I'm nearly completion of my research, game watching, and write-up of the 1979 national championship season, precious to me because it is the first full season I lived through as a ten-year old Alabama fan.
However - the final product is likely to be around forty single-spaced pages. This has been unbelievable and will require division into about ten posts most likely. These are meant to be read, to be enjoyed, to kindle the Tide fan nostalgia.
But is this too long?
It features the ENTIRE year (not just the season), and some of the running commentary covers the news media coverage at the time, in part to show that as Ecclesiastes informs us, "there is nothing new under the sun." Herschel Nissenson was referring to the upcoming poll car crash as "flies in the ointment" back when Tim Brando was a disc jockey in Shreveport. 1979 is an interesting bridge between 1966 (and what happened) and 2014 (and the beginning of the playoff).
I only have three games with play by play, moment by moment - LSU, Auburn, and Arkansas (in large part because the availability of other games from that time is limited and who really wants play by play from the 45-0 smackdown of Baylor?). And, of course, it has overlapping news stories to put you in the frame of mind at the time.
For example - did you know that Ohio State became #1 on the very same day that the major news story was the trampling of 11 concert goers outside Riverfront Coliseum (in Ohio) who were attempting to obtain festival seating to watch The Who?
Did you know that Ara Parseghian, who called the 1980 Sugar Bowl, praised Lou Holtz for going for two early in the third quarter to show he was not playing for the tie?
Did you know that LSU's coaching replacement of Charlie McClendon included replacement Bo Rein saying on Monday that he wasn't the LSU coach and was recruiting for NC State and saying on Thursday he had accepted the job? (Does this sound like anyone or anything?)
It seems to me that to do justice to the subject, this one has gone on a bit longer than intended. But I want input from my readers: is that too long?
(PS - I'm not going to change much of it, but I may edit it, and i will keep it in mind as I work on other ones).
However - the final product is likely to be around forty single-spaced pages. This has been unbelievable and will require division into about ten posts most likely. These are meant to be read, to be enjoyed, to kindle the Tide fan nostalgia.
But is this too long?
It features the ENTIRE year (not just the season), and some of the running commentary covers the news media coverage at the time, in part to show that as Ecclesiastes informs us, "there is nothing new under the sun." Herschel Nissenson was referring to the upcoming poll car crash as "flies in the ointment" back when Tim Brando was a disc jockey in Shreveport. 1979 is an interesting bridge between 1966 (and what happened) and 2014 (and the beginning of the playoff).
I only have three games with play by play, moment by moment - LSU, Auburn, and Arkansas (in large part because the availability of other games from that time is limited and who really wants play by play from the 45-0 smackdown of Baylor?). And, of course, it has overlapping news stories to put you in the frame of mind at the time.
For example - did you know that Ohio State became #1 on the very same day that the major news story was the trampling of 11 concert goers outside Riverfront Coliseum (in Ohio) who were attempting to obtain festival seating to watch The Who?
Did you know that Ara Parseghian, who called the 1980 Sugar Bowl, praised Lou Holtz for going for two early in the third quarter to show he was not playing for the tie?
Did you know that LSU's coaching replacement of Charlie McClendon included replacement Bo Rein saying on Monday that he wasn't the LSU coach and was recruiting for NC State and saying on Thursday he had accepted the job? (Does this sound like anyone or anything?)
It seems to me that to do justice to the subject, this one has gone on a bit longer than intended. But I want input from my readers: is that too long?
(PS - I'm not going to change much of it, but I may edit it, and i will keep it in mind as I work on other ones).
