10 APR 06: ARENA YOU KIDDING?
Our sympathies to the Auburn University athletic department, on Sunday's death of Billy Hitchcock. The baseball field is officially "Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park." But I hope no one gets the tacky idea of burying him there, and using that spot as a pitcher's mound.
What does Auburn University athletics need most right now? The interim president might make you believe it's a new sports arena - while a number of alumni probably would say Auburn really needs a replacement for the interim president.
I admittedly hadn't been keeping close watch on Auburn sports, so I was amazed when I read the other day that Interim President Ed Richardson would like a new basketball arena. I could understand a new TEAM, but not a new arena....
Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum is 38 years old, and received extensive renovations only about ten years ago. So is that old enough to justify a new Auburn arena? I mean, isn't the football stadium a few years older than that?
Ed Richardson says he already has $10 million in pledges for a new basketball arena at Auburn University. I guess I could get used to the name "Bobby Lowder Pavilion...."
So why does Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum need replacing? Ed Richardson offers several reasons:
+ It has an old sound system and video board. Well, it WOULD be nice to watch DVD's when the game is a blowout.
+ The weight room is considered inadequate. C'mon, coach Tuberville - your football players can share.
+ Locker space is limited. I didn't think this would be an issue, as we move from boom-boxes to iPods.
But Ed Richardson seems to be overlooking something in all his talk about a new basketball arena. Auburn can't fill the arena it has right now! Only the Alabama game was a sellout this past season for the men's team. And non-conference games against Jacksonville State and Winthrop don't exactly inspire a ticket frenzy.
On top of that, Ed Richardson dares to say Auburn basketball is "heading in the right direction." Maybe the women's team is. But the men's team?! Pieces of it have headed to Indiana, Florida State, and other places....
The talk of a new Auburn arena seems about three years too late to me. The time to promote that was when the Tigers had a top-ten men's team. These days, the "top ten" list involves how many players have left since Jeff Lebo became coach.
If someone asked me to make suggestions for improving Auburn basketball, I obviously would NOT suggest a new arena. There are other easy steps to take:
+ Have a doubleheader of basketball and swimming - since we know the swim teams will come out on top.
+ Play one or two home games at the Columbus Civic Center. Yes, I said Columbus - a place with a bigger population, a large base of Auburn fans, and enough Columbus State graduates to explain to the Tigers how to play winning ball.
+ Change the advertising along the side of the court. Who knows how many top scholar-athletes have been scared away by that big aid saying "YELLA!"
(I mentioned that last one awhile back to a friend of mine, and he said the best students weren't going to Auburn already -- while the best basketball players probably didn't notice the spelling problem.)
SPAM-A-RAMA: The price of gas across Columbus jumped back above $2.50 over the weekend - and my pastor at church called the increases "gouging." He said this during a sermon on the hardened heart of Egypt's Pharaoh. So can someone find Charlton Heston, send him to the Middle East and have him start a new uprising?
Before the latest local price rise, a friend in another state sent me an e-mail idea that's making the rounds of cyberspace. It suggests boycotting ExxonMobil, which just became the largest company on the "Fortune 500." But I think environmentalists did this after the Exxon Valdez leak - and look where we are now.
Someone named "Phillip Hollsworth" suggests not buying any gasoline from ExxonMobil for the rest of the year, to send a statement to big oil companies. Trouble is, people in Columbus can't really take part in this -- since the closest Exxon station around here is at the east edge of Auburn.
The e-mail suggests you pass the boycott idea on to ten people -- and eventually 300 million people will unite to boycott ExxonMobil, "until they lower their prices to the $1.30 range and keep them down." Of course, BP and Shell might have to move their prices higher to cover the increased customer demand....
It's always good to check an e-mail such as this one with an "Internet legends" web site -- and one of them noted this boycott message has been circulating on the Internet for five years! Yet ExxonMobil's profits have increased -- showing again how powerful the Web really is.
I happen to have an Exxon credit card - only it's a MasterCard, which provides gas rebates based on all my purchases. The last time I went to Exxon in Auburn, the rebates allowed me to buy gas for about $1.68 a gallon. Now THAT'S beating the system - unless I buy overpriced soda inside.
Now for some quick notes from a picture-perfect Sunday:
+ Which family in north Columbus sold its home Sunday night in an unusual auction - with the "best bidder" winning? Signs promoting this were all over Weems Road this weekend. Someone who passed on the St. Jude Dream Home drawing for $100 might have gained an even better deal.
(Are we going to see more of this in Columbus, as thousands of soldiers and auto workers move to this area? Will homes be sold at pricy auctions, with plenty of demand? People living on Cusseta Road probably are praying for it....)
+ A driver led police on a wild chase across the 13th Street Bridge from Columbus to Phenix City. A woman complained to me a Phenix City officer watched the speeding SUV run a red light at Broad Street, but didn't break off a left turn to join the pursuit. This woman concluded it was a protest of low police pay. I didn't know "IsOurCitySafe" was married.
(This witness told me the SUV driver raced down 13th Street on "three tires and a rim," finally crashing near Mike and Ed's Barbecue on Crawford Road. That barbecue smell can distract almost any driver....)
+ The Columbus RiverCenter presented the first night of a dance production from Australia called "Tap Dogs." And all this time I thought a Tap Dog was a St. Bernard with a keg around its neck, rescuing skiers.
+ Former Phenix City Mayor and current Russell County Commissioner Peggy Martin told the Ledger-Enquirer she'll run for Ted Little's State Senate seat. The issue in this election will be clear - do we want a Little more, or a Little less?
+ Instant Message to the driver of a Buick Rendezvous with the Alabama tag saying "PUGH GAL": Is that a campaign ad on the back -- or are you simply promoting Tillman Pugh's insurance agency?
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