A glass of sweet tea is like water in Alabama.  You could find it in every store and vending machine; I’m surprised they don’t have it coming from the drinking fountain.  I like the taste, but I could never finish a full glass; way too much sugar.  The food has been interesting here.  The coaches took me out for lunch at Dreamland, but they didn’t have anything beef.  I’ve been so used to eating beef in all the other states, that it was a surprise not to find any beef ribs in Northern Alabama.  I guess hog nation runs south from Arkansas.  I’m sure I’ll be seeing lots of hogs on the grill at Talladega this weekend.  I heard it’s the largest “redneck convention” in the country. 

I’ve experience more than coaching high school football this week.  Since, I’m in the “Bible Belt” I’ve decided to sing in the Baptist Church choir.  It’s always fun to sing in a choir because no one could tell if I have a bad voice.  It’s a little different if you don’t know the words though.

April 21, 2009

“Yes Sir” the kids of Alabama are sooo polite.  After every sentence an adult completes, the student responds, “Yes Sir.”  The students get treated just as well.  I couldn’t believe it when I heard that the football team was going to have breakfast together during school.  I don’t see some college programs that treat their athletes and have facilities like Pelham High.  I’m pretty sure that’s normal in Alabama though.  I’ll get a chance to compare it with the University of Alabama tomorrow.  I will probably get a chance to meet Nick Sabin too. 

April 20, 2009

Before I left Nashville, I thought I had a job and place lined up.  When I arrived in Birmingham last night, I had neither.  The principal of the high school that I planned to work for decided it would be a distraction.  Then my boss from Nashville hooked me up with his friend to stay with, but they never returned my call.  Hope was all I had left. 

I knew there wasn’t much I could do about the job on a Sunday, but I could definitely research on a place to stay.  I remember receiving emails from families in Birmingham that offered to host me.  I ended up calling the Norwoods and here I am.  It’s surprisingly right next to Hoover High, which was the football team that was featured on MTV.  I thought I should try landing a job at Hoover, but I wasn’t going to give up on my original plan.  Let’s just say that being persistent had help me land the high school coaching job at Pelham High. 

Fortunately, I have a background coaching at Northwestern University and the University of Virginia, otherwise this would have been a real difficult position to understand.  I ended up coaching some of the varsity squad in the weight room and an 8th graders’ scrimmage.  I’m looking forward to working with the quarterbacks tomorrow. 

Alabama is like a foreign country to me.  I haven’t seen a cityscape like Birmingham before.  I feel like I’m driving in the Amazon Jungle around here; very green, full of trees, and hilly.  Lastly, I couldn’t stop laughing after noticing all the white kids have the “frat swoop” hairstyle.  It would stick out like a sore thumb in California.