Josh Moon's Take On uat's Fan Day

[AUChizad]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080810/SPORTS/808100331/1002

COMMENTARY: UA fans not to blame for irrational exuberance

Column by Josh Moon • August 10, 2008

I owe Alabama fans an apology.

Over the last several years, I and many others have pounded the Crimson Tide faithful rather mercilessly for their unrealistic expectations. I've blamed these fans for chasing away coach after coach. I've ridiculed them for displaying a level of arrogance that's embarrassingly disproportionate to the Tide's on-the-field success over the last two decades. And I've laughed at them year after year as they've predicted undefeated season after undefeated season.

For all of that, I'm sorry.

Until last Sunday, I had no idea that it wasn't their fault. But then, Alabama held its annual Fan Day, and I realized for the first time that the fans have all been led astray by their university.

Check out the rules for the event: It lasted only 45 minutes because the team had meetings it had to attend. No photos with head coach Nick Saban. Nor would he personalize autographs (which means he signed only his name). Saban would sign only one item per fan.

The (partial) autograph session got started at 4 p.m., outdoors at Bryant Denny Stadium. Not a cloud in the sky. And not a sliver of shade to be found.

So, with all of that in mind, allow me to set the scene for you. You've got thousands of hot and sweaty Alabama fans standing in line for hours upon hours to get the non-personalized autograph of a man who refused to take pictures with them or sign more than one item. And after about an hour, he packed it up and left with several fans still in line.

Now, would anyone care to guess the reaction of Tide fans?

They loved it.

Oh, sure, there were a couple of dozen people who called into radio shows or sent e-mails to newspapers to complain Monday, but the vast majority of people who attended the event claimed they had a great time.

How is the university pulling this off? I mean, is it subliminal messages? Jedi mind tricks? Hypnosis?

This Alabama team went 7-6 last year. Over the last five years, it has a record of 33-30. Nick Saban should be calling fans at home each night and reading bedtime stories to their kids.

Look across the state at Auburn, which also held its Fan Day last weekend. Their event was inside Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. It lasted two hours. Head coach Tommy Tuberville posed for pictures, kissed babies, personalized pretty much everything he signed and hung around for four hours to make sure no one left disappointed.

(The only drawback was that if other fans didn't feel as though you were moving fast enough through the different autograph stations, they were encouraged jump you and beat you up.)

The point here isn't that Tuberville is a nicer guy or that he cares more about fans. Because I honestly don't think that's the case.

Saban's a nice enough guy when it comes to dealing with the Tide faithful. When he's out and about at booster clubs and fan events, he's cordial, friendly and talkative. Sure, he has his issues dealing with the media, but when it comes to fans, he's not half bad.

The problem is we all believe that he is. And this Fan Day is a perfect example of why we believe that.

Think about it. Over the last week, whenever someone criticized UA's Fan Day, the one defense you heard from Tide fans was that Saban is focused on winning football games, not greeting fans.

You see the problem with that view? It blames Saban for something that wasn't really his fault.

While he very well might be more focused on football games, he didn't organize Fan Day.

This was not a Saban problem. It was a PR problem. And it's the same PR problem that's dogged Alabama football for the past two decades -- they're still taking the same approach to public relations that they were in the 1970s, when Alabama football was king and there was no real competition.

That approach is largely responsible for the continued unrealistic expectations of fans and the high turnover rate at head coach.

It's also responsible for Tide fans getting a bad rap.

[wesfau2]

Eh...fuck this guy and fuck his apologies:

(The only drawback was that if other fans didn't feel as though you were moving fast enough through the different autograph stations, they were encouraged jump you and beat you up.)

Bad rap my ass.  Bama fans earn it the old fashioned way:  By being the biggest douchebags on the planet.

[AuburnChopper 3.0]

Good read chad!

[fred]

He don't know what he's talkin bout. Saban's got better things to do than kiss some fans asses. Saban can shit in my mouth for all I care, long as he wins us a championship and whips Awwwburn, which he's gonna do this year!!!!!!!1

[Snaggletiger]

He don't know what he's talkin bout. Saban's got better things to do than kiss some fans asses. Saban can shit in my mouth for all I care, long as he wins us a championship and whips Awwwburn, which he's gonna do this year!!!!!!!1

What, shit in your mouth or beat Awwwburn?

[AuburnChopper 3.0]

Shitting in his mouth to reload fred I think.

[Thrilla]

This thread reminded me of an interaction one of my fellow Auburn friends had with $aban a month or two ago.  I have no link or evidence for this occurance, so the validity of the story depends on my friend's memory of the occurance, but she is not one to lie and while she's an Auburn fan, she has never been outwardly malicious to any of the opposing schools that Auburn competes with.  She's kind of your typical Auburn hottie, who loves Auburn football but doesn't pay much attention to the game when she's there.

Anywho, my friend is a graphic designer, and she was assigned to work on a project that involves shooting and designing the huge "life-size" cardboard cutouts of SEC coaches that shows them enjoying Coke products.  You typically see these in gas stations and convenience stores next to the displays of these same Coke products.

Now, most of the SEC coaches have already participated in these photoshoots, so each year they shoot the coaches who haven't had a cut-out made yet.

For 2008, her company and Coke needed $aban to participate in the shoot.  From the start, they had difficulty with him.  She was first warned via company email to not be surprised if he cussed at her and her associates during the shoot.  They also warned that he's typically late.  Also, they said that by no means was little Nicky to be pictured drinking out of the bottle, as he made it very clear that he would not have his holier-than-thou lips touch the rim of a dirty Coke bottle.

After those preliminaries, he rescheduled the shoot 3 times, then cancelled again the day before the shoot was to occur.  He then demanded that a preview or illustration be sent to him before he reschedule.  To this day they have still not got him in, and he remains one of a few SEC coaches that haven't participated in the shoot.

Not that anybody else needs any more evidence that this guy is an arrogant, self-absorbed prick...but she said this was one of the worst interactions her company has had with ANYBODY, much less a college coach (and she's been on site with plenty of coaches doing these shoots). 

The $abahr strikes again!

[Saniflush]

Yea but is she hot?

[Thrilla]

Yea but is she hot?

Very.  Dark hair with huge cans and a skinny waist.  One of the wife's sorority sisters. 

This further proves her validity.

[AWK]

Very.  Dark hair with huge cans and a skinny waist.  One of the wife's sorority sisters. 

This further proves her validity.

Sounds like a future mistress to me.