Auburn is trying desperately to improve their image in the state of Alabama, in order to increase recruiting efficiency in their own back yard - a tall order, considering one of the best college recruiters in the country lives just around the corner in Tuscaloosa. Well, the first idea you ought to have to increase visibility around the ‘hood? Quite simple:

That’s right! A stretch freaking limo! Auburn assistant coaches have been cruising Mobile lately - long an Auburn stronghold that Alabama has recently been pulling significant amounts of talent from - to attempt to regain their dominance in the area. The coaches have been cruising in the stretch, adorned with AU logos and AU flags, to high schools in Mobile, and will be spending the rest of this week and next week rolling it into other towns in the southern portion of the state.

Ya know, they could always take a hint from Florida State and Colorado - half nekked women and booze for everybo…… oh, that’s so wrong.

-rb

Rob Brown Auburn, SEC

So as I stumbled around the world of the interwebs today looking for show prep, I stumbled upon what can’t be considered anything but interwebs gold.

Guys, are you tired of being outdone by Tim Tebow? Are you sick of him being all over your television? Done with us talking about him every waking moment on the radio? Well, it’s about to get even worse - because if you’re dating a Florida gal, then by the time football season, he’s going to be in your girls pants as well.

That’s right. Tebow’s number, and his initial (gotta respect those licensing agreements somehow!!) will be gracing the inside of millions of pairs of female jorts around the state of Florida and, if you ask Florida fans, worldwide. As a matter of fact, I’m not entirely sure these won’t be a hit amongst many of the male contingent of Florida fans as well - I mean, EVERY UF fan deserves the chance .. no, the PRIVELIDGE .. to be “closer to Tebow,” no?

BONUS: the best advertising line of all time. “…buy them for your sisters, your significant others…”

Buy them for your sisters? At least they know how to mark to the appropriate fan base!!

-rb

Rob Brown General

I have to say, I threw the challenge out .. and it was responded to overwhelmingly by two of you.

Gator Bill and Richie Ocho both got themselves a free t-shirt .. and probably some other goodies .. by responding to our first “submit your submission, submitters” challenge.

For those of you unaware of what I’m speaking of, PETA was protesting “the world’s largest chicken dance” sponsorship at Talladega this weekend. So, in honor of PETA, I challenged our listeners to submit their best “chicken dance” video, and promised a brand new 98.1 The Ticket t-shirt in return.

Gator Bill and Richie Ocho answered the call. Well, Gator Bill SAID he did, but I still haven’t gotten the video.

Richie Ocho on the other hand? Well, enjoy this………..

The rest of you should be ashamed.

-rb

Rob Brown General

Rarely one to take a hard-and-fast position on issues of the day (unless it’s to antagonize Rob), I listened with interest (and to antagonize Rob) to the debate of whether or not “defense wins championships.”

 

In order to evaluate the issue free of emotion, I decided to go to the numbers, those irrefutable, immutable facts upon which all sports wisdom is based (keeping in mind, of course, that figures don’t lie but liars figure).

 

The question, as I understood it, was whether or not defense wins championships in today’s NFL.  Rob contended that balance is the key, a very reasonable starting point.

 

But do the facts from the past ten Super Bowls bear this out?

 

Since the 2000 Super Bowl (following the 1999 season), teams with the NFL’s #1 ranked scoring offense and defense have appeared in the Super Bowl four times each (four times for the #1 offense, four times for the #1 defense).  The #1 rated offense has won exactly 1 Super Bowl (St Louis over Tennessee in SB XXXIV) but has lost three times.

 

Conversely, the teams with the #1 defense won all four of the Super Bowls in which they appeared.

 

Obviously some high-powered offenses have played in – and won – the big game.  The Rams and Patriots were winners in the big game.  However, a closer look at these squads reveals that the St Louis and New England teams that won Super Bowls had defenses ranked no lower than #6.  St Louis was #4 during the 1999 season and the victorious Patriots teams had, in chronological order, the #6 (2001 season), #1 (2003), and #2 (2004) ranked scoring defenses in the NFL.

 

During this same period, three #1 ranked offenses have lost the Super Bowl; the 2001 Rams, 2006 Seahawks, and the 2007 Patriots.  (As a side-note, during this ten-year period, the Kansas City Chiefs had the #1 rated offense twice, in 2002 and 2003.

 

The lowest rated offenses to win the Super Bowl, and the only two to finish in the bottom half of the league that season, were the 2002 Buccaneers (#18) and the 2008 Steelers (#20).  The lowest rated defenses to win a Super Bowl were the 2006 Indianapolis Colts (#23) and the 2007 Giants (#17…yes, the “defensive” team that beat the undefeated Patriots in SB XLII).  Other than these, the lowest rated defense to win a SB is the 2001 Patriots, at #6.

 

The lowest rated scoring defense to ever reach the Super Bowl is the 2008 Arizona Cardinals, at #28.

 

These are all interesting facts but don’t address the question of balance.  To assess this, I looked at the differences between the offensive and defensive rankings for a team during a Super Bowl season (win or lose).

 

Only twice has the difference been more than 20:  2006 Colts (won with #2 offense and #23 defense, a difference of 21) and the 2008 Cardinals (lost with #4 offense and #28 defense, diff of 24).  Twice has the difference been 0:  2001 Patriots (#6 and #6) and the 2006 Bears (#3 and #3…yes, you read that right.  The Bears had the #3 scoring offense during the 2006 season).

 

Of the twenty teams in the ten Super Bowls, the difference between the offensive and defensive rankings has been single digits (including 0) 13 times.  This would imply that balance is key, right?

 

Well, maybe not.  Of the ten winners, five have had single digit ranking differences.  Eight of the ten losers had, on paper, more “balanced” teams.

 

Of course, this is just a quick look at the participants in the Super Bowls over the previous ten years.  Yes, eight out of ten losers were “balanced” but doesn’t the fact that they were even in the Super Bowl speak to the success of the team?

 

The conclusion I reach from all this is that there is no single determinant for success in the NFL.  Sometimes offense wins championships, sometimes defense, and sometimes balance.  The most recent Steelers championship team stands in stark contrast to the 2006 Colts team.  Chicago’s balance in 2006 led them to the Promised Land but they were nonetheless denied manna from the football gods.

 

There is no one, absolute answer for whether or not “defense wins championships.”  But there is one absolute fact on which you can bank, day-after-day, season-after-season.

 

I will continue to do all that is in my power to antagonize Rob.

 

~ Smokey Joe

Joe Mayes General

Addictive site if you’re part of the whole TwitterNation or if you’re just interested in peering into the minds(?) of athletes: http://www.AthleteTweets.com.

Some interesting last tweets:
- Eli Manning: 72 days ago (”pro bowl was fun”)
- LeBron James: no current tweets
- Michael Phelps: Today (”Good morning earth day twitters! Happy Earth Day today! Let’s all take part today and do something environmently friendly! Yes you can! :)”)

Notice Phelps did not mention “going green.”

~ Smokey Joe

Joe Mayes General

Ok, so I’ve decided that occassionally I’m going to run submission contests to give “stuff” away via the website. And, in honor of PETA’s protest of the “world’s largest chicken dance” at Talladega this Sunday, I’m opening it up now.

I’m going to hold, via the website, the first ever WTKE 98.1 The Ticket Chicken-Dance Off. That’s right, it’s you vs. the world - can you be the best chicken dancer northwest Florida and southeast Alabama have ever seen??

This dance off will add a whole new definition to the phrase “you got served!!” Get it? Get it??!! Hello? Is this thing on…??

Anyway, for those of you who don’t know how the chicken dance is done, or if you’ve been living in some far off galaxy since the days of polka, I’m including this helpful instructional video:

Best. Video. Ever. And don’t lie - some of you thought the chick in the red dress was pretty freaking hot.

Anyway, submissions start now. Take the video, and email it to me: thesportsguy981@yahoo.com

Winner gets a t-shirt, one of the new ones, and whatever else I can dig up from the sales office…

Rob Brown General

Lately, I’ve had some folks asking what they can contribute to keep the site updated, fresh, and … well, not boring.

Here’s the answer: everything!

If you have anything you want to submit to the site to have posted, you’re welcome to email it to me: thesportsguy981@yahoo.com

If you’ve got pictures of yourself at a sporting event or an event around town you want posted, videos of any sporting events that you took, or just random stories you think people might enjoy reading, send them to me. I’ll be sure to add pictures of our listeners to the galleries, videos to the main page, etc…

Anyway, email those submissions and let’s make the site more interactive than ever before!

rb

Rob Brown General

Ok, not really. This would be the most landslideded of landslide victories.

If you haven’t heard the story, it’s being reported by the AP that PETA is going to protest an attempt sponsored by KFC at the Talladega Super Speedway to create the largest group of people doing the “chicken dance” in one place at one time.

However, PETA apparently has a problem with this. I’m not exactly sure how doing the “chicken dance” is going to “make a mockery of animal protection,” but apparently, PETA is.

Anyway, good luck PETA. Let me know how you plan on pulling this one off.

Rob Brown General

The Detroit Lions, looking to start a new era in …. whatever they call that thing they do at Ford Field on Sundays …. have unveiled a new logo today. The new logo buffs up the historical Lions logo, giving it muscle and teeth, etc..

(Courtesy of the Detroit Lions, via ESPN.com)

I’m not sure what purpose this serves, but I’m calling this as my shock of the year: the Detroit Lions are going to draft Matt Stafford, and will be a winning team next year.

The curse of Bobby Layne - the last great quarterback wearing the blue and silver of Detroit - is supposed to run out this year. Layne, after being traded back in 1958, guaranteed the Lions would not “win for fifty years.”

Math says, 50 years have passed. Math says, Lions will win this year.

Yeah, nevermind….

-rb

Rob Brown General

If you USED to be able to tell what the hell John Madden WAS saying for five minutes a game……….

John Madden has decided to call it quits after decades in the booth, and will be sorely missed. By some people. A few people. Mainly Brett Favre, Brett Favre fans, and gamers who own most of the Madden series. And Frank Caliendo.

Here’s a clip of John on David Letterman’s show:

Ok, well, maybe it’s not. But you get the drift.

Anyway, feel free to leave comments about Coach Madden here.

Rob Brown General