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was what it was 11-20-07 by: Mark It’s hard to think rationally this week when it comes to football – but people are going a little overboard when analyzing Nick Saban’s comments relating Saturday’s events to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Nick Saban is paid four million dollars a year. Any coach knows it’s a bad idea to compare football to acts of war. If you think about it for a moment, the Pear Harbor comment was a reference to 2003 when Alabama’s football team visited the Pearl Harbor memorial a few days before losing to Hawaii. In those days, Alabama wasn’t able to go to bowl games. Saban was simply saying bowl-less days for Alabama are right around the corner. The 9/11 comment? He was simply remembering the last time he beat a team from the Sun Belt – September 11, 2004. In times of depression, people like to think back to the good times. On 9/11/04, Nick Saban and LSU defeated Sun Belt powerhouse Arkansas State 53-3. Unfortunately for Nick, Tommy Tuberville would defeat him the following week. If the 9/11 thing wasn’t a reference to the Sun Belt, he may have been simply mentioning Bear Bryant’s birthday. Bear Bryant trivia distracts Alabama fans like jingling car keys distract my cat. In his post game press conference, Saban was asked about DJ Hall’s disappearing suspension. His response? “It was what it was.” Nick Saban: A cross between Bill Clinton and Popeye. Alabama never lets me down. Not only did they lose to UL Monroe – they sacrified their dignity to better their odds at winning – and they still lost! To UL Monroe! Prior to this weekend, any analysis of the Iron Bowl brought up the similarities in our loss columns (Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State and a decent team in a crappy conference from Florida). Everything changes with Alabama’s most recent loss. The Iron Bowl is no longer a game to determine which team had the least crappy season. For Alabama, the game will help stop the massive bleeding from their jugular. For Auburn, a win will result in an unimaginable amount of Bama driven hilarity for months to come. This summer will reach Mike Price levels of insanity if Saban cranks out a season worse than Mike Shula. Many people are afraid that Alabama may bounce back after losing to ULM by using the “wounded dog” theory. The wounded dog theory works if you get beat by a team from Mississippi – but it doesn’t apply after losing to a team from the Sun Belt. Auburn will face a one legged dog Saturday. People who write sport movies have an awkward challenge. How do you make the ‘other’ team in football movies evil when in reality the other team is just like the protagonist team only located a few counties over? This is a team and fan base which believes; Money
= Wins And tradition? It’s nothing more than “taking pride in the fact that your predecessors sucked less than you do”. There’s nothing more fun than beating a team like this. Auburn's lucky to have it. DJ Hall did something that warrants punishment. Nick Saban won’t punish DJ Hall. Therefore, Tommy Tuberville will. You know, for the kids. War
Eagle. |
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