Reading the accounts of yesterdays court hearing in Tuscaloosa, I realize that our Crimson Tide is a victim of the success we all enjoyed so much in the 1960s, 1970s and even in the early 90s. It made me realize that this is why I hate the SEC, never pull for another SEC team and wish wed leave this cesspool of small-minded, jealous, fit-pitching babies. With the exception of Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and perhaps South Carolina, I wouldnt urinate on another SEC school if it were on fire.
The entire SEC hates Alabama for one reason and one reason only The Crimson Tide kicked their butts year after year fair and square. That means that week in and week out during football season, every team that we face plays like Norse barbarians whipped into a frenzy. That gets annoying but its part of the price of fame and glory. But because we committed the unpardonable sin of being good, now we must deal with every SEC team trying to undermine UAs football program by any means necessary. They are bent, not on beating us fair and square but destroying UAs football program permanently so that its never a threat to them again.
This is something weve grown to expect from Auburn people. Back in the 60s and early 70s most of us can remember our Alabama elders telling us that it was beneath us to pull against Auburn. When we protested that our little Auburn buddies told us they hated Alabama and hoped Alabama lost every game, our elders told us not to sink to that level. Our elders have died off and by the end of the 1980s most of us found it hard not to follow the bumper stickers advice and, beat the crowd, hate Auburn early. Their whiney sniping of the 70s turned into in-your-face unearned arrogance in the 80s and it was more than most of us could take.
It didnt surprise any of us when, in 1992, Auburn Booster Corky Frost paid Gene Jelks to make accusations against us. We knew that Auburn people believed Alabama alumni were behind Eric Ramseys accusations despite the fact that you couldnt find a Bama fingerprint anywhere on that case. The fact is, they were victims of a corrupt system installed by their darling Pat Dye (who isnt real bashful about telling you that everybody is paying football players these days). Instead of accepting responsibility for their actions, they lashed out at Alabama. It is central and basic to their character that they do this and we all understand. I think most of us expected better from Tennessee. What we fail to comprehend is the depth of the Tennessee Nations hatred of Alabama. To us, Tennessee is a team that we want badly to beat every year. But losing to Tennessee is not a year wrecker. We can live with it. Some of us may have a difficult time living through the year when Auburn beats Alabama. But usually when Tennessee beats Alabama, were talking about the upcoming game with Mississippi State or LSU by Wednesday.
But Tennessee has no Auburn to focus its hatred on. It really is beneath them to invest too much emotion in the Vanderbilt game. And so it has been for many years Alabama that they are focused on. It is a year wrecker for them when they lose to Alabama. And we have to remember that we wrecked 11 in a row for them in the 70s and early 80s. Then we wrecked nine more for them between 86-94. This friends, was more than their poor little psyches could handle. For people like Phil Fulmer, it wasnt enough to work hard and outplay Alabama. They wanted an inside edge. They wanted security from the fear of losing to Alabama. I dont know if Tennessees built-in inferiority complex has anything to do with it or not. They know the world sees them as inbred, barefoot hillbillies who sleep in the pen with their hogs while having sex with their sisters. Is that a factor, I just dont know.
I hate the rest of the SEC because they know whats going on. They know Roy Kramer ran the SEC almost exclusively to Tennessees benefit. They know Kramer and the SEC ignored repeated rules violations and encouraged the NCAA to do the same. They know Kramer gave Tennessee favorable schedules with open dates before both the Florida and Alabama games every year. But they pretend it isnt happening. Witness Steve Spurriers shot at Alabama, saying Tide fans only hated Fulmer because Tennessee has won nine of the last 10 games. Spurrier knows what Fulmer has stacked the deck. He knows that Fulmer has taken off-the-field steps to cripple Alabama for years. He knows it was done in collusion with an SEC and NCAA that seems all too happy to ignore other teams violations. And yet he peddles that crap to the press. Could it be that he knows he got the Heisman but Namath, Sloan and Stabler walked away with national championships that eluded him.
The SEC owes Alabama. There were no football powers in the SEC until Alabama. Tennessee is a major football power today because its president looked across the Alabama border during the 1920s and saw the kind of prominence football brought UA. Auburns football program had fallen so low that it lost to Wofford before it renewed the game with Alabama in 1948. The rest of the nation had to admit that the SEC was a force to be reckoned with because it contained an Alabama team that was 4-1-1 in the Rose Bowl. Without Alabama, the SEC would have been no more prominent than the ACC. UA raised the bar for everyone and all the SEC members have reaped the benefits. And the other SEC members repay us with their undying hatred. If it doesnt remind you of how the rest of the world looks at the United States, I dont know what does.
But friends, we are also victims of our own success from within. Wanting to maintain that success in the 80s led to that ugly three-year experience with Curry that forever tainted how the rest of the football world viewed us. We have to remember that the Curry affair set the standard for running off coaches, a trend that has spread throughout Division I. It also seems to have led to an internal split that created factions apparently willing to sacrifice the football program in order to assassinate each other.
Our desire for the kind of success we had in the 70s made us believe that only a disciple of the Bear could deliver it. It gave us coaches like Perkins and DuBose. And I believe that it made us panic in the late 90s and stoop to things wed never done before. It will probably make us fire Mike Shula at the end of the year and it will make hiring a really good coach harder than ever.
The 60s, 70s and early 90s were great times. But today, you almost wonder if it was worth it.