The World Celebrates 27 Years of Dana.

I love my wife very much. So much so, that I will put aside any football updates and analysis on the Tide today, and instead celebrate her. Do I think my words and thoughts are enough to get the point across? Nay...nay indeed. So I've asked a few of Dana's favorites to come along and pay tribute to the wonder that is Dana G. Jackson. Take it away, friends:

Dear Sally, I mean Dana,

I've never had such a loyal viewer and follower in my life. As I've tried to decide between Ben and Noel, you were there every step of the way, most of the time on the re-runs too. Any time my grades have slipped, or I've had trouble with my dad not supporting me, or any of the other ways to pack drama into 42 minutes I've come across, it was your unabashed love and care that got me through. Even my theme song in Season 1 and 2 wasn't enough to chase you away. That kind of friendship doesn't come around very often. You are amazing.  Amazing. Also, thanks for seeing each and every one of my movies. Oh-way-oooohhhh. Oh-way-oh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Love,

Felicity Porter

Dana,

How are you my dear? Heidi and I know you hate us both. How do we know? Because when we watch the show every Monday night we can here you all the way across the country say, "Uuuuugghhhhhhh!" during our conversations. I'm here to say that even though you run around judging us and hangin out with MY enemies like LC, I still want you to have the best birthday ever. So, I talked with your husband and he told me that what you really want is for me to walk myself into oncoming traffic. Consider it done. Have a happy birthday, sweety. Alright, sweet, now get outta my car.

Love, Spencer Pratt

Dana,

I think the thing to remember about birthdays is that they come every year. You can't get too up or down for just one because that is hard to maintain. Just focus on the one in front of you, Aight! Now when you start looking ahead to other birthdays, that's when you lose your intensity for this one. Once you lose that intensity, it's hard to get it back. I'm happy for you, AIGHT! I may not sound like it, and you may not believe it, but I am! Just focus on this birthday, 27. You only turn 27 ONE TIME in your life, aight. So, remember that to be successful at 50 years old, you have to get there one birthday at a time. Focus on the PROCESS of getting there and then being successful will take care of itself, aight. Now, I gotta get back to breathing life into the state of Alabama.

Love,

Nick Saban

Dana,

I just wanted to let you know that AJ, Meadow and I are ok. We miss seein' you every week night for 2-3 hours, but we undistayand. Birthdays are hard. Especially since what happened to Tony. (Tears, and heavy breathing) To be honest, I just don't know if we'll be ok. But enough with the singing sad so-wongs, we love you honey. I just hope you were-n't "born under a bad sign with a boom boom in your eyes," whatever the ---- that means.  Have fun on your special day and try to stop thinking so much about my family's last dinner together. Just try to focus on the good times.

Love,

Carmela Soprano

Since you are an honarary Commodore, I just wanted to give you a call on your birthday...

YEEP, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! COMMODORES! YEP!

Happy Birthday,

The Commodore

Girl, you got to strut your birthday out like this: (Swoosh, pose, and then snap). Mmmph, girl, you fine!!! Happy Birthday, girl.

Love,

Tyra

Dana,

I don't have much to say because I can't deliver lines with any emotion or feeling at all. But I do want to tell you that you are a Stone Fox!  Your husband thinks so too.

Love,

Josh Hartnett

Well I hope I the right friends of yours. If not, maybe they'll comment to you.   Next year, I'll use a Lost character or two. 

I love you SO much and am glad you were born 27 years ago. Thanks for being my wife! Happy Birthday!  See you soon.

Love,

Kent

Scattered Thoughts

Here's some things to marinate on during the greatest sports weekend in recent memory:

Even as Dana and I work our way through the last season of the Sopranos (and neither of us have seen it before), I still prefer The Wire.  I know the thought here would be to say, "He's just trying to be different and elitist..."  It's not.  We just finished Season 1 of the latter and it is freaking brilliant.  This is coming from a mafia junkie whose favorite movie is The Godfather and wishes he could be a captain in one of the Five boroughs...fuhgeddaboutit.  But The Wire is as good as anything I've ever watched on TV.

I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop with Alabama football.  I've fully expected them to go into the Georgia game undefeated (at least after I watched Terrence Cody eat Clemson's children), and now that we're here...I'm fighting "the feelings."  You know the ones...where you let yourself get carried away thinking you have a shot to topple an obviously superior opponent in an impossible situation.  Then when reality sets back in, it hurts extra bad.  I've become an expert at managing my feelings for the Tide but here comes Nick Saban with his olive-oil skin and perfect verbiage of what it takes to be a champion.  Aw screw it, Bama by 10 between the hedges!!!

While we're here, the last time Alabama beat Arkansas so soundly at Fayetteville was 2002, when we also beat the crap out of UT and LSU on the road (the LSU team was coached by Saban).  

Of course, we then lost our coach in the middle of the night after he phoned it in against Auburn and began the golden age of suckiosity here in T-town.

Ok, I'll stop.

I can't decide what made me happiest yesterday, Bama taking Arkansas to domination station, or watching Phil Fulmer trying to eat his hat on the sidelines as the Vols were kicking the ball around inside the 5-yard line.  It's the age old question:

Do I hate UT more than I love Alabama?

I kinda wish I'd gotten to see a game before they tore down Yankee Stadium.  I guess they want to erase any memories of this year that they have.

The new Pacino and DeNiro movie was more than disappointing.  Perfect storm of high expectations because of their names fighting against two 60-year-old guys rolling around on the floor and pretending to still be tough guys.  I'll take that 5 minutes in Heat over that entire 2 hours.  They should have just made an Italian version of Grumpy Old Men instead.

The Ryder Cup is awesome...I wish they held it on a weekend when I wasn't so pre-occupied with college football.  Booooooo!!!!!

10 years of Lebowski this year.  And there is some great stuff about it at Rolling Stone. 

I read the Buscemi interview and he said that there was some people who suggested that Donnie was just Walter's imaginary friend.  And it almost works out except for my favorite exchange in the movie:  

Donnie - Your phone's ringin, Dude.

The Dude - Thank you, Donnie.

Other than that, no one but Walter acknowledges him throughout the whole movie.

So many layers...

I'll catch you later on down the trail, until then, Take 'er easy, Dude...I know that you will.  

-KJ

So it begins...

Welcome back after a long lay-off.  For those of you looking for a post from Dana these last months, rest assured her husband was right there with you.  But I shall not sit silently by as the Crimson Tide takes the field and destroys the first of hopefully 3 orange-clad teams this year.

Things that have happened since the last post that I should mention before we get back to football:

-Dana and I have entered into marriage with much fanfare (Dana will post about it sometime next year)

-Dana moved into the house (she should also post about this because it was what she called "something that would happen on Felicity).  

-My cousin and I built a shelter for my dogs (pictures, maybe soon?)

-We got a new 40-inch LCD High Def TV.  It is sexy.

Ok, now.  I had wanted to watch the DVR of the game, but of course it didn't get it.  It was probably my fault.  So, I don't have the benefit of going back to hear Kirk Herbstreit breakdown why we kicked their butts so thoroughly.  But we did have the benefit of sitting 20 rows up on the 40-yd line (just another in the long line of lucky circumstances that get Dana and I to the best tickets available, usually free).  

We dominated, and not in a braggy "we're never losing, we're the best!" kinda way.  We were a manly team and they were not.  I think any SEC team in the top half of the conference would have done that to them, I'm just glad it was us on ABC at the Dome in front of the nation.  We looked like a Saban team.  Mark Ingram looks like a Saban running back - not fancy, just solid and tough.  Terrence Cody looks like Glenn Dorsey out there - always in the backfield disrupting and scaring the bejeezus out of the opposing QB.  Our defense was so solid that it only allowed Thunder and Lightning 17 yards on the game.  ON THE GAME!

What does all this mean?  I feel better about taking a win off the Hawgs in 3 weeks and going into Georgia undefeated.  I've said that UGA wouldn't kill us no matter what, and I still think they should beat us.  But I'll put it this way:  they are not going to overlook us now, good or bad.  As a Bama fan, in the short term it is nice to sneak up on teams.  But "the process" is about becoming a top-tier team.  Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio St (weak sauce) never sneak up on anyone to beat them, they just line up and beat them.  That is what we did on Saturday.  Nothing fancy about it.  No gimmicks.  We may get back to Atlanta, and that would be awesome, but right now it's just fun to turn some heads and be taken seriously for at least a couple of weeks.

Posts to come from Dana:

-the wedding

-moving in

-the MARTA fiasco after the game

Epilogue: the plant is not looking good, and the yard guy ran over it the other day because he didn't know it was a planted bush.  I can't really blame him, it looked terrible.  

We'll see you again soon, as soon as Dana's typing fingers heal.  Until then, here's to you and yours.