Wow. Do you think LSU fans might be just a little bit uptight about the game Saturday? Teams that go into games tight usually come out nervous and make mistakes. Teams that play loose and have nothing to lose usually play good football. The favorites are the ones in trouble, usually.
With that said, I think our buddy TE, who commented on the Saban Bowl story over at fanblogs.com, might be just a touch uptight about this Saturday's game. Do you think maybe LSU fans are taking this game just a touch too seriously?
"It'd be different if Saban had actually left LSU behind...
Instead, he contacted LSU BOS members after the Florida loss last year in Gainesville about a possible return...
Oh...wait...no, he didn't...Jimmy Sexton did...Of course he did it without Saban's permission, right? LOL!
Then, he made that cute little racial epithet and tossed it out to the Bama media at his hiring press conference, belittling South Louisiana natives...
Then, he talked smack about our players after the Sugar Bowl...
Then, he illegally recruited Luther Davis...
(In my best "Dude, Where's My Car" Drive through lady voice) AND THEN...
He went to SEC Media Days and lied about an incident where one of his Administrative Assistants got a flat tire while at a wedding (Where LSU fans actually changed her tire out for her) and blamed it on tire-slashing LSU fans (I wonder how many will bring fix-a-flat and a Tire Kingdom Gift Card to Tuscaloser this weekend?)...
Let's not even talk about the illegal contact with recruits in Florida, the disparaging comments he made about South Florida's recruiting, Books for Bucks, or anything else...
Oh, and T-Mac...You've obviously NOT bought into the Saban mantra...Forget the hype, one of his basic tenents of coaching is to produce a consistent high level of play.
In order to do this, he treats "The next game" as "The most important game on the schedule". You fans might feel the Iron Bowl is the most important one, but you can't get to Atlanta without getting by LSU on Saturday. If you would rather beat Auburn than beat LSU to go to Atlanta, then your priorities as a fanbase are on par with Nick Saban's conscience.
But, don't worry...your REM cycle of Atlanta will be rudely interrupted by the severity of the beatdown we're cooking up for you here in Baton Rouge...
Forget the Books for Bucks, forget the barroom brawls, forget Nick Saban, forget Les Miles...
You aren't there yet. You aren't close. LSU is here. LSU is where you want to be. LSU's going to show you that you can't get there.
We're going to demoralize you. At home. In front of your fans. In front of your coach. In front of the nation. You've played exactly what you are...No one...
LSU will remind you on Saturday..."
I'm sure that our boys are shakin' in their cleats, brotha. Keep on talkin.
Comments:
I just returned from a business trip to Baton Rouge and I heard more negative crap about NS than about Bama. They hate him and I don't get it. Let me count what he did for LSU:
1. He turned your football program around into a great program; it was crap before he got there
2. He recruited more gifted athletes into LSU than you will ever have
3. He won a NC there and when was the last time before he got there that LSU won a NC
What did NS do that was so wrong to LSU. He left you for the NFL not Bama. How did he do LSU wrong? Isn't there something like 19 of your current starters are NS recruites.
Please, somebody that has LSU blood explain this to me. Your mad at him because he left the Dolphins for Bama? I don't get it... # posted by cs : 4:05 PM
Okay, here's a relatively objective look at the observations made by CS.
I'll concede that a large part of the wrath that many Tiger fans have toward Nick Saban is a bit over the top. He did leave the program in better shape than he found it. He's at least an above average college head coach (although slightly over-rated). He is an excellent defensive coach, and he is a skilled recruiter. He was a bit of an asshole while he was here in Baton Rouge, but he won games and the folks here loved his intensity. One side note: he hired a PR firm to help him with his image after the beating he took (deservedly) from the NATIONAL media after accepting the Bama job, and they seem to be earning their money. He has done a much better job with the media and with his image in general in the past few months.
There's a reason that he needs PR help. He has made many blatant moves that have not set well with LSU fans (not to mention Dolphins fans and football fans in general who live outside of the 205 area code and care at all about integrity).
1.) He chose Christmas Day to announce his departure to the NFL, after denying any interest in leaving. The announcement wasn't entirely unexpected. He was coming off of a sub-par year and the Dolphins job, which is arguably one of the premiere positions in all of sports, was open and was his for the taking. It was an upward move. It was understandable, and most Tiger fans bore him no ill will. In fact, the move gave the Dolphins an instant fan base here in Baton Rouge. Most fans wanted to see him succeed at the next level. It warmed their hearts to see him make grown men cry at the pro level. Then, the unthinkable happened. He decided to come back to college football after only two seasons in the NFL. At LSU, he was the highest paid coach in college football, and it was unlikely that he would ever leave. But, because of the NFL stint, the door was now open for him to go to another college team. There are 119 Div I schools. Of those, there are about 112 that he could have gone to without incurring the current amount of backlash. Auburn, Alabama, Florida, USC, Ole Miss and Arkansas were probably the worst places that he could have gone, in that order. He lied repeatedly about taking the job. He chose to announce it the day of LSU's BCS game with Notre Dame, which many saw as an attempt to upstage the Tigers. He implied that he should get credit for the LSU win that night, because most of the players were his recruits. Never mind the fact that a fair number of them never played a snap for him and did no more under him than sign a letter of intent. Then he made several ridiculous statements about LSU and it's fanbase (recorded, not just hearsay), in a lame attempt at being funny to suck up to the Alabama boosters. And, finally, there are the well-publicized recruiting issues from last year that were underhanded at best.
Even without all of this, it's bad form to take a coaching job for one of your former team's archrivals. If Jim Tressel were to go to Michigan, there would be similar animosity toward him from the Ohio State crowd, even though he has been extremely successful and has won championships.
Saban has developed a rep as a mercenary going to the highest bidder. The more passionate would call him something less polite (rhymes with WAR). The cerebral are actually more digusted with Alabama than with Saban, because it's obvious that they believe that they can buy a championship. $4 million for a college coach is obscene. For that reason, I'm really hoping that Alabama takes a physical beating tomorrow, then loses to Sly Croom at Miss St the following week. That would be good karma.
As for the listed items in the blog, I'll address them by number:
1.) The LSU program wasn't crap, but it certainly wasn't living up to it's potential. Saban used the term "sleeping giant" when he came in, and I would agree with that.
2.) LSU will continue to land top 10 recruiting classes, so the "more gifted athletes than you will ever have" comment is ridiculous. Per capita, LSU is one of the richest recruiting hotbeds in the country. Only Florida, California and Texas could claim to have more talent year in and year out. Most of the in-state recruits that are here would have been wearing purple and gold whether Saban was here or not. Unlike Alabama, LSU is the 800 pound gorilla in its home state. In Alabama, Saban has to fight with Auburn to land the in-state recruits. Will he have great recruiting classes? Definately. But it will not be as easy as it was here. The glory days of Alabama football ended when most of the current high school recruits were in diapers. Over the past decade, Auburn has been the better team in the state of Alabama, and they will continue to be (as much as it pains me to say it) unless Tuberville leaves for Texas A&M.
3.) Yes, the Tigers won a NC during his tenure. Credit also has to be given to AD Skip Bertman and former Chancellor Mark Emmrett, but Saban's defense carried them that year, and for that he deserves credit and repect.
I honestly hope that there are only two "Saban Bowls". Obviously, there will be one tomorrow. Next year will be his first trip to Tiger Stadium, so that will be #2. After that, I would hope that we could move past this and give the players the full focus. After all, THEY are the ones who actually win the championships. # posted by ffishstik : 1:26 AM
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