At What Point...

I live in the South. The DEEP South.  Middle of Alabama.  Here, it's a whole different world. Here, the religion is SEC Football.  If you don't eat it, sleep it, breathe it, something's wrong with you.  Well, something's wrong with me.  Something's wrong with my wife, even worse. She can't even stand to see a football game on the TV.  I can watch it, but I don't buy in to all the fanaticism that comes with it. 
I don't yearn to go out to my local sports pub and scream at the giant 2000 inch TV's with 500 other people. I don't gather with my Bama friends or Tiger friends to watch "the big game".  I'm perfectly content with letting the game go by.  I may on occasion put it on one of the games I'd like to see the outcome of and watch here and there, or drop by a friend's house and watch with them. That's about the extent of my "fandom" of football.
I tease and pick with my friends who are big time fans, quoting "mama" from the movie "Waterboy" with Adam Sandler calling it 'that foozball'.  Even been known a time or two to utter "that foozball is the devil".  Just my way of having a bit of fun. Fortunately my friends know me well enough that they don't take offense. Most of them even get a laugh or join in.  Truth is, yes, I do know a bit about football. I played a little in Jr. High School. I moved to a bigger school and didn't make the cut, but I wound up being the photographer for a while for the school and got to go to a lot of the games for that reason.  But I'm still not a wild raging fan.

Which brings me to my main point. The Iron Bowl. What the south deems should be a National Holiday where nobody does nothing but sit and watch the Gridiron with their friends and nothing else.  Paul "Bear" Bryant should have been some holy man and revered as such. Nick Saban is the proverbial saviour of the Alabama fans.  He's a good coach. I'd say a great coach. I don't study football so I can't give you quotes on stats and all that jive, but having 2 National trophies in 3 years, and coaching a team that pretty much leveled anyone that stepped on the field with them for the past 3 years, yeah, I'd say he's a great coach.

Last night, November 30, 2013 was the Iron Bowl. Alabama Crimson Tide vs. The Auburn Tigers, War Eagle. Most people I knew thought The Tide would destroy Auburn. Last year the Auburn coach was fired due to lack of performance in his team, and everyone know it would spell the downfall for Auburn this year. The typical bashing comments like "oh, this will be a rebuilding year for them" and "well they won't do much because they have to get to know each other this year" were tossed out like mad. With a record so far for 2013 of 11 wins, 1 loss, even though there were a few very near defeats, I'd say they rebuilt fast and hard.  The last couple games (including the Iron Bowl) a fantastic last minute play that won the game for them.  Call it luck, call it talent, call it whatever. A win in the books is a win. Period.
Gus Malzahn, the current head coach for Auburn, has done a great job, and I think he definitely deserves credit.  He did what seems no other coach has been able to do, and that's defeat the great Saban.

Here comes our trouble.  I think the Tide has become too over confident. They got too cocky. They've rolled over almost everyone and they came in thinking the Iron Bowl was going to be a breeze.  There's discord among the players, the fans, the coach, the students in worrying that Saban is going to move to Texas. There's disconcert in that Mrs. Saban says they're not getting proper respect. They're under appreciated. People are leaving the games before the end of the game. The seats are being filled like they're supposed to.  Well, that's because Alabama has become that good.  If I know by the 3rd quarter that Alabama is going to beat the opposing team by 35 points, then yeah, I'm going to go ahead and head home to beat the crowds.  If I knew Alabama was going to beat Chattanooga 49-0, then why would I want to drive down from Chattanooga to Tuscaloosa to watch it? Meh, I'll just hear about it tomorrow. Why pay such a crazy price for a ticket when I'm pretty sure I know the outcome already and it's not in my team's favor? 
So yeah. Bama got drama. Auburn has been doing well all season, but keeping quiet and being humble from my perspective. 

Last nights meeting was epic in my opinion.  Both teams had some GREAT plays. Both teams had some mess ups. THE. BETTER. TEAM. WON.  Period.  I loathe to hear excuses of "well we just weren't at our best last night" and "well we should have been better..."  If you're not at your best, why are you on the field?  Accept that you guys did what you could with humility, and work harder next time.  There's no shame in defeat. If we never lost, we'd never learn. No. Nobody likes losing. But last night, when it literally came down to 1 second, I'd say Bama has nothing to be ashamed of.  In all honesty, maybe Saban should feel a bit bad because he fought that one second so hard and made the call to kick a field goal instead of letting AJ try one last pass and go in to 5th Quarter.  That the final is in, the game is over, look to next game now.

Now I've been on Facebook last night and this morning. Bama fans refusing to acknowledge the victory to the better team of the night. Refusing to admit an SEC team OTHER than Bama won and is going forward. Reports of DEATH THREATS via Twitter and other social media to Cade Foster, the Alabama placekicker.  Really folks? This is what your fanaticism has wrought? And people wonder why I despise the sport so much.  Families divided. Families split over the rivalry. FIGHTS ensue. Fans destroying things (See: Harvey Updike, Toomer's). Fans that teabag other fans when opportunity arises. If you don't know about that or know what teabagging is, I leave it up to you to find out. 
Really? This is how we act when our team wins? This is how much worse we REACT when our team loses?

At what point to we stop and look at ourselves and see what we've become people? I for one, who has a passion for many things, and a deep passion for a few things which I hold dear hope that I would never react to my passions like some of the things mentioned above. And if I do, please hold me to it.
I saw a picture of Bear Bryant with a quote that says: "It’s awfully important to win with humility. It’s also important to lose. I hate to lose worse than anyone, but if you never lose you won’t know how to act. If you lose with humility, then you can come back."

I think that's one of the reasons he was one of the greatest coaches in history, and a great man overall.

For my friends who love SEC football, or football in general. Know this isn't a cut at any of you. Just an observance of behaviour. I love all my friends regardless of their opinions and decisions, and I hope they are the same with me.

Thank you drive through.