I don't like the little tirades he's gone on regarding fan support and other issues.
We all bring our own bias, that's unavoidable. I don't agree with Saban on adding an extra SEC game, and I didn't agree with him on the playoff (although his comments after an all but forgotten SEC championship seemed to express some regret with how things are now). However, when I do agree, or what is said parallels beliefs I already held? It's very hard for me to take it the wrong way, I kind of want to stand up and applaud it because he's about the only guy in a position to actually change things.
Alabama fans have always been able to show up in droves, that's true. But there's also a sort of country club atmosphere that can set in as well. Alabama games, particularly in certain seating areas have become kind of social functions for the well-to-do. They showed up, they supported Alabama financially, but... you know, they really couldn't be troubled to stand up and cheer a whole lot. That's so gauche right? And my wife, who is from Germany and is an American football fan (even attended NFL Europe games, NFL pre-season in Berlin, etc..) noted this. She was like all all knew each other and said hi to each other but they didn't want anyone standing up and cheering.
This coupled with what was obviously lackluster student support at games, did in my mind create very real issues. Now, did most fans fall into those two categories? No, they did not, and a lot of those fans took umbrage to the statements as they felt they were being unfairly targeted. I can see both sides from their perspective, as in those fans weren't really the problem, and didn't warrant some of the criticism. However, when you had two segments of fans that were leaving early, and being apathetic, it also exacerbated things when more impressionable fans followed their example. I did think it needed to be addressed and I did bring it up on the forum.
Perhaps the "lack of appreciation" comments cut the deepest though, but once again I agreed with those statements from my perspective, however I certainly can see how fans who were appreciative took issue with that. Some were even upset when Terry made those statements, as though before the Auburn game really made a bit of difference, not like the football players cared, heck I'm sure a lot of football players agreed. I mean those guys had won to championships in a row and after they "failed" the death threats came. That's just... that's horrible.
To me, the lack of appreciation was spot on. After Alabama won their second NC, Auburn had more fans at their spring game than Alabama. I couldn't fathom that, Alabama fans actually had something to show up and cheer for, but the attitude had become that of entitlement. Oh Alabama win another championship? Of course they did, that's no big deal. That to me does come off as what she labelled it as. I think twenty years from now a lot of Alabama fans are going to really get the point, that for most of us this will be the best era of Alabama football in our lives, and we just won't appreciate it fully until it's gone. We'll wish we'd never missed a quarter of play, we'll wish we'd taken every kid we knew to A-Day or a game so they could experience a bit of it to. That's the context in which I viewed those comments.
The fans did get coached up though, like it or not. Perhaps with the exception of A-Day attendance, they've cleaned things up a bit. Staying longer, cheering louder, it seems for every fan that took exception, at least one got the memo so all in all it seemed worth it.