Being an Alabama football fan is not for the faint of heart.
This has been a strange and bittersweet week for me as a supporter of the Crimson Tide.
From the 21-14 loss to the University of Louisiana-Monroe to Nick Saban's politically incorrect analogy following the game to the loss of the majority of former running back Siran Stacy's family in a car accident, it has been a roller coaster of emotion.
Last Saturday night, I wanted to put a bag over my head after the loss to ULM. It was bad enough being an Alabama fan when they lost to Mississippi State the week before. My phone rang the minute the MSU game was over. Friends here in Greenwood just had to rub it in a little bit. But I have to hand it to them. Mississippi State outplayed the Tide and deserved the victory. Hats off to the players and Coach Sylvester Croom, who is a Tuscaloosa, Ala., native and former 'Bama star himself.
But Mississippi State is an SEC-caliber team. Alabama should never lose to a team like ULM.
That brought even more ribbing my way. They all ask, “What happened to Alabama last weekend?” If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times. I just laugh and shake my head.
Everyone also wants to know if Alabama is ready to fire coach Nick Saban with his $4 million-a-year salary.
Not just yet, but many fans are ready to fire the majority of the players.
It's as if they just gave up on the season after losing to LSU two weeks earlier. And there's nothing I hate more than quitters.
So does Saban. Apparently, he had a meeting with the team early this week and let the players know that he would not tolerate that behavior on his team, and for those who continued to play like that, he didn't have a place for them on next year's team. I guess we will see if it worked on Saturday night as the Crimson Tide faces arch-rival Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
The loss to ULM was just the tip of the iceberg. Things got a lot worse following Saban's analogy at his Monday press conference.
Saban referenced 9/11 and Pearl Harbor as low points in history where people were faced with adverse situations and how that can bring about positive change. He compared that to where the Alabama football team is now n at its lowest point in school history following three straight losses.
People were highly offended that incidents as tragic as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor were compared to something as trivial as the loss of a football game.
In an article Thursday in the Tuscaloosa News, Saban said he was not trying to be disrespectful. “I'm sure there were better ways I could have put it. But the message was a simple message that when people were faced with adverse situations, positive change, togetherness, a sense of spirit can result from that.”
The national media and many other folks didn't seem to take his remarks that way. Thus, Saban has been a whipping boy for ESPN and other media outlets all week. He even made the AOL home page poll on Thanksgiving about who was the biggest “turkey” in sports.
Amazingly, however, 60 percent of the people said in an Internet poll that they were not offended by Saban's comments.
I think he could have used a better choice of words to make his point, but it has been blown way out of proportion.
Saban quickly diverted the focus of the press conference to the more important issue at hand — the fatal accident that all but wiped out Siran Stacy's family.
“This is a difficult situation, and it's a hundred million thousand times more important than a football game,” Saban said.
I agree.
I was in college at Alabama when Stacy was the starting running back there. While I didn't know him personally, I saw him around campus, and I watched him every Saturday of the season for three straight years.
His wife, who was killed, along with four of his five children, also was an athlete at Alabama.
Can you imagine driving down the road with your family, probably talking and laughing, and the next minute they are gone? The Stacys' van was T-boned by a pickup truck going down the wrong side of the highway at an intersection just outside of Dothan, Ala.
Stacy is still in the hospital in Dothan, but his young daughter was airlifted to Birmingham for treatment. Can you imagine how alone the little girl must feel without momma and daddy? I imagine she has other family members with her, but it's not the same as having her parents.
That breaks my heart.
So from being embarrassed and appalled to a sense of deep sadness, I am not sure how to feel about the big game coming up this weekend.
Seems that the events of the week have taken away from the spirit of the Iron Bowl.
But no matter what, I will be pulling for the Tide. I can only hope that the drama will soon settle down. It is giving me a bad headache.
