Monday Morning Required Reading Is Learning From the Past
by kleph on Jun 28, 2010 7:00 AM CDT
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Was the 2009 Sugar Bowl the game that changed college football? The Tuscaloosa News' Tommy Deas thinks that just might be the case and cranks out a 1,800-word epistle supporting his contention.
The victory, Deas argues, gave the Utah squad a national prominence it had lacked before (despite racking up a formidable record over the past several years) and bestowed the program the proper gravitas to make the move to the Pac 10 this month when conference expansion hit its tipping point. The obvious comparison is the 1926 Rose Bowl that launched a previously unheralded Alabama squad into national prominence.
But if looked at in that light, perhaps the better case to be made is that it is the '09 Sugar Bowl is equivalent to the Crimson Tide's defeat of John Heisman's University of Pennsylvania team in 1922 -- the game that made the Rose Bowl bid possible four years later. Because it remains to be seen if Utah will parlay this breakthrough into something permanent.
Most importantly, the 2009 Sugar Bowl proved not to be the tombstone of Alabama's National Championship hopes as some thought at the time but rather the inspiration for a renewed commitment to attaining the crystal football -- a commitment that was transformed into reality with the 2009 title season.
As Deas points out, when Alabama went out to California last December, the laid back approach in New Orleans the year prior was gone and the team's effort echoed the workmanlike attitude of Wallace Wade's squads from the 20s. With a similar result.
Just Tell Us It's All Going To Be Allright
Alabama's new secondary coach, Jeremy Pruitt, spoke at an alumni association meeting in DeKalb County last week and had a few interesting things to say about the Crimson Tide's 2010 defensive backfield, the demands of recruiting and what it's like working for Nick Saban. Pruitt, the Tide's former director of player development, got the coaching job when James Willis took the DC slot at Texas Tech.
You Better Listen To Your Mother
As an assistant at Michigan State, Nick Saban used to keep track of Mark Ingram Sr. by calling the star player's then-girlfriend Shonda. It seems she picked up a few things from the coach that she passed on to her Heisman Trophy-winning son. "Once I found out what his plans were, I motivated him by saying ‘You want to go to college, so you need to keep up your grades. You want to be a football player, then you have to work out... While other people are at home sleeping in the morning, you need to get out and run.’"
Probationville, USA. Located Right On Denial River.
A diehard Miami Hurricanes fan (and former Alabama student) pens an open letter to USC fans explaining how much probation sucks and what needs to be done to survive it. Trojan fans dismiss the assessment as "ill informed" and insist the sanctions are part of a sweeping conspiracy, partly engineered by the nefarious administrators that got Da U in so much trouble to start with.
Maybe In A Utilitarian Sense But Certainly Not In A Kantian Sense
An Alabama football fan writes an ethics expert asking if the NCAA's new rule changes -- particularly the one governing 'excessive celebration' -- are "fair and ethical." As you might expect, the well reasoned inquiry gets a limp-wristed response from the egghead.
It's Mike Johnson's World And We're Just Livin' In It
The former Alabama offensive lineman's hometown paper does a nice article on the banner year the new Atlanta Falcon is having. Of course the photo of the big lug and of the goofy grin he's been wearing since Jan. 7 probably says it all.
You Must Be Nuts
Alabama is FIFTH in this online pre-season poll!?!! I'm sorry but his will not do. Pop over and get votin' my good friends.
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in the future
The game changes and goes back to the past. That picture looks a lot like 1916 instead of 2916.
oh come on now kleph.
I’m sorry I’ve been up with the young’n since five am and I feel a little sassy . Was not trying to be a goober.
by chinesedentist on Jun 28, 2010 7:22 AM CDT up reply actions
By looking at the photo--Pooley Hubert's expression for one thing
Those had to be some tough dudes back then. The letter from the Canes fan is right on; “Take it from a Canes fan, Trojans. Welcome to your five-year prison sentence. Do your time quietly, stay out of trouble, remain humble, seek reform and pray for better days.” Starts it and sums it up perfectly; the only thing harsher if they miss up again in the near future is a “death penalty”. SMU is just recovering now in and that happened in 87.
But, but, but....
That’s all I’m seeing from the tin foil hat crowd: Yes, it was the most serious smackdown since SMU, conceding that Alabama and Miami were a close 2nd and 3rd respectively.
However, there are alot of buts being ingnored
BUT, USC was already on probation and was a repeat offender for major infractions
BUT, USC did not cooperate with the investigation
BUT, USC did not attempt to monitor compliance
BUT, USC administration willfully turned a blind eye to the rot in LA
BUT, USC coaches knew about the benefits, helped facilitate them, and chose not to act in manner furthering compliance…
Those are a lot of ‘buts’ that are completely irrespective of “East Coast Bias”, “Stanford haughtiness”, retrospective rehabilitation of Paul Dee’s “beloved Hurricanes”, or the COI helping O’Fallon ensure the Ducks win two PAC 10 titles.
Dear lord….When we got popped, I raged against the inherent unfairness of an archrival’s secret testimony, not that the outcome or to decry a grand-damned-conspiracy. We were a repeat offender, and a booster paid a HS coach to steer players. That obviously strikes at the heart of the competitive principle of amateur athletics…Just like agents putting USC kids on the take strikes at the heart of amateurism as well.
Admit your faults, take your medicine, and wander out of the woods…At the end of the day it’s the best thing for the school and the conference and the players involved. I am fairly certain that when I say now “we do things the right way”, I am vindicated by the kids’ off-field behavior, classroom performance, on-field successes and the way the program is viewed again.
good lord.
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 28, 2010 7:46 AM CDT reply actions
All those BUTs will fall on deaf ears
To the USC crowd the whole things is about agents and Reggie Bush. The heart of the issues, which was USC’s lack of compliance, gets ignored. I even saw one person arguing that Bama’s infractions were worse because it involved boosters and USC’s ONLY involved lack of institutional control.
by UAinPHOENIX on Jun 28, 2010 12:33 PM CDT up reply actions
Also, RE: ethics column
That was ridiculous “reasoning” offered by someone who, to the best of my understanding, is not a professional ethicist and possesses no education in classical ethics. An MA in divinity is hardly broad-reaching enough to the traditional areas of ethical philosophical inquiry, as anyone who advanced beyond a survey philosophy course knows.
/puts down the Mill book and backs away from the keyboard.
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 28, 2010 7:58 AM CDT reply actions
Apologies for the smug
But that pisses me off. A reader writes a thoughtful, if not tangential, inquiry about the effect of the rules for amateur students and then the profiteering by the NCAA who simultaneously attempt to curtail the emotional expressions of their money-makers…and what response does he get?
To call Seglin’s reply “glib” insults everyone who’s worked at formulating glib ripostes. It was curt, dismissive and snide.
Ask a gardener or a hairdresser or a mechanic or a doctor or an IT engineer, next time, RC…I promise you’ll get a more well-reasoned and thoughtful response.
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 28, 2010 8:09 AM CDT up reply actions
U mad bro?
I knew it was coming, but I wasn't thinking about it. So the intensity of the dump was the problem. - Nick Saban
by TheRedTideConsumes on Jun 28, 2010 8:18 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
nah...
just irked like i am at the asinine confabulation of northeastern academic elitism and sloppy ethical philosophy.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
I agree completely
It is the time for USC to be humble and careful, but by how they—admin. and fans—are reacting, it just may not be in them. As the saying goes: pride comes before the fall.
USC fans are quickly becoming my favorites for lulz
We need a meltdown thread redux SO BAD.
www.RollBamaRoll.com - Our logo has more championships than you
at this point it’s kind of sad, though…there’s no tongue in cheek, pith or wit, just full-on, jump-the-shark, sackful-of-weasels crazy
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 28, 2010 8:58 AM CDT up reply actions
well, it's not helping matters...
that they have a lot of highly energetic enablers in the sports blogosphere.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Da’ U was corrupt: drugs, sex, PEDs, crime, academic fraud etc…But, the USC partisans are overlooking that none of Miami’s crap was essentially pay-for-play, and that Miami wasn’t a repeat offender. The cases between the two institutions are very very different.
With some factual distinctions, USCs offenses were much more like combining Alabama’s post-1993 and 2002 sanctions. Viewed in that light, then the penalties are in-line with the infractions.
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 28, 2010 9:10 AM CDT up reply actions
The Pell Grant fraud was essentially pay-for-play.
And on a massive scale.
MAGNIFICENT GRAND CHAMPION CC NCAA BRACKET 2010
dont forget uncle Luther Campbell
and his $500 for a TD rule…
The beauty of The Process is that you have never arrived, so you get to continue being perpetually awesome... -Espyonage
by tempebamafan on Jun 29, 2010 12:56 AM CDT up reply actions
I love Luther...
But he’s got nothing on Lake
Bust scored 41 collegiate TDs in 38 games, that makes the Bush/Griffin family take at a little over $7,100 per touchdown.
I will say this, USC malefactors got a much better return on their investment than we ever did with Albert Means.
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 29, 2010 8:27 AM CDT up reply actions
B.S....
…we got CNS….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jun 29, 2010 10:40 PM CDT up reply actions
True, but it took an awful 5 years in the woods...
Remember 6 straight against LSU, 6 against Auburn, 2 against MSU? Losing two independence bowls?
Ugh.
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Jun 30, 2010 9:33 AM CDT up reply actions
Awful...
…but worth it.
And it was only five straight against LSU.
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jun 30, 2010 9:20 PM CDT up reply actions
And...
…we played in three Independence bowls, but I only remember losing one….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jun 30, 2010 9:21 PM CDT up reply actions
It at least makes me feel better to hear about delusional NCAA conspiracy mongering from non-Bammers. We had a monopoly on that for at least a decade. BUSHMAYOGATE WAS AN INSIDE JOB
by Alabama ManDance on Jun 28, 2010 9:15 AM CDT up reply actions
Utah 2009, Alabama 1926 Comparison
I drew that parallel shortly after the Sugar Bowl happened, and raised it to include the conferences.
Utah : 2009 Sugar Bowl : MWC :: Alabama : 1926 Rose Bowl : SEC
I would argue the Fiesta Bowl vs. Pitt would be our defeat of the University of Pennsylvania in 1922.
The analogy fails in that Alabama stuck with the SEC and with Tennessee christened what would become the greatest conference in all of football. Utah sold out the ability to repeat this history by leaving BYU and TCU behind to join a better conference.
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
as i point out...
the closer comparison is probably the 1922 university of pennsylvania game.
but the conference question does hold as the southern conference pretty much dissolved in the late 1920s with the top tier of teams – including alabama – going on to create the southeastern conference. no, it’s not a one-to-one comparison, but clearly the prominence of both bowl victories served as a catalyst for later conference transfigurations.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
I would -still- argue the Fiesta Bowl vs. Pitt would be our defeat of the University of Pennsylvania in 1922.
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
I would say neither is a perfect analogy
I mean, the prominence of college football and the whole way the bowl system works is so different that it’s hard to really compare.
"You know, we had a lot of fun tonight. But there's nothing funny about vapor lock! It's the third most common cause of cars stalling. So please, take care of your car and get it checked!" -Joe Namath
by billycthulhu on Jun 28, 2010 4:00 PM CDT up reply actions
I thought the penut poll was interesting.
The most interesting thing was looking at the state breakdown. It seems like there is definitely a regional bias but for some reason people in Maine think Texas makes the best peanuts and people from Hawaii and North Dakota think that it’s North Carolina. Of course, the people in Alaska and Rhode Island are correct in thinking that it really is Alabama.
Poor Oklahoma, like Al Gore, cannot even get a majority in their own state.
my wife made me with some awfull "celebrity news" show this weekend
and aparently Gore attacked a “rub-n-tug” massouse “like a crazied sex poodle” which is just freakin hilarious……
The beauty of The Process is that you have never arrived, so you get to continue being perpetually awesome... -Espyonage
by tempebamafan on Jun 28, 2010 8:53 PM CDT up reply actions
seriously people
please take the political discussion elsewhere. this poll is about peanuts.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Wait A Second
Thought the SEC wasn’t formed until the Mid 1930’s. Weren’t we part of the Southern Conference in 26
Bama's so good, we'll make your quarterback cry.
by crimsongiant on Jun 28, 2010 4:26 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
Yessir.
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jun 29, 2010 10:42 PM CDT up reply actions
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