Remember the Titans

Hello from Nashville! Well, not really, I'm back now but you know what I mean. Yes, our seats were kinda high but you sure could see a lot of stuff from up there. Stuff like this guy. Now, if you saw this guy walking down the street you would probably run for cover and call the police. But somehow seeing him at a football game is OK. Yes, he is a Raiders fan and they do like to dress up for the games. I was surprised by how many Raiders fans there were at the game. This guy was actually from West Virginia and it was first time to see the Raiders play. But my absolute favorite guy was "Crazy Eyes", and him you will meet in my next post. Let's just say, unlike college games, beer is served at Pro games.

Family Weekend, Or Go Gamecocks!!

Couple of pictures to put up of the kids. First is my little Jemma, dressed up as a witch for her preschool Halloween party. Isn't she just the cutest thing? Next picture was taken this Saturday when the family loaded up and headed out to the Homecoming festivities at Jacksonville State University. Both Wende and myself went to school there and we haven't been back in quite a while. Weather was great and the Gamecocks won, so a great time was had by all. On Sunday, your favorite Sand Mtn. Bureau blogger(Since Carson pulled the plug on his) took in a Tennessee Titans game. Pictures and commentary from that game will be on the next post. So stated tuned Loyal Readers, I promise it will be worth the wait.

It's A Tradition

Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year. Why, you might ask? Well, I will tell you. "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" came on last night, and in my mind it's not Halloween until you see that show. Most of you may not know this but I am a HUGE Snoopy fan. HUGE. And I must see this show every year. Of course, I tell my kids that it's for them but it's really for me. Snoopy as the World War 1 flying ace is my favorite Snoopy character. In fact, I'll tell you a little Sand Mtn. Photog Blog secret. I have a Snoopy tattoo on my shoulder. There in all his glory is the WW1 Flying Ace flying in his Sopwith Camel, bravely taking on the Red Baron in air to air combat. Yes, I love Snoopy. And this show is a classic, as is the Peanuts Christmas special. So don't bother calling me if Snoopy is on TV cause I won't answer the phone. Who knows, this may be the year that Snoopy shoots down the Red Baron. Or maybe, just maybe, the Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch and Linus won't ruin Sally's tricks or treats after all. When you are a kid, or a kid at heart, anything can happen.

Boring, But....

A win over Tennessee is still a win. Yes, the first half may have been a little boring, but that fourth quarter sure made up for it. Thanks to being busy I didn't get to snap any pictures of the game but I snagged this picture of Roman Harper's hit causing the fumble that gave Bama the ball back and saved a touchdown. What more can you say about that game than it was good ole smashmouth football. A note about the sidelines before the game is that thanks to Sec of State Conde Rice being there, there were about 100 more media passes handed out than normal. All those lookie-lou's were crowding out those of us there who were actually interested in the ballgame. By the way, many of those "media" with passes were busy taking pictures with camera phones. And wearing Bama hats and clothes. If you aren't there to work, please get out of my way. Sorry, but had to get that off my chest. It was good to see Brock again. Brock, I'm beginning to think you are bringing us some good luck, so hope to see you back for the LSU game and down on the plains. Alright, enough for now.

Man, I Hate Orange!!

Sorry, no pictures just yet. I'm off to Tuscaloosa today for the Alabama-Tennessee game so look back here tomorrow for some pictures from that. Hopefully, there will be a lot of fans wearing Crimson celebrating, while there are a lot of pictures of sad, beaten-down Orange wearing folks. As the header says, I do hate Orange. It's just an ugly color. Even pumpkins cant wear that shade of orange and get away with it. So, Roll Tide!! Beat the Vols!! And Rammer Jammer, Yellow Hammer!!!

Real, Live Mascots

This is Ramsy. Ramsy is the mascot for the Sylvania Rams football team. Most schools have a person dressed up in a costume for their mascot, but Sylvania has both. And you know what? I like it. Wouldn't it be great if high schools had real mascots to cheer their teams on? How about Crossville, wouldn't it be great to see a real lion prowling the sidelines? Or for Pisgah to have an eagle peering down from the press box? Now, I will allow that it would not be that inspiring for Ider to have a little caged hornet on the sideline, or for Gordo down in Tuscaloosa County to have a bowl of water as their mascot (they are the Green Wave). And Lord knows we would never want to show up to a Fyffe Red Devils game and see that guy leading cheers. But cheers to you Sylvania, and here's to soon seeing a buffalo leading the North Sand Mountain Thundering Herd onto the field.

Amy George Looking Cool!

Amy, Amy, Amy? Guess what Brad found? Looking through some old tapes and found this that Carson had found while doing some Christmas history stories. Glad you like to read my blog and for that, and for looking so cool in the Santa hat, you are the Sand Mountain Photog Blog's Person of the Day!! Congratulations, Amy.

Build My Church On This Rock

We'll get to the pictures in a moment, but first I would like to tell you about our day. The station called us with this story in Mentone. Seems a kid from Mississippi had died from rabies after being bitten by a bat while at camp in Mentone. Head up there, they say, and plan on being live at 5 and 6pm. So off we go on the hour's drive up to Lookout Mountain. We get to the camp and they release a statement saying the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta had determined that the boy had not been bitten by a bat while at their camp. Seems a bat had flown in kid's room and he took it out, and that's where he contracted rabies. So the story is a bust and back to Albertville. But near the camp is Howard's Chapel. The church was built in 1937 by Colonel Milford Howard and was built around this huge rock. As you can see, the rock comes into the pulpit area and takes up a good bit of space. The good Colonel is even buried in the rock, as his ashes were put there after his death. The church is always open to visitors and is just one of those off the wall kind of places that I love to search out and find.
Oh, if you would like call Mrs. Mary Shirey at 256-638-4441 to book your wedding at the Chapel.

Hood Family at the Harvest Festival

Last Saturday was the annual Harvest Festival in Boaz, and the Hood family loaded up into the family car and headed out for the festivities. In my mind, Fall just isn't the same without a trip to the Harvest Festival. We checked out the arts and crafts, listened to some good music and just generally had a good time. After spending roughly $30 dollars on polish sausages, corn dogs, curly fries and drinks, it was time for the kids to hit the inflatables. Oh, nothing says fun to a kid like a big inflatable slide or a swing. So here are pictures of the Hood kids getting their dollars worth of fun. Jemma is swinging away while young Mr. Forrest is thrilling himself with a life threatening 10 foot slide!! After a trip to Wal Mart and then Pizza Hut, it was time to call it day. Much fun was had by all, now just looking forward to the big Homecoming parade this week at Crossville. What a life, huh?

Doctor Visit

Today I'll take a cue from Carson's blog and tell you about my doctor visit. I went to the eye doctor this morning. Being a photog and all, I figure I need to take care of my eyes. Everything is good, 20/20 vision and no glaucoma. But those darn eye drops they put in your eyes. Luckily it is very cloudy here today or it would be horrible. Leaving the doctor's office, my phone rang and I tried and tried but couldn't read who was calling my vision was so blurry. So, if watching highlights of high school football tonight you see that poor old Brad missed a play, or if some of the shots are out of focus please be understanding. It's not fault, it's those darn eyedrops.

Look What We Found

Look what we found today in Albertville. Carson and I were doing a story about how Albertville has starting towing cars when people are stopped and don't have a drivers license. We went by A & B Wrecker to get video of some of the 22 cars that were taken in Monday. And we found this in their garage. For those of you not in this market, this is Live Star, the satellite truck for the ABC affiliate in Huntsville. Seems they were in Guntersville and had the clutch go out on the truck. They were towed to A & B where it was going to be repaired. Of course, with the story we were doing we had to make jokes about their driver not having a license, which he did. Just thought I would share this picture because it made me laugh.

Give Gadsden the Finger

We went to Gadsden today to cover former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's press conference to announce he was running for governor. We won't get into Roy Moore in this blog, but we will discuss this statue and her finger. This lady is Emma Sansom. The reason there is a statue of her is that during the Civil War, she helped General Forrest cross the Black River while chasing Yankees. Notice the picture of her hand. The index finger is missing. Years ago, someone stole the finger off the statue. City puts another one on, finger comes up missing again. Years go by without a finger until just recently the city gets the finger replaced. Guess what happens next? You got it, the finger is gone again. So will she get yet another finger? Or is it pointless, like poor Emma herself.

Roll Tide!!!!!

What a game!! Can I say it again? Roll Tide!!! One of the perks of this job is that I get to go to cover Alabama football games. Those of you who are not Alabama fans might not think this is much of a perk, but the rest of you will understand. And this is one of the best ones I have been able to cover. Alabama played as good a game as I have ever seen them play. The fans were huge in this game, they started out loud and kept getting louder. I really think that they played a big part in this win as they kept Florida's offense confused. These are video stills from the game, the one being the first touchdown to Tyrone Prothro and the other is Don Shula, Coach Mike Shula's dad and a pretty good coach himself.
I also want to say a big hello to Brock Parker, a fellow news blogger who works at WTVM out of Columbus, Georgia. I shot a big part of the game standing next to him on the sideline. The great thing for me was the he recognized me from my blog photo. Wow, I must be getting famous now for sure. Brock was a really nice guy and it was great to meet him. Besides, he may be good luck for the Tide, so get back to T'town for the Tennesse game, Brock. You can check out Brock's blog here http://bpontheair.blogspot.com/.
One more time please. Roll, Tide, Roll!!!!!!!!