I agree 100% that ESPN has become increasingly fluffy in recent years. I also agree that ESPN worships at the feet of ND and USC. Then again, so does the rest of the sports media. How many Saturdays did I flip through the channels and see a just plain AWFUL ND team playing . . . Navy or some such. What a waste of airtime. 1000 curses on NBC and their stupid contract with ND!
I also agree - in principle - that Alabama doesn't get respect. However, fact of the matter is, we haven't done much (recently) to be worthy of the respect given to a USC, Ohio State, Miami, Oklahoma or Texas. We have to take off the Crimson colored glasses for a minute, and look at the situation rationally.
No respect in our 9-0 run last season? Was I the only one who saw the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED after the Florida game last year? Of course, events were to prove that "Bama's Back" was just an illusion. Turns out our 2 "biggest" wins during that run were vs. a mediocre Florida team with a brand-new head coach, and a UT squad in TOTAL disarray. Which we then followed up with a dismal showing against LSU, and a positive ROUT against Auburn.
I was listening to "The Herd" on ESPN radio the other day, and as much as it pained me to admit it, I had to agree with the guy, who I'll summarize as saying: "Being recruited by Alabama for the head coaching position, with all the pressure and unrealistic fan expectations, is like dating a girl who is a '7' and thinks she's a '10.'" Ouch, but the truth hurts.
Now granted, NCAA sanctions, and some dazzlingly inept personnel decisions, have resulted in some serious setbacks. But you know what they say about excuses and certain orifices - everybody's got 'em. A good chunk of our latest woes have been self-inflicted.
On the plus side, although our success on the field has been hit-and-miss (mostly "miss") lately, Alabama is a great and storied program. And our athletic facilities (especially football) are second-to-none, and we are prepared to pay BOATLOADS of cash for the right coach. Miami bounced back after a serious dose of scholarship-reductions and probation - because they hired the right coach, who, incidentally, was practically begging for the Alabama job while the Powers That Be dithered like a bunch of old women. They had better get it right this time.
On the down side, Bama has ZERO national championships in 15 years (haven't even played in a NC game), 3 whole 10-win seasons since Gene Stallings retired, and 1 BCS bowl, which we LOST. 0-4 vs. our most recent non-conference regular season opponents worth a darn, and 0-3 in the Music City Bowl. Losing records to both our major conference rivals over the last 10 years. All this in spite of the highest fan expectations anywhere. Alabama gets no respect, from ESPN or anyone else, because it has done nothing in recent years to DESERVE that respect.
Seriously, folks. Does Bama deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as USC, a team that has played in 4 BCS bowls in the last 4 years (winning 3 of them), won at least a share of the national championship 3 times in 5 years, won the BCS title game 2 out of the last 3 years, playing in all 3? I might be a shade off in my statistics, but the fact remains: USC, love them or hate them, has been playing in - and mostly winning - big games.
Please spare me the comments that start with "Who cares what USC has done lately? Why, back when The Bear was alive . . ." Yes, Alabama has great tradition. Yes, Alabama holds 147,000 different college football records. Yes, Alabama had the greatest coach ever to set foot on the planet Earth. But "tradition" is cold comfort during a 15-year national championship drought. And Bear Bryant is dead, has been for - ummm - coming up on TWENTY-FOUR YEARS in January. I, for one, am SICK TO DEATH of consoling myself with glories past, after yet another heartbreaking season.
Before all you fanboys start flaming me, set me you straight on something. My dad took me into the 1979 Sugar Bowl on his shoulders when I was still in short pants. I sobbed the day Bear Bryant died (hey, I was in elementary school). I am a double graduate of UA, and season ticket holder - have been all of my adult life. I have been at every single home game, and as many away games as I could afford, between 1993 and 2004, and I NEVER leave before the game is over, no matter how bad Bama might be losing, and regardless of rain, snow, sleet, lighting, earthquake or flood. Unfortunately, my career took me to godless heathen Tallahassee, Florida in early 2005, or else I'd still be there every week. Point being, I am not a fair weather fan, my eyeballs bleed Crimson, and I have earned the right to say that Alabama is a "7" (okay, maybe an "8"), but certainly NOT a "10." Not anymore, and not in a long time.
We CAN come back, and we are poised to do just that. Pray that Mal Moore & Co. get the right coach.
Meanwhile, there was a game happening on the field, they just failed to notice it.
