Monday Musings

I’ll be the first to admit that I know little about Jacksonville St. or their athletic program. What I do know is they are damn good at football and softball. Yesterday’s blowout win notwithstanding, I hope those who make out the schedules in the athletic department stay clear of northeastern Alabama.

They may be small in school size, but they are far from it on the field. Friday’s 2-1 win over the Gamecocks may be the wake-up call it needs to reach a second consecutive World Series. Auburn advances to play Arizona at home in this weekend’s Super Regional. The winner advances to Oklahoma City and the NCAA World Series…

Take softball out of the equation and it’s been a pretty depressing year at Auburn among the most popular sports. How bad? Phillip Marshall lays it out pretty succinctly in his recent story at Auburn Undercover.

“The numbers don’t lie, writes Marshall. “The Southeastern Conference record in 2015-2016 for the three main Auburn men’s sports, the ones that can get you national attention, is 15-40. The football team finished 2-6 and the basketball team 5-13. With one game to go, the baseball team is 8-21.”

Go ahead and add another loss to that total. Auburn fell to Vanderbilt in baseball on Saturday, pushing it out of this week’s SEC Tournament. Despite the numbers, you can’t help but feel like things are heading in the right direction for all three sports. Fool’s Gold? Maybe. But I still believe… for now…

It was good to see the name, James Brooks pop up on the news feed this weekend. The former Auburn running back was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. He played on some pretty bad Auburn teams during the Doug Barfield era, but there was nothing but beauty when he carried the football.

When he left Auburn he was a consensus All-SEC running back and made numerous All-American teams. He scored 30 touchdowns during his time at Auburn and went on to become a four-time Pro Bowler with the Cincinnati Bengals. When he left Cincinnati, he was the team’s all-time leading rusher.

I can still see him running in that blue-and-white tear-away jersey with the number 21 on it. It’s hard to believe that a backfield consisting of Brooks, Joe Cribbs and William Andrews accounted for only three wins in their season together…

Until next time…

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