The headline says it all. There’s something electric about the phrase that ignites fans on both sides.
And the media knows it.
Motivated by website clicks, newspaper sales and ratings, our friends in the media like to pepper their blogs, articles and sports segments with the phrase.
But is the information sometimes disingenuous?
Family factors
When Brodie Croyle committed to Alabama over Florida State, Auburn and others, was that really news? Was there any doubt where he was going? Did it mean that Bama, crippled by sanctions, was overcoming their adversity by landing one of the top quarterbacks in the country? Or was there more to the story? Did Croyle’s father, who played at Alabama under Coach Bryant, have anything to do with the decision?
This week Jonathan Rose announced his intentions to play for Auburn, a total shock given that his father was a star for the Tiggers from 1992-1996. According to our old buddy Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham News, said the younger Rose:
“I grew up an Auburn guy.”
But conveniently packaged in the piece: “Rose also had offers from Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia….”
The inference here from the Auburn spin machine is this: “Hey Ahbuhn Fambly, don’t worry! We’re gaining on ’em!”
But the truth is, Auburn will gain…as long as former Auburn greats are able to reproduce.
There is no doubt Rose is a quality player, and one that any team would be glad to have. But the suggestion that Gene Chizik showed Nick Saban a thing or two in the recruitment of this kid is completely bogus.
You saw it the Monday before National Signing Day in 2006 when Mike Shula did his best to flip Tim Tebow. As he pulled into the Tebow driveway, he passed a University of Florida mailbox, and settled in to Tebow’s room where Gator paraphernalia adorned the walls. Sure there was a chance, but the insurmountable odds had the phenom in electric blue and orange over crimson and white.
Sometimes need plays a factor
Last weekend, one of my favorite undercover media aubies Sheldon Haygood of the Birmingham Fox affiliate led his Saturday night sports broadcast off with the commitment of C.J. Uzomah, a quarterback/athlete prospect from the state of Georgia.
Again used was the phrase, “Uzomah picks the Tigers over anyone who is anybody in the SEC, including Alabama.”
True, he did receive interest early on as an athlete, but those who follow recruiting suggest that Bama backed off months ago with the commitment of the nation’s #2 athlete prospect Ha’Sean Clinton-Dix. And with AJ McCarron and Phillip Sims waiting in the wings, both top five prep quarterback prospects when they signed, there simply wasn’t a need for the young Uzomah.
If the barn had taken Trey DePriest from us, or if they were to take Jedeveon Clowney (who has the most amazing film I’ve ever seen on a prep defensive player) from us, that would be news. The Uzomah kid may turn out to be a great player, and for his sake I hope he does, but there was more to the story than simply his “decision”.
Can media bias play a factor?
On the Uzomah commitment, forget that Sheldon Haygood’s wife is an alumnus of the loveliest village on the plains. When I lived in the same town with the Haygoods, their family SUV gave away who they were for.
Look, it’s a free country, and you can marry whomever you want and hang a tigertail from your bumper if you like. Sharing a bedroom with your Mrs. who bleeds orange and blue doesn’t automatically make you a biased journalist, does it?
Marriage tends to make us friendly to the loves and experiences of our mate, but does it also create a lean in one direction over the other? And can it make one prone to stretch or emphasize a moral win for the ole home team when the opportunity presents itself? You decide.
Talent tells all
The final factor I would offer is the “I want to play now” factor. Truthfully, a recruit entering a program stockpiled with talent is going to have to sit or overcome competition the likes of none he’s ever seen in order to see the field early. A lesser program can offer playing time right away.
But is early playing time a wise choice for a player? Do you really want to learn on the job in front of 80,000 – 100,000 fans every week during a football season?
Sometimes a “decision” comes because one school can be selective and wants to see what all plays out before it presents a firm, commit-able offer. Remember that term.
No doubt look for more phrases that the media uses to incite and excite. Just forget actually getting the news from the media.
Oh no Ballplay and Julia will be offended.
OMG…ARE YOU FREAKIN’ SERIOUS??????????????????? You just posted a entire novel of spin simply because AU got a couple of committments over the past few days that also had offers from Bama? Are you that paranoid? Do you not realize that you do nothing but add credibility to AU’s recruiting when you do this??
told ya
Im not offended. Im glad they picked AU over UA…..This drivel is as predictable as the sunrise.
Yeah, but predictably they missed the point to claim some sort of personal victory.
It must be tremendous to live in a fantasy world you create for yourself.
For all the “tradition” “class” and “winning” you claim that makes up the fiber of your team and fanbase, you and all of the modern day Bama nation still havent figure one thing out.
That would be how to act like winners. I swear you dont have a clue.
I understand that this website is meant to “stir the pot” when it comes to Auburn-Alabama rivalry. Throwing mud at Auburn seems to make you feel better about Alabama’s team.
However, smart individuals know that it always pays off to take the high road.
If Auburn is a “lesser program” as you say, you must have gone into depression when they beat Alabama 6 years in a row. Or when the had a better recruiting class than Alabama last year.
Alabama has a great football program, talented coach, and a wonderful football legacy. Anytime Auburn can beat them it should be celebrated. But the reverse is also true.
And you as an Auburn fan would know about that? Haha you are so stupid. Talking about calling the kettle black.
JBQ , dont try to speak logically to these people. Logic and common sense dont work around here.
Brandi. get your little self in the kitchen and fix daddy a sandwich before you get into trouble.
and iron my damn shirt like I told you to earlier…
Look julia, I know you and Ballplay like to play house, and I told you I don’t swing that way. But you do know where to go to find out what a real championship level college football program is about, or you wouldn’t even be here, right?
BPI and Julio live on this site. That should tell you what their “Aubsession” is.
Oklahoma St, Iowa St, Texas A&M, UCLA, , Michigan St. , Auburn
What do they have in common? (rhetorical question. Everyone should know the answer)
See ya!
No JBQ, most thinking Bama fans saw the six year slide for what it was…the ever opportunistic Tigers taking advantage of the situation with Alabama on probation.
And if you’ll explain to me how Alabama’s class outranked Auburn’s in almost every service, if only by one point, but still outranked them, and yet Auburn’s was better…hmmm, that one’s a mystery.
But no more a mystery than you understanding that beating a rival who is crippled by probation is different than beating them when they’re at full strength.
But then again, that’s not as fun to hear yourself say, now is is JBQ?
By the way, care to put your 2011 class up against ours? Most have us headed to #1…you know, where we usually find ourselves in football. I guess your flash-in-the-pan 2010 class will just have to do you for a while.
Julio, if you would have said “Make me a sandwich” instead of the shirt thing, I would have DIED!
Is someone else writing your posts for you right now while you’re away or something?
13, I know the answer. They’re all land grant universities.
JBQ, you must understand that any reference to an AU victory over Bama on this site will be immediately responded to with a knee jerk reaction of excuse making over crippling NCAA sanctions which were brought on by Tenn and Phil Fulmer rather than Bama’s own actions, incompetent coaches who were apparently hired by someone other than Bama’s administration, coaches being distracted by job offers from other schools despite the fact that they were able to be beat a top 15 team (coached by some guy named Saban) on the road by the score of 31-0 only 7 days before, or blown calls by the referees. Do not be alarmed…they cannot help themselves.
I love it when you start spouting run-on sentences. I can just see your little face getting redder and redder.
You’re precious Julio. Please don’t ever leave. Wait, that’s right. You can’t.
If Bo Jackson’s belly wasn’t so big maybe he could find his junk and father a child or two to “pick” Auburn over Alabama.
Then we’d get to hear you say neat-o things about that too.
I love it. Everybody calls him “Julia”. Again, I coined the term. And now that I’ve had my Costanza moment, I agree totally with this piece.
Haygood has always been a Barner. I suppose if I were a has been QB from an NAIA school that some Auburn grad was clueless enough to sleep with, then I’d sing AU’s praises as well.
But on to the bigger question. Why would anyone watch local tv or read the Bham News?
It’s all garbage. Let them coddle and fellate the Aubs. The Aubs are the only ones stupid enough to believe them.
When AU actually wins an Iron Bowl with Bama at full strength, or attends a bowl game in which their athletic department doesn’t buy all the tickets, then I will care about them gettin a recruit. Til then, your average tiggers. You’re 3-5 in the league. You suck.
BPI tells JBQ not to try to speak logical to ‘these’ people.The same ‘people’that they obsess about 24/7.
Trolls.
Alex Hamilton:You coined the term’Julia”?
Well you brilliant little fuck.
Its hilarious the way the Bama fans blame the B’ham news for everything from global warming to jock itch.
Atlantaroll, shut up before I tell you to go fix me a sandwich too, bee-oootch.
BPI Says:
August 4th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
For all the “tradition†“class†and “winning†you claim that makes up the fiber of your team and fanbase, you and all of the modern day Bama nation still havent figure one thing out.
That would be how to act like winners. I swear you dont have a clue
_________________________
Yeah he’s got us guys. I mean look back at the last 50 years when almost 13 of auburn’s neighbors have won a national championship and auburn has… well… they havent won one yet BUT they have almost come close a few times. BPI understands acting like a winner because he has watched so many other teams and fanbases do it. Like Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Alabama, Tennessee, clemson, South Carolina, LSU, Arkansas?,Georgia Tech,Texas (Hell, even Brigham Young has won a NC)
BTW BPI,
You sound like a tulane fa talking to an LSU fan.
BPI Says:
August 4th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
JBQ , dont try to speak logically to these people. Logic and common sense dont work around here.
____________________________
And yet you still keep coming back. Who’s the bitch now?
Maybe I could change my screen name as a dig at Julio Jones and make some absurd and fictitious comments. You know…. comments that try to validate that I back a team that never has played in a national Championship game.
No wait… somebody is already holding that crappy job down.
But Julia and BP both believe that 6 in a row was Bama at their best. They thought it was gonna stay that way from now on, that Auburn had turned the corner and finally become a better football program than Bama. They really believed in this with the whole auburn fambly. So you can imagine their disappointment right about now.
But if it makes you feel better, julia, then Bamas probation and troubles had nothing to do with Auburn winning 6 in a row. Ya’ll won it fair and square, on the field. And that was the Golden Age of Auburn football. Be sure to tell your grandkids about that someday.
There is always an excuse. The 80’s had Auburn leading the series. Im sure you have an excuse for that too. Bama held the edge in the 90’s. No excuses here. AU took it back in the 00’s. More excuses. This is a brand new decade. Time will tell who will own the next decade.
What you dooshes dont seem to get is it is cyclical.
BARN PEAKED LAST YR AND SANCTIONS ARE COMING POSSIBLE DEATH PENALTY
Look BP, no excuses. Bama has consistently played for SEC championships and NCs on a scale Auburn has never reached. That is a fact. Bama still has more Iron Bowl wins than Auburn. Another fact. So lets hear your excuses why these facts mean Auburn is equal with Bama.
THOUGHT HAMMAH WAS GONE. BAMA NOT GOOD. AUBURN GREAT. AGENTGATE MAKE BAMA WEAK. CAM NEWTON IS MAN. WILL BEAT BAMA. WAR EAGLE.
HAMMAH DONT REPSOND. HAMMAH LIKE DOG THATS BEAT TOO MUCH.
Come on BP, I was calling you out. Beating Bama is the closest thing to winning a NC to you guys, and that is why it means so much to you.
Oh, Im sorry. ….Thats your version of “calling comeone out” ? I will have to remember that next time you sound like a whining little 5 year old girl.
BP, I see you would rather avoid the question. Your name calling and all doesn’t change the fact that Auburn can’t hang with Bama. You and your girl julia just can’t handle the truth.
brandii, go put on your Hannah Montana pajamas, brush your teeth, and go to bed.
Okay……There was a question in that drivel ? Im guessing it was ” why do you think AU is equal to UA ?” In multiple threads I have said that UA has a more decorated history than AU….There is no denying that. In the 80’s when I cut my teeth on CFB , we owned Alabama…..Are you going to try to say anything otherwise ? In the 90’s your team got the edge, and a championship. Good for you. AU went undeafeted in that decade as well. We had nothing to show for it. In the 00’s Au got the edge back. We had another undefeated season, and again had nothing to show for it besides an SEC championship, that IMO is as good as a BCS trophy. Your team won a BCS trophy last year.
Congrats on that man. Yall got 2 trophies for your undefeated years. We didnt. Our head to head since 80 is close if not favoring AU….
But again you tard, I know UA has a more storied tradition. I have never argued the point.
Does that answer your question, or do I need to write it in crayon ?
And Brandi, just becasue I said that UA has more tradition than AU does not mean your are not retarded. because you are still retarded.
I knew you would come through Ballplay! I have seen 4 NCs and 5 SEC championships from Bama, and you have too. Thats what it comes down to. How many times has Auburn even been in the SEC Championship? Try again be-otch!
Let’s leave BPI and Julio alone. I mean, they are on this Bama site 24/7 trying to convince all the Bama fans that “Auburn is really better than we think and here are the statistics that we came up with to prove it , and we have owned ya’ll for (put in your selective time frame), and we are gonna be back, etc.” Throw in “I don’t have a good comeback, so I’ll tell them to get me a sandwich, etc”
They are mentally the equivalent of maybe a 13 yr old. To use an old Auburn saying…Did they even go to Auburn?
And no JSU is not an Auburn satellite campus.
Hey 13………..Go fix me a sandwich.
Hey BP, you are just too easy to bitch-slap around. You have no argument, and what is funny (and kind of sad) is that you really believe that horsesh!t that you are shoveling. That is the problem with the whole Auburn fambly. You aint Bama, but man you guys want to be.
Whatever little lady.
Are you crying BP?
Yeah……….you got me.
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