It’s Time for Media Accountability

Sit down for this, because I’m about to knock your socks off. Nick Saban–sweet, innocent Nick Saban–said something contraversial the other day. He referred to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor as catastrophes. He also referred to alcoholism as hitting rock bottom. He then said that sometimes it takes hitting the bottom to wake up and realize what you must do. We can all agree with that. But then–and here’s the truly offensive part–he tried to apply that lesson to something that doesn’t involve death. Shameful.  Football is just a game for most of us, but it’s his life.  You can say it is because he’s obsessed and myopic, or you can recognize that football puts a roof over his family’s head, food on the table, and allows his kids to attend nice schools and for him to provide for his loved ones the same life most of us would choose if we could.  Football is a game to us, but it is everything to a football coach, so forgive him if he muddles the degrees a little.

Repeatedly and from different sources I have read that Saban should have used different examples. Fair enough. Had he said that the loss to UL-Monroe was a catastrophe without using imagery then no one would have said anything. Heck, even one of our contributors here referred to the UT-UK game just this past weekend as “life and death.” There’s no outrage of course, because he wasn’t specific. Nor should there be. Hyperbole is the nature of the English language, specifically the American contribution to it. Should Saban have consulted the list of acceptable historical events that may be referenced? Yes. Is he a monster for not doing so? No.

I was honestly willing to move on from this until Boomtown Madman of this blog showed me this article by John Feinstein. This is a complete and utter injustice. I’m almost wary that Feinstein might be such a genius that I’m missing out on this being a parody of what others have been saying. Showing surprise that the university president isn’t threatening to fire Saban for this? Get some freaking perspective, John. This is everything Saban’s comments weren’t: willfully malicious, wreckless, and embracing an arrogance you only find in sportswriters trying to sign their next book deal. Worse than all that however, is that he is guilty of far worse than what Saban did. He’s taking Saban’s words out of context, sensationalizing them, and then using a small incident to a far greater degree so as to exploit the victims of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor for his own benefit. Anyone else notice there hasn’t been an outcry from a single person with any rightful claim to heartache from those tragedies? No swiftboat campaigns. No veterans organizations demanding retraction. None of that.  Only hypocrites like Feinstein who are using this as a means to throw another dart at a man they want to hate but can’t find quite a good enough reason to do so. For crying out loud, Don Shula didn’t even comment on this and Saban can’t even take a dump without that man criticizing it’s color and consistency.

Feinstein isn’t reporting on a story, and he isn’t just giving an opinion. He is trying to tell people how to respond to something that any sane person would acknowledge was innocent, regardless of whether they think it was appropriate or not. How else can you explain someone who refers to Nick Saban as “one of the worst people in all of sports” but then lists only one reason why and summarily dismisses that reason himself.

I guess I just don’t understand it. I don’t have a problem with people thinking it’s inappropriate for using these references. Rational minds acknowledge he meant no disrespect or malice. At worst it was a mistake, and a fairly minor one at that.

Far from a mistake, though, Feinstein’s comments–and those of countless other journalists–were pre-meditated and in that respect they should be held accountable. They won’t be, of course, because in this country there is no higher court than the media. But in real life what they are doing is far worse. If what Saban did is plug too many Christmas tree lights into the socket, then Feinstein smelled smoke, bought gasoline, and dumped it all over the house. One started a fire, the other is an arsonist. Oops. Am I getting too close to unacceptable? Can I expect folks from Chicago to rain demands of resignation upon my head now?  Of course not.  With the current media climate, the only people who will complain will be those who’ve never been to Chicago, but maybe ordered a slice of stuffed pizza at Sbarro because their cousin told them it’s “like Chicago-style.”

Youtubage: Referees gone wild!

Just some interesting referee moments.  Some old.  Some new.  Enjoy!

Last weekend’s Maryland vs. NC State Game

An old game, don’t know when, but funny.

Ed Hochuli at his best.

The Capstone King

The Iron-Oxide Bowl

OK, I’ve taken a few days to let the loss of six straight to Auburn and four-in-a-row to end the season sink in. It hasn’t helped. I’m still pissed. But moreso about losing to Louisiana-Monroe, still. It was inexcusable. After that loss I pointed my interest towards the future and recruiting. (Too bad we don’t have basketball to look forward to) I had almost resigned the fact that Alabama was going to lose the Iron Bowl. But I still watched, cheered, and threw non-breakable objects around the room.

The game was pretty much over by halftime. The score was only 10-7, but what little life was left in the Alabama offense was sucked out when DJ turned a TD catch into an interception right before the half, killing any opportunity to at least tie the game off of McClain’s interception. And opportunities like that don’t come very often, so you must capitalize. I wish I was talking about getting a turnover on your opponent’s side of the field. But I’m not. I’m speaking of a JPW pass that’s right on target.

Et Tu’, DJ? 

And for what Alabama lacked in penalty yards during the year, they made up for it in timeliness Saturday. The running into the kicker penalty kept Bama from getting the ball on Auburn’s side of the field and ended up being a 50-or-so yard miscue. Then the third-and-long roughing the passer, which was somewhat borderline, was a four point swing.

Overall, that was just an ugly game, by both teams. It wasn’t marred by turnovers or penalties, it was just two very average teams going at it. And no rivalry moniker was going to change that. It’s a good thing they played after Thanksgiving or I wouldn’t have had the appetite to gourge myself. What makes it hard to take is that the talent disparity between the two was as small as it’s been in years. That was probably the worst collection of QB ‘talent’ to ever play in an Iron Bowl. Auburn still had the best player on the field (Blackmon is scary. Someone with his size and speed shouldn’t be able to hit like that.), but I think with the talent coming in next year, that it will push the scales towards the Tide’s favor. But, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog…….

I just feel for our UT friends here, because since we’re gonna have to hear from the TigEagPlainsmen for another year, we may have to take our frustrations out on you. 41-17. Auburn fans, enjoy your victory over a team that got beat by UL-Monroe, and remember, we still have more rings than you have fingers.

Volstothewall’s Live Blog of an Instant Classic

12:05-I arrive at the Ghost’s house. His house is a great place to watch a football because of his beautiful big screen HDTV, but last time I was here was the Alabama incident, so if we start losing like that again I will most definitely go home.

12:28- Almost game time. Just like every game this month, this one is the biggest game all year. Looks cold out there, which is good because we’re going to need all the help we can get to stop Woodson.

12:32- Touchdown!! First play of the game. Great call by Cutcliffe. Maybe this is going to be easier than I thought. Arian Foster continues to amaze me. He’s almost always pound for pound the strongest guy on the field, and he can also crank it up a notch when he has to in the open field.

12:40- We’ve come out hot. We’re even making plays on defense. Woodson looks very average so far.

12:41- Looks like Fulmer got himself a new jacket, looks sharp out there. Ghost said he’d like to have one just like it, size and all.

12:48- Went for it on fourth down, but didn’t make it. I like the aggressive play call, but Ainge checked down too quick to Arian Foster, and missed a wide open receiver down-field.  I like that we have a smart quarterback, but in situations like that sometimes I wish he would try to make something happen. Could have been a huge play, oh well.

12:55- Elix Wilson sacks Woodson to put them out of field goal range. Great play. Wilson looks really good. He earned some playing time by showing out in the Arkansas game, and we’re starting to see that game wasn’t a fluke. Love the blitzing strategy by Chavis. I hope he sticks with it.

12:59-  Sixty yard completion to Brad Cottam down the sideline. Sucks he hasn’t got to play more for the Vols because he’s been injured so much. I wish the NCAA would have gave him that medical redshirt, that’s a lot of speed for a man that size. In my opinion, he looks like an NFL tight end.

1:10- Wow, Chris Brown just nearly made a circus like catch. Bad throw by Ainge, but an amazing effort by Brown. Worst throw of the day by Ainge, and could have still been caught.

1:15- Eric Berry just dropped an interception, but nevertheless a great play. He’s still amazing. If they let freshmen on the all-conference team he might make it.

1:16- Daniel Lincoln comes up short on a 48 yard field goal. That would have been nice. Oh well, can’t really be mad at the guy he’s one of the best kickers in the country and he’s only a freshman. If it wasn’t cold and windy he probably would have made that one.

1:30-Touchdown Kentucky. That was way too easy. Defensive backs looked young and inexperienced on that drive. We can’t let them hang with us because eventually they are going to get on a roll.

Fulmer Is the Right Man For the Job

First of all, in case y’all wondered, I like my crow dipped in cinnamon-sugar with a honey-nut glaze and a side of caramel creme.

That way it’s as sweet as this crow tastes.

After the Alabama game, I posted this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was angry. I’m a passionate fan, after all. I wanted Phillip Fulmer out of Knoxville despite his considerable weight (laugh it up) in a proud football program.

At least one thing hasn’t changed: I still want a new defensive coordinator. But that’s neither here nor there.

I’m here to apologize to Fulmer.

I was quick-triggered, and I had no idea that we would win out. How could you think that was even a remote possibility after a 41-17 embarrassment to Alabama that still sticks out like a badly dismembered limb on an otherwise commendable season that could culminate with an SEC Championship appearance (but hopefully a BCS bowl appearance)??

Some of the Bama brass on this board cautions about getting too attached to Fulmer, about letting temporary happiness get in the way of an overall unimpressive body of work. After all, he’s broken our hearts before.

If you paint him into a corner, he and his team will come out swinging and impress all the critical masses. If you paint them as contenders, they’ll break your heart every time. That’s not necessarily the definition of a man you would salivate to have running your program.

But the fact remains that Fulmer’s body of work is still impressive despite several mediocre seasons where he either lost control or paid for it with a lack of depth of talent.

And his players seem to care more than anybody else this year. That has to count for something, right? It counts for plenty in my book.

If Lucas Taylor’s postgame tears don’t make you proud to be a Vol, nothing will

Crimson & White Roundtable

The Bama blogs have begun the Roundtable in earnest again, and we at Third Saturday in Blogtober are excited to participate. You can read Tide Druid’s answers here and Roll Bama Roll’s contribution here . Al C. Hemist has added his at Eight in the Box.

As for mine and Crimson Daddy’s, well here you go:

1. What surprised you the most about this football team? Good or bad.
TFIT: Unfortunately, what surprised me the most was how deeply the loser mentality was instilled. There is a reason it’s called a process and not a resuscitation, but it was really disappointing to see the total lack of leadership on offense. By the end of the year, it was blatantly obvious that Wilson didn’t trust his O-line and the receivers didn’t trust Wilson.

CD: The lack of production out of the quarterback position. I never thought that Wilson was the second coming of Marino, but I thought he played admirably last year even thought there was a turnstile masquerading as a right tackle. I believed an upgraded o-line would let him take his game to the next level. Aside from the UT and Ole Miss games, it looked like he regressed this season.

2. Who must shape up or ship out by next season?
TFIT: It really seems like most of the attitude problems are going to graduate this year. With that said, I think it’s time for Nikita Stover to finally be the receiver he was recruited to be. There is no shortage of wide receivers on the roster, but very little separation between them. It appeared throughout the year that the coaching staff really wants Stover to be that next level talent, but his performances have been really hit or miss. If he can’t be consistent or at least stretch the field, then it might be time for him to step aside so that a player like Maze or Jones (please oh please oh please oh please) can take his reps.

CD: I’m hoping most of the attitude problems will disappear with some that are graduating (or at least have used up their eligibility) this season. I would like to know what the heck is going on with Jimmy Johns, though.

3. Do you expect any assistant coaching changes?
TFIT: I can’t really imagine any. I’ve heard rumors of Major Applewhite going to SMU, but even in a crazy year like this, that seems like quite a stretch for someone so young and so clearly still learning the coordinator position. Saban is a great recruiter, but he’s also a great coaching recruiter, and as a result rarely has a need to fire anyone. I don’t see that changing this season. The O-line, for all the issues it’s had this season, really did show marked improvement over last year, and Pendry deserves credit for the improvement. Many of Wilson’s sacks were due to him leaving the pocket too early, which goes back to his lack of faith in the line and not the line’s performance on a down-to-down basis.

CD: No, but I do think that Saban wasn’t 100% pleased with the play-calling done by Applewhite. But I’m sure he knew there was going to be some growing pains with such a young coach.

4. What bowl game should Alabama go to, if one at all?
TFIT: I would like to see them in the Liberty Bowl as it seems the Music City isn’t interested in a 6 loss team and the Independence Bowl is in Shreveport. Frankly, I can’t emphasize that enough. Shreveport. Regardless, I would hate to see them turn down a bowl invitation. There are players on the team that don’t necessarily deserve it, but I wouldn’t take it away from the players that gave everything they had to punish a couple of players who act like this team is hurting their draft status. It’s also a bit ridiculous to say that this team doesn’t deserve a bowl game when some team has to play in the bowl and South Carolina had exactly the same season arc that we did.

CD: I want BAMA to go bowling, mainly for the sake of the extra practice time and to add the the record of bowl games played and hopefully won, but I don’t think what I’ve seen on the field merits a bowl game. But hey, someone’s gotta play in those games. I agree with TideFan that the Liberty would be my choice. Bad things happen to Alabama in the Music City.

5. It seems that underclassmen are playing more and more these days. How much playing time should we expect from Saban’s first two recruiting classes?
TFIT: I’m expecting to see significant contributions out of his first two classes. Given Zeke Knight’s injury history, it would not surprise me if there are zero seniors starting at the end of the season. Not to mention opportunities all across the offense. With so many depth issues and expected attrition from graduation and the occasional player seeking playing time elsewhere, there could easily be true freshman starting in game one. I’m hopeful that we have freshman on the D-line ready to go right away.

CD: A lot. I think Saban is itching to get more and more of “his guys” (read: unpolluted) out on the field. I think the we’ll see the most contributions on the defensive side of the ball.

6. What did Saban do well this season? Where was he lacking?
TFIT: Recruiting. He did a lot of things well, but to come in toward the tail end of a recruiting cycle and salvage it into something respectable and then immediately begin recruiting his current class which is shaping up as something fantastic, it’s hard to argue with the amount of success he’s brought to this. It’s a bit upside down, but there’s a good chance that by bringing in his own players to demonstrate the Saban Way, the freshmen might be able to influence some of the current players to commit to winning again. And if they fail to inspire, then they’ll at least succeed in taking their jobs, so it’s a win-win.
As for shortcomings…for the love of all things holy, did it really take him 12 games before he was anything less than insulting to the media? His message never changed, but the way it was presented to those of us not in the press room sure did, and all because he couldn’t give them any reason to like him. I honestly love the fact that he’s oddly misanthropic and quick to insult, but this season would have been a lot easier to swallow if it wasn’t filled with columnists nitpicking his every word.

CD: I think the best thing was that he continued to insist that the players do things the right way (his way), no matter the outcome. When a new coach is hired, he basically has two options. He can either put his systems and philosophies in from the get go, which usually has a steeper learning curve, or he can adapt his systems to the players present at that time and move more toward his full system as he recruits his players. The latter usually results in better short term success, while the former can have a rather bumpy start, but in my humble opinion is the best way to go long-term wise. He also tried his best to temper our expectations. I wished we listened.
Where is he lacking? Well, he still hasn’t mastered time travel to go back and force Tim Tebow to come to Alabama.

7. Who is someone that we didn’t expect much from this season who really showed up big for the Tide?
TFIT: I’m going with Darren Mustin here. Every spring he did pretty well, and every fall he reminded us he’s a walk-on, but not this year. Above all other players, he got the message that Saban was preaching and it showed on the field. He wasn’t just a leader for this defense but a mentor to the very young linebacking corps. It was obvious who was with the program and who wasn’t based on his example.

CD: I agree. When I heard at the beginning of the year that we had a walk-on that wasn’t even first string at MTSU starting at inside linebacker, I wasn’t enthused. But he played very well, and was one of the few senior leaders on the team.

8. What young player are you glad is staying and think will really make big contributions over the next few seasons?
TFIT: I have a feeling most people would say Kareem Jackson, and who am I to argue? He’s like Simeon Castille was in his freshman year, except KJ has the benefit of a coach who cares about defense and specializes in the secondary. Jackson is aggressive, and that has gotten him beat on several occasions this season (just as it did Castille), but aggressive is what Saban’s defense requires, and when there are safeties that can be trusted (I’m looking at you Marcus Carter), I think Jackson will become the first round corner that Castille would have been with proper direction from a quality coaching staff.

CD: Agree, once again. Jackson is going to be a force. I also think that Lorenzo Washington started coming into his own towards the end of the year. The last three conference games he did a good job of penetrating and causing problems in the backfield even if he wasn’t the one that made the tackle.

9. Which senior are you saddest to lose, for whatever reason?
TFIT: It’s a toss-up here. I fell in love with Darren Mustin and the example he set for the younger linebackers this season. Still, I can’t help but feel like Gilberry deserves better than what he got. He played every single down with everything he had and it seems unfair that he was a senior before we put in a defense that really helped him shine.

CD: Maybe I should have done this without having your’s to look at, TideFan. I’d also throw in Rashad Johnson. He picked up where Roman Harper left off. He has an excellent football IQ and may be the most missed, on-the-field-wise, next season.

10. Give your absurdly premature prediction of the Tide’s regular season record for next year.
TFIT: I think 8-4 is pretty realistic. We have tough road games against LSU, UGA and UT, but Arkansas is going to be a team in deep flux. Our home slate is completely winnable. There will be slip-ups in there as well, but there will also be some wins we don’t expect. If the Clemson game works out, I think that’s a win.

CD: Georgia should be the best team Alabama plays next year. LSU loses a lot of senior production, and Tennessee will be breaking in a new quarterback. I predict 9-3 with a very good chance of getting to Atlanta.

It’s Official

Houston Nutt will be announced as Ole Miss’s new head football coach at a 12 p.m. press conference on Wednesday.

The Rebels’ Scout page editor has broken the story that everybody has been saying for the past couple days. In my own personal opinion, I believe Arkansas will rue the day they ran off a coach of Nutt’s caliber. And make no mistakes about it: They may have offered Nutt an extension, but they ran him off long ago.

Now, Nutt gets to stick it to the Hogs every single year. It won’t be that way for a little while, but one thing Coach O No could do is recruit, and one thing Coach Nutt can do is coach, so that sounds like a pretty good combination to me.

Here’s the ESPN link.