We're one week away from Auburn's SEC Take Over Day, with Bruce Pearl as Auburn's special guest representative. The official programming schedule for that day hasn't been released yet, so how about we take a stab at what we would program?
The Serious One
I had to be serious, at first. This is what I would actually program.
Reasoning
I'm not 100% sure I have the run times correct on some of these. I tried to base it on what I remembered on TV and I know the SEC Network squeezes "Classic Games" into two hour windows. For some of them (1989, 1993 Iron Bowls) I know there are special videos produced that could perhaps be shown in an hour. That would allow for more time for other sports.
I didn't include anything on baseball, and I'm not happy with that. I just couldn't think what to put. Perhaps if there was a broadcast of the 2010 Regional vs Clemson with Rod Bramblett's call over it, I would have included that.
This programming schedule would require production on a few projects like the gymnastics and softball season reviews. After the seasons those two sports had, I felt they deserved a production of their own to help keep excitement up about them and maybe show some other fans who haven't been caught up in the hype about them just what they're missing.
The Schedule
This is by no means perfect. It's just what I could develop with brief thoughts on what to showcase for Auburn.
0000 | 2010 SEC Championship Game |
0200 | 2013 SEC Championship Game |
0400 | 2013 Auburn vs UGA |
0600 | 1993 Iron Bowl |
0800 | Jim Fyffe 20 Years of Great Calls |
1130 | Auburn Softball Season Review |
1200 | 2010 BCS Championship Game |
1400 | Auburn Gymnastics Season Review |
1430 | 1989 Iron Bowl |
1630 | Auburn Basketball Season Review |
1730 | 2010 Iron Bowl |
1930 | Bo, Barkley, and The Big Hurt |
2100 | 2013 Iron Bowl |
2200 | You Don't Know Bo |
The Games
How do you choose which games to show? I went mostly with Iron Bowls, but there were some others like the recent SEC Championship Games and the 2013 UGA game that I couldn't resist putting in there. I really wanted to include the 2004 SEC Championship Game, or maybe a 2004 season retrospective, but in the end decided against it.
Most of these are obvious why I included them. I made a special point to include the 1989 Iron Bowl because of the "First Time Ever" aspect of it. I know Auburn actually produced a 20th anniversary video on it that may work just as well in that space. It might even cut down the time required and allow for more programming. Somewhere in my immediate family (between my parents and my brother), we still have the original VHS produced on that game.
The same goes for the 1993 Iron Bowl and the 1993 season. There are "documentaries" out there about that game and that season. I'm a historian by nature, so I felt the 1989 and 1993 games deserved to be shown. Perhaps the 1993 season retrospective would be better, since we really need to capture the whole story behind that year. Either way, those two games in particular needed to be represented in some form or fashion. How many younger fans have heard all about them, but never actually seen them?
And, of course, how could you not include The Cam Back and the Kick Six? There's no way you can do a full day of programming and not show those games in some fashion.
The "Documentaries"
I tried to break it up during the hours that most folks are awake so that there's a game, and then there's a "documentary" feature. I started that with the Jim Fyffe: 20 Years of Great Calls feature. Jim Fyffe was an Auburn treasure, and as much as Rod has taken over the Voice role for Auburn and owns it now, I have to admit to still missing Jim just a bit. It would be wonderful to show younger fans just why we loved Jim so much.
That Jim Fyffe video needs to be played for another reason, too. It has one of the Greatest Charles Barkley Stories Ever Told on it. Jim Fyffe recalls a bawling Charles Barkley knocking on his hotel door during a road trip his freshman year to ask if he could watch his Soap Operas in Fyffe's room because Charles' roommate wouldn't let him watch it in theirs.
As mentioned above, I feel like the seasons that softball and gymnastics had warrant some sort of programs. Anything to keep the excitement up about them, and those ladies deserve to have their achievements highlighted during Auburn's day of programming.
I almost went with a big basketball game from this past season (maybe one of the SEC Tournament games), but decided that it would be best to encapsulate the whole SEC Tournament run along with things like the Bruce Pearl hire, the Xavier game, some of the games during conference play, and also have something for Antoine Mason and his father and their relationship.
There's no way we can't show the Bo, Barkley, and The Big Hurt and You Don't Know Bo features. At least in these two we'll have some Auburn baseball history highlighted. I have You Don't Know Bo as the closer for the night, because I think that's an excellent way to sign off Auburn's day.
You know what I definitely would NOT show? That horrible Roll Tide/War Eagle "documentary" that was in reality just an expose on [Name Redacted].
The Fun One
What if we could just make up shows, though? If we were developing a 24/7 Auburn Network that would have daily programming, what would that look like? I took a shot at it...
0000 | Auburn Sports Center |
0100 | QVC with Aubie |
0300 | The Gus Malzahn "You Can't Touch This" Video. On Repeat. |
0400 | Deep Thoughts By Pat Dye |
0500 | Hunting with Nova |
0600 | Morning Grind: Workout with Coach Russell |
0700 | Golfin' with Duf |
0800 | Avery Young Fishing Hour |
0900 | Aubie's Greatest Antics |
1000 | Family Feud (Coaches Edition) |
1100 | Gardening with Dr James Brown |
1200 | Cooking with Coach |
1300 | Fashion Makeover starring Dameyune Craig |
1400 | Tiger Talk with Rod Bramblett |
1700 | Auburn News |
1800 | Auburn Jeopardy |
1900 | Film Study: Will Muschamp |
1930 | Film Study: Gus Malzahn |
2000 | Film Study: Bruce Pearl |
2100 | Great Moments in Auburn History |
2300 | Late Night with Charles Barkley |
Let's run down this programming...
Auburn Sports Center: Highlights of all Auburn sports-related events for the day
QVC with Aubie: Two hours of our favorite mascot selling you Auburn stuff without ever saying a word.
The Gus Malzahn "You Can't Touch This" Video: This is our version of late-night white noise. Nothing but an hour of awesome.
Deep Thoughts By Pat Dye. It would be an hour of old Pat Dye rambling about Auburn and everything in general. It might be great. It might be a train wreck. You know you'd watch it if you were up that late, though.
Hunting With Nova. Nova goes on various hunting expeditions with his other Southeastern Raptor Center friends. And educates us on raptors along the way!
Morning Grind: Workout with Coach Russell. You need your morning workout. Why not let Auburn Strength & Conditioning Coach Ryan Russell get you started every day? You might be able to move your arms afterwards. Maybe.
Golfin' with Duf. As a throw back to the old morning lineups, we'll have an hour of Auburn alumnus, PGA Professional, and Auburn Men's Golf Volunteer Coach Jason Dufner giving us instruction on the game of golf.
Avery Young Fishing Hour. I've heard so many times (mostly from Brandon Marcello at AL.com I believe) about how awesome Avery Young's fishing stories are, so we've got to give him an hour of programming!
Aubie's Greatest Antics. We're in the mid-morning filler, now, so an hour of Auburn's best routines, trips, antics, etc.
Family Feud (Coaches Edition). You know you'd watch Bruce Pearl's basketball staff go against Gus Malzahn's football staff. Or even just the offensive and defensive football coaches against each other. It'd be awesome.
Gardening with Dr James Brown. He's retired, now, but we would have to have a morning gardening show with everyone's favorite professor of organic gardening and vegetable production! There may even be an appearance by Mr Pop Quiz Man at the end.
Cooking with Coach. I'm not sure who would host (maybe Kristi Malzahn), but we'd have a cooking show where our coaches come on and talk about their favorite meals and cook things up. Or maybe we go with a tailgating cooking show.
Fashion Makeover with Dameyune Craig. A little something for the ladies in the early afternoon. Have y'all seen Coach Craig in his suits? The man knows how to dress! He could give pointers on how guys could make themselves look better.
Tiger Talk with Rod Bramblett. Rod is awesome and we need him to mute out the Finebaum time slot!
Auburn History. Jeremy Henderson of The War Eagle Reader discusses all things Auburn history in pop culture, sports, and beyond. With special guests such as former Athletic Director David Housel.
Auburn News. News related to Auburn University and the city of Auburn in general.
Auburn Jeopardy. Jeremy Henderson of The War Eagle Reader would host an Auburn-specific Jeopardy show!
Film Studies. Our favorite coaches break down film for us in the evening
Great Moments In Auburn History. Looking back at awesome highlights, teams, people, events. Or just the Kick Six and the reaction videos on repeat.
Late Night with Charles Barkley. Hell yes, we'd give Sir Charles a late night talk show.
HARD BARNIN'
Of course, there's also part of me that would just love to go FULL BARN and do it this way...
0000 | 1989 Iron Bowl |
0200 | 1993 Iron Bowl |
0400 | 1997 Iron Bowl |
0600 | 2005 Iron Bowl |
0800 | 2010 Iron Bowl |
1000 | 2013 Iron Bowl |
1200 | 1989 Iron Bowl |
1400 | 1993 Iron Bowl |
1600 | 1997 Iron Bowl |
1800 | 2005 Iron Bowl |
2000 | 2010 Iron Bowl |
2200 | 2013 Iron Bowl |