AUBURN | Fair or not, this Auburn team will be judged by what happens in March, or perhaps April if it advances to the Final Four in San Antonio.
But don’t let that change what a special season it’s been to this point and what a special Saturday it was in Tuscaloosa.
Auburn made history under Bruce Pearl once again. This time is was beating Alabama in Coleman Coliseum in the first-ever 1 vs. 2 matchup between two SEC teams.
It was the Tigers that shined the brightest in the biggest college basketball game in state history.
That it came amongst the F*ck You Auburn and Little Brother chants, the garbage throwing and whatever that woman was trying to do to Chad Baker-Mazara, made it extra special.
Saturday night’s Toomer’s Corner rolling was pretty special too.
Still, for all Auburn has accomplished this season including building the best resume in the country, nothing is promised. Nothing is guaranteed.
In the days leading up to the game, Pearl reminded anyone that would listen that just three days after his No. 2 Tennessee team beat No. 1 Memphis in 2008, the Volunteers lost at Vanderbilt.
And not long after the final buzzer sounded on Auburn’s 94-85 win, Pearl said he would quickly turn his focus to Wednesday night’s game against Arkansas, but not before he stopped at Home Depot hours after the win to pick up supplies for a project.
Auburn’s 64-year old coach doesn’t have an off switch.
And that’s why Auburn has a real chance to make more history over the next seven weeks. Pearl is going to push his staff and his players to get the most out of them.
He has 30 years of head coaching experience. He knows every button to push and this might be his best team among a lot of very good teams.
Nothing is promised. Nothing is guaranteed. Auburn’s going to have to take what it wants.
It did that at Coleman Coliseum and amongst the postgame celebration there was no sign that these players and coaches were close to satisfied.
They’ll need that same energy over the next seven weeks to make more history.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 41 years to the opening of a movie that included a soundtrack with two No. 1 singles. On Feb. 17, 1984, Footloose was released in theaters starring Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow. The soundtrack included “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins and “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” by Deniece Williams, which both reached No. 1 on the Billboard 100, and “Almost Paradise,” a duet by Ann Wilson of Heart and Mike Reno of Loverboy, which peaked at No. 7. “Almost Paradise” might be better known today as the theme song for the reality T.V. show Bachelor in Paradise. “Footloose” was written by Loggins and Dean Pitchford for the movie and became Loggins only No. 1 single. It lost out to Stevie Wonder’s “Just Called to Say I Love You” from The Woman in Red for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but was preserved by the Library of Congress in 2018. Pitchford and Tom Snow wrote “Let’s Hear it for the Boy,” which was the second of two No. 1’s for Williams. Pitchford and Eric Carmen wrote “Almost Paradise” for the movie and approached Wilson and Reno to record it.
Pitchford also wrote the screenplay for the movie, which is about a teenager (Bacon) from Chicago, who moves to a small town and joins forces with other teenagers to overturn a ban on dancing by a local minister (Lithgow). Pitchford was inspired by the story of Elmore City, Oklahoma, which had banned dancing since its founding in 1898. The ban was finally overturned in 1980 when the junior high school class petitioned the school board to hold a prom and it was approved by a 3-2 vote. Tom Cruise was initially cast to play the lead but filmed All The Right Moves instead. Rob Lowe auditioned three times but an injury kept him from accepting the role. Bacon had already accepted the main role in Stephen King’s Christine, but turned it down after doing a screen test for Footloose. Singer got the role of Bacon’s love interest and Lithgow’s daughter over Madonna and Haviland Morris. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Valerie Bertinelli were also considered. Bacon had four stunt doubles for the film — one for stunts, another for dance and two more for gymnastics. It was filmed in Utah County, Utah including Payson High School. Footloose was the seventh-highest grossing film of 1984 pulling in $80 million.
