Curse the SEC

I love Tuesdays. In the news world it is usually the most boring day of the week. Now, being as my Monday and Tuesdays are more like Saturdays and Sundays, I had nothing better to do last Tuesday than listen to some good music, clean my room- and discover. The cover.

With voodoo dolls and a "Curse the SEC" proclamation, ESPN magazine's college football preview is asking, "can someone please take down college football's most dominant conference?"

Less than a month till kick off, and this is what finally does it. And by "it" I mean this gets the blood pumping, the adrenaline flowing and I realize ladies and gentleman- it's here. Every reason why I love college football is right here.

After several rants, in my head, on social media and once more in my head, I realized I couldn't be happier that ESPN did this. Curse the SEC? Well, you can certainly try. In fact I wouldn't be a part of the SEC if I didn't chuckle at this. For years the SEC has already faced the brunt of anti-SECism. But now, instead of being confined to just conversations, back of the internet blogs and young 20-something frat guys bickering in bars or Skip Bayless needlessly speaking when he takes a break from Tebow- this sentiment has gone "mainstream" finally gracing the cover of ESPN Magazine. AND- my favorite- it's complete with the statement at the bottom "We're talking to you, Trojans"... 

Gag me now.

ESPN officially does not care about transparency.

Every year, fans and media go off intangibles to try to define a season ahead. But without hesitation, before the first whistle even blew I already bet that USC will not make it to a National Championship this year. Sorry to disappoint, ESPN, or any of the other college football fans who are insulted by my confidence. A confidence that has only a little to do with where I come from and everything to do with going against what Alabama Football's fearless leader believes. (I'm sorry Nick Saban, my distaste for Lane Kiffin was overpowering).

We don't know who will get hurt in the season, we don't know who is going to pull a jackass moment and get caught with drugs [at the time of this writing Tyrone Mathieu had not been dismissed- but it goes to show you], DUI's or heaven forbid another sex scandal. Or for those of you who like the glass half-full mentality, we don't know if a break-out star will just unleash come November. We just don't know.

Right now, all we have is that the SEC still has the top two teams in preseason rankings, but Nick Saban will tell you why that doesn't matter worth a shit.

"All these predictions that you all make, they hijack the game,"he said the morning of UA's 2012 Fan Day.

Yes, Saban was talking to the media and maybe for the love of the lord ESPN is taking notes. Especially when he added, "All anybody worries about in college football is the BCS, who's going to be in the final game. We have a lot of great games.... Michigan is going to be a great game, The Arkansas game, Tennessee game, LSU, Auburn. I could go through every game on our schedule and say how exciting a game this is going to be."

Which brings me to my next point.

Time and time again, despite intangibles, there are things we can count on to impact seasons in their entirety. Defense wins championships, and strength of schedule still significantly matters in a system where hundreds of schools are competing for one prize. If you don't compete against the best, then what makes you feel like you deserve to be the best?

And that's why the SEC still gets the win in my mind. Depth is at one of its greatest strengths at Alabama this year. At LSU? Well, their returners are potent with talent that has already taken them through a strong season last year. And they're hungry.

Alabama has a strong pulse of energy to be defined as anything but complacent, and even after winning a National Championship last year, the tone of the season rests on who-ever steps up in leadership positions and reminds them they are not the team of the past and Tuscaloosa wants to make history in 2013. It also rests on the return of a more mature QB, and an O-line that haunts nightmares. (If I had a nickel for every time I heard, "Good lord Fluker's huge" at Fan day...)
 

There goes some of the reasons people hate SEC fans, and if you're one of those haters, please I beg you just try to finish reading (although I know finishing is hard for some of you). Welp, probably lost a few readers there, but in all seriousness I realize I am a lucky son of a you-know-what to go to school where I go to school, when I go to school. (Roll Tide) I also realize what its like to be on the other side of this argument of passion. I am a Red Sox fan and yes, the Yankees a lot of time are just better. But keep your Alabama, Yankee comparisons to purely win-loss comparison. (Class and respect are things the Yankees don't have and Alabama and the SEC does).

Each conference is full of teams that can boast characteristics making their place to play football, "the best". Ralphie's run on the field is still a source of pride for CU fans- as it should be, and hook em horns (gah it hurts to type) will always be a hand gesture embodying the Texas spirit. There are traditions that make ESPNU's "Never Graduate" hit home at every college campus and the SEC is no different. Yet, every college football fan that comes to an SEC game at Alabama makes the same comment. "I've never seen anything like this." And its usually followed by deeply appreciated moments of silence as the person takes in as much as they can from the scene.

And thats why, when I heard what ESPN Soccernet's Susie Schaaf posted in her blog, I couldn't help but apply it to the SEC.

"Mia san Mia. It's a Bavarian phrase used by Bayern that translates as "We are who we are". It's somewhat akin to the Manc phrase I've seen on banners this year, "Not arrogant. Just better." We are two, insanely proud, universally loved by their fans - and hated by everyone else, clubs with long, storied traditions."

Don't get jealous, get even, and to do that you're going to need a lot more than a pass spread offense with a less than moral-driven coach and a California quarterback.

I'm not saying there won't be a time when the SEC isn't on top. But that time isn't now, and if you ask any serious fan in Dixie, they'll tell you they hope to never see the day when the SEC is overtaken. But the beautiful thing I hope I can speak on behalf of all SEC fans in saying, is when that time does come, if an opponent meets an SEC team on the gridiron, the only way we will accept defeat is to a worthy opponent whose performance is as respectful as ours, both to the game, to the fans and to the legacy of college football which is so proudly protected under southern skies.

Until then, we're not arrogant. Just better, and its literally a fact.

When you produce running backs in a time honored brotherhood whose unspoken traits are consistently; perseverance, physicality, pugnacious fervor to take something head on, and the undeniably SEC will to never be denied....

When your stadium erupts when linebacker's names come across the jumbotron...

When your fans have nothing else to live and breathe for than football- or so it seems every Saturday....

When being a part of your program, even as a fan isn't all glitz but sometimes its a craziness you must accept. When you have fans who show up to a public practice over 72 hours early and camp out for the chance to be first in the stadium for the past five Fan Days...

When your schools never rush the field after a win, because winning is what you came to do and acting like you've never won before says more than the score does... and that's when the southerners say, "Oh bless their heart, they're rushin the field."

When ladies wear dresses, pearls and full make up and curls, and the men wear slacks, polos or even suits to games like its time to go to church. Because football is a religion that doesn't discriminate based on anything but color of jersey and because the respect for this game is more than just cheering, its a tradition that stems from something much bigger than seeing one year in the winner's circle.

You might find my prose dripping with everything that makes the SEC despicable to you. But when your school does all that I just mentioned, then you may know what it means to be in the SEC and what it feels like to have a mantra that is often mistaken for arrogance. To have fans who are often mistaken for elitists. What you are really seeing is a pride that comes from respecting what sacrifice is, and while every team this season comes from adversity, has it's troubles, and makes it's compromises no matter their conference- SEC teams are filling their fall camps with the mentality that nothing is born out of being good, but everything is born in the sacrifice to be great.

Here's what I say to all SEC fans insulted by the lack of professional journalism ESPN showed in their recent magazine cover. Targets on SEC backs are not new and ESPN's love affair with the Trojans isn't either. So why am I so happy about this cover? Because any smart college football fan knows, never piss off an SEC team.

The SEC welcomes the chance every year to be denied. Because in those challenges that threaten to dethrone them, the conference proves time and time again just why they belong on top.

Thanks for the fuel ESPN. Let the season begin, and we'll show you what being a part of the SEC is all about- and it has nothing to do with cursing the opponent and everything to do with a shut-up and play grit that has carried this conference to dominance for six straight years.

Glass Half Full

Mississippi State is an unsung contender of the SEC. Here's a look at their offseason and why confidence mixed with the right amount of frustration can be a recipe for wins. I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Description of Mississippi State’s preseason has a lot to do with Nick Saban’s least favorite word- expectations.

            “I want our team to be harder working, more disciplined- a tougher football team than we were last year,” Mullen said.

            A lot of things have changed since Coach Mullen came to the school says MSU defensive lineman Fletcher Cox. “We are expected to execute on the highest level. This year we want to win the west.”

            “Its about expectations. He tells us to reach our potential every day, to handle our business,” MSU running back Vick Ballard said. “We’re 18, 19, 20-year-olds, young men, and he expects us to act like it.”

            During every preseason, teams must fill roster holes. Some have greater needs than others, but quarter back Chris Relf sees Mississippi State’s situation in a “glass half full” way.

            “We’ve got more than just one guy coming back.”

            Relf says their strengths this season are young players that are “going to be good.” But Mississippi State, like others in the conference are dealing with losses in the line backing core. Young players full of potential makes that scenario lose its sting, but there are still intangibles that have to be proven in order for that worry to go away completely.

            “We have some talent,” Mullen said. “These guys need to step up. I know we have the talent but it is the mental strength. Are these guys mentally ready for the big stage?”

            That’s a question going through EVERY college football coach’s mind right now. Are they ready? And, how do you transition from one season to the next?

            “What I’ve learned is you don’t try to replace players, you build around their strengths,” Mullen said. “Put them in a position to be successful.”

            Last season the Bulldogs saw glimpses of great success but in the end went no further than an 8-4 record and beating Michigan in the Gator bowl. It was a decisive 52-14 win to end their season but it certainly isn’t where their expectations lead today.

            “The whole expectation is: We had a nine-win season last year, and we look at it as a motivator,” Ballard said. “You don’t want to get complacent.”

             Now, spirits on the team are lifted, pugnacious and ready to learn from the past. For Vick Ballard, their toughest games last year were Auburn and Arkansas who served as big lessons to the competition in the SEC.

            “They both came down to the wire, we didn’t finish,” Ballard said.

            For the Bulldogs that is motivation in 2011.

            “After every workout we do this thing called fourth quarter," Ballard. "After you think you’re tired, do something to make yourself even more tired- push that level.”

            Quarter back Chris Relf will have to do just that in order to excel further in the quarter back position.

            “I had a lot of concerns with [Relf] when he first got to Mississippi State with his commitment to being quarterback,” Mullen said. “But after the first year he started to understand it.”

            Mullen was waiting for his quarterback to mature and anxiously waited for his responsibilities on and off the field to click. Thankfully it has.

             “Now he’s taking it to a whole other level,” Mullen said. “He bought into the program, he understands the expectations for the leadership role and understands the work needed on and off the field to be a quarterback in the SEC.”

            Relf says he is working on timing and quickness to increase his arsenal. Defensive lineman Fletcher Cox says he’s working on being a more dynamic pass rusher- both know everyone is expected to step up their game. 

            “Confidence is real high right now,” Cox said. “But we’re talking about execution now. Making those big plays.”

            Despite the big plays and confidence, the Bulldogs still haven’t forgotten the unfulfilled season of 2010.  When a reporter asks Relf if it helps playing with a chip on your shoulders- there is no hesitation when he answers, “yes it does.”

Roll Tide Never Sounded So Good

I was 19 when I first felt 92,000 people praying for one common cause. I watched with clenched hands, fingers locked and propped over my mouth so my hands could easily cover my eyes if the situation called for it.

            It was the third Saturday in October and I was in Bryant-Denny Stadium with the rest of the Tuscaloosa faithful. We were seconds away from a championship season ending against the Tennessee Vols. Tennessee set up their field goal with four seconds left on the clock. I realized, along with everyone else with an Alabama shirt, I was not ready to see this season end. We were meant for bigger things and this field goal wouldn’t stop us. The snap came and everything went into motion. Before I knew it the stadium erupted along with my nerves and I knew right then I had either witnessed the power of people believing or a miracle.

            Right there I knew we would at least see the chance to play for a national championship. I hugged strangers, we high-fived, we yelled Rammer Jammer at the top of our lungs and we reveled in how close we were from losing everything. We were happy and we were untouchable in the face of an almost untimely end.

             If you fast forward to now, the days following the historical April 27^th storm, so much seems irrelevant from the past. After a tragedy the people of Tuscaloosa still remain the same as the ones I saw in the stadium that fall afternoon. Faithful and refusing to surrender to the idea of a loss, no matter how close we were to one, Tide fans stay strong.

            Tuscaloosa has always been a sports town where football is king. Sports never left us even as we faced our most disastrous defeat yet.

            In the eve of the 2011 NFL draft, messages of hope came from those that were preparing to leave Tuscaloosa and travel on to bigger games.

            “I wish more than anything I could be in Tuscaloosa right now,” McElroy said.

            “I can’t believe the pictures and videos I'm seeing of Tuscaloosa,” said Mark Ingram. “My prayer and heart goes out to everybody in Ttown.”

            Thursday, as our city was still barely breathing, four of our Crimson Tide family members went on to their professional futures. Even though our attention was on obvious tasks ahead, the show in New York had to go on. In Alabama, those that could turned to the few TV’s that still worked and watched. Tide fans remained true to the tradition of football and Tuscaloosa’s proud process to produce professional athletes.

            I watched too. For a while I was lost and reassured in the familiar voice of Roger Goodell and the hopes of our players going to the right teams. I was huddled with 15 other people in the Northport Applebee’s. We all watched the same TV as strangers alike made eye contact and gave small sympathetic smiles. We all knew we had just gone through something unforgettable.  

             The University of Alabama would go on to make a school record of four players (Marcell Dareus, Julio Jones, James Carpenter, Mark Ingram) selected in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft.

            “In the green room with all the guys, all the magic happens here! So happy to experience this with my family and all the guys! It's time...” Ingram tweeted on day one of the draft.

            “I can't believe it. I'm a Jet!” McElroy declared from Twitter. “This is such an incredible honor and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Awesome organization!”

            “Happy to be a saint!!! #WHODAT!!!!” Ingram proclaimed. 

            And just like that Marcell would be a Bill, Julio a Falcon, Mark a Saint, Carpenter a Seahawk and McElroy a Jet. Elation and success swirled from the news out of New York in the midst of Tuscaloosa’s somber reality.

            But we all knew who they really were. They were part of our Crimson Tide.

            Other parts of our Crimson Tide family showed up little by little. Javier Arenas came bearing donations from Kansas City. Le’Ron McClain lending a hand and bringing help from Baltimore to aid in the damage done by the monster storm. Finally, Ingram, Jones and McElroy came back home.

            “Spending some time with some tornado victim families!!” Ingram tweeted. “So glad I can brighten their days!!” 

            “Winning the Nat. Title in ‘09 was great and getting drafted by Atlanta was amazing, but giving back to the fans today was PRICELESS!!#RTR” Julio Jones described on his Twitter account. “It feels so great to give back to the people that have been so supportive of you.” 

             Just when the sun began to shine a little brighter The University of Alabama and those that love it were tested once again.

            Fifteen days after the tornado Alabama suffered another devastating blow. The UA family learned of offensive tackle Aaron Douglas’s death. A 21-year-old’s life was gone in the blink of an eye. It didn’t even take something as big as a tornado to bring him down. 

Alabama OT Aaron Douglas

            Alabama has taught me many things. The first thing is that people are resilient and are never ready to be defeated. Alabama also taught me that the lessons of the football field can ring true in life when you’re fighting for the most relevant of victories. Even when you’re trying to trump tragedy.           

             In life, just like football, there’s a lot to fight for. Perhaps this season the reasons to fight won’t get any worse. When tragedy brings you together you play for the ones you love, the proud memories of others and the love of an organization people live and breathe for. Reasons don’t get much better than that.

            Alabama fans that have not seen the damage ask almost immediately, “How is the stadium?” Those that know answer with a small smile. “Bryant-Denny is fine, thank God.” Because every Bama fan knows life can be hard and times can seem hopeless, but if there’s football there will always be light at the end of the tunnel.              

            Just like that day in October when I thought I watched the unthinkable happen, I said to myself. “There is something special about this place.” I knew that early, but I had no idea that it would be after a catastrophe that the real will to be champions wouldn’t be a fight on the field but a struggle in the streets.

            Outsiders don’t have to go to Bryant-Denny Stadium to find the passion people of Tuscaloosa have for sports here. Pre-tornado they could hear it in the stranger’s conversations  over the secondary or new quarterback prospects.

            Now, all the outsiders have to do is walk the war-like streets of Tuscaloosa. They can see the hand painted ‘roll tide’ signs, makeshift beacons of hope painted on the few pieces left of a proud sports town. Outsiders, I pray, can see what we have always seen. A proud sports town fighting to make sure hope never loses.