Birthday party and Chizik dismisses more players

This past Sunday, we had my oldest and middle child's birthday party and did it as a dual birthday. It was Mickey and Minnie Mouse themed and we had a friend of ours make the cakes. They were two tiered and had the mouse ears on them and everything. We had two jumping houses and we got Scott and Donna Karr to bring a horse for the kids to ride. Everyone had a really good time and the kids got a ton of presents. Also, the weather was absolutely gorgeous! The high was in the low 80's and there was a slight breeze. It did get a little hot out there chasing around 30 kids who were 5 and younger, but it beats Colt's birthday last year where it was about 35 outside. We had fun, but this will probably be the last time we can have a dual party, unless Addi doesn't mind.

Also, the few weeks or so has been really bad for the AU football team. After dismissing Eric Smith from the team for more off the field issues, 4 more players were kicked off due to being arrested for armed robbery with multiple guns. Antonio Goodwin, Mike McNeil, Dakota Moseley and Shaun Kitchens were the players arrested and held on $510,000 each in the Lee County Jail. This has serious implications for how they will spend the rest of their lives. If convicted, the face multiple years in prison and many years probation. These 4 kids (3 of them 19 years old) have just, for the most part, ruined a big chunk of their young adult lives. I have heard some people ask why in the world someone would do this especially when they have everything going for them: scholarship, playing football, going to a good university, being recognized/popular. I don't have an answer but all I know is these guys have alot of time to figure out just who they want to be. Their football careers are over before they started, but they do have a chance to be a good citizen and member of society. I feel for the kids, but if you're man enough to do the crime, you've got to be man enough to do the time (sorry for the cliche but it fits here). Now, the implications for the football team are that is four less players we now have after 30 of them graduated or left early. After the incoming freshmen, AU only has 73 scholarship players on the roster. That's down worse than when Tubbs left. The difference is, the guys we have now are much more talented than those from 3 years ago. I will have a spring practice blog after the A-day game. We should be ok at most positions, but there are a lot of if's especially on D-line and O-line and now, at saftety. Til next time.....