|
Alabama fans have for years complained about the "lack of class" exhibited
by our SEC brethren and others. Well, I'm here to tell you I'd like to see
a lot more class shown by our fans before we throw stones at anybody else. For
some reason, we are still spoiled. Never mind that the past 20 years have
been middling at best by previous standards, and the years 1996 thru 2000
were practically Vanderbiltian, the fluke SEC championship notwithstanding.
And yet, the arrogance of past success still lingers, long after that success
has faded like old 1992 newspaper clippings. We boo our players or our coaches
(neither is acceptable behavior). We sit on our hands for much of the games.
We award style points for victories. We barrage call-in shows with withering
criticism of the team. We deluge the internet with posts, the tag line of
which is usually some variation of "Coach Brah-unt woodena dun it that way".
Almost no win is good enough for us. Nearly any loss is cataclysmic and
totally unacceptable. For any of you who disagree with the post so far,
scroll through the last three days of this board. The past is the past.
We should revere it, but we can't live in it. And it's getting to be the
distant past at that. We've had about 6 good seasons in the past 20, and
we've won a National Championship. For the past 10 years, we're a little
over .500, with two losing seasons, three NCAA investigations (one for basketball),
and two crippling probations. Our facilities, once state of the art, now
are at the bottom of the conference. And our response to the captial projects
announced has been to complain that they haven't gotten started yet. The
players were out of shape, academically bereft, and used to losing when Coach
Fran came here. That's who we are RIGHT NOW. And that is the "foundation"
on which Coach Fran is going to have to rebuild the Alabama legacy. He
has a tougher job now than Coach Bryant did in 1958. He has 17-25 scholarships
to work with, where Coach Bryant had anywhere from 40 to 100, depending on
the NCAA rules of the time. He has 20 hours a week to work with the players,
which Coach Bryant would have used up in three days. He has 14 days available
for spring training, with little contact, where there used to be three weeks
of solid hitting. His players can't have athletic dorms, and they have to
meet much stricter eligibility requirements just to get into school. And
yet, we expect, no, we DEMAND Bryant-like results. It took Coach Bryant
three years to build a championship team at Alabama with no restrictions.
We've given Fran about a year, and many of us are already pissed off. That's
unfair, and it ignores the realities listed above. I submit to you
that before we demand championship performance on the field, we regain our
status as championship-level fans. That involves realizing where we are,
recognizing that success is likely not going to be fully realized for 5 more
years, and then SUPPORTING THE TEAM ANYWAY. Cheer for them win or lose.
Don't boo them on the field, or rag them off the field. Don't "expect"
wins, or "demand" your vision of the way things were. It was easy
to grow up a Bama fan. I'm 43, and for the first 23 years of my life, we
were on top of the heap. Things change, and we have to change with them.
I'm convinced this group of coaches will turn things around, if we don't
run them off. I'm convinced this group and other future groups of players
will leave it all on the field for us, if we give them a reason to. Anybody
can root for a winner. It's the folks who can give their full support while
a winner is being (re)built that can help make the difference. For those
at whom this post is not directed, you know who you are. For those for whom
it WAS directed, you need to look in the mirror.
|