I think some of us need to back up and think...

Being a Pastor, allow me to bring some reality to this conversation. I was on a well needed vacation last week. I was supposed to be on campus Saturday. But life stepped in, car problems, my oldest child starting a new job in a new town, and then last night, one of my deacons was hospitalized possibly in a life threatening crisis. Then I have been dealing with a loss of medication I need daily and trying to figure out what to do with that. Point being, there are a lot more important things than Alabama football going on in the world around us. Love your family and others but don’t let a loss to our favorite team rule your thinking and behavior. Bama football will be okay. Enjoy the conversation about football, but other things are much more important. God bless you all and RTR

TIDE-HSV said:

I don't remember which injury precipitated it, maybe Moses, but Coach had one real outburst about fan attitudes. Paraphrased, he said "People just think that we just **** out another five star when someone goes down." I can't blame his being irritated. A lot of what I've read here since the game was exactly what he was talking about - totally unrealistic, uninformed expectations...

Click to expand...

I remember what he said at the first NC celebration and telling my wife he’d regret saying we’ve just gotten started winning NCs. It was prophetic but also with some in our fan base it would be an annual expectation. He’s mentioned that success just naturally breeds unrealistic expectations but you can understand the frustration too. I’m with you, this year and the 2017 were his best jobs as a coach. When Dylan started playing that first year he was essentially a 5th string LB. Shane Lee was getting battlefield promotions by the hour.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for this thread, Earle - and your comments.

I love and totally embrace all the passion and enthusiasm that comes with the sport.

But not everything is going to happen the way we want it to.

At some point, people really need to step back.....ease up on the vitriol.......and take a little perspective.

I've found it helps to step away from the keyboard, myself. Go outside and do some activities. Work in the yard, ride my bike, work on my truck, whatever.

Over at my Gator forum we had some recent threads about firing our defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham. Just because we lost to Georgia (and LSU to some extent). Talk about ignorant and entitled thinkers. We've had tons of injuries on defense this year and even so have still fielded a very stout defense. Yet there are those who seem to need a pound of flesh. It's so disgusting to me I'm actually done with them. You would think one of the moderators would (as you did) at least step in and post something to provide some reality. It was kind of left up to me and few others. But ultimately, I'm tired of the stupidity.

There's a lot left to play for and a lot to be proud of with the season thus far. No one likes losing, me especially. But it's part of the sport and there are always reasons. Perspective and reasoning are to me just as important as passion for a good fan to possess.

CNS was answering questions after the game and was trying to explain just what our young defense was facing. He talked of ONE formation that he’d seen them run SIX totally different routes out of. He was like, “I was even having trouble with it” and you could imagine what these young and inexperienced players were having with it. When I think about that and multiply the number of plays...that’s a LOT of formations to worry about. Unreal what the offenses can do these days. I don’t envy defensive players and coaches at all!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tide Rev said:

Being a Pastor, allow me to bring some reality to this conversation. I was on a well needed vacation last week. I was supposed to be on campus Saturday. But life stepped in, car problems, my oldest child starting a new job in a new town, and then last night, one of my deacons was hospitalized possibly in a life threatening crisis. Then I have been dealing with a loss of medication I need daily and trying to figure out what to do with that. Point being, there are a lot more important things than Alabama football going on in the world around us. Love your family and others but don’t let a loss to our favorite team rule your thinking and behavior. Bama football will be okay. Enjoy the conversation about football, but other things are much more important. God bless you all and RTR

Click to expand...

I agree with you. Thanks for posting. I hope your Deacon will be okay.

I used to not be addicted to BAMA football, just a great fan of it. Since my retirement a few years ago, I have more time on my hands, and more time to spend on Bama football things (TF, articles, videos, recruiting, Instant Analysis, etc). This, along with the expectations Saban has brought to the program, I think has caused my anxiety issues to get worse. I just really want Saban to get 1 more NC to surpass Bear Bryant. It has been close so many times.

Have you ever read the book by Chad Gibbs called "God and Football : Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC" ? It is a very good book. One of my relatives is actually mentioned in the chapter about Alabama football.

It has helped me some this year. I need to get back to the number one priority being my relationship with the Lord, and others, and not worry about Bama, what my social media friends say about Bama, etc. I will always love BAMA football though, through good seasons and bad. RTR!

I'm shattered that we can't go out to Freshman 5 star patch and pull out someone that is able to read offenses and win championships!

We live in the Golden Age of Bama Football.....After Coach Bryant I remember Perkins, Curry, Dubose, Franchione, Price, and Shula. Enjoy and put this into perspective! It could be worse, we could be Arkansas.

Just because Coach O says his team his part of a "New Day" doesn't mean a thing. I think he has only beaten Saban once and that was Saturday.

With the experience the freshmen defensive players are getting this season, I feel like the next couple of seasons are going to be special, as far as the defense goes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ldlane said:

I'm shattered that we can't go out to Freshman 5 star patch and pull out someone that is able to read offenses and win championships!

We live in the Golden Age of Bama Football.....After Coach Bryant I remember Perkins, Curry, Dubose, Franchione, Price, and Shula. Enjoy and put this into perspective! It could be worse, we could be Arkansas.

Just because Coach O says his team his part of a "New Day" doesn't mean a thing. I think he has only beaten Saban once and that was Saturday.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure this was his first ever win against Bama as a player, assistant coach or head coach. And he acted like it.

When you're on a run like the one we've been on for the last 10 years, inevitably you're going to take a loss here and there. And the opposing teams and fans from all over the country are going to rejoice, celebrate, taunt and generally act a fool.

People may celebrate and claim Bama's run is over; but Coach Saban still has gas left in his tank. We've still got one of the most talented teams in the country. As a program, we're still at the top. And that's why so many get so excited to see us lose occasionally. No need to freak out over one loss.

I completely agree! Given what happened at the beginning with losing players our defense has done an outstanding job. I think some people just don't understand and think since we are " Alabama" we win regardless.
Hey LSU is a good team and we had a chance after the mistakes we made.... Fans should be fans not coaches!

TIDE-HSV said:

I try to understand that most people don't really understand the personnel issues. When you don't, it's easy to throw out posts like most of these in these threads. One of the other mods PMed me a couple of days before it became public and told me about Moses' knee. He said he'd thrown his iPhone across the room (only cracked the screen) and said "We're screwed." We lost the other ILB who had experience, also to injury and one very talented guy turned out to be a head case and disappeared. We started as many as six pure freshman at one point. We're not only thin; we're young and inexperienced in a couple of crucial areas. The job done by the coaches this year on defense is little short of miraculous, given the the circumstances. It makes it very hard to read a lot of the uninformed posts blaming the coaches (and everyone under the sun) in these threads...

Click to expand...

I too do not understand some of the reactions.

Re the LSU game, had we played the first half the way we played the second half it would have likely been a 10+ point Bama win...and the will and determination the team showed in the second half was nothing short of remarkable.

The entire team and staff could have given up but they didn't...they adjusted and fought tooth and nail and had a shot at the end.

I am quite proud of the way the team responded to the early and devastating personnel losses along with how they approached the deficit in the LSU game.

I'm not sure I've ever come away from such a heartbreaking loss feeling so good about the team.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents.

Power Eye said:

This is a great point. I may be in the minority on this, but to take what you’re saying a step further, it has actually turned the regular season, for me, into a somewhat uneventful process outside of one or two games. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to watch us play and get excited every Saturday that we do, but there is something that is lost when I know what the outcome is before kickoff other than the final score. It makes losses like yesterday hurt worse when the season began and potentially ended in a 4 hour period of time.

Click to expand...

teamplayer said:

You are absolutely correct. Just like children who are spoiled, we act like brats at times because we are accustomed to getting our way. Success breeds higher expectations, and we all know that we have had an incredible amount of success through the years. Saban has put our program in a position where there are only a few teams that have even a slight chance to beat us each year. We should enjoy it while it lasts.
I wish I could work in our program to be around this level of excellence year after year. I would think it would be fascinating.

Click to expand...

Slightly off-topic (and I agree with your thoughts here) but this is a reminder that we've got to make the "regular season" matter. CNS wants us to add another conference game. Fans are calling for more challenging schedules. I think that's the only thing that can solve this problem. We are not the only team having a problem like this. Most blue bloods are almost guaranteed to win 10 games so it comes down to a couple of regular-season games a year.

I remember 2013 when media and fans wondered aloud if the game had passed by Coach Saban. It had not, and it did not this season. I’m sure self examination may lead to some tweaks in how we do things, but I’m confident in our leadership.

Some high profile defensive recruits have not panned out over the past 4-5 years. I’m sure there are various reasons. That was a factor Saturday.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TIDE-HSV said:

Coach Bryant strongly opposed letting freshmen play. That started in the '72-'73 season. I think he correctly foresaw and predicted the eventual results, one of which is all of the early departures. There were virtually none, when you had to wait till your sophomore year to play. As it is, many leave who shouldn't. Around a third who leave early don't even get drafted and a high percentage of those drafted don't make a roster. These days, a recruiting powerhouse like Bama is basically fighting a three year recruiting cycle...

Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, they had JV ball at that time and they played either Thursday nights or Fridays. So they did get game experience during the season.

I agree, Earle. I called my Dad after the game and said, "It finally caught up to us." And you know what? I'm not even that upset. This year has been OTJ for fellas that would have had an opportunity to play later down the road, but were thrown into the fire this year. I give LSU credit. That capitalized where we have struggled all year. It is what it is.

The Bama fatique is real, folks. Checked my social media for the first time since the ballgame and a ton of people who have no allegiance to the tigers are singing their praises and jumping on their bandwagon. More power to them. Every dog has his day. II'll share a quote Bob Griese from the 1992 Sugar Bowl I regards to Miami getting beat by Alabama. He was talking about Miami losing for the first time in 2 years and Keith Jackson was relating it to the year the Dolphins lost after their undefeated season. "Eventually you have to lose." What's amazing, though, according to Griese, was how much better a team they were after that.

Roll Tide!!
ChattTide

Bama is 31-1 at home! Think about that record. Every program would be over the moon with that type of success. In spite of the injuries and unprecedented coaching turnover, CKS still has Bama in the hunt. I think most Georgia fans would give a whole lot to experience the type of success you guys have had for the better part of a decade. Be thankful for what you have, because it's a whole lot better than most.

CajunCrimson said:

I am Bama proud -- from my office to my attire.....

But, I don't rub it in. Never have.....my Dad taught me that a long time ago. Be gracious in public -- be respectful. For 8 years, I've not ever once rubbed it in -- pounded my chest....etc.

But, I'm about to scream if one more person texts me something about the game....

Take your win -- and go be happy.....but why shove it down my throat -- when I make a point to never do that.

Frustrating.....and about fed up with it....

Click to expand...

Same here with me. I never rub it in or boast when we win it all.. I don't say anything to my UGA, Auburn, Clemson friends when we beat them or when they lose a game elsewhere. I don't even bring it up with anyone unless they say something first. Then we may talk some but I am always humble. Yet, when someone beats Bama, everyone is out in full force--in person, on social media, etc. It really makes me mad but I just have to remember to stay calm. They don't know it makes me mad... I guess they just think it is harmless chatter as part of being a fan. Maybe I take it too seriously/too personal.