Bama Blues

Nick is not happy down at the Capstone. Who can blame him? He's got kids making stupid choices, media scrutinizing every step, fans still demanding instant success. Whatever Bama has to pay a head coach, and Nick is the highest paid in the land, that coach deserves it. Being Bama's head coach, if you're successful, could be the closest to God you get treated on Earth, but if you're not (or just not successful fast enough to suit the fanbase), you are the devil himself. It would take somebody like Nick Saban to handle that sort of pressure. I think he does it pretty well. Still, it must weigh on him. Everyone is blaming him for all of it, but they are wrong. As with nearly every coaching problem Bama has ever seen since the departure of Bear, the Bama Fan is at the root of the issue.

Back when Mike Shula was fired, I got tangled up with some Bama fans in a sports forum. I was just trying to encourage them to keep their chins up, but they were full of gloom and despair. Then the Rich Rodriguez Incident occurred, and I thought they would all take turns jumping head first off the top of Denny Chimes. And then...Nick arrived.

There was speculation for a few weeks, but when the confirmation of Saban's hiring was announced officially, there was an immediate change in the attitude of the posters in the forum. Heads swelled. To a man, height increased by at least half a foot. And don't even get me started on how everyone suddenly sprouted a foot-long penis which they proudly swung at everyone, tauntingly, as if to say, "You'll feel it soon, loser!" You think the players don't feed off that attitude and feel that way too? Sure they do. And they're kids, which means they are full of stupidity.

Fans and boosters of every football program have long been accused of making excuses for and protecting players, even when they do wrong, encouraging them even, to feel they can get away with more because they are who they are. It's always wrong and it always will be wrong. If fans truly want to protect their players, they should stop them from getting into situations that will lead to trouble. If you see Rashad Johnson in a bar, don't buy him drinks until he's unable to make good choices. Fans should demand behavior that represents their program with pride and help their players stay out of trouble by not getting into trouble in the first place. Most do, but those few who want to swing it around will invariably lead players down the path to destruction, which may include jail, suspension from the team, NCAA sanctions, and the list goes on and on.

So Nick really does have his work cut out for him. He's gotten everyone so excited and full of themselves by taking the job, by getting this year's No. 1 recruiting class and by just being his lovable self, he now has to settle everyone down again. He will, eventually, if people will leave him alone enough to do it.