View From the Stands-Alabama Athletics Weekend Rundown

• Baseball opens season with a win, loses series to Southeast Missouri State. After a great 5-1 victory on Friday night, the Alabama baseball team lost both games over the weekend to the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks. The Tide allowed eight runs in both games while only scoring seven total between the two. After Sunday's loss, coach Jim Wells was not too happy with his team's offense. "Our offense is a homer now. We have to have more than that to win. We had a lot of backwards K's, and you don't need to give up eight runs, but you'd like to see some semblance of an offense." For Alabama, this series loss does not bode well for the rest of the season, but it could also work as a wake up call. With only three non-conference weekends on the schedule this year, each series is important and will play a role into whether the Tide can make it to the field of 64 to play for a trip to Omaha. This weekend was by far not a good start.
• Tide Softball loses first game of season, but comes away with successful weekend. The Alabama softball team lost their first game of the season to No. 6 and Pac-10 powerhouse UCLA on Saturday 4-1, but managed to come back from the West Coast with a 4-1 record. The Tide beat some stiff competition this weekend, including No. 8 Oklahoma, BYU and Oregon. Both the Cougars and Ducks are in the other receiving votes category in the polls. The Tide is still number one for now, but the new polls come out today and Alabama should see a small drop from the top spot with their first setback of the season. The softball team, unlike the baseball team, has a few more marque match-ups before the conference season begins. The Tide will face Washington twice in Tuscaloosa, and then games against UMass, Houston, Southern Illinois, and Michigan in the Leadoff Classic in Columbus, GA.
• The saga that is Andre Smith continues to swirl. In what should have been a banner weekend for former Alabama left tackle Andre Smith at the NFL Combine, but the former All-American disappeared on Saturday...and told no one he was leaving. Smith later said that he was not prepared for the combine and was slightly out of shape. He reported his weight as 332, which is only two pounds heavier than he was on Rolltide.com, but he looked heavier because he was out of shape. Many NFL teams are up in arms about these actions by Andre, and CNBC has projected his magician's act on Saturday cost him around $23.8 million. That's just a bit more than a few houses and some nice cars. Smith now has two weeks to get back in shape for scouts for the Alabama workout day in two weeks, and he needs to impress with more than just his workout.
• Basketball notches big win over rival Mississippi State, 87-85, in double overtime. Most people have already given up on the Alabama basketball team this season. You could see it in the crowd on Saturday, and especially in the fact they were sitting during the final seconds of double overtime. However, the crowd got into the game when it matter, as the Tide rallied from nine points down and forced overtime against the Bulldogs, who had won five straight over Alabama. The Tide put together a fantastic effort from the line, making 31 out of 39 free throws on the afternoon as well as holding Mississippi State to only 34% from outside. The Bulldogs had recently broken the school record for threes made in a game in back-to-back games, but Alabama held State in check for most of the afternoon. In a game which started out looking like a new way to twist the knife for 'Bama fans, the Tide prevailed for once in a much needed win.