The Broun Blog

"What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. And what do you call someone who speaks only one language? American."

I can't tell you how many times I have heard that joke since I arrived overseas and it's really beginning to bug me. First of all, is it just Americans? I don't know any Brits who speak another language besides English - do you? I do think the assumption that "English is spoken everywhere" is a poor one, but as I am seeing in my travels, it is fairly widespread. Because I have entirely too much free time over here in good ole Belgium, I have spent much time thinking about why it is most Americans only speak English. Is it because we truly do think we are better than everyone else? This seems to be the running opinion in most of the countries I have visited - which I brought up to a total of 11 this week.

For me personally, I simply think it is because it is so easy for us to not have to learn another language. If you travel for 3 hours here in Europe, you could be in any of 3-4 new countries, with anywhere from 5-6 different languages being spoken. But in the States, most of them anyway, if you travel for 3 hours, you're still in the U.S. and English is still spoken. This could be changing with the increase of Spanish-speaking population now that Hispanics are the largest minority in the U.S., but living in Alabama I'm certainly not seeing it. Even with the large number of Hispanics, schools aren't teaching both Spanish and English early on as the schools do here. We're certainly not required to know it as teachers, at least not as of May 2004, when my teaching certificate will be valid.

We all know this is a changing world and everything is "closer" than ever before. Is it important to be able to speak many languages - or at least more than one? Will Americans continue to be able to fall back on "I speak Southern and occasionally Ebonics" any longer? I'm personally tired of having the dislike of Europeans, or, more accurately, feeling like a tolerated child. Europeans in general are very, very accommodating to Americans, but I honestly feel like I am a five year old child being patted on the head. It's annoying. I speak Spanish, and was beginning to pick up Italian before I left Italy, though French is still a lost cause for me.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this to turn into a personal rant, but I am quite curious on the opinions of other Americans right now. Do we make it too easy? Or do we simply have no need to speak another language? Are we backward "children" and clinging to it? Or is it something I have not considered at all? (And if you've been somewhere besides Europe and had a very different experience, please let me know about it!)

The AU Calendar has listed a "Soul Food Bazaar," 12 noon at the Foy Union Lawn.

This would be an excellent time, I think, to discuss the relative lack of good barbecue in Auburn, which is surprising given the great diversity of eating in the greater Auburn-Opelika metropolitan area.

This would also be a good time to discuss soul food and Southern food in general. Ironically, the best barbecue I've ever had is up here in Pittsburgh, in a hole-in-the-wall called Wilson's. And I've always wondered, has anybody eaten at Tombo's Seafood & Chicken near the movie theater, and is it any good?

The Montgomery Biscuits lost their first series against the Birmingham Barons, 2 games to 1. Its one win was Wednesday, winning 6-1 with an impressive 15 hits.

After the day off yesterday, the Biscuits are now getting ready for their home opener against the Huntsville Stars at 7:05 tonight. While the tickets to the Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium have been sold out for some time, the game will be televised on Montgomery's WSFA-12 and audio will apparently be available at BiscuitsBaseball.com.

Auburn alumni Karlos Dansby and Dontarrious Thomas both made ESPN.com's list of the top 9 linebackers in this year's NFL draft class. Here's a link to the story, I highly recommend reading it.

Danbsy being the top LB not from Miami (at #3) should be a point of pride for those of us who love Auburn. Thomas at #6 is nothing to sneeze at, either. War Damn Eagle!

ESPN's analysis (in the grey box to the left of the article) about the average nature overall of the LBs in this year's class is interesting. It seems likely that even the top LBs won't go in the Top 10 on draft day. ESPN's projection of the top two LBs being mid-round picks at best makes me smile. I say that because the New England Patriots (my team, if you don't know me at all) have the 21st and 32nd picks in the first round, followed by the 24th and 31st picks in the 2nd round in this year's draft. They will almost certainly grab a RB 1st, but might grab a young LB with the 32nd pick, or a 2nd round pick, to shore up an aging LB corps that had some injury problems last season. Both Dansby and Thomas receive comments indicating that they might require the right "motivation" or "coaching up" to be impact players. Gosh, I wonder if there are any NFL coaches who might be defensively inclined and excellent at getting the most of out the talent they have? Point being, in Dansby falls to the very end of the 1st round, or Thomas impresses some scouts with his potential, I could be a very happy camper on draft day. The one thing the Patriots have lacked for the past couple of years is a former Auburn standout.

Link.

No. 12 Auburn Falls To South Alabama, 10-9, In 10 Innings

MOBILE - The No. 12 Auburn baseball team rallied from a five-run deficit and took a 9-6 lead in the 10th inning, however South Alabama scored four times in the bottom of the 10th to defeat the Tigers, 10-9, at Stanky Field Tuesday. Adam Lind's bases loaded double clearing the bases proved to be the winning hit for South Alabama who improved to 15-18. Auburn dropped to 24-11. Full Story

This follows Auburn winning this past weekend's series against #5 Ole Miss, where Auburn lost the opening game, then swept a doubleheader on Easter Sunday. Full Story

On a personal note...Stanky Field? What kind of a name is that?

After four weeks, UPC is once again showing free movies at Foy -- or, at least, they are once again posting the movie schedule on the AU calendar.

As indicated on the Broun Blog's sidebar, this week's movie is Mystic River.

Or: A Car, A House, and a Blind Poodle

In the continuing theme of bringing y'all little tidbits about my life in the hopes of inducing a few chuckles, here is a story from yesterday.

I was out with one of the guys, Rob, I knew from church down here and he had to stop by his boss's house that he is house sitting for the week to feed the dog. Well, we get there and the house is locked, which is a good thing, but the dead bolt is locked and stuck as well. Well Rob had been told that one of the other neighbors had a key as well and was going to bring their kid over to play with the dog. We figured they locked the dead bolt when they left. Only know it was stuck. Well, Rob got it in to his head and go knock on the doors of the neighbors to see if he could find the one who had the key. You can guess how successful that was. Anyways, we check the cars in the driveway and they both have garage door openers. But no hide-a-keys. SO we grabbed a coat hanger and see if we can activate one. I get the coat hanger on the button but can't get it to stay on when even I tried to put pressure on it. So we try to pull the coat hanger up real fast and guess what. The car alarm starts going off. And then it starts to rain. Well, ROb convienently enough has the number for a locksmith in his cell. 30 mins later the locksmith shows up and lets us into the car (remember the deadbolt is stuck). So we finally get into the house and I find out the dog, a poodle is blind. It was kind of sad as I watched it walked into chairs, walls, etc.

Well, I like to end my shows with a kind of a blah feeling and I think I have done that nicely.

Grant

Meant to report about the Montgomery Biscuits earlier, but their inaugural season started Thursday in Huntsville. The Stars very nearly swept the Biscuits -- 5-4, 5-3, and 9-7 -- but the Biscuits got their first win Sunday evening, 9-7.

The Biscuits are now playing the Birmingham "Michael-Jordan-Used-To-Play-For-Us" Barons, at the Hoover Met.

And, their home opener is Friday night, 7 pm, against the Hunstville Stars (again). The game's sold out, but the game will be aired on Montgomery's NBC affiliate, WSFA. Those outside the WSFA viewing area can listen to every Biscuits game on their website.

(FYI, Broun Hall's own Elizabeth Booksh works the Biscuits' front office as the marketing assistant. Auburn alumni and my old friends at Eagle Eye TV, Kevin Fichtner and Mary McEachern, work at WSFA. And, oddly enough, WSFA stands for "the South's Finest Airfield." Long story.)

AS of right now, I don't know where I will be in 4 months. One of the possibilities is that I am in Atlanta attending Georgia Tech. So here is the question (especially for Jessica and others who know the city): If you were to get an apartment in Atlanta, where would you live?

In an attempt to spur some conversation in the blog, I'd like to reminisce about one particular aspect of campus life that created a small debate among some class-goers...

Bikers.

Specifically, those who ride their bikes to/from class. In 98, during my first year, Auburn had a total of 1 street (in central campus) with a bike lane. This was our beloved Mell Street. Unless simply enjoyed travelling from Harper to the Fisheries building on a daily basis, riding on campus was treacherous, at best. I have witnessed many a close call between riders and walkers, as well as riders and cars.

I, myself, was a rider. And damn proud of it, too. I miss riding around The Plains, especially the Old Rotation, behind the Hill. I put more (on campus) miles on my bike than on my car during college.

So, for the record, I'd like to get other Brounies opionion on the matter. (Bubba, I know you feel strongly about this... I value your input.)
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Bicycle accidents are a product of bad decision making. In my opinion, if you are a pedestrian walking down the concourse, and you see a bike approaching you rapidly, you should:

*Keep walking in the same direction, as if nothing was wrong.
*NOT execute a Carnell Williams maneuver and stutter step in several directions.
*NOT stop like a deer in headlights, waiting to make your move at the last minute.

You see, the person on the bike is well aware of your position, and is compensating for your obstruction. Bikers arn't able to react as quickly to stuff as pedestrians. Shifting and stutter-stepping in order to get out of the way of whichever direction you think the bike will be going next will only confuse him.

Riding on campus at a university (especially one such as Auburn) is a very enjoyable experience. Rather, it can be. It is efficient, quick, and good exercise. It's also much faster than driving on campus. However, those who walk (i.e. never ride bikes) feel that bikers are reckless, obstructive, and rude.

Bike lanes have increased over recent years, including lanes on Thatch and others. That has helped. But problems still remain, such as sidewalks.

Does anyone have an experience to share about riding on campus?

RF