Get over yourself, Johnny Football

[Cool Hand]

The guy has amazing and super human mad skillz, but 49-42.

Kyle Field, COLLEGE STATION, TX
1 2 3 4 T
#1 ALA 7 21 14 7 49
#6 TA&M 14 0 7 21 42

And he's an asshole.

Here's how a gentleman handles victory:



CH

[punchdrunk]

"I fucked your mother last night kid. Now that I'm done fucking you, I'm going to go fuck her again."

[Grammatron]

CH, you can't compared a kid in college with an adult.

[Cool Hand]

CH, you can't compared a kid in college with an adult.

Sure you can. Saban (and Bear Bryant and many others who followed him, like Bill Curry and Gene Stallings) grooms his players to behave like good sports and gentlemen. He doesn't allow showboating or trash talking, and when his players very occasionally do it, as star running back T.J. Yeldon did on Saturday, the cameras invariably follow Coach Saban on the sidelines to watch him chew them a new asshole for doing so. He doesn't put up with that shit and spends a great deal of time explaining to all his players that that's not what Alabama football is about. It's about The Process, the Whole Person, and playing smart, head-in-the-game, do-your-job fundamental football, 60 minutes at a time, and being a good sport and a gentleman while doing it. None of those things are mutually exclusive.

Coach Saban and his players understand that. Johnny Football does not. The kid has no class.

CH

[punchdrunk]

It's about The Process, the Whole Person, and playing smart, head-in-the-game, do-your-job fundamental football, 60 minutes at a time, and being a good sport and a gentleman while doing it.

Nice speech, Knute, but you may want to take it easy on the Kool Aid.

[ed]

Football is elementally stupid. People that follow it are stupid. It is destroying the moral fabric of our country and should be outlawed. Football players should be forced to get real jobs like selling insurance door to door.

[Cool Hand]

It's about The Process, the Whole Person, and playing smart, head-in-the-game, do-your-job fundamental football, 60 minutes at a time, and being a good sport and a gentleman while doing it.

Nice speech, Knute, but you may want to take it easy on the Kool Aid.

You don't much about Nick Saban, do you? All of those phrases are ones he repeats throughout the week and especially on Saturdays in post-game interviews to the press. You can tell he drills those ideas into his coaching staff and players' heads constantly, because his players have to restrain themselves in post-game interviews. Instead of answering some softball question a reporter asks about what they were thinking when they made that incredible interception or broke 5 tackles to score a touchdown or whatever, they always answer with some variation of "I was thinking how great this team is and how lucky I am to be a part of it, because the credit really goes to my teammates, our incredible coaching staff, and our wonderful fans."

They learn how to exhibit humility and act like gentlemen and not let the focus be on "me me me." That's a tradition at Alabama that began with Bear Bryant in 1958, and it has continued and persists today. Saban gets it, and it fits his philosophy and personality perfectly. Read anything about him written by a journalist who has spent more than an hour with him, and you will see the phrase "The Process" over and over. It's his thing, and he means it. Listen carefully to post-game interviews with him, and even when Alabama has just won a great victory, often he will mention the fundamentals and how his defense made a lot of mistakes, or the O-line needs to keep their heads focused on the play, and how much they can improve and how much work they have to do. He also says "I keep reminding my guys that there's 60 minutes of game to play" a lot, especially during halftime when a sideline reporter asks how it feels to be up 28-7 at the half.

CH

[Anaxagoras]

It's about The Process, the Whole Person, and playing smart, head-in-the-game, do-your-job fundamental football, 60 minutes at a time, and being a good sport and a gentleman while doing it.

Nice speech, Knute, but you may want to take it easy on the Kool Aid.

Sounds kinda like they used to praise St. Paterno doesn't it?

Is there a statue of coach Saban on the campus square yet?

[Cool Hand]

It's about The Process, the Whole Person, and playing smart, head-in-the-game, do-your-job fundamental football, 60 minutes at a time, and being a good sport and a gentleman while doing it.

Nice speech, Knute, but you may want to take it easy on the Kool Aid.

Sounds kinda like they used to praise St. Paterno doesn't it?

Is there a statue of coach Saban on the campus square yet?

That's a pretty cheap shot.

Anyway, his record and results speak for themselves. He is an extremely driven and disciplined man, and his talents and skills happen to be focused on college football. He would likely be extraordinarily successful in many other careers or occupations.

If you really are interested, there was this terrific piece in Fortune magazine about this time last year written by a guy who spent a part of a couple of days with him, but I've lost the link to the original. You'll have to make do with the reprint available at CNN Money:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/07/news/co ... index.html

You might note that even Bill Belichick takes advice from Nick Saban.

Saban has long been recognized as having a first-rate football mind. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick -- himself the winner of a few championships -- hired Saban as his defensive coordinator when Belichick coached the Cleveland Browns in the early 1990s. He pays Saban the ultimate compliment: He copies him. "We talk on a pretty regular basis," says Belichick. "If I ask Nick a question and he says, 'Well, this is how we do it,' then I usually just cut to where he is and take that shortcut and say, 'Okay, we're going to do it this way.' I know that he's already gone through all the stages of thinking it through, and I would rather just get to the stage that he's at rather than waste the time figuring that I'm going to end up at that same point anyway."

CH

[Grammatron]

CH, I think you are indeed drinking the Kool Aid and at the same time hating on Manziel a bit much. Sure he is cocky and may have stepped over a line, but fuck man, what's the point of being that good and playing college football if you can't strut around a bit.

[Cool Hand]

CH, I think you are indeed drinking the Kool Aid and at the same time hating on Manziel a bit much. Sure he is cocky and may have stepped over a line, but fuck man, what's the point of being that good and playing college football if you can't strut around a bit.

Drinking what Kool Aid? I don't get that comment. I'm not claiming Nick Saban is god. I'm noting that Nick Saban is a gracious winner and a very driven coach and recruiter, and that he takes great care to mold his players into good citizens first. According to his philosophy, good football follows that. In that regard, he is very much following in Bear Bryant's shoes, and that is pretty close to what Bryant demanded of his players. He set the standard with regard to Alabama football being a team effort, not a showcase for breakout stars to brag or boast and for success to be attributed to team effort, not individual heroics. That tradition has continued for 55 years. It's a good tradition, in my book, and perfectly in keeping with good sportsmanship.

Manziel, on the other hand, is all about him. He doesn't give a fuck about his teammates or his team as a unit. He's there to stand out and be noticed.

As for being good or great and not, Alabama's first Heisman trophy winner Mark Ingram was about as talented and skilled a running back as the NCAA has seen in the past 25 years (post Hershel Walker), and he didn't strut or rub it in anyone's nose. He actually cried tears of joy and surprise when he won the Heisman. He's a tough guy, but his mama raised him right, and he always gave credit to his teammates and his coaching staff (and the fans too) when he made outstanding plays and had great games. Always.

Johnny Manziel is a phenomenon. No question about it. I've never seen anyone as well rounded as him and also quick and able to scramble as he does (how the fuck does he keep breaking tackles and sacks when any mere mortal would be down?) and make incredible, nearly impossible passes off the wrong foot that connect and are caught 45 yards down field as he does. I give him full credit for that. I just don't care for his personality.

I like how low key A.J. McCarron is by contrast. Notice how he echoes Coach Saban's views and approach in all his post game interviews. He is a good student of Saban and gets how to be an Alabama football team player. Coach Bryant would have been proud to have A.J. as his QB.

Hey, I grew up with Alabama football since I was old enough to crawl. It's in my blood. I'm biased, but not blind. And I hate it when Bama players fuck up and are selfish and taunt the crowd on the road or the opposing team, just as T.J. Yeldon did on Saturday. It cost his team 15 yards in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. That shit doesn't fly at Alabama, and I'm very disappointed in him. Up until then, he had played outstanding football and contributed far more than his share to Bama's successes over the past two seasons (he's only a true sophomore). Costing your team 15 yards for a preventable penalty is stupid and selfish. I'm sure his teammates were pissed too. He pissed on their efforts and achievements when he did that.

CH

[Anaxagoras]

That's a pretty cheap shot.

You're right. I sorry. I didn't mean to imply that he is guilty in any way of the same things as Paterno. It's just about the way that some football coaches are practically deified by their fans. In Paterno's case someone even painted a mural of him with a halo, like he was some kind of saint. And there were plenty of fawning profiles about him in the press too.

Anyway, his record and results speak for themselves. He is an extremely driven and disciplined man, and his talents and skills happen to be focused on college football. He would likely be extraordinarily successful in many other careers or occupations.

If you really are interested, there was this terrific piece in Fortune magazine about this time last year written by a guy who spent a part of a couple of days with him, but I've lost the link to the original. You'll have to make do with the reprint available at CNN Money:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/07/news/co ... index.html

You might note that even Bill Belichick takes advice from Nick Saban.

Saban has long been recognized as having a first-rate football mind. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick -- himself the winner of a few championships -- hired Saban as his defensive coordinator when Belichick coached the Cleveland Browns in the early 1990s. He pays Saban the ultimate compliment: He copies him. "We talk on a pretty regular basis," says Belichick. "If I ask Nick a question and he says, 'Well, this is how we do it,' then I usually just cut to where he is and take that shortcut and say, 'Okay, we're going to do it this way.' I know that he's already gone through all the stages of thinking it through, and I would rather just get to the stage that he's at rather than waste the time figuring that I'm going to end up at that same point anyway."

CH

It sounds like he is very good at his job. Again, I didn't mean to cast aspersions about his character.

[WildCat]

Football is elementally stupid. People that follow it are stupid. It is destroying the moral fabric of our country and should be outlawed. Football players should be forced to get real jobs like selling insurance door to door.

Your college team sucks, eh?

[Cool Hand]

Johnny Football's being a mere mortal began to show yesterday at College Station when Auburn stopped his ass and beat him and his Aggies at their home field (so much for that 12th man). He looked like he was crying after Auburn defensive end Dee Ford (6'2", 240lb.) nailed him for a big sack on the last drive, and on the very next play chased Manziel down from behind and tackled him carrying the ball rushing.

Texas A&M goes down again in 2013, at home, to a better football team from Alabama. Fuck you, Johnny.



CH

[Grammatron]

You sure told him?

[Doctor X]

Hey, look, playing Apocalypse in 9/8 on the drums in my tighty-whities clearly compelled the Tigers to load the bases and Shane Victorino to hit a Grand Slam . . . so . . . like . . . SCIENCE!!!

--J.D.

P.S. Why, when lecturing on religions, I use sports analogies--we really think we have an influence on The Game.

[Cool Hand]

You sure told him?

No, just happy to see him get his comeuppance. The guy is slippery as hell in the pocket, but Auburn's defense sacked him twice. Them's good eatin'.

CH

[Grammatron]

You sure told him?

No, just happy to see him get his comeuppance. The guy is slippery as hell in the pocket, but Auburn's defense sacked him twice. Them's good eatin'.

CH

Comeuppances for what?

[Cool Hand]

You sure told him?

No, just happy to see him get his comeuppance. The guy is slippery as hell in the pocket, but Auburn's defense sacked him twice. Them's good eatin'.

CH

Comeuppances for what?

He's a dick, or haven't you heard or read any talk about him as a person? He's sort of the modern day version of Broadway Joe, only with any of the charm or charisma.

CH

[Grammatron]

You sure told him?

No, just happy to see him get his comeuppance. The guy is slippery as hell in the pocket, but Auburn's defense sacked him twice. Them's good eatin'.

CH

Comeuppances for what?

He's a dick, or haven't you heard or read any talk about him as a person? He's sort of the modern day version of Broadway Joe, only with any of the charm or charisma.

CH

That sums up most college athletes in Division I.

The fact that this dude got under your skin is hilarious.