🏈 Paul Finebaum: Will Nick Saban's assault on Crimson Tide fans hurt him or will they say, 'Thank you,

[rammajamma]

It just never ends does it? 'Bama fans are kicked and beaten and spat upon from all corners, inside and out of the program.

To hell with all of them. It wasn't my job to keep Andre Smith from being a dumbass, was it? I have a job and do it to the best of my ability and don't blame anyone else if something goes wrong. Then again, I am 37 years old and don't subscribe to the new age thinking of nothing is ever really my fault.

Was it my job to prepare the team for the Sugar Bowl? I didn't know that it was but, according to Coach Saban, perhaps I am wrong. What did I do wrong to allow Florida to pull out a victory over us in the 4th quarter of the SEC Champ game? Notice I liberally use the word "us" because I am apparently a coach now. Did I wish too hard for a victory? Did someone know I was going to feel bad when 'Bama lost? Does my life affect Andre Smith or Caldwell or any of the other players?

Now, I have to wonder, if when I am driving home from a game we lost and I feel bad about the loss, is it my fault? Does my attitude of being upset or disappointed directly affect the ability of someone to properly prepare the team.

I have always, naively I suppose, thought that all fans of all teams wanted their teams to win and felt badly when they lost. Nope. The only people who feel bad when their team loses are stupid, irrational, unrealistic 'Bama fans. Also, and even more importantly, wishing for a win is not what being a fan is about. Being a mute, emotionless drone is what Coach Saban is after, the next generation fan.

We are the only fans in America who, before a season starts, actually have high hopes and desires and wishes for a good season. This sick attitude of cultural decadence needs to end. We, as 'Bama fans, need to be automated in our actions and all behave as one. We need to show no emotion because that can be used to illustrate that we are not educated and live in trailers, thus contributing to team defeats and the perception of us around the nation.

It is always, always reassuring to hear a man that has been hired to run "your" team chirping in his two cents of the same old, same old regurgitated bile that has been spewed onto 'Bama fans for the last 12 years.

Ooh, look at me, I was disappointed for a couple of days because we lost to Florida, same with Utah. I am the problem, and other fans like me. I have human emotions and allow them to affect me, thus causing defeats and complete unpreparedness. I am evidently not with the program.

I wonder how many games us fans will directly cause our beloved Alabama team to lose next season?

Perhaps 'Bama needs new fans; we might not be good enough. Look at how stupid we all seemed going to a spring game and filling up the stadium. That was so embarrassing as an Alabamian. Remember how all of us were lambasted and raked over the coals, by the media and rival fans, for doing that? Of course, the direct cause of that event were the unrealistic expectations of 'Bama fans and all the crazies who didn't have anything better to do on a Saturday.

You know, it is a cultural thing here at Alabama. This is not a cherished and beloved cultural thing, like so many are, but a reviled and disgusting cultural phenomenon that needs to be stamped out. Unrivaled fan support is bad, bad, bad.

Give me a break, Coach Saban. Do your job. If you will open your eyes and stop sucking up all the stereotypes you have been fed about us, just like everyone else in the nation, you may even like us.

We are football fans, we are Alabama fans, we have roots here and will always be here. If you don't like it, if it doesn't suit you, if total and unconditional support and unrivaled adoration is too much for you, hit the road.

I will not allow you or anyone else to dictate how I am supposed to behave as a fan. Keep on pushing us, keep on picking like everyone else does, keep on sniping at us in underhanded ways.

I feel that many times coaches are so used to being around teenagers, kids, that their perspective on how to speak to adults is skewed. They live in a teenager's world and 75 percent of their time is spent talking to them and being around them, they lose contact with the adult world.

Just keep on piling on like everyone else does; it is fun for you just like it is for everyone else. Just remember, you are going to be the failure if you can't make it work here at Alabama. You will be the failure, along with all 'Bama fans. But hey, we are used to being vilified and ostracized. You just had a small little sampling when you were hired of what we, as 'Bama fans, have to live through constantly. In ending, it is really gratifying to know that our coach is now against us also.

Perhaps you and CNS should take this outside:fight:but I have a feeling hes going to be the one on the left.

 

[BamaJay73]

Thanks for the eye roll, BamaJay. That is always preferable to conversation; it brings so much to the table.

Anytime!

 

[CtrlAltDel]

:lance:

 

[Luvdimtigers]

It's Coach Saban's way. He wants everyone on the same page in the process, with the same mind set. That includes the fans.

At LSU, it worked, he got the fans to take on his mindset, one game at a time, don't let bad plays affect crowd noise, etc.

I'm sure the same thing will be the end result at Bama.

 

[Kozlowski]

a rant only Altie could come through with:nopity::dazed:

 

[BamaJay73]

It's Coach Saban's way. He wants everyone on the same page in the process, with the same mind set. That includes the fans.

At LSU, it worked, he got the fans to take on his mindset, one game at a time, don't let bad plays affect crowd noise, etc.

I'm sure the same thing will be the end result at Bama.

Welcome to the site! Hope you stick around. :cheers:

 

[Bama Bard]

It just never ends does it? 'Bama fans are kicked and beaten and spat upon from all corners, inside and out of the program.

To hell with all of them. It wasn't my job to keep Andre Smith from being a dumbass, was it? I have a job and do it to the best of my ability and don't blame anyone else if something goes wrong. Then again, I am 37 years old and don't subscribe to the new age thinking of nothing is ever really my fault.

Was it my job to prepare the team for the Sugar Bowl? I didn't know that it was but, according to Coach Saban, perhaps I am wrong. What did I do wrong to allow Florida to pull out a victory over us in the 4th quarter of the SEC Champ game? Notice I liberally use the word "us" because I am apparently a coach now. Did I wish too hard for a victory? Did someone know I was going to feel bad when 'Bama lost? Does my life affect Andre Smith or Caldwell or any of the other players?

Now, I have to wonder, if when I am driving home from a game we lost and I feel bad about the loss, is it my fault? Does my attitude of being upset or disappointed directly affect the ability of someone to properly prepare the team.

I have always, naively I suppose, thought that all fans of all teams wanted their teams to win and felt badly when they lost. Nope. The only people who feel bad when their team loses are stupid, irrational, unrealistic 'Bama fans. Also, and even more importantly, wishing for a win is not what being a fan is about. Being a mute, emotionless drone is what Coach Saban is after, the next generation fan.

We are the only fans in America who, before a season starts, actually have high hopes and desires and wishes for a good season. This sick attitude of cultural decadence needs to end. We, as 'Bama fans, need to be automated in our actions and all behave as one. We need to show no emotion because that can be used to illustrate that we are not educated and live in trailers, thus contributing to team defeats and the perception of us around the nation.

It is always, always reassuring to hear a man that has been hired to run "your" team chirping in his two cents of the same old, same old regurgitated bile that has been spewed onto 'Bama fans for the last 12 years.

Ooh, look at me, I was disappointed for a couple of days because we lost to Florida, same with Utah. I am the problem, and other fans like me. I have human emotions and allow them to affect me, thus causing defeats and complete unpreparedness. I am evidently not with the program.

I wonder how many games us fans will directly cause our beloved Alabama team to lose next season?

Perhaps 'Bama needs new fans; we might not be good enough. Look at how stupid we all seemed going to a spring game and filling up the stadium. That was so embarrassing as an Alabamian. Remember how all of us were lambasted and raked over the coals, by the media and rival fans, for doing that? Of course, the direct cause of that event were the unrealistic expectations of 'Bama fans and all the crazies who didn't have anything better to do on a Saturday.

You know, it is a cultural thing here at Alabama. This is not a cherished and beloved cultural thing, like so many are, but a reviled and disgusting cultural phenomenon that needs to be stamped out. Unrivaled fan support is bad, bad, bad.

Give me a break, Coach Saban. Do your job. If you will open your eyes and stop sucking up all the stereotypes you have been fed about us, just like everyone else in the nation, you may even like us.

We are football fans, we are Alabama fans, we have roots here and will always be here. If you don't like it, if it doesn't suit you, if total and unconditional support and unrivaled adoration is too much for you, hit the road.

I will not allow you or anyone else to dictate how I am supposed to behave as a fan. Keep on pushing us, keep on picking like everyone else does, keep on sniping at us in underhanded ways.

I feel that many times coaches are so used to being around teenagers, kids, that their perspective on how to speak to adults is skewed. They live in a teenager's world and 75 percent of their time is spent talking to them and being around them, they lose contact with the adult world.

Just keep on piling on like everyone else does; it is fun for you just like it is for everyone else. Just remember, you are going to be the failure if you can't make it work here at Alabama. You will be the failure, along with all 'Bama fans. But hey, we are used to being vilified and ostracized. You just had a small little sampling when you were hired of what we, as 'Bama fans, have to live through constantly. In ending, it is really gratifying to know that our coach is now against us also.

Saban has always said that everyone connected to the program has a role to play. As fans, ours is to cheer and do everything we can to bring positive energy to the game. The question asked about fan expectations and Saban simply gave his usual fans need to "bring it" every game answer. You don't like the answer because he challenged your/our effort and energy which we all know we lacked leading up to the Sugar Bowl. Just as he does with the players, coaches, and GA's Saban challenges us fans as well. So stop whining about your verbal spanking from CNS and take it like a man.

 

[CtrlAltDel]

a rant only Altie could come through with:nopity::dazed:

Why the need to be nauseatingly smug and pompous? I have a good idea. Lay off the personal references specifically designed to create animosity on the board.

Some people rolling eyes, some being sanctimonious, why not just comment on the post as Luvdimtigers did. He, or she, had the intelligence to present a viewpoint without trying to talk down to someone or humiliate them.

 

[CtrlAltDel]

Saban has always said that everyone connected to the program has a role to play. As fans, ours is to cheer and do everything we can to bring positive energy to the game. The question asked about fan expectations and Saban simply gave his usual fans need to "bring it" every game answer. You don't like the answer because he challenged your/our effort and energy which we all know we lacked leading up to the Sugar Bowl. Just as he does with the players, coaches, and GA's Saban challenges us fans as well. So stop whining about your verbal spanking from CNS and take it like a man.

First half of the post, fine. Second half, descends into nitwittery. I need to take it like a man and quit whining from my spanking that I have received?

BamaBard, please don't personally insult me. I have not attacked anyone on this board. If you don't appreciate my thoughts and feel that they should not be expressed, say so.

Try to do so without making it personal.

 

[firestorm]

In short, I see that article as something to talk and make some noise. Only in the way of searching some controversy between fans...

I don't see something wrong on Saban's comments. Everybody showed a lack of respect for the Utes and saw the Sugar Bowl as a minus price, that's the real history and the atmosphere trough the game showed it. Nobody cares about the rival and the exposure of the big game. We felt dissapointed in the way things turned at the SEC championship game... and a national championship bid lost.

You can take Coach Saban's words as you most like or see them with crimson color glasses, but he hit the nail on the head, without question.

RTR,

 

[Kozlowski]

Altie, I agree with the premise of your post! I got extremely tired reading the manfesto at about word # 129,565 though.




I posted nothing personal

 

[CtrlAltDel]

It's Coach Saban's way. He wants everyone on the same page in the process, with the same mind set. That includes the fans.

At LSU, it worked, he got the fans to take on his mindset, one game at a time, don't let bad plays affect crowd noise, etc.

I'm sure the same thing will be the end result at Bama.

Luvdimtigers, thanks for responding and for keeping it civil so that we may have a regular discussion, unlike some of the regulars here.

I see what you are saying and understand what Coach Saban may be trying to do. On the other hand, you probably don't realize what it is that 'Bama fans have gone through the last decade or so. You can't unless you have been on the receiving end of the never ending criticism from all four quarter of America.

Let me ask you what I should do. I go to all home games and occasionally an away game and have been doing since I was about 7. Until Coach Saban came, I never realized that Alabama fans, among all fans in this country, were fundamentally flawed.

Apparently, our personal emotions affect the ability of the team to win a game or not. Coach Saban is not speaking of the behavior of fans at games and solely at games. He is talking about what he feels is a rotten core that needs to be changed. An overhaul that all fans need to make to get with the program.

To me, it seems that all fans cheer when their team does well and don't so much when they do badly. You know, I would just find it really hard to cheer for an interception thrown by a 'Bama QB or cheer for a missed block, etc...

I don't know, it is just hard to change what comes naturally to most human beings, cheering for good things and not cheering for bad things. That LSU fans overcame this primal instinct and cheered no matter what happened is hard for me to understand.

I don't think I have ever been to a game where fans of the losing team were elated and overly excited about losing. It just isn't natural, not real.

Do Alabama fans immediately want another coach or new players when their team loses? Do we irrationally expect NC's every year and anything else is just not acceptable? Do our whole lives revolve around football? No to all of the above. All of these things I mentioned are just convenient stereotypes that have been pounded into the heads of anyone that reads a paper or has Internet access.

 

[CtrlAltDel]

Altie, I agree with the premise of your post! I got extremely tired reading the manfesto at about word # 129,565 though.




I posted nothing personal

Your insinuation denoting that only Altie could come up with that rant was personally vindictive and uncalled for.

I can't respond to you in the manner that you have to me, so I ask that you refrain from that type of stuff. My hands are tied as to how I can respond to you or anyone else.

In light of that, if you would please not directly insinuate that I am a nut, or out of control, I would really appreciate it.

Let's talk football, not about me. Also, if reading too much at one setting irritates you, don't do it. Just skip over my posts and don't worry with them. Perhaps you could speak with the moderators and work with them to see if there is any way to not have to view my posts. I don't know if there is a way to do that but, it is worth a shot.

 

[TidePride50]

In the words on Caesar, "The crowd is fickle." IMO it will always be that way no matter where it is.

I don't agree nor disagree with what Saban said. There are times that I wish our crowd was louder and more into it. And I understand that whole positive energy thing. However, in general, I have always been of opinion that you need to give the fans something to cheer about if you want them loud and into the game.

 

[Ump]

Please hand me my shades. Our future is indeed very bright.

 

[bamafan4ever]

Anyone who attended the maiden voyage of Urban Meyer into Bryant-Denny realizes the impact the crowd can make in a game. I have never experienced anything quite like it. With the intensity of the crowd and the jet-level noise created by that crowd on that glorious yet unfortunate (Prothro injury) day, Alabama could have beaten anyone in the country and no one could convince me otherwise. Although that team ended up with 10 wins, it wasn't considered a "great" Alabama team from a talent standpoint. We were over matched at almost every position but Florida never stood a chance. I think the crowd played a HUGE factor.

I think some need to lighten up here with regard to Saban's comments. That's his way of firing up people, to challenge them and it's a good motivational tactic. I am quite certain Saban knows the quality of the Alabama fan base and he loves every minute of the attention it garners but some people tend to thrive in a proverbial pressure cooker. Thank God Saban is one of them. He puts up with a lot when he puts up with Alabama fans and I am sure he hears people's expectations when he makes the rounds to all the TD Clubs and Red Elephant events. He can dish back at us a little and I have no problem with that. After all, every BAMA fan is a critic to a degree. Only a fool or a guy making 4 million a year would put up with that.

People here in UGA country tell me he's a great coach but a real SOB. I always reply, "yeah, but he is our SOB".

 

[ElephantStomp]

What is the thing everybody is whining about with Saban giving us fans a butt riping?

Cory

 

[BamaCore]

I personally don't see anything wrong with Saban's comments. He never blamed any of us for the loss, he only said that we didn't as a collective fan base do the best we could have. He's not pointing at anyone specifically. Saban is in a position that allows him to see the bigger picture...so I welcome his constructive criticism...which is all it is...constructive criticism...not some personal attack on our loyalty.

 

[Bama Bard]

First half of the post, fine. Second half, descends into nitwittery. I need to take it like a man and quit whining from my spanking that I have received?

BamaBard, please don't personally insult me. I have not attacked anyone on this board. If you don't appreciate my thoughts and feel that they should not be expressed, say so.

Try to do so without making it personal.

I do not appreciate your thoughts and feel they should not be expressed.

 

[Kozlowski]

:td::bow: