Hood and Dansby Carry The Auburn Banner In Sunday's Super Bowl
by Jay Coulter on Jan 30, 2009 4:00 AM CST
in Football
21 comments
Will it be Auburn or Woodlawn High School on Sunday?
If you're like me, come Super Bowl Sunday you are usually pulling for the team with the most former Auburn players. If that's the case Sunday night, you'll want to pull for the Arizona Cardinals. Two former Tigers will be in the starting line-up for the NFC champions.
Defensive back Rod Hood and linebacker Karlos Dansby both need big games if the underdog Cardinals are to have any chance against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Meanwhile, another former Tiger, offensive guard Kendall Simmons is on the injured reserve list for Pittsburgh after tearing his Achilles tendon last September. Auburn has had at least one player represented in 25 of the 43 Super Bowls played.
Hood is one of the Cinderella stories of the NFL. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles camp in 2003 as an unsigned free agent. He quickly made a name for himself around the league and parlayed that effort into a five-year $15 million contract with the Cardinals two seasons ago.
Hood is also a great person off the field. The Columbus, Georgia native regularly returns to his hometown in the off-season to put on camps for local kids. Playing in his sixth season, he recorded 40 tackles with one interception during the regular season. This marks Hood's second Super Bowl appearance. He also played in Super Bowl XXXIX while in Philadelphia.
Dansby has had a close-up view of the rebuilding of this down and out Arizona franchise. He's spent all five of his NFL seasons with the Cardinals. And it's not a stretch to say that much of their success is a result of Dansby's play. He led Arizona in tackles this season with 119 stops, which ranks 14th in the league. He also had four sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions. Dansby has been even better in the post-season, grabbing 23 tackles during the past three playoff games.
If there's one knock on Dansby it's that every time he's given an opportunity to introduce himself on television, he identifies his school as Woodlawn High School (in Birmingham). I'm really not sure why he snubs Auburn, but I know it hacks a lot of fans off. I've watched him do it in every playoff game this year and you can bet he'll probably do it again if given the chance Sunday. If you ask me, it's downright ungrateful. He needs to remember the place that gave him this opportunity.
Pittsburgh enters the game a seven point favorite. More than 100 million viewers are expected to tune in from around the world. Kickoff is set for a little past 5 p.m. CT on Sunday. The game will be carried by NBC with coverage beginning at 8 a.m. CT. I'm not kidding.
Have a great weekend and go Cardinals!
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As a Cowboy fan...
……I have a special dislike of Pittsburgh. It was harder to hate ‘em, when Bill Cowher was there, because I think he’s one of the best coaches that’s ever worked in the NFL. I’m not a Cards fan, either. Red jerseys are a strike against ANY team, in my mind! I suppose I’ll support the Cards in this one, though, as an old NFC East , even if they got dumped into the West a couple of years ago… When Kurt Warner is on, he can slice and dice a defense with the best of ’em.
…..I think the weather could be a factor. If the rain doesn’t clear out soon enough, the Cards are doomed. Tampa Stadium is just awful, when it rains. There’s no crown on the field, and water just collects and puddles. Remember that Outback Bowl where Auburn played Penn State in the rain? There were lakes on the field. You could have probably caught a large mouth bass in the corners the red zones, if you’d brought your rod and reel…
Hasn't Hood...
…also claimed a high school during this playoff run? I hope not.
Coverage starts at 9am Eastern. Can you believe that? I remember when the coverage only started three hours before game time, and the only thing I wanted to see was that spiel with Andy Griffith talking about football…
by War Eagle Atlanta on Jan 30, 2009 9:33 AM CST reply actions
Hope Hood and Dansby have great games......
in losing efforts. I am the exact opposite of you Acid…….I freaking hate the Cowboys. lol. I have always rooted for the falcons first…..then Pittburgh, Washington, Green Bay, Miami……I have all but given up on the raiders.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
As a Raiders fan, it's easy to give up
Al Davis just hired Tom freakin’ Cable as head coach. His only previous head coaching experience, before being Oakland’s interim coach this past season? Two seasons at Idaho. Doesn’t exactly make me confident the Raiders will return to greatness anytime soon. Al has GOT to go!
The artist formerly known as...
Mr Redbird @ Viva El Birdos
PowerOfDixieland @ Track Em Tigers, other SEC blogs
by jd is legend on Jan 30, 2009 11:17 AM CST up reply actions
Tell me about it....
the Raiders will not be a great team again until the crypt keeper either runs out of his zombie fluid and must finally collapse in a pile of dust and bones or someone puts him in a straight jacket and padded cell (quarantined to keep the strange flesh eating fungus thats on his head to get out into the general public).
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
As a falcons fan...
I can tell you that one of my happiest days was the one where i heard that the old falcons owner had died. I knew then that they would finally start getting better. And sure enough, They finally appeared in the superbowl. Ass kicking aside, it was a pretty magical moment all made possible by a change of ownership. Which is exactly what the raiders need.
Cowboy loyalty...
…..is because every time the Cowboys were on TV in the 1960s and 1970s, my dad would remind me that I was born in Ft. Worth, right next to Dallas. I enjoyed those classic teams with Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson, Tony Dorsett, Tony Hill, etc. Honestly, the Jerry Jones soap opera teams have not been my favorite, although I did enjoy Dallas winning 3 super bowls during the Eric Ramsey/early Bowden era. The coaching decisions since then, Switzer, Gailey, Wade Phillips… I just don’t know how a billionaire’s mind works! That, and the picking up of problem guys like Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones. I think Jerry Jones is trying to be Al Davis!
I quit being a Cowboys fan...
…when Jones unceremoniously dumped Tom Landry the way he did.
Vio con dios, Caballeros!
by War Eagle Atlanta on Jan 31, 2009 2:08 PM CST up reply actions
I Went To Woodlawn
and I can understand why Karlos mentions it.
And Karlos coming back for his senior says it all for Auburn.
Why does he?
You say you understand why he mentions it, but you don’t elaborate. Please do.
Personally, I have no problem with who he reps in his intro. That is completely up to him. Maybe he believes he never would have gotten where he is w/o some coaching or life experience that happened before he got to Auburn.
"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum
by GumptownTiger on Jan 30, 2009 1:32 PM CST up reply actions
To Raise Awareness For Woodlawn
the school almost had to shut down its football program, because its in the ghetto and didn’t have enough money to have spring practice.
Woodlawn grads include Harry Gilmer, Bobby Bowden, Tony Nathan, Smokey Hodge, and Greg Carr. For years the coach there was an Auburn grad and then after him a Livingston grad, but native of Auburn. (Bobby Humphrey did not go to Woodlawn, despite what you might read on the web). A lot of other players played at schools around the SEC, but weren’t stars.
So thats probably why he does it.
Thanks.
"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum
by GumptownTiger on Jan 30, 2009 2:18 PM CST up reply actions
Nice...
Thats a really cool story. Like, i’m almost in tears here….hehe. If thats the way it is then i can understand why he would do that. Not sure what i’d do. probably have to give props to my home town once, then Auburn some other time. You know, mix it up a bit. But definitely have to give it up for the highschool everyonce in a while. Football is the shit around here. My senior year the football team was voted #1 in the nation by USAToday.
Thanks for the story.
calm down
I love Auburn as much as the next fan, I really do, but I don’t get your knocking dansby for this. We all know he went to auburn and are proud to claim him. I know that if it came down to claiming either the place where i grew up and the place where i learned to play and love the game or my college, I would pick the former every time. WDE and all, but it’s just silly to think he’s “snubbing” auburn.
It’s not Karlos’s choice to mention Woodlawn instead of Auburn. It’s a dumb rule made by the commissioner that if you didn’t graduate you can’t say the name of that school. So he’s not allowed to say “Auburn University.”
What do an Auburn fan and a bammer have in common? (Neither of them ever attended u.a.t.).
What?
That can’t be right. There are two many players in the league that didn’t graduate and very few times do I hear a players name followed by a high school. Sorry buddy I call BS on that one.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
I heard the same thing
I don’t knot if it’s true or not, but somebody I was talking to about this last night said the same thing.
When's the last time you heard.....
Reggie Bush……Helix High School…..lol think about it, if its a rule its not followed and there’s no punishment worth mentioning. Just sayin.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
I agree...
Nobody is following that rule… What percentage actually graduate? Last night all but about two said the name of their college.
Jay Coulter
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