What a day!
To start, I woke up 6:00AM (earliest tour wake up, excluding travel days). I had a date at WQIR Sports for the Chip and Johnny show. In addition to Chip and Johnny, Jimmy White was also on the show. I wasn't expecting to stay the whole morning with them, but they were kind enough to allow me to hang with them for the duration of their show; and what a blast it was.
Not only did we talk Alabama high school fooball, but I was able to relate some of my experiences from other parts of the country, and how Alabama stacks up. I also got to explain how MaxPreps works, how our rankings are determined, and what we're all about. Jimmy even asked me to run down our top 10 teams. I'm hoping to call back next week and check in with those guys. They are all extremely nice, and know their stuff about high school football. I'm extremely thanksful they allowed me on with them.
We also got to doing some picks for the college games this coming week. I was driving the Rutgers bandwagon, and predicting an upset of South Florida on Thursday. Luckily, Johnny had my back on that pick. Other than that, I tried to stick with picking Alabama teams (Hey, I know we're I'm resting my head tonight). Afterwards we all went out for breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, apparently a popular destination for breakfast in the South. Personally, I'm more accustomed to Dunkin Donuts, but I can't argue with their chicken breakfast burrito.
In the afternoon we headed to Stanhope Elmore. What a fun team to be around. We talked to several fans who joked around with us because we obviously weren't from the area. Coach Foshee was extremely gracious and spoke to us during practice, as soon as we arrived. Just from watching the end of practice, it was easy to see that they have lots of talent, particularly at the skills position. The guys on the radio told me that they have three players who will be the three fastest players Prattville will see all season long. I'm really excited for Friday. Stanhope Elmore can play some football.
Getting to interview the players was a blast. In addition to a couple of funny one liners by the guys (most notably, "No further questions"), I did a light hearted interview with senior linebacker Brye French and defensive end Curtis Henry. For whatever reason, they were unaware of the dominance of New Jersey, my home state, in high school football! It made for a funny interview and alot of laughs. Trevor should get the interviews up ASAP. Kudos to everyone at Stanhope Elmoer...great coaches, great kids, and a great team.
We ended our evening at ABC 32, with their Sports Director David Wilkinson. David is an awesome guy who does a great job covering the sports seen in the Montgomery area. He was kind enough to speak with us and provide some background info on Alabama football. He's a Georgia guy, so it was interesting to hear his comparisons between high school football in both states. David was also nice enough to mention us on his sports segment tonight. Be sure to watch if you can!
It was a long and productive day. We're both looking forward to seeing what the rest of the week has in store. Keep checking back for more blogs/video.~SS