Shula Gets a Job

This just in, according to ESPN, Mike Shula has been hired as quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can read the whole story here, but seems Mikey-boy was down in Mobile for the Senior Bowl begging for a job when somehow Jacksonville hired him. That will help with the pay-out from Alabama as they can deduct whatever he gets from the buyout. Good luck Mike!!!

From Earth to 22,000 Miles and Back

Skylink 19

Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the brand new, fully refurbished Skylink 19. Our sat truck was taken out of service the first of December for a brand new chassis and paint job. Doesn't she look pretty? After 11 years of service she was definately due for a makeover. I can't wait for her to come out to Sand Mtn. for some breaking news story.

Sir, May I Take Your Order?

OK, OK, this is obviously not a real picture but dang if it aint funny. I think he is probably better suited for this job than for his last one. Just don't ask him what he suggests for dinner, you might be waiting a while before he can pick his choice. Shula's

Crimson Tide Head Coach Nick Saban

A.D. Mal Moore and President Robert Witt

Saban Works the Room

Well, its finally a done deal. Alabama has got 'em a football coach and it's Nick Saban. Once again I get to be in Tuscaloosa for the announcement of a new coach at Bama and finally I think they have got one who might just stay here a while. I know, lot's of people are saying he won't stay, he's stayed nowhere for long, I believe this time it's different. He's tried the NFL thing and didn't like it. He is at a great college with a long tradition of winning and commitment to winning. Great fans, not counting the chick who kissed him at the airport. So why not stay here til you are ready to hang up your whistle? I was very impressed by him at the press conference, he handled every question easily even the one from the Miami reporter. If you have ever been at a Mike Shula presser it was very easy to see the difference between the two men. Now, I'm not the doe-eyed fanatic who believes Coach Nick will have them in a BCS Bowl next year but I do think you will see a much different Alabama team this coming season. Give him a couple of years and they will be competing for the SEC championship. But please, stop with the St. Nick stuff! www.rolltide.com

CMT, Here I Come !!!

Director Jonathan Barbee

Lights, Camera, Action

Finally, something cool not involving death and destruction to report. Nashville came to Guntersville today. A production crew was in Guntersville shooting a music video for the Wayne Mills Band at Rockingham's, a local bar. The song is called "That's What Dancers Do", and the video should be out by late January. Word is that American Idol winner Taylor Hicks will appear in the video, although he wasn't in town today. Over 200 extras dancing and partying are in the video, but sadly I must report Yours Truly will not be seen on CMT anytime soon. Still, kinda fun to see behind the scenes at just what goes on in the making of a music video. By the way, when you see the video and the singer Wayne Mills is shooting Jager shots, it's really just Coke. I guess you can't have the lead singer wasted.

There Isn't a Hell Hot Enough

The cute kid in the picture is Geontae Glass. G, as his family calls him, was 5 years old. Was, because G is dead, killed by his Mom and her boyfriend. It is actually pretty hard for me to type right now because I am just so angry. G was in kindergarten, a smart kid who loved hugs and going fishing. G is now having an autopsy done on him to determine the manner of his untimely death.

This story started out as a stolen car with a kid asleep in the backseat. An Amber Alert is issued, police all over the state on the lookout for the stolen car, helicopters are brought in to scour the area. But according to police, mom's story started breaking down as the day wore on. Then about 1am this morning, police find the car with G inside, hidden in the trunk, dead. Now, mom and boyfriend are in jail, charged in G's murder. Seems it was all a hoax, a story made up to hide the fact that the people meant to care for a child are actually the ones who killed him. And why did he die? Police say it looks like the boyfriend beat little G for bringing home a bad report card. A bad report card in kindergarten. Just how bad could it have been to merit this kind of punishment? Not coloring in the lines? Staying awake during nap time?

I'm sorry, but I have a 5 year old and this hits very close to home for me. This is the bad part of this job, that you get to see the nasty underbelly of our society. As the title reads, I just don't think there is a Hell hot enough for someone who could do this to a child. Right now I want to be home hugging my kids and thanking the Good Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful, loving family. Unfortunately I am still at work, staying late to put together a story for the 10pm news, my third package of the day. Rest in peace, G. You deserve it.

Shula Sacked

Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore

Interim Head Coach Joe Kines

My Monday started around 2:15am. That's when my cell phone went off with an incoming text message. Through eyes still half asleep I read these words: "Shula Fired!!". Not quite sure if I was dreaming, I checked my phone again and again. Those words still jumped out at me, "Shula Fired!!". Thanks again to the person that sent me that message, I'll keep your name a secret but you know who you are. So I call the TV station and tell the overnight producer the news. "Check it out, but my source is pretty darn good.", I say.

Fast forward several hours and lo and behold, I find myself in Tuscaloosa for the press conference officially announcing the firing of Mike Shula. Over the years, I have been lucky enough to be there for the hiring, firing or resigning of Alabama's coaches from Gene Stallings to Mr. Shula. So that's five coaches in my relatively short TV career. And this time, I'm not that upset by the leaving. From my last post I'm sure you were able to figure out I was not that big a Mike Shula fan. As everyone says, a nice guy, but not head coaching material. To those that say it looks bad for the university to run through this many coaches in such a short time: you are correct. But should we stay with a guy as coach just because he is nice? 'Fraid not. So, one short press conference later and I'm working on my 6th coach at Alabama. Can't wait until that presser.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Luckily, I am off work this Thanksgiving, so I will be home eating myself sick and watching football. Oh, and frying a turkey for the family so pray there is no need for the fire department at our festivities this year. Eat lots of turkey and see you Friday.

Iron Bowl 2006; or Man, This Stinks!!

Gotta love the thumb turkey!!!

Kudos to all you Aubies out there. You once again managed to ruin my Iron Bowl weekend. Although I can't give you all the credit or blame. I have to blame the coaching staff at the University of Alabama. Game after game I've been to this season, and I've been to almost all of them, I have watched the team fall apart. Yes, I know Bama is a young team, but I have to put this debacle of a season squarely on the shoulders of Mike Shula. Someone sent me these pictures and I thought I would share them with you. I especially like the one of Bear wearing a bag on his head, it kinda tells the whole story. Yes, I am an Alabama fan. Yes, I get to go to the games and stand on the sideline while covering the games for my station. Does that make me an expert on football? By no means, but I do think it gives me the ability to talk about this with some experience. Mike Shula may very well be a nice man, a good guy, but he appears to have about as much leadership ability as a rock. And unfortunately about the same amount of play calling talent as the aforementioned stone. Darby up the middle, again? And again? And again? The poor guy has 24 yards on 25 carries all day and you're giving it to him up the middle one the 2 yard line? With the other team in a goal line defense, 8 men on the line? Please. Their offense is way too vanilla, no imagination. None. Unfortunately, it's not just boring it hurts the team. Stalling's offense was boring, but he won a National Championship. Now I'm praying for the Liberty over the Independence Bowl. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Sandmtnphotog Hanging With the Big Dog

Know it's been a while since the last post, but honestly we just haven't had anything that exciting and blogworthy lately. But thanks to my friend John Chumley, I now have this great picture of Governor Bob Riley with Carson and myself. All political stuff aside, Governor Riley is a very nice man. He even gave me a pin and a coin to give to Forrest, which really tickled the kid. Now everytime a Riley commercial comes on he says "There is my friend Bob Riley". May have a future governor right there in my own house.

All I Want For Christmas.......

Now it's a fact of nature that we all get older. Every day. And there is nothing you can do about it. But if you really want to get older in a hurry just have children. Nothing is guaranteed to make you feel older than your children growing up. And this past week we took another step down that road when Jemma lost her first tooth. It had been loose for a couple of weeks, and it popped out while she was at school. Now as excited as she was about the prospects of a visit from the Tooth Fairy, ole Dad was kinda sad about the whole thing. Daddy's little girls is growing up. Today it was a tooth, what will tomorrow bring? Boys calling the house? Her first date? I don't think I'm ready for all this. And for the record boys, Jemma won't be available for dates until 2021. She will be 20 then and maybe I can handle it. Until then, I'm changing our phone number.

(Helmet and shoulder pads in a toilet)

Got a call Tuesday morning, "Why aren't you at Crossville? Did you hear what they did at the field house?". No, I hadn't heard. "Someone trashed it. Ruined all their equipment.".

So off we go to Crossville to see just what the damage was. And it's hard to put into words just what it looked like. Someone broke into the football field house, threw all the equipment out of the lockers, flooded the place with about 6 inches of water mixed with bleach and got knows what else, then sprayed the whole thing down with fire extingushers.

This is my school, I graduated from this school and played football at this school. For someone to do this to MY team and MY school really ticks me off. They have to order new helmets and shoulder pads and cleats and other equipment to have for the game on Friday. And not just any game, but THE game. Geraldine. Our biggest rivals, the Iron Bowl of Sand Mountain. Now in the past, there have been plenty of pranks pulled by each school on the other. Stealing mascots, spray painting buildings and the like. But this is much too big for a prank. Officials tell us they think it's someone from Crossville that did this damage. And I just can't comprehend that, that someone from MY school would do that to MY school.

As of this afternoon, they are expecting the equipment to arrive on Friday around 3pm. Kickoff is at 7pm. But the game will go on. I mean, after all its Geraldine.

Tecmo Bowl, or How I'm Still Living My Childhood

(Run 1, Run 2, Pass 1 or Pass 2)

(Pretty realistic, huh?)

Anybody remember this? These are screenshots from Tecmo Bowl for the NES, or Nintendo game system. I know there are much more improved games out there now but I love Tecmo Bowl. This little game paved the way for the games of today. I must have spent hundreds of hours playing this game, and in college probably skipped a few classes because of important Tecmo Bowl tournaments going on. You just can't go to class when your playing for the championship you know. So I just found out my brothers both had this game and since I still had a NES lying around somewhere, I stole Dusty's and rushed home to play. I can't tell you how excited I was to get this game going. In case you want to play this game, be sure and pick either Chicago or Los Angeles. Chicago has Walter Payton and Los Angeles has Bo Jackson. Both are great runners, but I chose Chicago because of Kevin Butler as the kicker and Mike Singletary on defense. Sure the game is simple with only 9 players on each team, and only 4 plays to choose from. But man, is it fun!!! Really takes me back to those carefree days of the 80's and 90's.............

Bama Football, or Roll, Tide, Roll!!

(Huntsville's own Ramzee Robinson)

(John Parker Wilson under center)

(D.J. Hall scoring touchdown)

Lots of people ask me, or tell me I guess, that my job must be nice. Sometimes I think that what they are really saying is that it must be nice not to have a real job. Usually I explain to them that, yes, my job can be fun at times, but it also involves phone calls at 2am and holidays spent away from my family. But this time of year, meaning Saturdays in the Fall, is one of the fun times. I am lucky to be the guy who shoots Alabama football for WHNT. What this means is that I get to stand where 92,000 other people would love to be and watch my favorite team play football. And sometimes when I'm really lucky, I get to be on national TV when Bama scores right in front of me. Anyway, here are some shots from the Bama game this weekend against Louisiana Monroe. As a photographer, you always love it when the player breaks loose and runs right to where you're standing, like D.J. Hall in this shot from his TD catch. And in case you were wondering, I'm very impressed with John Parker Wilson as a quarterback. This guy will be one of the special ones, I think.

So, enjoy the pictures. Bama is on the road for a couple of weeks, so I think I'll catch up with the wife and kids this weekend. And watch the Tide play on TV, just like you.

September 11th

Like most Americans, I have my own memories of 9-11 and what I was doing. I had stopped to get gas that morning when a lady came in the store and told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I got back in my truck and turned the radio on, trying to find news of what happened as I drove in to work. By the time I got there, the other plane had hit and we all knew it wasn't an accident. We decided to go to Guntersville High School and see if students were watching the coverage. A large group of students and teachers were in the library watching. Some students, like the girl in the top picture, were very upset by what they were seeing. Although we were there to do a story, we like everyone else couldn't stop watching the pictures on the TV. We watched the towers collapse. We heard all the stories of people jumping from the buildings, of firemen and police officers killed in the wreckage.
We did a story for the noon news about the kids and about local volunteer fire departments put on call by the President. Then we went to Anniston to the Anniston Army Depot, to check on what security they were putting in place to protect the chemical weapons stored there.
On the way back to Sand Mountain, we passed a gas station that had long lines of cars waiting to get gas, and joked they must be giving gas away today. Only later did we find out that gas prices had gone through the roof for no apparent reason.
We all worked a double shift that day, staying on to do the 10pm news as well. After getting home, I couldn't go to bed. I just couldn't quit watching the news reports.

Heatwave!!!

Unfortunately, I'm not referring to the weather outside, but to the temperature in our Bureau. As of right this minute, 3:25 on Friday afternoon, it is 89 degrees in the office. Yes, that's right, our air conditioning is out of commission. We think it has been slowly dying for the last few weeks, but today it decided to give up the ghost. So I sit here sweaty and praying for the H-AC man to please hurry up and fix our blessed air. How did TV people ever survive in the days before AC?

Photos from the Beach

Got away for a quick 3-day trip to the beach this weekend before school starts for the kids this week. Took a little stroll right around sunset and saw these pelicans chilling and thought to myself, "Wow, that would be a great picture.". Now I don't know if you can call this a great picture or not, but I like it. So I thought I would share it with you. Now it's back to moving pictures and breaking news this week, but I sure did enjoy my last little hurrah at the beach.

Sandmtnphotg On The Job

Here is a picture of me shooting a live shot with Jerry Hayes during our coverage of the firetruck wreck. Carson took this during the 6pm show.

Firefighter Killed in Wreck

Wednesday night I was home when I got a call about a firetruck from one of our local volunteer departments going off of a bridge. I called the station and jumped in my truck and headed for the scene. Normally when I get called out on breaking news I'm busy listening to the scanner, making calls trying to figure out what's going on and exactly where it is. This time was different. Being a photographer in a bureau means you get to know the fire departments, police and other emergency workers pretty well. And this was the Asbury Fire Department and I knew a bunch of their guys really well. So not only was I trying to get to the scene as quickly as possible, but I was also worrying about the people in the accident. Once I get to the wreck I find out one of the firefighters in the truck has died and 2 of the others are very seriously hurt. It turns out I didn't know any of the people in the truck, but that really doesn't matter. All of the volunteer firefighters out there put there life on the line everytime they go out to fight a fire, and they do it for little or no money. They do it because they love to do it. The lady who died in the wreck was a 17 year old whose brother and daddy were both in the department, and she would become a full member when she turned 18. Her brother was in the truck with her and he is in UAB fighting for his life. Firefighting was in her blood, and her friends said it was something she loved to do. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family in their time of loss.
Check out www.asburyfire.com for more information.

Alabama Alligator

Took off to Cherokee County today for a story about an alligator in a swamp there. Now, for those of you who might not know, Cherokee County is in Northeast Alabama which isn't typically gator country. Locals think someone brought him home and then released him in this swampy area. Seems people gather around in the evenings and bring chicken, hot dogs, pretty much anything they think a gator might eat, and then toss food to the gator. Well, now the Authorities are involved and are thinking about removing our celebrity alligator to an area more out of the limelight. Unfortunately today we had no gator sightings, but that log in the one picture fooled me for a little while.