BOL Round Table

Plus Georgia will be wearing their black jerseys.

I work for the University of Georgia. My office is 2 blocks from the stadium. They havent said a word to me about my bama helmets or pics in my office until today. They started talking smack. One guy said cant wait till we play Bama, i said BE careful what you wish for ! Roll Tide!

need an emoticon for jaw hitting the floor

Learn to read. No one said anything about a conspiracy. I said it was a 7 day slap in the face to what Saban preaches hence his press conference blow up to the media earlier in the season. Is ESPN the media? Thats what I thought. He was fearful that the players mindset would be altered by seeing the crap they were writing and some of the media backlashed by saying "we're not going to help you coach your team". Continue thinking that media can't affect your team, clearly Saban disagrees.

I agree with this part but life aint always as black and white as you think it is. You agree that it affected our mindset correct? So how far fetched would it really be to say that with Sabans early rant to the media that made headlines coupled with all the talk of SEC dominance and basically SEC fatigue in general that just maybe ESPN thought to themselves, lets push the envelope and add a little pressure to ole St. Nick. Lets talk all season on how many guys in the NFL wouldn't even start on this Bama offensive line. Oh this is fun! Lets go a step further and wait till they get to the meat of their schedule and then we'll talk for an entire week asking the nation if Bama could BEAT an NFL team straight up!!! Hey I'm just sayin. Saban knew this would be an issue well before we did but even him calling it early it looks like for now that they (the media) got the last laugh. Not everything has to be a conspiracy to be considered a very gray area and when it comes to the medias influence on the mind (see past heisman winners) you can't say its completely far fetched. Hopefully our men will cut off sports center, refocus, get back to what got us here, destroy whoever we face in the SECCG and see if its enough to put us back in the big dance.

UGA always blows big games. Either things work out for us and we play in the BCSNCG or not and we are in Sugar. Outback? Really?

ESPN must have been thinking the same thing about OU in 2003 and USC in 2005 when they ran the same stories.

They are the best b/c they build intrigue. Saban is not the only coach that coaches against what you are referring to. Just listen to ESPN reporters the next time they are talking. They always mention letdown, and big headedness. Every week they do.

Brad is an Alabama grad and puts these type of projections not to seen biased Dont read to much into it

To yourself and cwaters.

A-ok with me. You don't have to agree, but Nick Saban thinks otherwise per his own words and I side with him. I'm simply giving you examples of what our head coach was talking about when he made reference to it early in the season. Furthermore, countless posters here even went a step further after Saban's tirade and said "Saban is so smart that now instead of the media blowing our players heads up they are all writing about his tirade instead". I seem to remember no one disagreeing with CNS being a genius when those remarks were made over and over at that time here on BOL and in other forums.

No flame taken. I have just heard the same thing happen numerous times with other teams. OU, USC, and UF come to mind in the last 10 years. I don't think it is anything against us anymore than not thinking it was anything against them in those years. It is just fun to talk about as fans. Therefore, ESPN runs those stories and fans listen in. As evidence by this thread.

I guess maybe we are talking about two different things. I"m arguing that Saban is no different in that regard. Every coach coaches against complacency. We hear it over and over again. I don't think ESPN was doing anything different with us than they wee doing with OU, USC, UF either. They are a company that pulls for ratings so they are going to create debatable topics.

Add the two and you get. A network looking for ratings posting absurd statements (that they do often) and a coach fighting complacency (which every coach faces). JMO. Maybe I am misunderstanding you.