After today, we are in "Game Week" mode, which won't necessarily be substantially different from "Fall Camp" mode. It's more of a symbolic rite of passage. July was pre-season. August was not exactly pre-season, but more like demi-season. After today, it's just plain old "season", even though no game has been played.
What have we learned this camp? Ole Miss fans are easily insulted. LSU is statistically speaking the hardest place to play on the road, but it's too bad few good teams will be doing that this year. Jarrett Lee wasn't as bad of a quarterback last year as you might have thought. Indie rock draws people of varied tastes, most of whom like to talk about indie rock. Beergut thinks very little of SEC quarterbacks. One of our new writers, was not a particularly popular choice at first, but he's come to grow on people. I personally enjoyed his tips on making a good gumbo, though I think I will stick with my own recipe rather than strain a chicken through a sieve. We got a taste of how recruiting ranking correlate with pre-season rankings.
Of more immediate pertinence to the football team, we found out that our wide receivers are pretty good, statistically speaking, at least when you don't throw the ball way over their heads. Super-recruit Craig Loston was cleared, then not cleared, then finally cleared again, and then we came to the conclusion that he is awesome. We're still worried about the defensive line, which is probably the biggest question mark on the team other than the quarterback. Last but certainly not least, we looked at what could happen if we have a bad season.
Most of all, we learned that more people than ever are paying attention to our humble little website. ATVS has grown by leaps and bounds. August of 2009 will be by far the best month for And The Valley Shook, ever. We have more than doubled in traffic, in fact we have come close to tripling in traffic, since August of 2008, which was a couple months after Poseur and I first came over from GeauxTuscaloosa. I am grateful and proud to have you. We have grown organically and incrementally without ever pandering to baser instincts or insulting your intelligence. I am happy to have every one of you here, and if you like us please feel free to spread the word.
I am looking forward to spending what is hopefully a very successful 2009 season with you.