BAMMERPERRY 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 http://tidesports.com/article/20070412/NEW...1067/SPORTS0106 CECIL HURT: Saban knows his agenda He’s brash. He’s outspoken. He shoots straight from the hip and doesn’t mind what he hits. He’s smart enough to know what his agenda is, and how to work it, and if that stirs up a national controversy, then he’s not going to shy away from it. Don Imus? Forget about it. Imus is a crusty old fellow who is working in a hey-listen-to-me attention-grabbing medium, talk radio. He’s doing it pretty well, if the eye-popping salary and revenue-generation figures in Wednesday’s New York Times are correct. The Times says that Imus makes $10 million and generates up to $560 million in advertising revenue for his various corporate bosses. That sounds like a good deal all around to me, although Myles Brand probably doesn’t see it that way. But sometimes Imus isn’t too smart. This week is an example. His well-documented comments about Rutgers’ women’s basketball team were foolish, but they were designed to push some buttons in his audience. That’s what a talk-radio host does. Usually, when those buttons gets pushed, it generates a little street talk, or a few angry phone calls, and that’s entertainment. This time, Imus happened to push a politically incorrect button that was attached to a keg of dynamite, and his effusive apologies were nothing more than an attempt to blow out a burning fuse ignited by the whole clumsy incident. Personally, I like my media manipulators to be more subtle. That’s why, in a certain detached way, I enjoy watching Nick Saban work. The Alabama football coach hasn’t quite grabbed as many headlines as Imus this week, but he hasn’t done too badly for himself. He’s been the topic of big spreads on the Sports Illustrated and CBS Sportsline Web sites. (The Sporting News wrote about him, too, but did it with the worn-out “Alabama fans are so crazy" angle that rendered the story unreadable.) Stuart Mandel at SI predicted big things from Saban’s Alabama teams, but also called Saban “a jerk." A few state columnists called him worse. Saban’s latest transgression has been the limited access to the practice field, coupled with his occasional bluster at his press conferences. Now, I’m a media member, too. I like to watch the team I’m assigned to cover at practice. I’ve seen more Alabama scrimmages than any newspaper reporter still on the beat, by a long shot. I like being able to call the head coach at 1 a.m. and get an answer to a pressing question. I’m not going to discuss precisely the level of access I do or do not have, but I like having it. But I’m also paid to watch and analyze people and their behavior. In that sense, I’m less concerned with what Saban has specifically done in terms of practice access, and more concerned with figuring out why he has done it. I’m less inclined to complain about the parameters I have to work with and more inclined to figure out why those parameters are structured the way they are. Don Imus didn’t call Rutgers’ basketball players “nappy-headed hos" out of vitriolic racism. He did it to elicit a reaction. He simply got more of a reaction than he wanted for an off-hand comment. Nick Saban is doing the same thing, but far more cleverly. He isn’t making reporters jump through hoops because he can’t afford a ticket to the circus. He’s doing it to elicit a reaction and, in this case, I think a lot of people are giving him precisely the reaction he wants, without even realizing it. It’s a common characteristic of large, entrenched institutions to misunderstand how they are perceived by the public. The NCAA is the greatest extant example of this outside of Washington, D.C. But the media sometimes doesn’t get it, either. The media thinks that because it gives information to the public, the public is therefore on the side of media members. Maybe that was so, 30 or 40 years ago. But it’s not so any more. I think Saban has figured that out, or understands it intuitively. I think he knows that the more he makes the media howl, the more a large portion of his core constituency -- Alabama fans -- like to hear the howling. I don’t think that’s just the rabid football fan, either. I think there is a certain pleasure taken in some pretty high places when someone gripes about Saban and his control issues. Additionally, the more criticism Saban gets over issues like practice access -- and, particularly, the more vicious that criticism becomes -- the more it inoculates him against valid criticism on coaching issues. If Stuart Mandel, the SI writer (who wrote a very good piece, overall) calls Saban a jerk during the season, how much weight will it carry when he’s already called Saban a jerk 15 times in the preseason? So excuse me if I don’t get all worked up over Don Imus and the controversy that he has inadvertently created. It’s far more fascinating to watch Nick Saban create controversy -- and realize that he knows exactly what he is doing. Cecil Hurt is sports editor of the Tuscaloosa News. Reach him at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0225 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saniflush 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I can't count how many plants my father has every year. That is why I don't plant any myself. He will start having tomatoes by the middle of May and won't stop having them till the first frost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMMERPERRY 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 I can't count how many plants my father has every year. That is why I don't plant any myself. He will start having tomatoes by the middle of May and won't stop having them till the first frost. I've got twenty out right now. 10 Early Girl, which are medium sized but produce greatly through August, and 10 Celebrity. Also have some ones that are just seedlings now for late season. Hard to beat a fresh garden tomato! Thankfully, mine are full of blooms and have little tomatoes all over them now. That cold spell last week was sceery, but I live in the Panhandle and it didn't get them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc4tigers 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I can't count how many plants my father has every year. That is why I don't plant any myself. He will start having tomatoes by the middle of May and won't stop having them till the first frost. I've got twenty out right now. 10 Early Girl, which are medium sized but produce greatly through August, and 10 Celebrity. Also have some ones that are just seedlings now for late season. Hard to beat a fresh garden tomato! Thankfully, mine are full of blooms and have little tomatoes all over them now. That cold spell last week was sceery, but I live in the Panhandle and it didn't get them. you just posted a reply to a hijack for your very own thread.....what a bammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterinbham 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 We moved last July, and are waiting to see what the new yard does before we do wholesale landscaping. That being said, we typically plant about ten tomato plants. My wife likes to vary them up, however, with several cherry tomatoes, a beefsteak or two, and miscellaneous plants. Nothing really tastes better than a tomato grown out of your own garden, wouldn't you agree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tigrinum Major Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I haven't set my plants out yet. I lost my corn and butterbeans in the cold snap, so I am making sure that we are done with bad weather before I invest in a few Better Boys, Romas and a special hybird developed in Randolph County that remains a family secret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bammanmr 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 i used to grow 3 or 4 'better boy' plants for my wife each year, but stopped a couple of years ago. this far north if you have tom. ready for picking by july 4th you're doing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesfau 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 but I live in the Panhandle and it didn't get them. You're not that guy they caught molesting goats up in Mossy Head, are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bama Possum 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I haven't set my plants out yet. I lost my corn and butterbeans in the cold snap, so I am making sure that we are done with bad weather before I invest in a few Better Boys, Romas and a special hybird developed in Randolph County that remains a family secret. Isn't that where Matt Groenig got the idea for "Tomacco" on The Simpsons? If it is from around Wadley, you might be growing "Tomarito Sativa" version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tigrinum Major Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I also like to make my own "Clamato" juice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesfau 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I also like to make my own "Clamato" juice. How hard is it to juice a clam? You're welcome for the setup... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tigrinum Major Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 You have to squeeze 'em real hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUesquire 1 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I have a V8 every morning and I love ketchup. That's as close to a tomato as I want to get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesfau 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 You have to squeeze 'em real hard. Do you juice wild clams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tigrinum Major Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 Only pond raised ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUesquire 1 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I left my harp in Sam Clam's Disco. Sorry, all this talk about clams reminded me of a really bad, old joke with the punch line sung to the tune of "I left my heart in San Francisco" Please, carry on.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickerman97 3 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I've got twenty out right now. 10 Early Girl, which are medium sized but produce greatly through August, and 10 Celebrity. Also have some ones that are just seedlings now for late season. Hard to beat a fresh garden tomato! Thankfully, mine are full of blooms and have little tomatoes all over them now. That cold spell last week was sceery, but I live in the Panhandle and it didn't get them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMMERPERRY 0 Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 I can't count how many plants my father has every year. That is why I don't plant any myself. He will start having tomatoes by the middle of May and won't stop having them till the first frost. I've got twenty out right now. 10 Early Girl, which are medium sized but produce greatly through August, and 10 Celebrity. Also have some ones that are just seedlings now for late season. Hard to beat a fresh garden tomato! Thankfully, mine are full of blooms and have little tomatoes all over them now. That cold spell last week was sceery, but I live in the Panhandle and it didn't get them. you just posted a reply to a hijack for your very own thread.....what a bammer No, ya see, I hijacked it BEFORE someone else did! I grew some Grape Tomatoes last year, wasn't real impressed. Also growing some Super Boys by seed this year. I'l let you know how they turn out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterinbham 0 Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 You have to squeeze 'em real hard. Where are their nipples? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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