretend, as I had a date to the homecoming dance and the prom.

--being elected Senior Class President! It validated my high school experience! Yeah, I was popular and also in the top of my class academically. I graduated Salutatorian by only 1/100th of a percentage point to a girl who took basic classes while I took college prep classes. Yeah, I am bitter about that one!

--going to college at Auburn.

(Still pretending to not be gay!)

--moving into my first apartment at Auburn that connected bathrooms with another apartment and meeting the bathroom roommate who was there with his high school friends who were my neighbors. (we got along great and became close friends)

--going to the frat rushes just for the free booze and parties and ended up all pledging the nerd fraternity on campus just because they were the only ones who gave us invitations.

--lusting after my new frat brother, Keith, who always teased me by rubbing my shoulders and humping my butt, cause it was cool to act gay if you weren't and you were in a frat at Auburn. (I didn't mind at ALL!).

Fast forward to after leaving college and going into the real world. Now I remember:

Nature's Revenge

The damage caused by a hurricane like Katrina is almost always called a natural disaster. But it is also unnatural, in the sense that much of it is self-inflicted. New Orleans is no exception, and while the city has been spared a direct hit from the storm, its politicians and planners must rethink the bad policies that contributed to the city's vulnerability.

--From the NYTimes.com Op-Ed page--

Slight Majority Say Bush Should Meet With Sheehan

Slightly more than half of the country says President Bush should meet with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed last year in Iraq, who is leading a protest against the war outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex., according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

http://www.meetwithcindy.org/

COMMENTARY: AU-Tech rivalry has colorful past

New age Auburn fans probably don't know much about the Auburn-Georgia Tech rivalry. This weekend's game between the two teams at Jordan-Hare Stadium might be just another season opener to many.

That's understandable since the schools have played just once since 1987 -- two years ago at Grant Field in Atlanta.

However, the older Auburn fans know all about the Yellow Jackets.

Okay, found another pic of Chris Evans
that I just had to share! Enjoy!

Here are a couple of links:

Auburn Football Team Returns To The Practice Fields

The Tigers' season opener on Saturday against Georgia Tech will be nationally televised on ESPN. Kickoff is at 8:45pm EDT.

Tigers turn to Georgia Tech

Auburn veterans remember disappointing loss to Yellow Jackets in '03.

While "Brokeback Mountain" hottie Jake Gyllenhaal, who will grace the October cover of Out Magazine , has had nothing but positive things to say about his experience making the queer cowboy love story, his costar Heath Ledger just can’t stop telling people how much he didn’t enjoy going gay. Ledger told the Web site IGN Filmforce that making Brokeback was “tough. It was a lonely experience, but it was definitely a real sense of accomplishment once I finished. It scared me [bleep]less.” Um, what was so scary, Heath? Working with esteemed director Ang Lee? Trading your Aussie accent for a cowboy twang? “You know, the idea I had to make out with Jake Gyllenhaal for one, which just wasn’t the easiest thing to do.” At which point, Ledger’s Brothers Grimm costar Matt Damon chimed in, “You found making out with me pretty easy, though!” Replied Ledger: “It was dark and I was drunk. This was daytime and there was a lot of lights.” Sounds like someone is protesting too much. We’ll stick with Jake.

Equal marriage bill heads to Calif. Senate

A bill legalizing same-sex marriage is headed for California's Senate floor next week after clearing the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
Sen. Carole Migden, the chair of the committee, championed the bill, AB849. It would legally define marriage as gender-neutral and was approved, 7-4, with Sen. Dean Florez, D- Shafter, joining three committee Republicans in opposing the bill.

1 The 40-Year-Old Virgin $16,434,000
2 The Brothers Grimm $15,093,000
3 Red Eye $10,400,000
4 Four Brothers $7,825,000
5 Wedding Crashers $6,250,000
6 The Cave $6,200,000
7 March of the Penguins $4,570,000
8 The Skeleton Key $4,385,000
9 Valiant $3,352,000
10 The Dukes of Hazzard $3,045,000

This is another cool blog to visit:

ClubWhirled

Whether used as a rallying cry, as the name of the school symbol or as a spirited greeting between friends or strangers, these two words say "Auburn."

According to legend, "War Eagle!" dates back to the first football game in the Deep South. The story goes that a Southern soldier was left for dead following a Civil War battle, then found a baby eagle also alive. The soldier kept the eagle as a pet while finishing his education at Auburn and becoming a faculty member. When Auburn played Georgia on Feb. 20, 1892, in Atlanta's Piedmont Park, the eagle began to circle the sky. Auburn fans chanted "War Eagle!" until the exhausted old eagle collapsed and died on the field, his team's 10-0 victory assured.

Now War Eagle VI, a 26-year-old golden eagle named Tiger, soars from the upper deck of Jordan-Hare Stadium down to the field before home games.

"The one thing Auburn has is the majesty of flight," said former athletics director David Housel. "People may not like Auburn; they may come up here to beat Auburn's butt, but when that eagle flies around the field — especially in the times in which we live — that does something to the crowd, to fans of both schools."

Anti-gay church protests at soldiers’ funerals

SMYRNA, Tenn. - Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq.

The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars’ down a highway, waving flags and screaming “God bless America.”

Poll: 90 percent support right to protest war

WASHINGTON - An overwhelming number of people say critics of the Iraq war should be free to voice their objections — a rare example of widespread agreement about a conflict that has divided the nation along partisan lines.

Nearly three weeks after a grieving California mother named Cindy Sheehan started her anti-war protest near President Bush’s Texas ranch, nine of 10 people surveyed in an AP-Ipsos poll say it’s OK for war opponents to publicly share their concerns about the conflict.

“Part of the Constitution is the First Amendment,” said Mike Malone, a salesman from Odessa, Fla. “We have the right to disagree with the government.”

Here are some of my favorite links:

Real Time with Bill Maher

Rome Renegades

Internet Movie Database

The Eye of the Tiger!

Watch out or it will bite you in the ass!

Hong Kong Eases Up on Anti-Gay Laws

This is Reichen! Winner of the "Amazing Race" with his lover Chip! Now starring on the reality show Kill Reality on E! TV.

Another pic of Chris Evans!

Still Hot , Still Smokin'

Here's a Link to another of my favorite blogs:

http://paris.typepad.com/ohlalaparis/

Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox signs a poster for a Tiger Fan, left, during Fan Day in Auburn, Ala.

This would be Chris Evans, my new favorite cutey patootie AKA Johnny Storm in the movie Fantastic Four!!

AUBURN, Ala. -- The Auburn football team lightened its load with a 90-minute workout Friday at the team's practice fields behind the Athletic Complex. The squad worked out in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts under cooler conditions.
Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville was encouraged by the team's performance at practice, sensing the Tigers are getting focused for the season opener, which is just eight days away.
"Today was our second day of preparation for Georgia Tech, and we're starting to get a little better attitude," he said. "They (the players) get tomorrow off, and they're looking forward to that. You can tell they're fired up."
Auburn continued scout team preparation for the second day in a row, and also focused on special teams play. The Tigers mixed in position work in both small and large groups, as well.

http://www.auburntigers.com/football/page.cfm?doc_id=10080

AUBURN -- The Auburn football team will open the 2006 football season against Washington State at Jordan-Hare Stadium, announced Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs Saturday. The game is set for Sept. 2 and will be nationally televised by ESPN. The start time for the game will be announced at a later date.
“We’re excited about adding Washington State to our schedule in 2006,” Jacobs said. “They have a very good program, having won 10 or more games in three of the last four seasons. We are committed to a strong schedule and I think our fans will be excited about opening 2006 against a BCS opponent on national television.”
The meeting will mark the first time the Tigers and Cougars have played in football. Auburn is 4-3 all-time against Pacific-10 Conference schools. The last time Auburn faced a Pac-10 school was in 2003 against Southern California.
Auburn’s entire 2006 schedule is expected to be released in September.
Beginning in 2006, NCAA Division I teams may play a 12-game schedule, not counting conference championship games and post-season bowl games.

This is a new experience for me! Just wanted to welcome all to the Tiger Wasteland! Random thoughts about politics, Auburn Tiger football, and Gay Issues that I deem important will prevail.