 Birmingham News columnist Ray Melick talks about voting in the Harris Poll. Our weekly Birmingham News Sports Podcast, Edition 5, is now available to listen and download. This week Birmingham News sports reporters Ray Melick and Jon Solomon discuss: No. 3 Alabama, which opens the SEC against an Arkansas team that ranks second nationally in pass efficiency. Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain said this week, "They’re a good offense and they score a lot of points, but they haven’t played us." We have seen Alabama’s secondary struggle at times against passing offenses, such as Utah in the Sugar Bowl a year ago. Could this be a case of Rolando getting ahead of himself? Auburn, which had a come-from-behind shootout win over West Virginia last week, plays a bad Ball State team this week. We've got to be impressed first with Auburn’s ability to come back for two different reasons: 1) A year ago, Auburn probably would have quit down 14-0. And, 2) A year ago, Chris Todd wouldn’t have been able to pass like that when a defense stacked against the run. Polls. Ray Melick is a Harris Poll voter. The first poll comes out after this week’s games. Does Ray believe the preseason poll has too great an influence on the season? We want your questions to read on the air (keep them clean and smart). Got a question about your favorite team, or why we wrote in the paper what we wrote? Send your questions to jsolomon@bhamnews.com.   Download: Birmingham News Sports Podcast 092409.mp3

Solomon's Wisdom: podcast

Weekly podcast: Alabama SEC opener, Auburn's win over West Virginia, and Harris voter Melick on polls

 Edition No. 4. Listen or download the file. Our weekly Birmingham News Sports Podcast, Edition 4 is now available to listen and download. This week, Birmingham News sports reporters Kevin Scarbinsky and Jon Solomon discuss whether Auburn's rejuvenated offense means the Tigers are back, Alabama's injury concerns on offense, and what kind of beating Lane Kiffin has in store for himself in The Swamp. We want your questions to read on the air (keep them clean and smart). Got a question about your favorite team, or why we wrote in the paper what we wrote? Send your questions to jsolomon@bhamnews.com. Download file

Birmingham News sports weekly podcast: Is Auburn back? Alabama injury concerns? Vol slaughter?

 Jon Solomon and Ray Melick on the Tide, the Tigers and much more. Plus, reader questions. Our weekly Birmingham News Sports Podcast, Edition 3 is now available to listen and download. This week, Birmingham News sports reporters Ray Melick and Jon Solomon discuss the new Nick Saban and Gene Chizik contracts, what Alabama's win over Virginia Tech means, and whether Auburn's performance on offense is for real. We want your questions to read on the air (keep them clean and smart). Got a question about your favorite team, or why we wrote in the paper what we wrote? Send your questions to jsolomon@bhamnews.com. Click here to download The Birmingham News weekly sportscast: 09-10-2009

Birmingham News Sports Podcast: Saban's contract, Alabama's opener, Auburn's challenge

 Listen, download the 15-minute audio sportscast covering this week&apos;s games and more. Our weekly Birmingham News Sports Podcast, Edition 2 is now available to listen and download. This week, Birmingham News sports reporters Kevin Scarbinsky, Ray Melick and Jon Solomon discuss the NCAA ruling on Julio Jones and Mark Ingram, why Alabama-Virginia Tech will be a defensive struggle, and whether Auburn should be worried about Louisiana Tech. We want your questions to read on the air (keep them clean and smart). Got a question about your favorite team, or why we wrote in the paper what we wrote? Send your questions to jsolomon@bhamnews.com. Click on download file to load this Sportscast onto your portable device: Download file

Birmingham News Sportscast: The fishing trip, what will it take for Alabama, Auburn to win, lose?

 Plus more on the Mark and Julio fishing trip and Andre Smith&apos;s agony with the Bengals. You now can hear Birmingham News sports reporters online. Each week (hopefully!), I will be joined by columnists Kevin Scarbinsky and Ray Melick in a podcast. We'll discuss the issues of the week beyond what you read in the newspaper and give you some insight into why we write what we write. We also want to hear from you. Each week, we plan to read a handful of reader questions that you have for us. Keep them clean and make them smart. To submit a question, send it to jsolomon@bhamnews.com. THE OUTLOOK FOR ALABAMA Download Alabama outlook THE OUTLOOK FOR AUBURN Download Auburn outlook MORE ON WHAT WE WROTE The Mark and Julio fishing trip, Andre Smith's agony Download Mark and Julio fishing trip, Andre Smith's agony 

Birmingham News weekly podcast: Outlook for The Tide, The Tigers

Sports news and commentary from Jon Solomon