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Julio says "Nobody cares about playing in the Sugar Bowl"

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BigBama76

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Haven't seen this posted: Link

His statement at the end struck me - one because it's true and two he's still thinking like a Bama player.

Jones said Monday the notion of not wanting to play in a specific game has to change.
"We have to get out of that mindset because every game matters. I'm still frustrated about the Iron Bowl."
 
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BigEasyTider

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Not exactly a pretty and/or comforting statement, but he's right, and FWIW I think to a large degree it is effectively unavoidable in many players. At the very least it presents a major, significant challenge for the staff to confront.

Truth be told, the only real way to combat it is to simply never lose in the first place. Right or wrong, you're just never going to get 60 guys together chomping at the bit for the chance to earn a consolation prize.
 
Chukker Veteran

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The players we have now are too young to remember the last time Bama was sweating it out whether we'd get in any bowl game. I still remember how tickled I was when we got to play out in Hawaii when we weren't allowed to play in a regular bowl.
 
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BigEasyTider

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Chukker Veteran said:
The players we have now are too young to remember the last time Bama was sweating it out whether we'd get in any bowl game. I still remember how tickled I was when we got to play out in Hawaii when we weren't allowed to play in a regular bowl.
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Well, more to the point that they don't remember, but that even if they did, they nevertheless didn't sign with Alabama or work their tails off for years on end to play for consolation prizes. Ditto for the "just happy to be here" aspect of a BCS bowl appearance, too. Ideally, of course, that wouldn't be the case, but in reality...

Again, think the real trick here is to simply never lose in the first place. Once you go down that road, it's a treacherous one regardless of who you are. Best to avoid that exit ramp entirely.
 
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mittman

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I think coach Saban tries and does everything he can to avoid this mindset. How many times have we heard that the process was not about wins or results, but performing up to a standard and doing their job every play. Unfortunately players are not robots. Emotions play into it and cause different effort based on the importance of the game. Julio is right, but if they would just completely buy into what Saban preaches it wouldn't be as big a problem.
 
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BigEasyTider

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GrayTide said:
This attitude is precisely why the bowl games not involved in the NC decision will have little interest.
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That's true, but frankly that has been true since the BCS was initially implemented going on twenty years ago now.

People love to ignore the inescapable opportunity cost with the playoff / championship game format, but it's just a fundamental trade-off. You can't have head-to-head winner-take-all championship games without making a whole lot of other games become largely meaningless.
 
TideMan09

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As much as it pains to admit he's 100% right, still though, I don't care if you're playing Georgia Southern in the Taco Bowl..When you put on that Crimson Helmet & represent The Crimson Tide on National TV..You give everything you have on the football field & remind folks no matter the situation or who we play..At the end of the game you will have to give everything in your soul to beat us on the football field & will be sore for weeks after you play The Crimson Tide..If you beat us, we will shake your hands, and then go back to the gym & practice field to get better..And we will win the next time we play..
 
BamaMoon

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In basketball terms, would you rather play in the big dance or the NIT?

Nobody gets excited about the NIT because even if you win the whole tournament, you're like the 69th best team.

Like someone said, it's sad, but it's reality.
 
Con

Con

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Most of the teams that play well in the bowl games other than the BCS championship game usually have something to prove. Oklahoma was a prime example of that. Everybody said they couldn't beat Bama and we know how that turned out.
 
bamahippie

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crimsonaudio said:
But apparently they care about the Capital One Bowl?
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I thought that too, but it seems to be two different situations. This past year and 2008 were a let-down to lose those shots at the NC, and it's been talked about ad nauseam that their hearts weren't in those Sugar Bowls. The Capital One was one of those "we have a chip on our shoulders, and are ready to knock someone's block off" kind of deals. Regardless of the record, that was just as talented of a team as any of our recent NC teams.
 
RammerJammer14

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TideMan09 said:
As much as it pains to admit he's 100% right, still though, I don't care if you're playing Georgia Southern in the Taco Bowl..When you put on that Crimson Helmet & represent The Crimson Tide on National TV..You give everything you have on the football field & remind folks no matter the situation or who we play..At the end of the game you will have to give everything in your soul to beat us on the football field & will be sore for weeks after you play The Crimson Tide..If you beat us, we will shake your hands, and then go back to the gym & practice field to get better..And we will win the next time we play..
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As true as that is, I wouldn't say our guys aren't giving everything they have on the field on gameday. The slacking comes in the weeks before in practice. Its not the will to win that matters, everybody has that. It the will to prepare to win. Oklahoma beat us in December.
 
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BigEasyTider

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crimsonaudio said:
But apparently they care about the Capital One Bowl?
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Three points on that, in no particular order: (1) When healthy (as they were for the Capital One Bowl), the '10 team was probably better than the '13 team; (2) '13 Oklahoma was probably a better team outright than '10 Michigan State; and (3) in terms of match-up issues, '13 Oklahoma was a far tougher draw (given our nearly non-existent pass defense) than '10 Michigan State ever was, the latter of whom really did nothing more than try to do what were doing with only a fraction of the talent and depth.
 
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BamaMoon

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It's a sign of the times. A 1960's or 70's SEC player had one goal every year: play in the Sugar Bowl. The context has changed now.
 
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davefrat

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BamaMoon said:
In basketball terms, would you rather play in the big dance or the NIT?

Nobody gets excited about the NIT because even if you win the whole tournament, you're like the 69th best team.

Like someone said, it's sad, but it's reality.
Click to expand...
I would disagree about the NIT. I would rather win the NIT than get blown out in the first round of march madness.
 
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