Link: WSJ Article with Mrs. Terry: Bama fans are unappreciative, but we're not leaving

[CrimsonEyeshade]

One sign of true acceptance: That we celebrate what the season is rather than what it is not. If we lose a game this year, does the year become a failure? With wins on the road at A&M and the pounding we gave LSU? Have we become so entitled?

The trap that college football now presents to too many of us is that we win them all or we pull the drapes and start mourning. That's also the trap to the Sabans as they contemplate playing out the string in Tuscaloosa. No coach has ever accomplished so much in so short a period. But no coach then shoulders anywhere near that weight of expectations. The more he wins the more he's expected to win and the harder it becomes to maintain that extraordinary level.

For all our talk about context and the allegiances of the writer, Mrs. Saban's comments may turn out to be far simpler than we want them to be. Maybe she's expressing her husband's private fears.

I think, speaking for myself - but probably a lot of others - the main emotion I have is dread that he will leave or retire and it will all end. I'd hope that Kirby or another coach would maintain it, but I don't really believe it.

I think that we senior fans, particularly those like I, who started school under the train wreck which was Whitworth, are a special category. We are not under-appreciators. We know all too well just how ephemeral it can be. During the Shula years, I had conversation with the late Billy Neighbors and remarked that we'd never live long enough to see Bama football come back. I was so glad he lived long enough to see it happen...

 

[RTR91]

If the comment was directed towards the fan/student attendance, she may as well get every coach's wife in the nation to join her. That's a national problem. The SEC is working to address it. We've gone in circles about the topic, so I won't go further on it.

I said it about 10 pages back, and I'll say it again: I don't really want to hear or read about Alabama fans' high expectations when Saban constantly talks about his own high expectations and the standard the team has.

When is "Hey Coach" this week? I get a feeling we may have a special guest for a few minutes to explain a recent interview.

 

[cbi1972]

Unintentionally, Mrs. Terry has pierced the heart of the Alabama fans' deepest insecurities, some of whom will always believe the worst until proven otherwise, and some of them longer than that. I suggest all the worrywarts and indignant huffers and puffers take this as a much-needed lesson against complacency and then let it go.

 

[We_are_Bama]

Why do I have a strange feeling that the barn is somehow behind that article?

 

[cbi1972]

Why do I have a strange feeling that the barn is somehow behind that article?

Their paranoia is rubbing off on you?

 

[Chukker Veteran]

I think, speaking for myself - but probably a lot of others - the main emotion I have is dread that he will leave or retire and it will all end. I'd hope that Kirby or another coach would maintain it, but I don't really believe it.

I think that we senior fans, particularly those like I, who started school under the train wreck which was Whitworth, are a special category. We are not under-appreciators. We know all too well just how ephemeral it can be. During the Shula years, I had conversation with the late Billy Neighbors and remarked that we'd never live long enough to see Bama football come back. I was so glad he lived long enough to see it happen...

I'm a little younger than you, but I agree with your perspective. I never dreamed Bama would return to glory as strongly as we have under Saban. It's like a wonderful dream that just couldn't possibly be true, but it is.

I've accepted this current run will have an end. My goal is to fully enjoy it while it unfolds.

When you have kids, they are adorable toddlers, but they grow up. When you have a beloved pet, part of it is the pet likely will go before you do. The bittersweet aspect of life can be complex, but it all comes as a package, there's no escaping the down side.

Of course I know you, TIDE-HSV, know all this, I'm just putting some random thought down because it's a rainy day & I find this very interesting. I hope I don't come across as condescending, that's not what I getting at.

Thank heavens we have Tidefans to kick this kind of stuff around.

 

[We_are_Bama]

Their paranoia is rubbing off on you?

The article actually uses the term Red Elephant Club. Idiot barners are the only ones I have ever heard use that term. Make no mistake about it. The barners want Saban gone. Period. They have two wins against us since his arrival. One was in Saban's first season when he had nothing but Shula players in the lineup. The other was the year they had a once-in-a-lifetime player at quarterback. Those idiots miss the heck out of the "6 in a row" days" and would do ANYTHING to get back there. 2002-2007 was the high point of aubarn futbol.

 

[92tide]

Unintentionally, Mrs. Terry has pierced the heart of the Alabama fans' deepest insecurities, some of whom will always believe the worst until proven otherwise, and some of them longer than that. I suggest all the worrywarts and indignant huffers and puffers take this as a much-needed lesson against complacency and then let it go.

one of the easiest ways to generate page views and buzz" is to play on people's insecurities and fears. based on the response here, i think the wsj made a pretty good hire with this reporter.

 

[We_are_Bama]

Their paranoia is rubbing off on you?

I suggest you re-read it.

 

[mittman]

I will say one other thing. She sees what Coach puts into this program up close and personal. Given what he does, from her viewpoint I can see where there is bound to be some feelings of this.

I know, I know they get paid handsomely to deal with this, and the support given from the University to the athletic department can only be equaled. Maybe she is showing some lack of application too. However, this is a wife talking about a husband that gives his all.

 

[BamaMoon]

Haven't read all 20 pages of this thread but is it possible she's only focusing on the students?

Most of them even if they are seniors were just getting settled into high school when CNS came here.

Unless they were big Bama fans, they wouldn't remember what it was like with the three Mikes.

Also, considering Alabama's enrollment has increased with many out of state students many of them may be fair weather, band-wagon type fans and all they've ever known is winning since they've been students.

I know this for sure, she's not talking about me when she says the fans are unappreciative.

 

[Clubfitter]

one of the easiest ways to generate page views and buzz" is to play on people's insecurities and fears. based on the response here, i think the wsj made a pretty good hire with this reporter.

Anything to nudge us toward self destructing. (Yea I'm a conspiracy theorist):smile:

 

[TidePride50]

I'm not sure what else they want. The guy is worshipped, has his own statue and he's not appreciated!?! Maybe the winning is not appreciated as it should and fans are spoiled, but it was like that before him and will be after. That's the life of the head football coach at Alabama. This article rubbed me the wrong way. Cry me a freakin river.


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[cbi1972]

The article actually uses the term Red Elephant Club. Idiot barners are the only ones I have ever heard use that term. Make no mistake about it. The barners want Saban gone. Period. They have two wins against us since his arrival. One was in Saban's first season when he had nothing but Shula players in the lineup. The other was the year they had a once-in-a-lifetime player at quarterback. Those idiots miss the heck out of the "6 in a row" days" and would do ANYTHING to get back there. 2002-2007 was the high point of aubarn futbol.

I suggest you re-read it.

Let's re-read it.

Mort Jordan, president of the local Red Elephant Club, a prominent Alabama booster group, said he's met Nick Saban briefly but the two have never talked. "Coach Saban is all business and business as far as he is concerned is minimizing anything that doesn't have everything to do with the game," Jordan said. "He's kind of a benevolent dictator, but we wouldn't have it any other way."

This is the article's face-value reference to the Red Elephant Club, which is a real thing. They describe themselves thus: "We are an elite group of individuals who will support the University of Alabama Football Program enthusiastically and wholeheartedly in a manner that will showcase our first class organization displaying the pride and tradition of the University of Alabama. We will provide donations to assist with funding football scholarships. We will strive to support our current and former football athletes as well as our football coaching staff in any possible way."

Auburn's paranoid fantasy version of the Red Elephant Club (if ITAT is a guide) is more along the lines of "secret criminal society committed to controlling world affairs by masterminding events and planting agents in government, corporations, and media to gain further political power and influence, with blatant disregard for laws and NCAA rules, and whose chief objective is to to keep Auburn down"

The idea that a reference to the Red Elephant Club is evidence that Auburn planted this article is more like paranoid fantasy than objectivity.

 

[DocCrimson]

I just read the article, and have read a fair number of posts on here. Firstly, people, SETTLE DOWN! *counts to ten*

Still with me?

Good. Now read this article as if it were a research study. Unbiased but thorough. What do you see?

If you said "A hack piece," then you're reading it correctly.

1. Listen to the tone. Her language is not very subtly caustic towards the Sabans.
2. Notice that many of the quotes in the article don't appear to even be from her interview, but a different interview.
3. With or without Miss Terry, another poster got it right. This is a "hit piece."
4. Has anybody read the other articles recently from the WSJ about Alabama? Someone there either does not like Alabama or Saban.

This is "clutter," and even if there is basis in fact, I suspect we'll hear some harsh words from either coach or Ms. Terry about this article. No way they are comfortable with how this comes across, and I highly doubt this is what was intended.

 

[WishIwasInBama]

I am withholding judgement on the article until I hear anything else but to me this reads like the writer had an agenda and cherry picked phrases to help further it. I might have missed it but I did not see where and when this article took place. It could have happened several weeks or even months ago and the writer picked the best time to release it, I mean how can you write an article talking about how much the bounce things off each other and they are a team and then turn and say Nick Saban declined to comment for this article.

 

[We_are_Bama]

Haven't read all 20 pages of this thread but is it possible she's only focusing on the students?

Most of them even if they are seniors were just getting settled into high school when CNS came here.

Unless they were big Bama fans, they wouldn't remember what it was like with the three Mikes.

Also, considering Alabama's enrollment has increased with many out of state students many of them may be fair weather, band-wagon type fans and all they've ever known is winning since they've been students.

I know this for sure, she's not talking about me when she says the fans are unappreciative.

Spot on. She has to mean the students. The majority of today's students probably have never even heard of Dubose, Fran, Price, or Shula. Saban is all they have ever known. At my old age, seven years is a drop in the bucket and seems like yesterday. But for a kid, seven years is an eternity. These kids were sitting in elementary school classrooms when Mike Shula was on the sidelines.

 

[TexasBama]

Let's re-read it.



This is the article's face-value reference to the Red Elephant Club, which is a real thing. They describe themselves thus: "We are an elite group of individuals who will support the University of Alabama Football Program enthusiastically and wholeheartedly in a manner that will showcase our first class organization displaying the pride and tradition of the University of Alabama. We will provide donations to assist with funding football scholarships. We will strive to support our current and former football athletes as well as our football coaching staff in any possible way."

Auburn's paranoid fantasy version of the Red Elephant Club (if ITAT is a guide) is more along the lines of "secret criminal society committed to controlling world affairs by masterminding events and planting agents in government, corporations, and media to gain further political power and influence, with blatant disregard for laws and NCAA rules, and whose chief objective is to to keep Auburn down"

The idea that a reference to the Red Elephant Club is evidence that Auburn planted this article is more like paranoid fantasy than objectivity.

The President of the REC replaced Colonel Sanders in the Pentaverate.

 

[DocCrimson]

The President of the REC replaced Colonel Sanders in the Pentaverate.

Good for Col. Sanders. Poor guy must have quite a time with back pain given that he has such a big head and a tiny stick-figure body...

http://www.nerdnirvana.org/2010/04/28/colonel-sanders-looks-like-a-stick-figure-with-a-giant-head/

 

[Capstone46]

The REC is not some double secret organization. We operate for the purpose that cbi described in his post. Mort Jordan, who was interviewed and quoted in this article, had no idea what the intent of the article would be when he was interviewed at the end of last week -and Mort spent much of his professional career in communications and film. It is very clear to me the writer had an agenda to write a negative article about the Saban's.
When CNS leaves, it will be to the lake. The only unknown is when that time will come.