Most Alabama fans remember Freddie Kitchens as the heavy set quarterback who lead Alabama to victory over Auburn in Gene Stallings final game as Tide head coach. In the 1996 Iron Bowl, Kitchens would march his team down the field with only seconds to go to defeat Auburn 24-23.

Some fans crudely referred to Kitchens as “Fat Freddie” but what these fans didn’t know is that Kitchens’ record as the Alabama starter was 22-13. Kitchens would end his career at Bama ranked third in Alabama history in career attempts, fourth in career passing yards, and fifth in career completions.

He also led Bama to three bowl games during his time as well. After his career ended at Bama, Kitchens become an assistant coach for several colleges like North Texas and LSU before jumping to the pro ranks.

Kitchens is now the tight ends coach with the Arizona Cardinals and is married with two children.

If you were a kid growing up in the 1980’s like me, you'll never forget the 1985 Iron Bowl which cemented the legacy of one Van Tiffin.

Tiffin will forever be a hero in most Alabama fans minds when he kicked a 52-yard field goal to defeat the Auburn Tigers and Bo Jackson 25-23.

Tiffin still holds the school record for the longest field goal made, a 57-yarder against Texas A & M. He also held the Alabama record for most consecutive extra points made until son Leigh came along and broke his record in 2009.

After his career at Bama, Tiffin would be an undrafted free agent who played briefly at Tampa Bay and Miami. These days, Van is a Research and Development manager for Tiffin Motorhomes which was started by his father.  Visit their site at http://www.rvtechlibrary.com/redbay/tiffinstory.htm

You have heard of Rocky the Flying Squirrel well met Rocky the football predicting octopus.

Rocky is an 18-month-old giant Pacific octopus in residence at the Point Defiant Zoo & Aquarium in Washington, has picked Alabama to beat LSU in the BCS championship game on Jan. 9th , 2012.

Laugh if you must, but Rocky predicted Oregon over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and Oklahoma State over Stanford in the Fiesta. Maybe some of these college football experts should listen to ole Rocky because he seems to know more football then them.

Check out Rocky at making his picks using these jars.

It was built as the Game of the Century, No. 1 vs. No. 2 as LSU visited Alabama in Tuscaloosa and for the most part it lived up to the hype.

Although it wasn’t a great offensive showdown as some had wanted, it was a great defensive showdown that came down to one or two plays.

Alabama would move the ball on the Tigers, but was unable to get the ball in the endzone; same with LSU.

Although the Tide had its chances to pull away from the Tigers, missed opportunities such as an interception on the goal line and missed field goals haunted the Tide and in the end LSU would pull out the 9-6 victory in overtime.

Little did we know at the time that things would fall into place that would allow the Tide to try to redeem themselves January 9th in the BCS Title game.

One of the few offensive highlights by Alabama in this game would be by Trent Richardson who had almost 200 all-purpose yards against the Tigers; some of his yards would come on this play.

I had to say this... Sal Sunseri has a very close appearance (only in appearance only that is.. very nice guy) to the Godfather.  His son, does the dirty work on the field (in a good way of course, for the Tide!)   Like Stacey said, he is "the assassin." Looking forward to father and son going to NOLA Monday to teach the Bengal Tigers a lesson...  in pain that is.     ROLL TIDE!  - Editor Chris C.

Tide beat reporter Izzy Gould had a nice story on Al.com on the Sunseri family and their impact on Alabama football.

As most of you know, Sal Sunseri join the Tide staff bringing his family from North Carolina including son Vinnie who played defense in high school.

The article talks about how some people wondered why Alabama would go after Vinnie because he isn’t your typical defensive back at least in size anyway, but of course after you watched him on special teams, you saw why some considered him a special player coming out of high school.

Even his high school coach Northridge’s, Mike Smith was skeptical in the beginning.
“You're usually real hesitant about getting kids from basketball states," Smith said. “It turns out they aren't very good or average at best when they come from states that aren't traditional football states. He exceeded everything I ever (thought). I knew he was going to be a good player when he started working out in the weight room.”

The impact of the Sunseri’s value to the team has grown over this football season. Coach Sunseri’s name has been mention for various head coaching positions including recently at the University of Pittsburgh where his other son plays quarterback.

Since the loss of Will Lowery for the rest of the season to injuries and Mark Barron who also was injured going into the Auburn game, Vinnie had to step up and take their place and he hasn’t disappointed.

Just as he was on special teams, Vinnie was an assassin on defense during the Auburn game as well.

Read more on the Sunseri’s in Izzy Gould’s article for AL.com

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/01/father-son_combo_set_for_appea.html#incart_hbx

The Yellow Jackets who normally have a pretty decent team are struggling so far this year. How much is Tech struggling? In their last game, they lost to Mercer 65-59 despite 19 points from Glenn Rice Jr.

The Tide recently has found it stroke from the three-point line. If the Tide can even shot decently from there, they are a very dangerous team to face.

Good news to report, Andrew Steele who has been out recently with a medical red shirt, may play tonight. Steele said “his desire to play never left him.” Good to see him back.

Bama and Tech will tip-off at 9 p.m. tonight on ESPNU.

“If we would've had a bye week before LSU, we would've gone from Oct. 6 to Nov. 10 without having a home game,” Saban said. “Those were the choices.”

In other words, didn’t sound the Tide have much of choice; Florida and Alabama are the only two teams from each division to have to play both Texas A & M and Missouri next year.

It's a different schedule than we thought we were going to have,” Saban said. “Games get moved around. But this is a one-year thing, and I'm sure the league office did the best job that they could do taking all the teams in our league into consideration ... to put the best schedule together that was the fairest and most competitive for everyone.”

One thing is certain; the Tide won’t have many cupcakes next year which may not be a bad thing. Let’s hope a tough schedule makes for a tougher team next year.

The article talks about how Jones manages football, academics, and his faith.

“I don’t think there’s enough good things that you can say about Barrett Jones,” said Nick Saban. “He’s, I think, as fine a person as you’re ever going to be around — me or you or anyone else — in terms of his willingness to serve other people.”

We all know Barrett’s commitments on the field, but did you know that he has been playing violin since the age of three, he is a three- time Academic All-American, and his taken mission trips to Haiti recently.

In world where we have so much negative news about athletes, it’s nice to hear a positive story about a student-athlete who is a role model on and off the field.

Check out the Post’s story on Barrett Jones.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/alabamas-barrett-jones-maintains-balance-of-football-faith-and-academics-_-and-scrabble-too/2011/12/29/gIQAaVkfOP_story.html

Despite finishing first in most of the major categories, none of the Tide defensive players won any major defensive awards this season which upset Dont’a Hightower. Despite his disappointment, Hightower and his teammates remain focus on their goal of winning a national championship against the LSU Tigers January 9th.

In this video, Hightower talks about his role leading the Alabama defense and maybe playing in the Senior Bowl in Mobile.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/12/no_awards_for_tides_no_1_defen.html#incart_mce

In an interview with ESPN’s Erin Andrews, offensive lineman Will Blackwell and defensive back Morris Claiborne basically said the Tide didn’t earn the right to a rematch.

“Traditional it’s been the conference championships that should be in. We really didn’t feel like they earned their spot in the game,” said Blackwell.

Claiborne expressed the same thing in the interview as well.

Of course Les Miles tried to come back and clean up his players mess, but I think once it went viral it was a bit too late. I wonder if these players remember that a two loss LSU team went to the national championship game after losing to Kentucky and Arkansas at the end of the season.

My guess is, probably not or they wouldn’t say a word about the Tide. Careful fellas, sounds like you are scared to face the Tide again.