Excessively rough football. That was the one of the first volleys fired against Alabama by the Atlanta sportswriters concerned about how dominate Alabama had become in the land of Southern football.

Alabama’s tough coach wasn’t up to the panty-wearing, progressive thinking of the New South’s newspaper of record and its libel-writing sports reporter Furman Bisher. So, what better way to punish Alabama than to criticize one of the best college football coaches? The Atlanta sportswriters began a wholesale war on Alabama over what Bisher described as “brutal” football.

Bryant believed the Atlanta media was out to destroy him, and according to Bryant biographer Allen Barra, “As for the Atlanta writers trying to destroy him, future events would indicate that Bryant was not entirely paranoid,” (The Last Coach, p. 254).

Atlanta Journal sportswriter Bisher’s fingerprints were all over the Saturday Evening Post’s smear that accused Paul W. “Bear” Bryant and Wally Butts of fixing the Alabama-Georgia game. Bryant was quoted as saying, “the story was so wrong, so filled with errors…” (SOURCE: SI). One of the most damning comments about Bisher as a journalist was this, according to Bryant, “Of course, neither Bisher or anybody else ever came around to ask me about all this stuff beforehand.”

Ouch. So much for any journalistic ethics or getting the other side of the story. How could the Atlanta Journal-Constitution continue to employ Furman Bisher after he wrecked the Saturday Evening Post by working on the libelous anti-Bryant campaign? Was there an agenda at play at the AJC?

As Bisher demonstrated, never let the truth get in the way of a good smear against Alabama or Bear Bryant.

The latest attack on the Alabama Crimson Tide and Coach Nick Saban is eerily similar to past Atlanta smears on Alabama. Anyone reading the recruiting dispatches of Atlanta sportswriter Michael Carvell should note the similarity to the infamous Furman Bisher’s smears on legendary Alabama coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant.

Bisher alleged Bryant “discarded athletes” and would call these players “riff raff” when they were no longer of any use to the Alabama coach (Source: The Last Coach, p. 266).

Carvell has a definite anti-Saban and anti-Alabama bias that demonstrates itself in his recruiting coverage. Carvell attempted to turn the Darius Philon and Justin Taylor grayshirt offers into a “Grayshirt scandal.” According to Carvell, Alabama’s Nick Saban didn’t need these guys who were injured once Alabama “upgraded” at the positions. (SOURCE: AJC).

In other words, Saban is leaving behind a trail of discarded athletes.

The anti-Alabama Birmingham News led by an Auburn-fan publisher and its website al.com were only too happy to contribute to the attack on Nick Saban and Alabama over the grayshirting offers.

But shoddy reporting is nothing new to the pro-Auburn media in this state. Shoddy reporting is nothing new to Atlanta either.

What is new is the extent that newspapers have turned to the Internet to spread their agenda. Using their blogs and column postings the anti-Alabama Birmingham News/Mobile Press-Register/Huntsville Times and the Atlanta Journal Constitution work as an echo chamber shouting their propaganda louder and louder into the Internet’s ether.

Carvell is not as bad as Bisher’s smear attacks, but his actions are transparent. In a reckless attempt to get hits to his website, Carvell will say bad things about Saban in an attempt to agitate both Alabama and Georgia fans. He attacks Saban to get a rise out of Alabama fans, and he intimates that Mark Richt isn’t working hard enough in order to get Georgia fans worried, ie: “Unfortunately for UGA, Mark Richt was not available to meet Foster or the other star-studded recruits in person because he reportedly out of town for family reasons.” (SOURCE: AJC)

Carvell is committed to trying to stop Saban’s raid of the state of Georgia for football talent. Carvell’s feckless attack today was to accuse Saban of trying to “steal” one of UGA’s star commitments while one of Alabama’s commitments continues to “flirt” with UGA’s coaches. (SOURCE: AJC). In other words, that mean old Nick Saban doesn’t respect commitments and will say anything to get them to commit to Alabama.

It didn’t stop “Bear” Bryant in the 1960s and it won’t stop Nick Saban today. Bluntly, the Atlanta newspapers just don’t matter enough to slow down Saban.

31 thoughts on “The Atlanta crusade against Nick Saban and Alabama”

  1. Great stuff. We’re watching Michael Carvell pretty closely too, and his marching orders seem to come right out of Athens. Saban has completely Processed UGA, and it shows in the level of moral outrage from the AJC.

  2. again the solution to all this is as simple as can be.

    the ncaa keeps choking the recruiting process by further restricting the number of recruits a program can sign a year.

    the reason from the beginning for restricting scholarships was to bring “parity” and fairness to the system for lesser programs.

    in that it has been an abject failure. it amuses me to hear the sport media chattering class rave on about “parity” every time an upset occurs. upsets have ALWAYS been a part of major college athletics. some try and argue that there are more upsets but i have never seen any empirical evidence presented to prove this.

    the fact of the matter is programs who achieve consistent success have consistent financial backing and consistent competence in the day-to-day decision making for the program.

    period.

    if you don’t advocate for the ncaa to give back scholarships to the programs, whatever your motivations are for not doing so, you’re part of the problem.

    the college football world is not going to come crashing down if the maximum number of signees is increased from 25 to 35. and more players get better, more secure opportunities.

    as to the evidence of character assassination by the atlanta sports media of all things alabama:

    and the sun also rises.

  3. Well If a kid wants to play for the best, no matter what state he lives in why not go to Tuscaloosa? Who said it first? ” Please stop beating me” Dead Horse. Isn’t Carvell some sort of an Itialian cake? Saban is a winner just like the “Bear” was. How loves a loser? RTR

  4. AJC has been on a roll lately, with the anti-Bama bias. If you have to have a newspaper to help your recruiting, then Georgia is worse off than I thought.

  5. When you can’t compete for the top talent in your own state on a consistent basis, I guess all you can do is cry about it. I am sick of hearing how Saban refused to honor a scholarship offer. He did not pull the offer, but wanted a few players to delay their enrollment. The players in question were all hurt, coming off of post season surgery, and a delayed enrollment would have actually benefitted these players in the long run. And what is wrong with trying to manage your class in this way? Everyone keeps wanting to change the rules, and the recruitng rule changes are meant to hurt coaches like Saban, trying to even the playing field with coaches who don’t work as hard. Yet Saban keeps on finding a way to be successful within the limitations of the rules, and everyone still bitches about it. You are right, it was the same way with Bryant. They kept changing the rules because of him as well. But Saban is getting paid to be successful, and part of the reason he is so successful is because he tightly controls the roster management. You may not agree with his methods, but they work better than the methods your coach uses. And if the truth would be known, if Mark Richt recruited and managed his roster with Nick Saban like efficiency, the GA media wouldn’t be crying so much.

  6. Reuben Foster has been a Bama committ since July 2011. I don’t see the AJC crying about Richt trying to sway him.

  7. I hadn’t seen any of the AJC columns. Didn’t know this shyt was going on until just now. However, I’ve been posting while the rest of you were on vacation, that Saban was pulling a recruiting coup in Georgia. If we land the 3rd of Georgias top 3 recruits with 2 of them being #1 and #2 overall in the nation, it will be paramount to a club blugeoning of the Dawgs. Can you imagine the screaming if LSU, Tennessee, Florida or even the Barnturds were to take the top 3 Alabama players away from Bama? You kind of can’t blame them. However, they need to stick to facts instead of lies and fantasies. Actually I’m surprised at how little we’ve heard from other States. We ripped off Virginias #1 in Phillip Simms. Now Louisiana’s #1 in Landon Collins, not to mention a possible Heisman candidate in Eddie Lacy. We stole Floridas #1 Trent Richardson directly from Florida, and then Dee Hart, Ha Ha Dix and now a couple of the country’s best WR’s. We stole Greg McElroy from Texas Tech. The list goes on.
    Let the war begin! RTR!

    1. Nite- You forgot at least one. How about that ball catching machine from Florida named Black. Take a look at some of his clips. Some of his catches are unreal. RTR

  8. I just went back and read some of the posts in the AJC, and boy I’ll tell you what they are mad as Hades over there. Seems like they hate ‘Bama and Coach Nick Saban worse than some of Auburns fans. Now if we can just get this Nkemdiche kid, which some have said wears “Bama “stuff” to classes” that would blow all of them up.RTR

  9. DES I covered that when I said “and now a couple of the country’s best WR’s from Florida”. That would be Chris Black and Amari Cooper, the stars of the Under Armor Game. But that list goes on. Don’t know his overall State ranking, but Trey DePriest was the #1 LB in Ohio and we took him away from Ohio St. They were pissed. I think the Kwandijo brothers were the top ranked O-linemen in Maryland both years and as a 5* Cyrus was probably that small States #1 overall. And Ok State is really pissed about Saban trying to lure away Barry Sanders Jr. Recruiting has turned into a cutthroat business and Saban is a Master Assassin. Down here we have no Gentleman’s agreement like the pussy Big 10 had before Urban Meyer went uip there SEC style and Ass Phucked ’em. He lit a fire under their asses. Michigan has already commited 13, 6 of which are in the Rivals Top 100. Some of them like Michigan have just hunkered down and fought back. But most of ’em are pissed and contemplating a Holy War against the SEC Satan CUM. RTR!

    1. Well said Nite. Could not think of Blacks first name. And haven’t watched any of Coopers clips. But will soon. Think that OK.State will start hating California or already do over Barry Sanders Jr? RTR

  10. georgia obviously has resorted to the same type of tactics the barn is using. Instead of growing a pair and putting a capable team on the field to compete,they count on smear tactics and whiny little sniveling tantrums to try and slow “the process” All I can say is good luck, you losers are going to need it.

  11. Looks like AJC strikes again today. They want to get everyone’s opinion (in Georgia) on Nick Saban now offering 4 yr scholarships.

    Pretty weak and pathetic….but what else would you expect from a city like Atlanta and its newspaper?

  12. Yep …you Bammers live in your backward state (my home state) and continue to reinforce to each other that you are right and the rest of the world is wrong. I bet that since most of you hardly ever leave the state of Alabama, you think that there are more Alabama fans than Auburn fans …WRONG!!

    Yes …there are way more Bama fans than Auburn fans in the state of Alabama …and you certainly are able to intimidate the press into being biased your way, but there are many more Auburn fans spread across the nation and more total Auburn fans than Bama fans.

    Setting geographical issues aside ….the biggest difference between Auburn and Alabama fans? Auburn fans don’t let the success or failure of their football team determine their self-esteem. Can’t say the same for many Bama fans …and I offer the typical comments on this blog as proof.

    Auburn fans are typically graduates of Auburn. Bama fans typically live in trailer parks owned by Auburn fans. Bama fans are typically used car salesmen. Auburn Fans are typically millionaire farmers that hire Bama losers to drive the tractors. Come on …call us a Cow College and prove my point.

    Here’s the NYT football fans study:

    http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/the-geography-of-college-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/

    1. So Auburn has more fans and they all graduated from Auburn?

      Hoopie did you graduate from Auburn? Please tell me you did!

  13. Second point you made…

    Alabama is more fan friendly. In order to root for Auburn, you have to have gone to school there (kinda like people who are die-hard JSU fans).

    Where Alabama…..we have fans from all walks of life. They buy merchandise and help us build the big stadiums and field 1st class teams.

    So in short, Hoopie I pretty much agree with you. And I hope our Fan bases stay the way they are…demographics and all.

  14. Hoopie,

    I even know that’s a pile of shit and I’m the biggest Auburn fan on here. I didn’t graduate from Auburn and my controller is a UAT grad and Bama fan, so does that make me white trash?

    1. Hmmmm ….Maybe you need to get out more often ..or in the least …off this incestuous, hypocritical, biased Bama blog.

  15. I can see how you would think that Alabama is more fan friendly …..if you live in Alabama and hardly ever leave the state.

    I never said that “all” Auburn fans are AU grads. read it again and a little slower …you’ll catch up.

    I grew up in Alabama and ..just like most snot-nosed kids in Alabama back then, grew up rooting for the Bear. Why did i root for Bama? ..because everyone else did. Once I got old enough to look into an education, I realized that I needed to go to Auburn. Once I got to Auburn, I realized the difference in the 2 fan bases. Bama fans consist of some snobby frat boys and arrogant rednecks that equate their football team’s success with their self esteem. Bama grads are barely equipped to stay in Alabama and hope that their college fraternity contacts will get them in business. Auburn grads are engineering, science and business leaders all over the nation. I’ve lived in Ga, Fla, Ohio and Arizona since graduation. I’ve met many AU grads and hardly any UAT grads. When I go over to my lake cabin in No. Alabama, I see tons of Bama flags flying in the trailer parks and ball caps on the heads of most every patron in Waffle House.

    I guess since that’s all you got going for you…you should indeed keep worshiping Nick $aban.

    1. auburn is in Alabama? most people (myself included) thought it was in west georgia. hmmm imagine that, learn something new everyday.

    2. It is obvious that Hoopie is stereotyping and buying into the anti-Bama propaganda that Auburn fans (and the administration at Auburn) has been pushing for years. I have heard the same old story, verbatim, from many other so called Auburn fans that say “I used to root for Bama, until I seen the light and it is Auburn”.
      I can tell you Hoopie, I know how the Auburn fan base is. I come form a family that has deep Auburn roots, and has buildings at Auburn named after them. The methods and lies I was told from an early age from these people about my preference for Bama showed me a lot about the character and insecurities of true blue Auburn supporters. My dad was a huge Bama fan. I chose to root for Bama for a lot of the same reasons he did. Bama was a National powerhouse under Bryant, and won a lot of games. Bryant had a powerful influence to people in this state, and he will always be remembered as one of the greatest college coaches ever.
      No lies, deceit, or jealousy of Auburn was ever involved in that decision. But the hate coming from members of my own family because of it is senseless and petty. These people are so full of hate toward Alabama fans in general. They are paranoid and insecure. I don’t care who gave what money to Auburn, and I don’t feel the need to have to be loyal to such a cult like way of thinking.
      I don’t have a degree from Alabama, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have the right to support and root for the team that I have loved since the day I was born.
      But to say that Auburn grads are better than Bama grads is just another way you show your petty and unnecessary biased point of view, that somehow, someway, Auburn is just superior to Alabama. You just have to believe that, because that is the way you Auburn folks are groomed to be.

      This is about FOOTBALL, and Bama has just had a lot more success over time than Auburn has. Since you resent this fact so much, you come here and try to put yourself up on this pedestal and look down on Bama, and the fanbase. All you are doing is showing us that you act exactly like what you are accusing Bama grads (and fans) of doing. So, the next time I ride by the Auburn trailer parks, the cow pastures, and see the skoal dipping Auburn fans dressed up in blackface and Klan robes, I will be wondering which one is you.

  16. Poor Hoopie,

    Has to justify being an AU fan to the whole Bama nation on a blog. Hey dipshit, you call me a liar? I’ve lived in fucking 6 different states (3 on the Left Coast) and NOBODY has either heard of Auburn or VERY LITTLE of them. Guess what Hoopie the Liar?! My social contacts include doctors, lawyers, engineers, AND FARMERS. Nice try with your lying, bullshit “War Eagle” moments that you guys try to market through cheap billboards and fictionalized books & commercials. I will say, though, you people are the most backwards, Old South, prejudiced, hypocritical, lying pieces of shit this side of the Mason Dixon line. You guys love your African-Americans as long as they can score TD’s or pick cotton. What is the African-American population at AU? Less than 5%!!

    You white trash graduates from that Podunk trash Auburn University were so thrilled to see “your colored girl” (according to a female Auburn graduate) when an Oscar, but she wouldn’t have won the Oscar if the novel had not been written by a UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA GRADUATE.

    Get off your high horse, you sack of shit. Stop acting like the typical, hypocritical, lying, conspiracy theorist Auburn fan. You are not a Christian, and neither are any of the lying, sack of shit hypocrites from Auburn University who post on this site. You’re not defending Auburn because their history cannot be defended with all the past cheating and current cheating. STOP the cheating. Demand a clean University academically and athletically, and we might start seeing the usefulness of Auburn University as something more than a backwoods, land grant, agricultural University.

    Now, go cry to your racist Auburn farmers how it’s not fair Governor Bentley is sending the “brown people” (according to another Auburn graduate) back to Mexico. Guess that means you’ll have to start paying people decent wages

  17. Any idiot who seriously thinks Georgia is less redneck than Alabama because “Atlanta” encompasses a major portion of the state is drinking a lot of Kool-Aid

    1. Dude,

      Bammer is the redneckest of the rednecks in NCAA. Just look around when you are at a Bammer game!

  18. VOL,

    You’ve obviously never been to a Tennessee game with those prejudiced remarks you are projecting on a subset of the population.

  19. RC explaining to indy vile that his redneck remarks are bigoted is a lost cause. He obviously doesnt understand the complex social issues that keep its disgusting existence in this nation alive. In fact I would bet he’s good friends with the same good black folk that hoo “some of my best friends are black”pie enjoys boasting about

  20. What’s even funnier that even on a basic level, it’s completely stupid to think that a state that hosts country music tourist sites and Oprys is less redneck than Alabama

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