And here ... we ... go ...

Hello there, boys and girls, you're reading live from the palatial Crowne Plaza Irvine (pictured to the left), where the Montgomery Advertiser clan, consisting of myself, UA beat writer Tim Gayle and photog extraordinaire Mickey "No, not that one" Welsh, have set up camp for the next week.

Sorry about the slight delay in posting here, but really, you haven't missed anything. And plus, it was a holiday weekend. Who had time to worry about this game, right?

So, here's what we'll do in this first post. I'll outline exactly what you'll find here over the next five or six days and give you quick update on what went on today (that would be Sunday to you all in the central time zone who have slipped into Monday).

Aight, this here blog.
I know it says "National Championship Coverage" and all, but really, it'll be a little different than that. I'll provide some quotes and ordinary coverage stuff to make sure nothing really important (or funny) slips by you all.

But here's where this blog tracks into the gold: Stuff to do around town.

I've heard from several of you who are out here on little vacations, trying to track down things to do, places to see and good places to eat. So, I'll pass along what I can.

We've only been here a couple of days and work has dominated most of the time. So, thus far, I've got nothing but basic sights and chain restaurants. Why don't we start this little exercise a little more seriously tomorrow evening when I've got a little more to pass along? Me and Mrs. Kimberly (that would be my wife) will be heading to the greater Los Angeles area tomorrow afternoon to see what we can get into. We'll post up some photos and details.


Now, for the day's events.

Not much to report, really. There were press conferences for both teams. Defensive players for your Crimson Tide. Offensive players from Texas. The best exchanges came from the two coordinators and Tide defensive lineman Terrance Cody.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart on Nick Saban's golf game: "I go on the golf course with (Saban). First hole, you know you get a mulligan. Well, he’s been known to on the 18th to pull his out. He calls it a “hooligan.” It travels with him. In a critical moment, he’s down a couple of shots, he hits a bad shot, he says, “Well, you know I didn’t use my mulligan on the first hole.’ And you’re like, what? I don’t say much. No I didn’t beat him. He got me with the hooligan."
Photo credit: Press-Register/John David Mercer

Texas Offensive Coordinator Greg Davis on Terrance Cody: "Cody is obviously extremely strong. What you see a lot of times is that guys get on him, and in offensive parlance, they’ve got him covered up. But nothing happens. They’re just two big guys sitting there like monsters fighting in the old sci-fi films. But then, all of a sudden, as the ball carrier gets close, the offensive guy gets discarded and the monster eats your back up."

Cody on airplane bathrooms: "I had to use the restroom (on the charter jet from Birmingham to California) and it was terrible. I got in there but it took a while for me to get in there. Once I got in there, it was like, ‘this is it?'"

Cody on his first meeting with Nick Saban: "I really thought he would be bigger than he was. Man, this guy’s like a midget."


Tomorrow will bring in the UA offense and UT defense. Until then ...