Hey everyone! Yes, I haven’t blogged in awhile (hey, I’m busy), but I wanted to update you with some of what we’ve done with our sports site. We’re currently utilizing RSS feeds for all of our sections (except for the Biscuits). Basically, this makes us a one-stop shop for all your local sports information. You go to ABC32.com and we forward you on to the official word from the teams themselves. The only exceptions are the Hawks (news provided by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, because their PR and NBA.com haven’t gotten back to us) and High School (news provided by the Montgomery Advertiser).

Yes, there are still a couple local schools that don’t have RSS capabilities…Huntingdon, AUM, and Faulkner. Faulkner has told me that they hope to change that fairly soon, but for now, you may see us fall behind in our coverage of those schools. If you’re a fan/parent/player/alum feel free to urge those schools to start an RSS!

Regarding Inside the Tide and Tigers episodes…basically we just recently changed the unit that we use to capture our video on-air. As a result, we’re missing some of the much older episodes, as well as some newer ones. I’ll leave the most recent episode posted, and we’ll definitely have this remedied next year (keep in mind this is the first year we’ve utilized on-line video).

As always, any questions or comments, just email me – abagni@wncftv.com !

As I mentioned in Friday's Inside the Tide & Tigers, I decided to make the trip up to Athens to catch the Bama game Saturday. Two top 10 teams...College Gameday....huge crowd...so I figured I'd experience that for the second consecutive week.

I also thought I'd see a another great game.

Wow! Instead I caught a total beatdown that was OVER at halftime. Words can't describe how dominate Bama was in this football game. They took a solid SEC defense...certainly not in the top tier...but nevertheless very good, and tore them apart. This was a consensus national championship contender!

Don't let Nick Saban fool you either. Did his team go to bed in the second half? Definitely...And he should be disappointed in that. But this game was never in doubt. You don't spot Saban 31 points at halftime and think you still have a legit chance to win. Even after the dogs returned the punt for a touchdown, they were still down two touchdowns in the fourth quarter with Bama about to get the ball. Next posession - Bama drives down, kicks a field goal, now it's truly over with a three-score game. Sure they starting giving up some cosmetic touchdowns and allowing some big pass plays, but they were playing a prevent defense! What do you expect?

Anyhow, no doubt this game was one in the trenches. John Parker Wilson had alll dayyy longgg to pick apart the Georgia secondary. And Matthew Stafford...forget about it...complete opposite. The guy was running for his life the entire game. Both lines for Alabama were extremely impressive.

I was talking to Chris Fowler during the game, and I mentioned to him how much harder hitting I thought the Bama defense was compared to Auburn the previous week. Being up close too I think you get a better perspective of that. I'll tell you one thing...there's a long way to go...and we still have a lot to learn about these teams...but from where I'm sitting right now, looks like Bama could break the streak this year. Big time!

OK, this was so ridiculous I had to start an entirely new thread so I could rant about it.

In case you don't know the background here, Auburn's dean sent out an email to students asking them not to boo this past weekend.

Check out the entire email here: http://deadspin.com/5051258/auburn-dean-concerned-his-students-might-do-something-embarrassing-on-national-television

I'll tell you what's embarrassing is this request - which appears like it comes from up-tight administrator who probably should have better things to do. That's just how it appears to me...I'm not saying that's necessarily the case, but it looks that way. It's reads like a condescending parent telling their 18-23 year old kid to "play nice".

The thing is - this is Auburn football. Top 10. A multi-million dollar business, in effect, for Auburn University.

If you expect people to buy tickets and merchandise, then you better return the favor by giving them a good team. And if the team isn't living up to expectations, they SHOULD be booed. You can't have your cake and eat it too by saying..."we want you to spend all kinds of money on Auburn gear, tickets, parking, and donations to the athletic department...but if the team struggles, please don't boo." Come on!

In addition, take a look at the best sports cities in the country (they're rated every year by the Sporting News): Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia...all towns NOTORIOUS for booing and being tough on their teams. Why? Because they're passionate! Not only passionate, but often knowledgeable. Booing is a way to say, "Hey this isn't good and we don't appreciate it!." It's a watchdog in many ways.

So many elite athletes say that being booed by an opponent's fans is the ultimate sign of respect. It means you're deserved of attention

WAKA ran a package Friday about this story and it was so off base. The reporter, who I should say is very talented, really only gave one side of the argument. We heard from the dean, some goody two-shoes students, and Chris Fowler. Fowler, understandably, didn't want to rock any boats and was careful with his comments. However, you got the feeling that he thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous. He said (I'm paraphrasing), "Well...ya know...with fans comes expectations..."

The bottom line is, any real sports fan has to think this type of request is dumb. Or at the very least, extremely odd. We should have heard from those people in the piece.

That's why you don't have news reporters report on sports stories...even if you're going to lead off the newscast with a sports-based piece. Local stations are notorious for going with their more visible "news" talent to report on sports stories when they become the main story on the newscast. Nothing could be more aggravating to the well-versed sports fan.

It's not a knock on news reporters, it's just that they often don't know the intricacies of the game. It's the same reason I have no business telling you about weather or politics.

..but I digress...

I'll conclude on a positive note - I appreciate the fact that this was a request and not a "demand". I doubt you could kick someone out for booing anyway, but nevertheless...

In addition, I'm totally with the Dean on the other points in his letter. Treating you opponents with class, being on your best behavior, acting tasteful, etc...

But there's a big difference between swearing at a game and booing...

Some of you may have saw me roaming the sidelines along with our ABC 32 photographer James Koontz during Saturday's game.

Let me just say this, I hate watching the game from the press box. If you're on deadline, it's more practical to work up there, but to really get a feel for the game, you HAVE to be on the sideline.

From that viewpoint, here are some thoughts:

First of all, and this may be stating the obvious...but for those of you holding out hope out there...neither of these teams in a National Championship contender. Not even close. The offenses were abysmal. Defenses were just exceptional. The d-lines on both of these teams were stellar all game. Neither team can be legit though without a quarterback. Can you imagine if either of these teams had one of the Big 12 QBs!? That'd be something.

Really this one could have gone either way. LSU's passing game was just a bit better and that tipped the scales. I give them credit though...the crowd was incredibly loud the entire game. To win this type of game on the road is quite a feather.

As far as problems...I'm shocked Kodi Burns didn't see any time. So much for the conspiracy theories that the coaching staff was "saving him" somehow. He deserved to play in the game and it would have been interesting to see how LSU would have reacted with his ability to scramble. After the game though, Tommy Tuberville had very little to say about Burns. Basically, and I'm paraphrasing, he said that the opportunity for Kodi to play didn't present itself (in the fashion that they would have liked to play him...IF they really intended on playing him at all). Tuberville seems satisfied to stick it out with Chris Todd.

Speaking of Tuberville, he made a huge error during the game. Once LSU got into solid field goal range (probably the series prior to the one that they hit the game winner) he should have used his timeouts. I was mentioning this feverishly down on the sidelines. Conserve some time for your offense. Say there's 2:00 left on the clock when Auburn starts with the ball instead of 1:00. As an offensive coordinator, you can approach it completely differently. Tuberville said after the game that he thought about it, but basically danced around the question. To be fair though, it wasn't worth pushing him on. It didn't lose them the game, but I think it was detrimental. Ironically, and this has been forgotten since LSU won the game in the final second, the guy on the other sidelines made one of the worst clock management blunders I've ever seen in a big game - Les Miles, during last season.

We'll talk about some of this stuff during this week's episode of Inside the Tide and the Tigers. We also have some behind-the-scenes footage from College Gameday's visit. Kirk Herbstreit had some interesting things to say, so you'll want to check that out Friday night.

I don't have much to say about Alabama, other than the fact that I think Arkansas is that bad. The Hogs look like the worst team in the SEC. They are baaaaaad. Bama looked very strong (obviously), but I think they crushed a team that we didn't realize was THAT weak.

I'm going to go on a posting frenzy tonight, since I'm in the mood to write. The great thing about blogging too is that you don't have to worry about the typical AP-style method of writing that you would use when writing a newspaper article/column. Capitalization? Punctuation? Grammar? Forget it! You can even blabber on about random thoughts in no particular order. Just let it fly!

So anyhow, I'm STILL in full Olympic withdrawal. It's been a month now (from yesterday) since the Games ended and I really miss watching handball, and volleyball, and fencing, and...all the other crazy sports that you never get a chance to see on TV (or often...at all period).

See the Olympics – they’re easily relatable. Whether you’re a multi-millionaire NBA player, or a rower who trains for four years in obscurity, the award you dream of is the same. Gold! So that instantly gives anything you watch credibility. No one cares about the volleyball world championship, but volleyball is one of the most popular Olympic sports. Why? Because everyone knows what's on the line. An Olympic medal means something.

NBC always takes some heat for running overly dramatic human-interest packages (which were noticeably reduced in length this year), but...I'll be honest with you...I love those things. I think every Games has back-stories that either remind us of our own lives, or force us to reflect upon them. Cheesy I know...but how about the German heavyweight weightlifter who took to the podium with a photo of his recently deceased wife who always longed to see him compete in an Olympics. Him winning gold...just sweet.

Or, on the flip side, Lolo Jones. Imagine training your entire life trying to make it in the Olympics (again, in relative obscurity). You compete in a sport that's over in seconds. You're leading the hurdles up until the very end, when you stumble. Suddenly a favorite for gold...a lock...goes home with nothing. And Jones, at her age, probably won't make it to London. A cruel reality, but more of a reminder of how important the Olympics are. This is a sports event where the clichés hold up...it often is "all on the line" with "only one shot".

Michael Phelps...what more can you say about him? The guy was phenomenal. A friend of mine calls me and says, "I never realized how exciting swimming is." Honestly, the relay where Ryan Lezak made that unbelievable comeback to sink that obnoxious French team...one of the most exciting moments I've EVER SEEN IN SPORTS. Dead serious. It may have been short-lived, but it was amazing.

So yea...I love the Olympics. Call me an idealist, but I still believe in sport and the Olympic spirit.

Maybe we all should.

As a small station, with a considerably small sports department (aka virtually just me), I wanted to put together a great sports site for all of our viewers, but there are unavoidable obstacles.

Some people have asked me what the deal is with certain aspects of the content, so here's how I've laid it out considering circumstances and limitations.

* First of all, I contacted all sports information directors within our market and asked them to forward any info to me that they'd like to be posted. So if you're wondering why a story is missing, or your team gets less coverage, that's the reason. All I ask for is an email with the info and many schools have happily agreed.

* The website will only showcase stories from school's "major sports". This wasn't my intention originally, but the volume of information is just too great. (The only exception to this is AUM, because they don't have football). We don't think any less of those sports, just doing my best to be fair across the board.

* As you know, we are a weekday news station. There will be some updates on weekends, but they're limited. Everything is always updated Monday.

I think that's about the jist of it. If any other issues arise, I may note them in an update to this post. Don't be afraid to email me with your throughts: abagni@wncftv.com

First of all, WELCOME!

I promise to provide some great sports-based writing/ranting in this space, but I have to start out by just simply talking about our brand, spankin’ new website.

I have to say I’m very excited about our ABC 32 sports page. The best thing about it - it’s comprehensive. Most local news websites are weak on content.

Not our ABC 32 sports page.

Of course we’ll be posting all the press releases that reach our sports department from Auburn and Alabama. But that’s just the tip of the college-iceberg. Not only have we devoted an entire page to local college athletics, but we’ve also broken that down even further to feature pages for each individual local team. Even the NAIA programs have a page!

In addition to that, if you’re a pro sports fan, we have you covered with pages devoted to all of the teams in Atlanta’s “Big 4”. We have national headlines supplemented by ABCNews.com, high school sports, and Biscuits coverage as well.

Now that’s something for everybody!

Last, but certainly not least, we’ll be posting video of my sportscasts after they air each weeknight. So, if you need your Bagni fix at 3 AM, you’re all set! (Just kidding)

In all seriousness, one of the difficulties of creating a sports-based website in the summer is that you’re understandably short on content in regards to smaller colleges and high schools. Of course, we’ll be tweaking things over the coming days and weeks, so your feedback is welcome. Heck, email me directly: abagni@wncftv.com.

So enjoy the site, and if you read this far, you deserve gold! Go Phelps! More on him later…

Best,
Adam Bagni
Sports Director