Big Boys Do Cry

Bama Fans Pray for Miracle, Cody Delivers

More tears may have been shed at last Saturday’s Alabama-Tennessee game than at a Bambi screening, but reactions on both sides covered a range of emotions. For Bama, they were tears of relief, survival and potential. For the Vols, they were borne of hatred, bitterness and rejection. They reserved perhaps their biggest crocodile tears for “The Penalty That Couldn’t Have Been.”

Mount Cody created an even bigger spot for himself in Bama history with the block (actually two) that saved the season. In the waning seconds of the game, the Tide defender swatted down the ball as the Vols attempted the game-winning field goal.

Head coach Lane Kiffin claimed, though well after the game, that

Daniel Moore to Capture Cody’s Rocky Block

Sports artist Daniel Moore, who has canonized the greatest moments in Alabama football, has notified one of his licensed dealers that Terrence Cody’s amazing field goal block in the Crimson Tide’s game against the Volunteers will be his next subject. The black and white image is expected to be available prior to the Christmas holidays, with the full color print to be released in early 2010.

This will be the fourth time Moore has captured crucial moments in the kicking game, including two game-winning field goals and

Go Tell It On the Mount(ain)

Mount Cody Blocks Vols' Upset Bid

The Alabama Crimson Tide duly tested the limits of my vocabulary, my cardiac health and my often unshakeable faith in them against Tennessee on the Fourth Saturday in October. My emotional roller coaster was bottoming out in the final 3:29 minutes of the game, and I reluctantly began working through the early stages of grief. Shock and denial, check. Pain and guilt, check. Anger and bargaining, check. On the verge of crying, puking or possibly worse, I asked for forgiveness for things I had and hadn’t done. When superstitiously changing clothes didn’t work, I desperately needed someone to move a mountain. Or a mountain, rather, to move them.

Mount Cody, the already popular and too-large-to-be-missed juco transfer, further sealed his status in Alabama lore by blocking the game-winning field goal in the final heartwrenching seconds to maintain the Tide’s undefeated record and keep its championship hopes alive. What transpired in those 4 seconds was