Last week it was a representative from the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham.

Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, a representative from the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl will attend the University of Memphis’s football game against SMU.

If Sam Joffray, who’ll make the trip from New Orleans, could extend an invitation after the game, the Tigers would accept. Memphis and the Big Easy are a great mix and the New Orleans Bowl remembers the estimated 10,000 who made the trip in 2003.

While it may not be realistic to expect a similar throng going to New Orleans Dec. 21, bowl officials know it would still be a significant gathering.

Tiger coach Tommy West has been campaigning for a return to New Orleans and Tiger athletic director R.C. Johnson has hinted that’s where he’d like this team to go, too.

Birmingam’s two-year-old bowl would, of course, be an easy drive for Tiger fans, too, but the conflict with the Memphis-Georgetown basketball game is something U of M officials would like to avoid. The Birmingham bowl kicks off at noon Dec. 22 and the basketball game at the FedExForum tips off at 11 a.m.

Tiger football fans with tickets to the Georgetown game wouldn’t look forward to hustling back to Memphis after the New Orleans bowl (it kicks off Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.), but at least it’s possible to make it work.

THE BIG STORY

The national media took aim at Alabama coach Nick Saban on Tuesday for an analogy comparing Alabama’s loss to Louisiana-Monroe with “catastrophic” historical events like the 9-11 terrorist attacks and Pearl Harbor during his Monday press conference.

Saban’s comments were the lead story on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” which played video footage of his statements and then cut to a segment with hosts of the network’s “Pardon the Interruption” show.

Michael Wilbon, a columnist with Washington Post, referred to Saban’s statements as “infuriating.”
“He is not a stupid man,” Wilbon said. “He is a very bright guy, or at least it seems that way. Yet to make these comments, to go on in paragraph form and talk about this stuff, you want to start screaming at him from the back room, ‘Hey, shut up! Do you know what you are saying?’”

Alabama safety Rashad Johnson said Saban made the analogies while speaking to players about the three-game losing streak.

“He gives examples to us that helps us to relate to them,” said Johnson, who added that, “It’s getting blown a little bit too much out of proportion. When it was brought up to us, he was basically having a speech about adversity.”

Saban did not address his statement Tuesday.

ESPN.com posted a poll asking readers if they were offended by the comments. As of Tuesday night, almost 15,000 had responded, with more than 61 percent voting no.

A look at the league: Read the rest of this entry »