… it’s gotta be this.
Truly crazed. I would love to be a fly on the wall when Daddy walks into Saban’s office to “negotiate”.
Of course, the truly funny thing would be if the insurance policy really was with an outfit called “Lords of London”.
Category Archives: Alabama
Alternate history
With all due respect, Connor Riley asks the wrong “what if?” question here.
The better question to ask is “what if Kirby Smart hadn’t flipped Jake Fromm to Georgia?“.
Sure, there’s the matter of how the 2017 season would have played out after Eason’s injury, but there’s much more.
Georgia would have had better class spacing between quarterbacks to sell Justin Fields on. Alabama would have been a tougher sell for Tagovailoa. Would Fromm have been as good a match for the more wide open offense the Tide adopted with Tua? If Tua had gone to Tuscaloosa anyway and won out, would it have been Fromm in the transfer portal?
We’ll never know.
Filed under Alabama, Georgia Football
“It’s the Green Tide and Roll Greed Roll. That’s my new motto.”
Sad. Pathetic. But entirely predictable.
A surgical $106 million renovation to the 90-year old structure is doing away with those approximately 2,200 modestly priced nine rows of seats on the U1 and U2 levels tucked between the west side’s upper and lower bowls. These were quality seats, covered from the elements and chair-backed unlike the majority bench seating in the 101,821-capacity stadium.
That space will now be occupied by the Champions Club, one of the several new premium options replacing more traditional seats in the U1 and U2 levels of the stadium’s west side. Starting next fall, those in Section P will have cushioned seats, access to an indoor, temperature-controlled club and an all-inclusive buffet.
That doesn’t come cheaply, and that’s where the issue for families like the Burnettes come into play. Each seat now requires a $10,000 one-time donation and an additional $3,500 contribution every season. That doesn’t include the price of the actual tickets, which were $495 apiece last year for the top tier seats.
Burnette in 2019 paid $940 a ticket including a $480 donation for each of his four seats minus the amenities.
That same seat next year is $13,995 in the Champions Club if the initial donation is paid up front or $5,995 if spread into five equal portions. It comes with a 10-year commitment meaning each seat will cost $49,950 and only if the $495 season ticket prices never rise.
And this quote is a perfect of example of someone trying to sound sympathetic without actually being sympathetic.
Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said the school intends “to be transparent and you also want to be empathetic” to those impacted by the changes.
“One of the things that we had to balance here is we don’t take any satisfaction in moving anybody out of their seats. Zero,” Byrne said in an interview with AL.com. “And we want to be very sensitive to all of our season ticket holders and all of the stadium. At the same time too, we have to balance that with what do we do to move the program forward? One of the worst things we could do as a program is while we’re having historical success to not look at where our long-term strategies are for our department.”
Those long-term strategies ain’t gonna pay for themselves, Mr. Burnette.
I assume this is something else from Tuscaloosa we can look forward to being imported to Athens soon. You can’t stop progress, fellow wallets.
(h/t SSB Charley)
Filed under Alabama, It's Just Bidness
The trouble with ‘Bama
So, as I’ve already mentioned, the selection committee served up a whole bunch of “oh, crap” to Nick Saban last night, dropping the Tide seven spots in the rankings after its loss to Auburn.
Here’s the committee’s rationale:
I get that, even if I’m not completely sold on it. I also suspect that Tua’s season ending injury played into the drop as well. Still, behind teams like Florida and Wisconsin? Eh, doubtful either of those two would take ‘Bama. Not that it matters; the really big deal here is that the selection committee has likely locked Alabama out of a NY6 bowl. Tell me you saw that coming.
I’m not saying that because I care. But a weakened Alabama team is playing havoc with everyone (and their computers) who ranks college football teams. Check out the Massey Composite to get a sense of what I’m talking about. Alabama is ranked anywhere from third to twenty fifth. That’s a helluva range.
The consequences of this intrigue me, even if I’m someone not close to ready to buy into the “dynasty is over” talk. For one thing, consider what it took for ‘Bama to find itself in its current state.
Not sure you can count on something like that replicating itself annually.
On the other hand, in the world of college football, the first thing that has to happen for a powerhouse program to slide is a perception that the program is not quite the same anymore. It’s a subjective sport and doubt is a powerful tool. I’m not certain we’re quite there yet, but I’m also not certain we’re not seeing the first cracks in the Saban wall, either.
Next year, especially if Tua takes off, is going to be the most interesting year of Saban’s Alabama tenure, in my humble opinion. I don’t have a clue from here how it’s gonna play out, but I’ll be watching.
In the meantime, it’s shaping up to be a real winter of discontent for Tahd Nation.
Filed under Alabama, BCS/Playoffs
Turning of the Tide
Just inject this directly into my veins.
Finebaum ought to be a real treat today.
Filed under Alabama
“And the person that loses in that is the player.”
One thing I’m really looking forward to watching over the next month is how many Alabama players make the business decision to sit out the most meaningless postseason any of them have faced in order to prepare for an NFL payday.
“Since when is determining to play or not play in your bowl game just about what the NFL needs to see?!? The NFL has known about these guys and their abilities for years. You play to go COMPETE in another game with your boys. And if you decide it’s not worth it..you skip,” Herbstreit tweeted Sunday.
Herbie knows the NFL doesn’t give a rat’s ass about a kid not playing in a bowl game. He’s just worried that Mickey’s going to have to feign excitement about an Alabama game that the team and its own fans won’t care about much.
That should be fun. Live by the football playoff, die by the football playoff, ESPN.
Filed under Alabama, ESPN Is The Devil
Best 10-2 team ever, PAWWWLLL!!!
Man, listening to the Alabama fan base whine, “but the advanced stats say” all offseason is gonna be awesome.
Filed under Alabama
