I hated having Mike Shula as Alabama’s football coach. I believe I made that feeling clear on message boards and my blog for months last year.
And what was the reaction from fellow Alabama fans? I got called a “barnerâ€, was banned from al.com’s message boards, and accused more than once of just causing problems. I was admonished by several “in-the-know†Alabama fans to just drop my crusade against Shula because nothing was going to happen, and I was only hurting Alabama.
Now these same Shula-fanatics are leading the cheers for Saban, and attacking anyone who dares say anything bad about the coach. What’s more, they are going after anyone who defends Shula.
Talk about hypocrisy. Or stupidity.
The latest and greatest example of what’s wrong with the Alabama nation can be seen in the treatment of Bob Baumhower. Baumhower, the legendary Alabama player and restauranteur, was a vocal supporter of Mike Shula. Apparently, he hasn’t changed.
From the message board chatter, Baumhower went on Dan Le Batard’s Miami radio program and didn’t defend Saban (at least enough for some message board posters.) I listened to the audio clip of Le Batard talking with Baumhower. The former Dolphin player was very matter of fact in his stance—he supported Shula and isn’t ashamed to admit.
“There were a lot of folks pulling for Coach Shula to get another year and see if he could get back to his winning ways,†Baumhower said on the show.
And you know what. He is right. There were a lot of idiot fans out there (now the loudest Saban cheerleaders), who were saying the same things last year. Baumhower is a man of integrity and just hasn’t changed his stance. He’s wrong. Shula never was a winner, and couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag. But I’m going to support Baumhower’s right to stand by his beliefs.
Why? Because we need openness and honesty in the Alabama family. We need to stop seeing traitors everywhere.
No one knows this, but al.com’s message boards are controlled for the most part from corporate headquarters in New Jersey. No Barners or Bammers up there. Just a bunch of Rutgersers, or whatever.
This is also something people don’t know, the Advance boards are easily abused. All you have to do is tag something as objectionable and within 5-10 minutes the post is usually nuked.
Many of the regular board posters know how to exploit the al.com system, and they just appeal every post they disagree with, and the system spikes it.
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