Nashville hasn't been much fun for Bama ...

http://www.tiderinsider.com/

Hillman needs another
good game for the Tide

I’m not sure why Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade always comes to mind when the Tide travels to Nashville. But it does. “Into the valley of death” seems appropriate for the Crimson Tide as they prepare to play Vanderbilt on the road. There are college students at both schools who were not alive when Bama last beat the Commodores last in Nashville. That probably means that Trevor Releford wasn’t even a no look pass in his father’s eyes when Alabama won on the road there.

Vanderbilt is a school of snobs. I remember the last time we beat Vandy the student section started a chant to the Alabama team. “That’s all right, that’s okay, you’ll all work for us one day”. The fact that Bama’s team was composed mostly of Black Americans made the chant even more tasteless. Hardly tantamount to what you would expect from a very progressive University. Hey, bigots are everywhere. But at Vandy they are elitists. They are a effeminate group trust babies who think they are superior to everyone else. Not everyone else in the SEC but everyone.

That is why ever time I see Vandy play it warms the chambers of my beating heart when they get beat. Now, I’m not trying to take anything away from their splendid basketball team. The Nashville school plays good basketball, and thanks to unique officiating that puts the Commodores at the free throw line more times than a Kray supercomputer can keep up they win at home. If Alabama can get a decent game from the officials we might have a chance to win. That is unlikely but this Alabama team has done some pretty funky things this season. How you can beat Kentucky and lose to St. Peters involves some type of conjunction of the planet and stars that even Wolfman Jack could fathom.

You get the feeling that this Bama basketball team isn’t overly concerned with history. I think that Alabama is just thinking move your feet and don’t let your man get around you. We all hear this one game at a time coach speak. With Grant I believe it. I think that Alabama approaches the game one possession at a time. Alabama seems to live in the present moment. The future apparently doesn’t have much of an impact on this team. They follow their game plan, they keep their roles at all times, and fight you like a rattlesnake backed in a corner.

This is a tough time to play Vandy. Vandy has an extra day to prepare for the hornet’s nest otherwise known as the Alabama defense. The leagues top offense is playing to league’s best defense. On a neutral court I’d pick Bama. In Nashville it is going to be tough. Regardless of what happens tomorrow night the Tide has to turn around a play Ole Miss without any rest. That is not a good thing. For some reason this team seems to thrive on bad things. Don’t count the Crimson and White out.