The Broun Blog

Jason, I'm thrilled to hear that Jessica is even mildly interested in the blog. That should ensure that she at least gives the blog a try, and if we have a blog worth visiting, she'll visit more often.

It's like one of those self-fulfilling prophecies. In a state park, the most popular paths are smooth and wide and easy to walk. But the reason they're smooth and wide is because they're popular. Success breeds success.

So, what will make a successful blog? Regardless of one's political leanings or even disinterest in politics, I think one can learn an awful lot from National Review Online's blog, The Corner. There, the entries are frequent, interesting, diverse, and often devoted to continuity.

The frequency of Corner posts is remarkable. A whole lot during the week, even a little bit on weekends, and when news breaks, all hell breaks loose. I don't think we need to post that often...

(Fact is, even if we have as many authors as they do, I don't think we could keep up, as we have to post in addition to what we do in real life. I believe their labor of love has the benefit of being attached to a paycheck.)

...but if we can post something new about once a day, I think that may be enough to motivate readers to check in frequently enough that doing so becomes a habit.

Of course, the posts need to be not only frequent but also interesting. I plan to never have any posts on my own blog detailing the fact that I just brushed my teeth and I'm about to go to sleep. I don't want to see any such posts here. What would Auburn alumni and former Broun residents want to hear about?

• Updates about the lives of other former residents, such as who's getting married and who's getting a new job.


• Plans about get-together's, I would think particularly tailgating during football season.


• The latest news about Auburn athletics and the Board of Trustees.


• Regional news, like the state's lottery controversy a while back, and the Biscuits.


• Suggestions about where to eat and what to do in Auburn from those who've most recently visited. And so forth.

I would also think that readers would like to see into the "black box" of the blog, the thoughts and ideas of the authors. Unless some conversation requires discretion, I would prefer to do as I'm doing now: discussing the blog in public so that others can see what we're thinking and add their own thoughts through the comments box.

The stuff at The Corner's remarkably diverse, and I think we can should follow suit, in our own way. A little seriousness, a little whimsy. We should keep in mind that not every Brounie is a sports nut, so we should include news about drama performances at AU, band, UPC and SGA, and -- I suppose -- even Greek news. New construction projects, new academic programs, and the latest injustice of on-campus parking could all be included.

And, let's not forget that some readers may still live in or near Auburn while others are a thousand miles away. News about the latest restaurant would appeal to the former, while info about webcasts of Auburn events would appeal to the latter.

We could even included entries completely unrelated to Broun and Auburn, such as links to amusing webpages that others might have missed. In fact, amusing links and anecdotal reminiscing might be necessary to keep this blog alive, at least at the very beginning.

For lack of a better word, I'm using continuity to describe the fact that there are lengthy "conversations" in the Corner, continuing discussions between authors as they argue back and forth. We have some continuity built-in with the comments boxes, but I think we shouldn't hesitate about starting a new post in response to an existing post, particularly if either the post is lengthy (as mine is now) or if it involves news in a developing story.

If we do what we can on the posting part of the blog and let everyone else know about the blog, this could quickly grow into a behemoth of a blog.

First things, first. I do not think our passing problem has been because of any lack of talent. Let's look at the numbers, specifically, passing completion percentages for the 2003 season, Division 1-A.

At the top of the list was NC State's Philip Rivers, who completed his passes 72.0% of the time. Our own Jason Campbell was at a respectable #25, with 61.8%. The only SEC QB's with higher percentages were LSU's Matt Mauck (#16, 64.0%) and Ole Miss's Eli Manning (#21, 62.4%).

My theory is we had some really, really good days and some really, really bad days.

Consider the stats. Against Alabama, we were 18/27 (66.7%). Against USC, we were 12/26 (46.2%). Sure, a few stellar games against no-name teams inflate the stats, but a talentless receiving corps does poorly regardless of the opponent -- and we didn't. The bottom line is, we had decent percentages despite having one of the toughest schedules in the nation. We had good days.

(And figure this out: in our humiliating loss to LSU, we caught 19/27, or 70.3%, averaging 7.5 yards a catch. On that game, the collapse had nothing to do with the receivers.)

I suspect -- and I pray -- that our receivers' problems relate to coaching and not raw talent. Maybe they haven't been doing the right drills or focusing on the fundamentals, or maybe they weren't mentally prepared for some of the tough games. This is why I'm cautiously optimistic about the new offensive coordinator, a guy who's apparently emphasized passing. If he can get the receivers to play consistently, the passing game can spread out our opponents' defense enough to let us run the ball down their throats for four quarters. I'd argue that our overall passing percentage was competitive. All we need is a little more consistency and a little more success in the medium- and long-range passes, and we will be frightening.

I've rambled more on football than I originally planned, so I'll talk about the blog in a separate post.

Well, last night I mentioned this blog to Jessica Hinds, to try to gauge interest from those outside of "the guys" in Broun. She seemed at least mildly interested, although she probably wouldn't post all that often. But still, it's something. Mild interest from enough people can really help this take off and become something quite interesting. The more diverse the various interested parties are, the more interesting this can be. I'm meeting Grant for lunch today (please note that it's a Saturday, and I'm up before 10AM), and I will mention it to him then.

If all goes well, we'll have decent recruiting numbers (and more competent WRs than Auburn once we add John and anybody else with two arms, two legs, and a head) in the next couple of weeks.

Now, the first ever Question of the Indeterminate Period. These questions may appear once a day, once a week, or just once. Hence, the name.

What do we call residents and former residents of Broun Hall?

"Broun resident" is just awkward and hard on the ears. It is entirely too serious a label. I suggest "Brounie." I've used the term in the past, even in a post below, and it just seems to me to be the most natural name.

What do y'all think? Use the comments link below and tell us!

A quick administrative note: I've changed the blog's look a little bit, to differentiate it from my own blog, and I've added a comments feature to the posts, using the free, remarkably simple service at HaloScan.com.

I'll be using this post's comment link as a guinea pig of sorts, and I may also reconsider using comments at my own blog. Feel free to email me if you have an opinion on the matter.

Shortly, the first Broun Blog Question of the Indeterminate Period!

For those who don't know, Jason doesn't exactly adore Montgomery. It's not a big sports town, and, as I recall, Jason seems to enjoy his sports.

(It was two years after I moved up to Pittsburgh for grad school, and I still had to dangle the carrot of the Red Sox/Pirates series to get him up here for a visit.)

But, Montgomery is about to enter the big leagues. On April 16th, the new AA farm league team for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will debut: the Montgomery Biscuits.

THE MONTGOMERY BISCUITS.

Many are distraught and disturbed at the name, the Muppet-like icon, and the inexplicable Big Mo. ("He's fuzzy, he's orange, he's seven feet of biscuit lovin' beast.") But I think the whole thing's great. It's AA baseball in the middle of Alabama, after all. It's not like a little whimsy will destroy the reverence that surrounds the game.

Even though I'm a native of Birmingham, I'll be supporting the Biscuits. I justify this with the fact that Montgomery's home for my grandfather, Jason, and Nicole -- my girlfriend and fellow former Broun resident, 2000-01. But who am I kidding? I just love the idea of pulling for the Biscuits. It appears that Nicole's getting me a Biscuits cap, with the MLB logo on the back, no less; and I hope to attend at least one game this year, hopefully Barons/Biscuits. In the calm between Auburn baseball and Auburn football, keeping up with the Biscuits could be a pleasant distraction for us all.

And, I've saved the biggest Biscuit news for last.

Our own Elizabeth Booksh, another former Brounie, is a member of the Biscuits staff, serving as marketing assistant. We here at the Broun Blog extend our warmest congratulations!

Jason's just jealous that I'm old enough to remember having seen Return of the Jedi in the theater in 1983.

And he's perhaps more than a little envious of my attire at the midnight premiere of Attack of the Clones, and my subsequent appearance on WSFA.

But, yeah, he's right. It was eight.

It was 8 times. Exactly 8 times each. The phone call certainly helped to assure me that Auburn just might turn out to be a TAD better than Montgomery. Granted, the firey pit of hell itself (Yankee Stadium) might have been better than Montgomery, but it was nice nonetheless.

Before Jason moved into Broun, he went "potluck" in getting a roommate. Once the room assignments were sent out that summer, I called Jason to introduce myself. During that phone conversation, we discovered that each of us had already seen The Phantom Menace, like, seven times in the theater.

It was at that point I knew, everything was gonna be just fine.

For me, that beginning was in the Fall of 1999, when I moved into Broun. For this blog, it was myself and Bubba, online, at 11:30 PM. I know that's early by Broun standards, but we're getting OLD, ok? From The Basement and Watts to The Flush and Quadapalooza, I hope this becomes a place where former Brounies like myself can come to keep in touch and reminisce about our days in Broun.

About this time last night, I started my own blog, BubbaTheGenius.blogspot.com. I just now told Jason about the blog, and in the span of 30 minutes, the idea of the Broun Blog was born! I don't know what we're doing -- "babe, it must be art!" -- but in the coming days, we'll probably alter the look a little bit, give you our readers the ability to post comments, and figure out just what we intend to do with this web log.

In broad strokes, I hope this blog helps reconnect the residents and perpetual guests of Auburn University's Katie Broun Hall, particularly those who were there during my four-year stay, but also -- more broadly -- those who have lived in Broun since it was renovated around 1998.

In the journalists' parlance, this is a developing story.

Stay tuned.