Nick Saban Declares War
November 20th, 2007 at 11:14 amBy Chris
Apparently, losing to teams like Louisiana-Monroe can have dramatic effects on a $4 million dollar coach’s psyche… either that, or it propels them to a Kellen Winslow-like soldier mentality that journalists and bloggers just love and surprise, surprise, that’s just what Nick Saban did… and then some.
After his Crimson Tide football team was embarrassed by a 4-6 Sun Belt team that would’ve had Mike Shula fired on the spot, Coach Saban referenced how different societies used catastrophic events to change their collective direction. To illustrate his point, Bama’s coach referenced Pearl Harbor and everybody’s favorite rallying cry: 9-11.
That’s right folks, losing a football game, especially when it’s a low-end Sun Belt team beating a traditional SEC power is similar to two of the most infamous days in US history.
Ya know, I thought I felt Kansas City tremble when I saw the score and obviously, I wasn’t imagining things.
A quote from ESPN reveals what’s going on inside Saban’s head:
“Changes in history usually occur after some kind of catastrophic event,” Saban said during the opening remarks of his weekly news conference. “It may be 9-11, which sort of changed the spirit of America relative to catastrophic events. Pearl Harbor kind of got us ready for World War II, or whatever, and that was a catastrophic event.”
Hyperbole anyone? Yes, losing to Louisiana-Monroe was bad, even for a team that’s on the rebuilding path, but for goodness sake’s people, it is in no way comparable to anything that took place on that fateful September morning and it certainly isn’t as drastic as an attack that directly lead to the US’s participation in World War 2… unless of course, Alabama is going to declare war on the state of Louisiana.
Now I’d pay to see that.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Snarky comments elude me here. I wonder where he’d rate losing a $4 million salary in that pantheon of events. Probably 1B.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:48 am
all i know is this: if that was Mike Shula, he’d be looking for an analyst job.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
He is gonna get a pass for his first year, I would think. It takes longer to build a team in football. The head coach of Kentucky basketball is gonna get a pass also. Though he might be sweating a little harder now. Mike Shula had more than enough time to make something happen and he didn’t.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:08 am
injuries killed Shula as much as anything… that season Prothro tore his ankle up, they were on their to a 10-2 season. while driving to Lexington this past evening, someone on the St Louis radio said he should be fire immediately.
wowzers.