First off, thanks to the board mods who have to be working OT on a holiday week. Y'all are doing one heck of a job trying to keep the board and the posters under control. Now, on to my rant.
With a third-grade education and about $50, any Bozo can line up and take a nasty, slimy shot at Shula, our players, our staff, our tradition, our stadium, our radio announcers, our university...you get the picture. Healthy discussion, disagreement and debate is needed. But most of what I'm seeing right now wouldn't qualify for any of these categories.
I'm a paying member of another popular 'Bama forum, and a very frequent reader of TideFans.com. Naturally, I've been logging on to these forums a little more than usual this week. I would have posted this over there but it would have gotten lost amid all the insults, jokes, rumor-mongering and mudslinging.
I'm really disturbed/distressed/disgusted over a lot of what I've been reading. Not so much on TideFans, but on the other boards. Suddenly, it's open season on anything to do with Alabama football. There's barely any common sense to be found these days, and a lot of people, some of whom are not 'Bama fans, are taking advantage of the situation just to stir up the crap among true 'Bama fans. But it's the "true 'Bama fans" I'm more upset with.
I can't believe the sheer volume of rumors and negative, trash-talking posts I've read about Coach Shula, his family, our players, our administration and others connected with the program. Before anybody jumps the gun, this is not a post debating the advantages or disadvantages of keeping Shula. It's just an observation I have after seeing so much vitriol posted on message boards.
I am in favor of making a change at the highest levels, but I fear that if this doesn't happen this year, our vocal "fan base" will be in full meltdown mode (yes, even worse than now) and will make a bad situation even worse. To me, this is not a joking matter. It's not funny, it's not cute and it's not clever to make jokes, personal attacks or write sarcastic one-liners about our coaches, players and admistration. This is exactly the kind of thing that our rival fans and state/national media feed on to create a negative streotype about our fan base. But honestly, I can't defend a lot of the choad I've seen posted the past few days.
I used to discount the fact that current/prospective players and media would read much of what is posted on these forums. But unfortunately they do, and they do it especially in a time like this. I'm just tired of seeing some of our fans supply the bullets for others who want to shoot The University of Alabama in the head.
I want a HC change. I think one is warranted, but thank the Lord, I am not in charge. I was part of the Dubose fax-in campaign. I learned my lesson.
Maybe it's just for reasons of my own sanity, but right now I have to blindly trust the powers-that-be and let them figure it out. Whoever takes the field next year will have my support. If we keep Shula, I won't be happy with it, but it's the only thing I can do, because I can't tell my heart not to support The University of Alabama. I'll have an opinion about it, but it will be a measured response if I'm posting on a public forum. One thing is for sure. I won't be making a jerk of myself on any website. My wife knows I can be an obnoxious prig when it comes to Alabama football. She deserves some kind of medal for putting up with me the past few years over the crap our program has been through.
But I'll keep the truly negative stuff to myself and my fellow group of friends/football sufferers, where it belongs.
Roll Tide, and if Shula stays, then Roll Tide anyway. Alabama football has always been bigger than one man, and it will take a lot more than Shula staying to bring it down.
With a third-grade education and about $50, any Bozo can line up and take a nasty, slimy shot at Shula, our players, our staff, our tradition, our stadium, our radio announcers, our university...you get the picture. Healthy discussion, disagreement and debate is needed. But most of what I'm seeing right now wouldn't qualify for any of these categories.
I'm a paying member of another popular 'Bama forum, and a very frequent reader of TideFans.com. Naturally, I've been logging on to these forums a little more than usual this week. I would have posted this over there but it would have gotten lost amid all the insults, jokes, rumor-mongering and mudslinging.
I'm really disturbed/distressed/disgusted over a lot of what I've been reading. Not so much on TideFans, but on the other boards. Suddenly, it's open season on anything to do with Alabama football. There's barely any common sense to be found these days, and a lot of people, some of whom are not 'Bama fans, are taking advantage of the situation just to stir up the crap among true 'Bama fans. But it's the "true 'Bama fans" I'm more upset with.
I can't believe the sheer volume of rumors and negative, trash-talking posts I've read about Coach Shula, his family, our players, our administration and others connected with the program. Before anybody jumps the gun, this is not a post debating the advantages or disadvantages of keeping Shula. It's just an observation I have after seeing so much vitriol posted on message boards.
I am in favor of making a change at the highest levels, but I fear that if this doesn't happen this year, our vocal "fan base" will be in full meltdown mode (yes, even worse than now) and will make a bad situation even worse. To me, this is not a joking matter. It's not funny, it's not cute and it's not clever to make jokes, personal attacks or write sarcastic one-liners about our coaches, players and admistration. This is exactly the kind of thing that our rival fans and state/national media feed on to create a negative streotype about our fan base. But honestly, I can't defend a lot of the choad I've seen posted the past few days.
I used to discount the fact that current/prospective players and media would read much of what is posted on these forums. But unfortunately they do, and they do it especially in a time like this. I'm just tired of seeing some of our fans supply the bullets for others who want to shoot The University of Alabama in the head.
I want a HC change. I think one is warranted, but thank the Lord, I am not in charge. I was part of the Dubose fax-in campaign. I learned my lesson.
Maybe it's just for reasons of my own sanity, but right now I have to blindly trust the powers-that-be and let them figure it out. Whoever takes the field next year will have my support. If we keep Shula, I won't be happy with it, but it's the only thing I can do, because I can't tell my heart not to support The University of Alabama. I'll have an opinion about it, but it will be a measured response if I'm posting on a public forum. One thing is for sure. I won't be making a jerk of myself on any website. My wife knows I can be an obnoxious prig when it comes to Alabama football. She deserves some kind of medal for putting up with me the past few years over the crap our program has been through.
But I'll keep the truly negative stuff to myself and my fellow group of friends/football sufferers, where it belongs.
Roll Tide, and if Shula stays, then Roll Tide anyway. Alabama football has always been bigger than one man, and it will take a lot more than Shula staying to bring it down.
