One of the least flattering labels any criticizing voice flings onto Alabama's football program is that it is a machine-like football factory who can insert any top-flight player into a different jersey and not miss more than a beat. I hope its inner workings aren't QUITE that cold, but one way in which we as fans can prove otherwise is to show support for injured players when they go down.
In the time since Jalston, Deandrew and Dee had their seasons ended, most statements I've heard regarding them anywhere pertain to what their absence means to the team's success, to what they aren't giving that they could be if it weren't for bad fortune. There's very little inquiring about the player's current well-being. I don't think we can mistake not only the physical but psychological toll a season-ending injury can bring. After dedicating weeks worth of hours into work positioning yourself, you get leg-whipped in the fourth quarter of the third game and in that instant your entire immediate future changes. You're no longer building on promise; you're getting back to the start hoping to be close to the equivalent of what you once were. Meanwhile, we're up in the stands patting ourselves on the back for applauding as the player is helped off the field only to be preoccupied with the down and distance almost instantaneously.
I know those three guys will get the same rewards everybody else gets with any rings and trophies that may come, but there is a hollowness behind them that being injured brought about. These guys aren't full-fledged adults putting themselves on the line for large amounts of money; they're still kids in some ways.
I was just wondering if there is a way we can get updates on these players and let them know they aren't forgotten, even with the biggest games of the season still bearing down. If these players have a Twitter account or facebook page, we should look them up and drop them a quick note. There's not much some snooty Northeastern beat writer could complain about with a Tide fan keeping these "robots" in mind four days before the Iron Bowl by simply inquiring how they are and wishing them well in rehab. You probably won't get a response (though that's not the point), but collectively, it might be what picks up one of these guys on a tough day.
I don't Twitter, but this is Jalston's facebook:
Jalston: https://www.facebook.com/jalston.fowler.5?fref=ts
If anybody knows of a way to give a shout out to Dee and Deandrew, by all means put it in a reply.
Roll Tide!
In the time since Jalston, Deandrew and Dee had their seasons ended, most statements I've heard regarding them anywhere pertain to what their absence means to the team's success, to what they aren't giving that they could be if it weren't for bad fortune. There's very little inquiring about the player's current well-being. I don't think we can mistake not only the physical but psychological toll a season-ending injury can bring. After dedicating weeks worth of hours into work positioning yourself, you get leg-whipped in the fourth quarter of the third game and in that instant your entire immediate future changes. You're no longer building on promise; you're getting back to the start hoping to be close to the equivalent of what you once were. Meanwhile, we're up in the stands patting ourselves on the back for applauding as the player is helped off the field only to be preoccupied with the down and distance almost instantaneously.
I know those three guys will get the same rewards everybody else gets with any rings and trophies that may come, but there is a hollowness behind them that being injured brought about. These guys aren't full-fledged adults putting themselves on the line for large amounts of money; they're still kids in some ways.
I was just wondering if there is a way we can get updates on these players and let them know they aren't forgotten, even with the biggest games of the season still bearing down. If these players have a Twitter account or facebook page, we should look them up and drop them a quick note. There's not much some snooty Northeastern beat writer could complain about with a Tide fan keeping these "robots" in mind four days before the Iron Bowl by simply inquiring how they are and wishing them well in rehab. You probably won't get a response (though that's not the point), but collectively, it might be what picks up one of these guys on a tough day.
I don't Twitter, but this is Jalston's facebook:
Jalston: https://www.facebook.com/jalston.fowler.5?fref=ts
If anybody knows of a way to give a shout out to Dee and Deandrew, by all means put it in a reply.
Roll Tide!