Tale of the Tape - Ohio State/Michigan vs. Alabama/Auburn

(stolen from and with apologies to Nick Bakay)
Everybody knows that the greatest College Football Rivalry of all time is Army/Navy and it will be as long as there is a United States.  But what is the greatest current rivalry in College Football?  Is it Ohio State/Michigan or Alabama/Auburn?  To find out, I put together a list of 21 different factors to determine which rivalry is better.  Each category will be rated either Ohio State/Michigan is better, Alabama/Auburn is better, or push with an explanation as optional.  Here we go...

1.  ALTERNATE NAME FOR RIVALRY GAME - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: "The Game"; ALABAMA/AUBURN: "The Iron Bowl".  ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn. Most Americans know "The Game" is the title of the Harvard/Yale Rivalry Game, not Ohio State/Michigan.
2.  CONFERENCE - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Big Ten; ALABAMA/AUBURN: SEC.  ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn.
3.  VENUES - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: The Horseshoe & Ann Arbor; ALABAMA/AUBURN: Tuscaloosa & The Plains. ADVANTAGE: Ohio State/Michigan. Michigan Stadium seats over 113,000. Nuff said.
4.  NATIONAL TITLES - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Combined for 30, but just 8 in Poll Era. ALABAMA/AUBURN: Combined for 24, but 12 in Poll Era.  ADVANTAGE: Push.
5.  HEISMAN TROPHY WINNERS - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: 10 (Archie Griffin counts twice); ALABAMA/AUBURN: 4.  ADVANTAGE:  Ohio State/Michigan.
6.  ICONIC COACHES - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: "Woody" & "Bo"; ALABAMA/AUBURN: "Bear" & "Shug".  ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn.  Bo was the only coach of the four who didn't win a National Title.
7.  ICONIC PLAYERS - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Archie Griffin and Tom Brady; ALABAMA/AUBURN: Joe Namath & "Bo" Jackson.  ADVANTAGE: Push.  Brady may have more Super Bowl Rings and Archie is the only player to win back-to-back Heismans, but Joe Namath won the biggest game in Super Bowl history under the bright lights of New York City and Bo in his prime will never be replicated on the football field or the baseball diamond.
8.  MODERN ICONIC MOMENT IN RIVALRY - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: "Hellooooooo Heisman!" (Desmond Howard in 1991); ALABAMA/AUBURN: "Bo Over the Top" (Bo Jackson in 1982).  ADVANTAGE: Ohio State/Michigan. The Heisman pose was brilliant in its execution.
9.  BANDS & ITS SONGS - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: "Script Ohio" & "Hail to the Victors"; ALABAMA/AUBURN: "Rammer Jammer" & "War Eagle" ADVANTAGE:  Ohio State/Michigan.  2 bonus points because Ohio State is the best band in the land and because of Script Ohio.
10. CHANTS - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: "O-H! I-O!" & "Go Big Blue!"; ALABAMA/AUBURN: "Roll Tide!" & "War Eagle!". ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn. Any time you can add cuss words into the middle of the chant and it works is a bonus.
11. DOCUMENTARY - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: "The Rivalry" on HBO, narrated by Liev Schreiber; ALABAMA/AUBURN: "Roll Tide/War Eagle" as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series, narrated by Wright Thompson.  ADVANTAGE: Slight edge to Alabama/Auburn. If you have never heard Wright Thompson narrate a documentary, you are missing out. Wright Thompson is just as good of a narrator as Liev Schreiber is.  And Ohio State/Michigan's documentary was a little too Sunday School to be on HBO.  Jim McKay's Documentary is the only documentary on HBO that is allowed to be TV-PG.  Got it, Buckeyes & Wolverines?
12. TRADITIONAL BOWLS PLAYED FOR - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: The Rose Bowl; ALABAMA/AUBURN: The Sugar Bowl. ADVANTAGE: Ohio State/Michigan.  Pasadena is generally awesome in January.
13. GOLDEN AGE OF RIVALRY - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: "The 10-Year War"; ALABAMA/AUBURN: 2009 & 2010. ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn. Little-known fact: During "The 10-Year War", Alabama won at least a share of more National Titles (2) than Ohio State & Michigan combined (1).
14. HAPLESS RIVALRY COACH - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: John Cooper; ALABAMA/AUBURN: Bill Curry. ADVANTAGE: Ohio State/Michigan.  How many potential National Titles did Michigan cost Cooper? At least 3...
15. SKULLDUGGERY - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: The whole Jim Tressel era; ALABAMA/AUBURN: Poisoning Toomer's Corner Oak Trees. ADVANTAGE: Auburn/Alabama. Tressel doesn't even rise up to the level of the Gene Jelks espionage scandal. And Michigan fans aren't insane enough to poison Buckeye trees.
16. BEAUTIFUL SCENERY - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Um... um...; ALABAMA/AUBURN: "The Bear Bryant Twins" & Katherine Webb.  ADVANTAGE:  Alabama/Auburn (you have to ask?)
17. FASHION STATEMENT - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Sweater vest; ALABAMA/AUBURN: Houndstooth Fedora. ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn.
18. MASCOTS - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Buckeyes & Wolverines; ALABAMA/AUBURN: Elephants & Tigers. ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn. Seriously, who is intimidated by a tree nut?
19. RIVALRY GENESIS - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Border war in the 1830s; ALABAMA/AUBURN: The Civil War and a 40 Year Stoppage due to arguing who should referee the game that ended when the Alabama State legislature forced the two teams to meet.  ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn.  Ohio & Michigan fought over Toledo. Seriously, they fought a war over Toledo?!?  I hope Ohio lost the war and was forced to take Toledo!
20. RAISING FAN TEMPERATURES - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Telling corny jokes about the opposition; ALABAMA/AUBURN: Screaming at each other on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network all year.  ADVANTAGE: Alabama/Auburn.
21. TRADITIONAL GAME TIME - OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN: Noon. ALABAMA/AUBURN: 3:30 pm. ADVANTAGE: Push. For most Buckeye & Wolverine fans, a noon start means they can leave at 3:30 pm in time to get to the Early Bird Special at Denny's. And a later start allow mostly Tide & Tigers fans to get liquored up good.

So there you have it.  In the end, the Overall Edge goes to Alabama/Auburn. And unfortunately for Big Ten fans, it doesn't appear that Ohio State and Michigan can match the intensity of Alabama and Auburn anytime soon.

A decision the Atlanta Braves will regret…

One of the great things about my childhood was my father taking me on the Marta Subway train on warm summer nights from the Avondale train station.  We would get off at the Georgia State/Capitol station, and walk past the Capitol working our way South, crossing over the Downtown Connector and I-20 to ultimately reach Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium to watch the Atlanta Braves play baseball games.  Sure, the Braves weren’t exactly good in those days and the stadium was a hellhole, but it was fun to watch those games and it was cheap entertainment in those days.

The Atlanta Falcons also played football in that stadium for many years as well.  I love to tell the story of how my dad and I watched a pre-season NFL game there against the Eagles in 1991 when a Rookie 3rd-string QB was trying his best to stay on the team by throwing darts all over the field.  That QB’s name?  Brett Favre.  I hear he went on to have a pretty decent NFL career…

Anyways, the Falcons left Fulton-County Stadium after the 1991 season for the Georgia Dome which was built closer near the GA World Congress Center and the Omni (later replaced by Phillips Arena).  And after five more seasons, the Braves would leave the place where Henry Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th home run to move across the street to the Olympic Stadium (reconfigured to a baseball stadium design and renamed Turner Field).  Fulton-County is long gone, and I never watched a game inside Turner Field, but knowing the Braves had not moved far was a comfort.

Or at least it was until this morning.  The Atlanta Braves announced that after the 2016 season, they will not renew their lease to Turner Field and will instead move to a new yet-to-be-built facility in Cobb County, near the intersection of I-75 and I-285.  It was pointed out to me that most Braves executive live in the County famous for taking very conservative stances on social issues in the 1990s, which made at least one of my GA friends suggest that neighborhood politics may have been involved in the decision.  But the decision are gives the middle finger to any fans who live south and east of the city of Atlanta, as well as those who live in the city and use Marta to commute to the games.   It’s a mistake.

Yes, I know the Falcons are about to leave the Georgia Dome to move to a new stadium, but at least they are staying in the vicinity of the old stadium, so new real new infrastructure has to be built.  But the Braves?  How are fans going to get to the games?  You are putting the facility near one of the busiest interchanges in the Southeast, you don’t have Marta access to the area of the Stadium, and you expect things to be OK?  Good luck!

In the 1980s we all saw the famous bumper stickers around Atlanta that said “Go Braves and take the Falcons with you.”  This was back when both teams sucked and were considering moves (the Braves to Tampa-St. Pete & the Falcons to Jacksonville).  Now that the Braves have been a good team for a long time, they have decided to leave Atlanta for good.  The impact will be felt and it will further strain the richer northern suburbs from the poorer southern suburbs.  It also is a blow for a city trying to revitalize a downtown area that is just now beginning to show recovery after decades of decay.

I wish the Braves would reconsider.  Turner Stadium by all accounts is a great stadium.  There is no need to build a new stadium or renovate Turner field for at least a decade.  Fulton-County survived for 31 years.  Why build a new stadium elsewhere?

The loss of little boys and girls walking down city streets to attend a baseball game cannot be easily replaced.  Those fans will never come back.  And you will lose fans for this, Braves.  Mark my words!  This is a decision that will come back to haunt the Braves.

Mourning a Video Rental Goliath…

By now, most people have heard that Blockbuster Video will shutter the last of its 300 company-owned brick-and-mortar stores AND it’s DVD-by-mail operations within the next 2 months.  The few remaining franchise stores will also likely shutter their operations around that time or shortly after, meaning Blockbuster won’t even make it to it’s 30th birthday, which would have occurred in 2015.

It’s a dramatic fall for a company that once dominated Video Rentals, Game Rentals, and even dabbed a little bit into Music Stores.  Blockbuster ran smaller Video Rental operations into the ground.  Turtles, Tower Records & Video, and other companies ultimately caved to a chain that less than a decade ago had 9000 stores.  Blockbuster was so popular once upon a time that people fought for parking spaces at the stores on Friday nights.  My wife even worked at Blockbuster for a time.

Ultimately, Blockbuster fell victim to similar circumstances that knocked Kodak out of the camera business and has left BlackBerry smartphones in tatters.  Blockbuster failed to adapt to changing circumstances, like those other two companies.  Kodak failed to adjust to the rise of digital photography, even though they were the first to create it.  Kodak has apparently survived, but it will never be the same company again.  And although BlackBerry created the first smartphone, their failure to adjust to changing demands left Apple and Google a path to run BlackBerry towards the cliffs of extinction.  In Blockbuster’s case, streaming Video over the Internet and cheaper alternatives like Netflix and Redbox destroyed Blockbuster.  There were other reasons for Blockbuster’s collapse, and I’m sure other people can explain why Blockbuster went from American titan to fading memory.

With Blockbuster now joining the pile of companies from my past that have come and gone, like Circuit City, KB Toys, Steak & Ale Restaurants, and others, I wonder if anyone will really care about Blockbuster’s demise.  What do you remember about Blockbuster Video Stores?