STULTZ: Rambling into Hoover
The regular season is over, and now we get into serious time. You know what I'm talking about. Every at-bat seems do or die for your team, the final innings have you on the edge of your seat (or likely standing), and your stomach is in knots until that last out is recorded.
Yes, postseason baseball is both exhilarating and terrifying. Fall behind two runs? Well, there goes that. Ahead by two runs? The feeling of dread knowing a baserunner brings up the tying run to the plate fills your thoughts. When Cleveland hit a two-run homer to tie Game 7 of the 2016 World Series against the Cubs, I didn't think I would make it through the rest of the game. Luckily, I did.
So yes, it is SEC and NCAA Tournament time that the players and coaches work all year for. The Tigers are red hot, playing the best baseball in the nation and look like a team that will be a hard out. Let's do some rambling.
- The fact that Ike Irish will be in an Auburn uniform for another two years should absolutely excite every fan out there. We heard great things about him before the season, and he has lived up to the hype. He's going to be a major star for the Tigers.
- Michael Block hitting that hole-in-one on Sunday in the PGA Championship is one of those moments that makes sports so great. I could watch his and Rory McIlroy's reaction a hundred times and find something new I love. It was just a chill bumps moment.
- In the end, I think Johni Broome will return to Auburn for another season, and if he does, his confidence will be at an all-time high after performing so well in the elite camp and combine.
- I am submitting my official request to cover the Auburn golf team this week in Scottsdale. I can already hear it being denied. Hoover it is for this guy.
- If you want to have a good cry, watch this clip on Derick Hall and his one percent chance of survival when he was born.
- Besides Tuesday, the weather is supposed to cooperate in Hoover for the SEC Tournament. Let's see if that changes in the next 48 hours.
- I've mentioned my friend's bulldog, Sullivan, quite a few times only because I'm pretty confident that he – the dog, not my friend – is my soulmate. We both snore, love to nap and eat. The only significant difference is I don't go around trying to hump people's legs.
- With the influx of taller guards coming in this offseason, you have to wonder what K.D. Johnson's role will be on the 2023-24 Tigers. It seems that it will be even more limited, but I may be wrong. It's happened before.
- It's officially pool season, and it couldn't have come soon enough. When I take off my shoes and socks, it looks like I still have the latter on due to the tan line.
- I'm very different from my father in many ways, but I have started making lists to remember stuff as I get older. It helps me. This is the last time I will admit this.
- Not sure who needs to be told – probably Harrison Ford – but they need to stop making Indiana Jones movies immediately. The series was great as a trilogy, capped off by the best one, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Last! They should have stuck to that.
- Do you hear that sound? If you listen very closely, you can hear the last Butch Thompson detractor uttering their last foolish statement about how the Auburn coach can't, well, coach.
- TikTok of the Week: This drone video of Burj Khalifa from the extreme top to the bottom gives me the sweats, and I'm not even that afraid of heights.
- Finally, amazing things can happen when you least expect it. One of my good buddies lost a dear friend on Saturday night. Sunday, to cheer him up, we played golf. Just the two of us, but since it was slow, the twosome behind us joined for the final 15 holes. This guy was also mourning the same person's death, yet my friend and this guy didn't know each other. I think it helped both out during a trying time. I didn't let them win, though.