It might be the night before Thanksgiving, but Nick Saban was not taking a holiday from harping on one of his key themes from this season.
A week after Saban sent a message to fans about entitlement before a game against Arkansas, the Alabama coach delivered a more forceful version Wednesday night following the Tide’s 42-35 win over the Razorbacks.
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It started, like last week, when a caller to his weekly radio show invoked the topic of rat poison.
“How do you keep the rat poison from the media, how do you get the team to tune it out?” Roy from Selma asked. “For example, with Arkansas, we were supposed to blow them out, then you don’t do it. And it’s because you have created such a game atmosphere because we go to the games knowing we’re going to win -- we just don’t know by how much.”
The call was abruptly ended, and Saban began.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m glad you go to the game that way, because I don’t ever go to the game that way,” Saban said, drawing some laughter in the room. “I have too much respect for the other team. Been in too many games, whether we won when we weren’t expected to win, or the other team beat us.
“I think people don’t really -- rat poison is rat poison and the media is always gonna create it. But the reality of the world is not what you read on the Internet. It’s not what somebody thinks. It’s not what someone’s opinion is. It’s not what the line is on the game. It’s certainly -- the biggest one is -- every time a team loses two games, everybody says that team is like done. It’s really just the opposite.
“Texas A&M lost two games before we played [in October]. I said it’s a dangerous team. Aight? Because these guys have pride in performance, they want to have a good team. They’ve had two disappointing losses -- that makes them dangerous. They’re humiliated by what’s happened the last two games. Same thing when we played LSU. Everybody says, ‘Oh, they lost two games, they’re not any good anymore. We’re just going to blow them out.’ It’s just the opposite. It’s just the opposite of that.
“They’re competitors. They have moms and dads. They have pride in performance. They have things that they want to accomplish and they want to do, and they want to be good. Aight? They don’t just throw in the towel. They work harder to try to get better. Everybody wants to beat us, so we’re going to get everybody’s best game. I don’t know why people can’t understand that.”
The final statement was met with approval by some in the audience at Baumhower’s restaurant.
“You can say it’s not fair to our players that they get everybody’s best game, but they do, and they have to be able to compete through that and play over that. It’s -- I don’t know, when I came here everybody was happy to win a game. Now we’re not happy to win a game anymore,” Saban said, his volume rising. “We’re not happy to win at all. We think we should win games by whatever. I don’t think that’s fair to the players either.
“Because our players work their butt off to be the best they can be. Aight? And to get criticized for what they work hard for to do so that you can be entertained. Aight? So you can enjoy and have pride and passion for what they accomplish and what they do. And they’re not perfect. They’re just college students. They go to school every day, they have to study, they have to run extra after practice when they miss study hall.”
Throwing up his hands, Saban leaned to the crowd and said, “I mean, c’mon. Give me a break. This is not professional football. These guys aren’t getting paid to play here. They’re representing you all. You should be proud and happy to support them, and appreciate what they do and have some gratitude.”
With the restaurant roaring in applause, Saban’s voice began popping into his microphone.
“You know what else?” he continued. “Nobody wants to win worse than they do! Not me, not you -- I don’t care what kind of fan you are. Nobody wants to win more than the players that play. Nobody.”
Leaning back into his chair, crossing his arms and shaking his head, Saban added, “And nobody feels worse than they do when they lose.”
“Nobody,” Saban added for emphasis, leaning toward the crowd again.
Then came the grand finale, with emphasis.
“So for all you self-absorbed folks out there that can’t look past your own self to appreciate what other people are doing.”
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
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