G
Guest
This may seem harsh and the time was not right beforehand to ever write an article such as this, but now is an appropriate time.
When Coach Saban first arrived here, he seemed harsh towards Alabama fans. Not necessarily in his actions towards us, but in his words.
Before he knew us, he admonished us to get with his program, to work everyday to help the team become champions, to not think about championships, to do everything we could to make the process work, etc...
That is fine and good business practice, but he didn't know us. I believe he had bought into what he had read about us his entire life. Not that he read that much about us, but whenever he did, you can be guaranteed it was not favorable towards Alabama fans.
Why? Because he would have been reading nationally written articles about us. About how irrational, crazy, bizarre, craven, and uneducated we were. You know, the guidelines that editors force writers to follow when speaking of Alabama fans.
The same goes for any coverage of us on any national television program that ever mentioned us.
So, really, he was reading about how crazy and stupid and backwards we were and how we single handedly ran off every coach since Coach Bryant. How we would settle for nothing less than a NC every year because we were not educated enough to understand the intricacies of college football.
I believe he may have thought these things about us, and who could blame him? That is what people outside of our state have been groomed to believe, what they have been fed, all that they know about us.
I don't know, I just kind of got a feeling that he was sort of talking down to us every now and then, as if he wanted to make sure we knew how to be good fans.
What he didn't know was that we have been being good fans for longer than he has been alive. We are the blueprint that a college football fan should be built from. In Alabama fans, you get an almost pure form of fandom that is unadulterated and unaltered, the genuine article.
The good news is that he has come to realize that he was tricked all of those years, just like everyone else. Now he is very complimentary of us and seems like he is completely on our side and doesn't chide us to do this or do that like he needs to teach us.
He found out that all that bile he had been force fed was just that, trash. It wasn't true. 'Bama fans did not overreact when we had a bad season last year. We are not like Auburn fans who truly are irrational and delusional and want to fire what may be the best coach they have ever had because of a single bad season.
Alabama fans took our season in stride, we know every year is not perfect, far from it actually. He saw that 'Bama fans have been given a bad rap.
Coach Saban is getting to truly know us and now he understands that our spirit knows no bounds for the Crimson Tide team. It can't be tempered because the enthusiasm for OUR team is actually in our bloodlines and has been passed down to us through the generations.
Football means a great deal to us, but we also have a great deal of patience, unlike the perception that has been falsely and malevolently spread far and wide about us.
He finally sees that we are just regular folk, just like everyone else. The only difference being that football fandom is our right, it is a part of us, it is part of our cultural history as a people.
That is something very unique in a fanbase, something to be nurtured and protected, not something to beat out of us and not something to attempt to force us to change.
Just the other day I read an article in which he was quoted as saying something along the lines of 'Bama fans being great. He never heard a peep out of us concerning his first season's record. Maybe it was an actual interview where he said something like that, I am not sure.
The point is that he now realizes that we were part of the process before he arrived.
Now he knows that when a Crimson jersey is slid over a pair of shoulder pads, something magical happens. He knows that he is a solid and fundamental coach, but he also knows that when kids from Alabama come to play for 'Bama, they have a little something "extry" in them that gives them an edge.
That something extry is pride that has been instilled in Alabama children for over a hundred years now concering this team. It is, if ever tested, probably in our DNA. You can't buy that and you can't teach it.
Through it all, good or bad, you can rest assured that Alabama fans will be behind you. Not crazy, not delusional, just the most devoted and deeply loyal set of fans to ever follow the game of college football.
Coach Saban, I only speak for myself, but I say: Welcome to the Crimson Tide Family, you are now truly one of us. Before it is all over, you will have Writ your Name in Crimson Flame.
When Coach Saban first arrived here, he seemed harsh towards Alabama fans. Not necessarily in his actions towards us, but in his words.
Before he knew us, he admonished us to get with his program, to work everyday to help the team become champions, to not think about championships, to do everything we could to make the process work, etc...
That is fine and good business practice, but he didn't know us. I believe he had bought into what he had read about us his entire life. Not that he read that much about us, but whenever he did, you can be guaranteed it was not favorable towards Alabama fans.
Why? Because he would have been reading nationally written articles about us. About how irrational, crazy, bizarre, craven, and uneducated we were. You know, the guidelines that editors force writers to follow when speaking of Alabama fans.
The same goes for any coverage of us on any national television program that ever mentioned us.
So, really, he was reading about how crazy and stupid and backwards we were and how we single handedly ran off every coach since Coach Bryant. How we would settle for nothing less than a NC every year because we were not educated enough to understand the intricacies of college football.
I believe he may have thought these things about us, and who could blame him? That is what people outside of our state have been groomed to believe, what they have been fed, all that they know about us.
I don't know, I just kind of got a feeling that he was sort of talking down to us every now and then, as if he wanted to make sure we knew how to be good fans.
What he didn't know was that we have been being good fans for longer than he has been alive. We are the blueprint that a college football fan should be built from. In Alabama fans, you get an almost pure form of fandom that is unadulterated and unaltered, the genuine article.
The good news is that he has come to realize that he was tricked all of those years, just like everyone else. Now he is very complimentary of us and seems like he is completely on our side and doesn't chide us to do this or do that like he needs to teach us.
He found out that all that bile he had been force fed was just that, trash. It wasn't true. 'Bama fans did not overreact when we had a bad season last year. We are not like Auburn fans who truly are irrational and delusional and want to fire what may be the best coach they have ever had because of a single bad season.
Alabama fans took our season in stride, we know every year is not perfect, far from it actually. He saw that 'Bama fans have been given a bad rap.
Coach Saban is getting to truly know us and now he understands that our spirit knows no bounds for the Crimson Tide team. It can't be tempered because the enthusiasm for OUR team is actually in our bloodlines and has been passed down to us through the generations.
Football means a great deal to us, but we also have a great deal of patience, unlike the perception that has been falsely and malevolently spread far and wide about us.
He finally sees that we are just regular folk, just like everyone else. The only difference being that football fandom is our right, it is a part of us, it is part of our cultural history as a people.
That is something very unique in a fanbase, something to be nurtured and protected, not something to beat out of us and not something to attempt to force us to change.
Just the other day I read an article in which he was quoted as saying something along the lines of 'Bama fans being great. He never heard a peep out of us concerning his first season's record. Maybe it was an actual interview where he said something like that, I am not sure.
The point is that he now realizes that we were part of the process before he arrived.
Now he knows that when a Crimson jersey is slid over a pair of shoulder pads, something magical happens. He knows that he is a solid and fundamental coach, but he also knows that when kids from Alabama come to play for 'Bama, they have a little something "extry" in them that gives them an edge.
That something extry is pride that has been instilled in Alabama children for over a hundred years now concering this team. It is, if ever tested, probably in our DNA. You can't buy that and you can't teach it.
Through it all, good or bad, you can rest assured that Alabama fans will be behind you. Not crazy, not delusional, just the most devoted and deeply loyal set of fans to ever follow the game of college football.
Coach Saban, I only speak for myself, but I say: Welcome to the Crimson Tide Family, you are now truly one of us. Before it is all over, you will have Writ your Name in Crimson Flame.
