PF on Simpson case and Shula

[DKW 86 7,425]

http://www.al.com/sports/mobileregister/pf...6230.xml&coll=3

Fans care about wins, not honor

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Alabama linebacker Juwan Simpson walked out of court essentially a free man the other day, his lawyer grinning from ear to ear while talking out of both sides of his mouth, and the Tide Nation rejoiced.

Whew! That was a close one, some said. We almost lost our best defensive player for the season. Can't have that while we're fighting hopelessly to keep up with Auburn and trying to prevent the phrase "Fear the Thumb" from becoming as common this November as "Happy Thanksgiving."

Forget the obvious black eye Simpson's arrest and subsequent controversy has caused the Alabama football program. As long as Simpson and his high-priced mouthpiece found a way to cannily navigate the legal system, all was well again in the land. Or was it?

Mike Shula has yet to chime in (he was out on a cruise ship this week with adoring Tide fans) on whether he'll severely discipline the star linebacker or slap him silly with a wet noodle. However, based on Shula's recent track record, Simpson will probably be allowed only two scoops of ice cream instead of three at Bama's first team meal when summer practice convenes in August. Worse yet, Simpson might be forced to miss the first three September scrimmages of the season against Hawaii, Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Monroe.

Shula probably figures if one can cunningly skate the legal system, why not the Alabama code of conduct as well.

Or he could steal a page from Pat Dye's old handbook (remember Jeff Burger) and suspend Simpson for the first play of the opening game.

Al Davis, the famed owner of the Oakland Raiders, said it best many moons ago:

Just win, baby.

Just win.

It still holds true today.

Fans don't care if Alabama has Juwan Simpson wearing crimson on Saturday or O.J. Simpson. What's the difference, as long as the Tide rolls?

Fans don't care if the quarterback is John Parker Wilson or Johnny Walker Wilson. Just win, baby.

Just win.

Does it matter if the program cheats? Not really, as long as it doesn't get caught. And if it does, the answer isn't remorse or repentance. Instead, the fans scream, "Everybody else does it and isn't penalized, so why are we?"

Fans just want a level playing field and hope their team can skirt the rules.

Fans answer a question about their own team's discipline problems by bringing up an issue elsewhere, as many Alabama fans have done this week by piteously pointing to the Trey Blackmon story on the Plains. What a sorry sign of the times when Tide fans seem obsessed with what is happening at Auburn instead of demanding excellence and integrity in their own program.

By the way, none of this should come as a big shock. College football has been unscrupulous for many years. It's always been a sham.

Unfortunately, the fans of all schools just keep getting worse. There was a time when alumni cared more about what kind of young men were representing their sacred university on Saturday afternoon. Now, the bottom line is winning at all costs.

In this respect, college football mirrors society, whether it's big business or politics. There is no civil discourse anymore in the world of politics. If you're a Democrat, then you hear George Bush is a criminal and his henchmen (Cheney, Rummy and Condi) are staging an illegal, immoral and inept war in Iraq.

If you're a Republican, you hear Democrats want us to lose the war, cheer at the sight of tortured and mutilated soldiers and are no more patriotic than the leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

However, it's amusing when fans talk about how much they care about whether Auburn's Tommy Tuberville or Shula are running clean programs with good citizens.

This is college football, people.

In the South, it's tantamount to war.

There aren't 10 people out there who honestly care whether these athletes ever see the inside of a classroom. Frankly, few fans really care about what the players are doing between the end of one game and the beginning of the next, as long as it stays under the rug and off the radar screen.

This isn't to paint a broad brush that every football player is a thug. There are exceptions to every rule. All I'm saying is that we need to quit acting like these young people are something they are not. They are interchangeable pieces of big jigsaw puzzle called college football.

Fans don't care about the individuals. They only care about the color of the uniform being worn and the insignia on the helmet being represented. That's how some determine their manhood.

Oh, every once in awhile there is that special player we all collectively fall in love with, like Shaun Alexander or Cadillac Williams. But they are few and far between. As soon as most players have seen their last game, fans have already forgotten them and are salivating on the Internet over the next five-star stud who hopefully will lead Alabama or Auburn to the Promised Land.

Nothing wrong with that; let's just be honest about it. Let's not feign concern about their well-being when we don't give a rip. Let's not act like we really care whether they drive down the freeway with stolen guns in their car and illegal dope in the ashtrays. We don't care unless they're heading right toward us in the other lane.

Collectively, as football fans, we care about one thing and one thing only:

Just win, baby.

Just win.

PF is quoting a few people here. The "Just Win Baby" has been used on this forum numerous times. Funny, but if you call in this PM you will never hear him say this kind of stuff out loud. He will whitewash the Tide and slam as per the norm. If Gallion were to call in he would deny saying everything you just read.

I think that we are not like this. Maybe I am wrong. But I hope that you folks feel like I do that the impact of CTT, Chette Williams, and Wes Yeary is better than anything on the field. At Auburn, you either live the Creed or you dont. Most schools dont even have a Creed. I am looking at mine over my desk even now.

Do I want to win, YES!

We are not the Oakland Raiders...even though we may have looked like them during the CTB years.

We are also not Vanderbilt either.

We are somewhere in between and I like that. I hope we care more about the player than just about the win column.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Man you are CRAZY. He's been WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY harder on Bama than AU since Shula stepped foot in Ttown. "The norm" for the last 3 years has been for PF to absolutely HAMMER Bama on his show.

The fact that you have yet to realize that shows how you see things.

[DKW 86 7,425]

No, BG, I am talking about other things too. Wait on PM.

[WarTim 3,456]

On rare occasions, pondscum is right on the money. He is right about uat on this one. This kid could have done MUCH worse and STILL have gotten off without any trouble in west vance. flipper knows he can be put in that dark pink fryin' pan in a hurry. Win at all cost...it fits west vance to a "T".

[AUesquire 1]

BG, I ask for an honest, unbiased opinion here. Given that Finebaum's show is NOT about reporting the news or journalistic integrity and ADMITTEDLY is about shock value, schtick etc., which school has had far more to talk about in recent years?

You can only mention the "Ill fated trip to Louisville" 3-4000 times before it wears thin. Other than that, what kind of fodder has CTT and the Auburn program really given PF the opportunity to rip? Now, look at Alabama and the past decade. I'm not even attempting a flame here when I say that it has almost been comical what has transpired at the Capstone in recent years. Alabama, it's coaches, players, fans, boosters, administration etc. has been lobbing Finebaum softball after softball for years with no end in sight.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Esquire...the difference is that he's MUCH harsher on bama even when its unwarranted. Just like he wanted to give Shula ZERO credit for this past season...after 3 years of saying how sorry he was.

PF never gives UA the benefit of the doubt and is such a smug prick when it comes to his opinions. He'll get AU going but usually lays off pretty quickly.

PF is hard on both programs...for ratings only. He's MUCH more critical than he is positive about either school. He may have changed...i stopped listening about a year ago.

[AUesquire 1]

No, he hasn't changed.

It's still the exact same format with the same cast of characters. I think that as an Auburn fan, I get just as riled up when he starts in on us and feel like he rips us harder than anyone. One day last offseason, he started his show with a totally unfounded rumor that USC had asked AU for a game and AU turned them down. His "Source" was "Word has it out of Auburn"......

The next 4 hours were PF and a barrage of callers tearing CTT and Auburn a new one about how they were hypocrits and wussed out of the game. The problem is...when there's nothing to rip a school about, he'll just make something up. Bama has just given him far more to go off on than we have in recent times.

[SouthLink02 8]

I think I can give an unbiased opinion here. I do listen to Finebaum sometimes on the Internet AND I do read his articles at times when posted here.

It seems to me he puts down UA/AU the same.

He just goes on these weekly/monthly binges of one school then switches to another.

He has gone off on Tubs it seems every week before 2004. Then again, he seems to always be teeing off on Shula now.

I don't think he favors one team over the other.

If AU keeps winning though, Bama will be mocked the most.

The loser will feel it from PF.

[tombigbeetiger 223]

i don't listen to finesperm sice sports call can be accessed on the internet,nor do i listen to any afternoon shows on WJOXSUX......if i had to choose the lesser of two evils(which i don't have to do) i would listen to finesperm before i would listen to anything that the jackasses on JOX blathers out.....ray melick should be castered

[freebody 0]

"The norm" for the last 3 years has been for PF to absolutely HAMMER Bama on his show.

He may have changed...i stopped listening about a year ago.

243460[/snapback]

So, which is it?

[WarTim 3,456]

"The norm" for the last 3 years has been for PF to absolutely HAMMER Bama on his show.

He may have changed...i stopped listening about a year ago.

243460[/snapback]

So, which is it?

243737[/snapback]

[WinCrimson 61]

I used to listen to him. Now, I've gotten to tired of the clowns that call in...

He goes off on too many tangents for me as well. From celebrity babies to politics.... I want to hear about SEC sports on his show, not Angelina Jolie or George Bush.

JMHO