I'm seeing a trend. If I were the Sabans, I'd never sit for an interview for the WSJ again.
Link: WSJ Article with Mrs. Terry: Bama fans are unappreciative, but we're not leaving
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I'm seeing a trend. If I were the Sabans, I'd never sit for an interview for the WSJ again.
First point, is if you want to get into the nature of not being appreciative, it's when fans can actually talk themselves into something along the lines of saying we want national championships! But, we know you are likely facing 3 top 5 teams in a row, however, in order for us to see you off, in order for us to acknowledge your final home game, you have to make that four in a row! It's not enough, for you to run a nearly impossible gauntlet, you have to go even further, I want you to win national championships with a truly impossible schedule, otherwise I'm bored. That sure sounds like not being appreciative.
Secondly, I made a post buried in this thread that addressed what you did with the latter part. You seem to think we go to Alabama games to see the opponent. What kind of crazy, backwards fan does that? I go to see Alabama! I go to support Alabama! This is the point I think some fans are not understanding the Sabans on. Some fans are caught up on the opponent, like that should actually matter to them, and the Sabans are talking about Alabama! Someone here needs to explain to me why the opponent is so darn important, because I'm not a fan of any other college football team, so the opponent only matters so much as I want Alabama to beat them, and by a huge margin if possible. I've seen enough Alabama losses to thoroughly enjoy a blowout by Alabama, I don't know what kind of masochistic fans don't.
I think a lot of people are overreacting to this a bit. Where exactly does she say the fans show the lack of appreciation other than the author insinuating it?
"You come to a crossroads and the expectations get so great, people get spoiled by success and there gets to be a lack of appreciation" and "We're kind of there now."
Maybe she is talking about a lack of appreciation for the game? Maybe a lack of appreciation for CNS and herself in what they are doing because of the success they have achieved. I'm sure it gets to the point where you don't want to fail and you don't focus on your original intentions (preparing young men for the future). She never says the fans, unless I missed that part. She did state "We're kind of there now." I would assume she was talking about what I mentioned before, not the fans. The writer is implying that it is the fans. Knowing how CNS is, and I'm assuming she is the same, she is more than likely referencing themselves and not the fanbase.
"You come to a crossroads and the expectations get so great, people get spoiled by success and there gets to be a lack of appreciation" and "We're kind of there now."
Maybe she is talking about a lack of appreciation for the game? Maybe a lack of appreciation for CNS and herself in what they are doing because of the success they have achieved. I'm sure it gets to the point where you don't want to fail and you don't focus on your original intentions (preparing young men for the future). She never says the fans, unless I missed that part. She did state "We're kind of there now." I would assume she was talking about what I mentioned before, not the fans. The writer is implying that it is the fans. Knowing how CNS is, and I'm assuming she is the same, she is more than likely referencing themselves and not the fanbase.
On your first point, where on earth did you get that notion from my post? If its my comment regarding who we play, its a long leap in logic to go from not playing to an FCS team to saying that we must play a top 10 team in order to garner sellout attendance. I did not say that nor am I implying that.
Secondly, there is absolutely nothing backward about what I posted and I take offense to that. I would wager, and I think most fans would back me on this, that they are fans of competition while at the same time being fans of Bama. They enjoy seeing Bama compete and win. I appreciate good competition in which Bama is the victor. I go to all the home games. I leave early occasionally if necessary so dont start with that junk again. You might be better suited to being an Oregon, Baylor, or OSU fan since all you apparently lust for is Bama throttling its opponent each week being oblivious to how great your team really is... You might but I dont enjoy going to beauty pagents. This senior class will have curtain calls for the rest of their lives for what they have accomplished. I doubt any of those players truly feel unappreciated as a result of the attendance on Saturday. Any comment of the sort in reality would be petulant imo. If you want to see unappreciated I suggest you go attend a basketball game during November and December.
You continually fail to acknowledge the tendency in all people to become bored even with something successful. Fans generally leave when the competition is won. As matter of fact, historically speaking, Saban has generally left after he has thoroughly dominated his opponent to seek out a new challenge. So I am not buying into your line of thinking and I am no less backward for it either.
I think I understand you (I think) and I want to see Bama skulldrag every team we play. However, it would be much more appealing to the fans in general if some of these traditionally tough teams would at least appear to be halfway decent entering the game. Take Arkansas which you cited as the game where this all came to a head. Everybody knew they had zero chance of even being competitive coming in to the game - zero chance. How often have we been able to say that about the Hogs? Same thing with UT. Like virtually all powerhouse programs, we've always had early departures for the lower tier non-conference games, but it just so happens that some of our traditionally more challenging rivals just flat out suck this year.
Look, I stay for the whole game regardless, even when we were on the receiving end of the beatings a few years back, but the average fan just won't unless there is something entertaining to watch. When the opponent is supposed to be somewhat of a challenge and we blow them out, fans usually stay to enjoy the beating - kind of like when you can't look away from a car wreck. If they know they are going to be tackling dummies coming in, it's just not as appealing for the average fan - kind of like watching an insurance crash test.
Ms Terry's comment doesn't shock me! I haven't read all the posts on this thread, so I may be echoing the same sentiments from others. But Nick Saban has come into the UofA and brought excitement back that had not been experienced for years. I fully understand more now his being upset about people leaving games before they were over. I'm of the belief that the student section needs to be revamped and more tickets made available to non-students because they're not likely to leave. Some of the students are from frats and we know what they'd like to do by leaving early lol. Just my take. But it sounds like the Sabans will retire in Ttown. To me, that's pretty impressive that this will be their last stop. I think Saban will retire soon and that Kirby Smart is being groomed for the job! :cool2:
Skull-draggings! Woodshed Beatings! Molly-hoppings? I'm still watching! Then again, the alternative is to get off the couch and turn off the TV, so I guess I might still be ungrateful.
I wonder if Miss Terry knows how much suffering and loneliness my girlfriend has to deal with every Saturday that a Bama football is televised. And that's a lot more often nowadays on account of her husband. Perhaps that's what she means about being unappreciated?
Like I said before, this was a hack job of an article. Either the Sabans will stay or they'll leave, and in both circumstances, I'll be thankful for what they've accomplished for our team.
Regardless, the same people will leave early every beatdown, CNS and Miss Terry will either feel loved or unappreciated, some of us will believe that the students are the root of all this mess, or that the barners are behind it, or perhaps even that Obama put the WSJ up to this. SNASS (despite their record).
I wonder if Miss Terry knows how much suffering and loneliness my girlfriend has to deal with every Saturday that a Bama football is televised. And that's a lot more often nowadays on account of her husband. Perhaps that's what she means about being unappreciated?
Like I said before, this was a hack job of an article. Either the Sabans will stay or they'll leave, and in both circumstances, I'll be thankful for what they've accomplished for our team.
Regardless, the same people will leave early every beatdown, CNS and Miss Terry will either feel loved or unappreciated, some of us will believe that the students are the root of all this mess, or that the barners are behind it, or perhaps even that Obama put the WSJ up to this. SNASS (despite their record).
Your comments were aligned with certain sentiments. Remember, Nick and Terry started bringing this issue to light after the Arkansas game. Arkansas, a traditional football power. Yet, the fans walked out in the third quarter! So, when you go don't schedule Chattanooga, and then go on about wanting competitive games, you're saying you want top level competition because they're the only teams capable of playing a competitive game. The student section was a ghost town for last year's Auburn game for example. Yes, the sentiment from that segment is I want to see a top 10 football team play Alabama, or if I do bother to show up, I'm leaving really early. That doesn't mean it is your sentiment, but that's the side of the issue you're landing on with complaints about scheduling. Alabama has an extremely tough schedule this year!
Perhaps it was too much of me to assume you want Alabama to win National Championships. I know I do, and I guess I just assume that's what most Alabama fans want. However, wanting competitive games is diametrically apposed to that goal. You can only play so many games that have a nearly 50% chance of losing, without losing. So, if you want to win championships, you want blow outs. That's all there is to it.
I think you completely do Saban a disservice with that statement. Up until he left Miami for Alabama, every single step he took was a move upwards. It is no different than what he wants for his players or coaches. He went back to college because that's what he found he liked better, but to think he left each position to simply seek a new challenge is to, I believe, completely misunderstand his motivation. He climbed the ladder all the way to the top of college football. He didn't jump from job to job because he was bored.
I've adjusted my position a bit on this issue, I recognize that entertainment value fans are fans, but I can't get away from an analogy I made earlier. To me, going to watch and Alabama game simply for entertainment value is no different than going to a Justin Beiber concert to be entertained. I'm a fan of Johnny Depp movies, I find many of them entertaining, but I'm not so much a fan of Johnny Depp the person. There is a segment of fans, and I think they simply can't understand what the Sabans are trying to get at, that only value Alabama football for entertainment value. They want to see competitive games, they want to be entertained, and beyond that they don't really care all that much. Sure, some will gripe about losses and all of that, but face it, if you're walking out in the third quarter, you simply don't care much at all.
I just can't relate to those sort of fans. They are the ones that are not appreciative, because they at least on the surface want championships, but really, by their words and actions all they really want is entertaining games. I get it, I get that for some Alabama football is no different than going to the movies, it's no different than going to a concert, it's no different than playing a video game. It's just entertainment. But, for me it is more. It's not life or death, it's not worth defending horrible people, it's not worth harming others. However, for me it is a connection to my home state, it's a connection to my family, it's something that my wife and I enjoy together, it's a way to remember some good times as a youth. I spent money last week that could just have easily gone towards a PS4 if I wanted to be entertained. It's just not about that to me. I want what's best for the team, and the players, and the program, not what brings me personal amusement. I go to the games to show my support, not to be entertained.
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Different subject, but I had to reread that one! Thought you was saying your girlfriend's husband! lol
A copuple of TF posters, then a mod steps in:
And we're back to the hissing....
I think we should repost this every time needless arguing re-ignites. Either this or the beating a dead horse one... I guess it depends... Although right now we meet criteria for both.
Anybody with the beating-a-dead-horse gif?
I dont think my statements are disservice to him at all. If you are goal oriented you are going to seek out new challenges. That is all I was suggesting. His career moves were seek out challenges on bigger stage at a program with more resources. He made the move when felt that he had accomplished all he could within whatever time horizon he set for himself. Fact is CNS has reached the pinnacle of his profession at the premier program and accomplished more in the history of modern era football. For him, he is in that unique situation of where I either need to get comfortable maintaining this level of success or retiring early. Provided we win the NC, his only goal left is to sustain success for about another 10 years and retire as the greatest football coach of all time. Sure the sense of entitlement will grow as will fan apathy certainly if other programs dont find a way to compete. However, he should be able to combat both symptoms by continuing to focus on The Process which is not to focus on the score not to focus on the opponent and likely not concentrate on what even your own fans do but control what you can control. Attacking the fans directly and publicly is not the way to go.
You can trace back several changes in the game in the last 5 years as a direct result of our dominance. Competition is important, otherwise you get monopolies and right now we have a monopoly on college football. I want to win NCs absolutely but even the greatest of warriors will get fat and happy of a quality opponent wont or cant step into the ring with him.
If you think about it for a minute, a similar discussion is probably going on in the Big 10 right now. We have no way of knowing how good OSU really is because their conference overall is utterly pathetic and they are suffering for it. Our conference is a shuffle step from being in a similar predicament if Arky, UT, UF, and UK cant figure out how to get competitive again pretty quickly. Fatigue is setting in everywhere because we are choking the life out of college football. While I like it immensely, this run of success will have its own unintended consequences such as second half apathy that most successful events do.
I'm going to write this and it may ruffle some feathers but I think it needs to be mentioned.
In defense of the students, if Coach wants them to stay for sixty minutes, then he should allow the team to play for sixty minutes.
I've myself gotten aggravated when we put in the number two guys and rather than allowing them to show their stuff and to run our offense, we simply hand off up the middle three times and punt in an effort to keep from running up the score.
I mean what's there to stay for in that situation? Seriously? "Hey let's cheer loudly and support Coach Saban as he keeps the score down".
If the coach says, "Game over, let's get this over with" then why can't the students have the right to say, "Game over, we're just running the clock out, let's go party".
Just an observation.
sip
In defense of the students, if Coach wants them to stay for sixty minutes, then he should allow the team to play for sixty minutes.
I've myself gotten aggravated when we put in the number two guys and rather than allowing them to show their stuff and to run our offense, we simply hand off up the middle three times and punt in an effort to keep from running up the score.
I mean what's there to stay for in that situation? Seriously? "Hey let's cheer loudly and support Coach Saban as he keeps the score down".
If the coach says, "Game over, let's get this over with" then why can't the students have the right to say, "Game over, we're just running the clock out, let's go party".
Just an observation.
sip
I can't say I agree, but I still like your viewpoint. As long as we don't turn into an Urban Meyer coached team running up the score.
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Doc--I'm not into running up the score at all, but I do think you have to allow these kids to at least feel like they're "Trying" to score.
Kinda like the defensive kids "Trying" to preserve the shut out.
Get my drift here? I think you will. And I understand what you're saying as well about the Meyer thing.
I think we're in agreement totally.
sip
Totally agree...when CNS said what he did about fans staying to the end I thought, "Why don't you let your guys play to the end?" Especially against other D1 teams...not the UTC's of the world.
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