University of Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban spoke about team discipline at a highly publicized press conference earlier this week. In that press conference he talked about building better relationships in the community. When asked if he meant the police specifically he deferred to his statement about the whole community.
I learned a little about his plan first hand last night. After my exit from a charity poker tournament that I was playing in downtown I met a couple of friends at a bar there (not on the Strip) and had a beer with them. As we were sitting there talking a couple of guys came in and spoke with the bartender. After they left she offered to my friends and me that the guys were with the athletic department and were inquiring if any football players frequented there. She told them that players typically did not frequent that particular bar. They then proceeded to give her a card with a number on it and asked her to please call that number if there were ever any players in there that were acting in a manner that they shouldn’t.
That was my description of what happended. I did not hear the conversation and am paraphrasing the bartender’s description of the event. But, this evidently is a portion of Saban’s plan in action.
I think this makes good sense and if followed through by all local watering holes it might just help the situation. I would assume it means that an authority figure whom the players are familiar with would respond and handle the situation before it got worse or the authorities had to be involved.
I think it is important to note that the bartender was not instructed to not call the police if things were out of hand. There was not nor should be any attempt to circumvent the authorities. Football players are not above the law, even in a college town where football is as important as it is in Tuscaloosa. If they break the law they should be punished just like you or I would. I do not believe at all that this is an attempt to do that. I do believe that it is an attempt to stem a situation before it gets to that point and that, in my opinion, is smart. Ideally there will be no need to ever call anyone and if football players act like gentlemen then there will be no need to, but this appears to be a good backup plan.
When you observe Coach Saban’s actions without an agenda it appears that he follows up on the things he says he will do and that he is forward thinking.
Hopefully the rash of off-the-field incidences are over and fans can get back to worrying about football and not the police blotter. At any rate I believe it is good to know that something is being done and not just discussed.
Picture Me Rollin 
11 comments
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February 29, 2008 at 2:34 pm
3rd Down H-Back
Hell yes, call the athletic department. UAT doesn’t need their players mug shots posted on the T-town PD website.
RTR
February 29, 2008 at 11:24 pm
gerry dorsey
picture me rollin’,
bro if you’re going to try to reason with the clowns over at lws you are pissing in the wind.
March 1, 2008 at 2:14 pm
picturemerollin
Gerry, I gave up reason a long time ago with them. It’s just kind of fun to kick the ant hill every once in a while. 3rd Down H-back has commented here some so I return the favor. He may be over-the-top but he’s always over-the-top, plus he once had a class with the Super Bowl MVP at Ole Miss. (He has also shown me that he can be a little reasonable [shh. don’t tell anybody]) To be honest I kinda like the guy. Hell, I’d like to party with him, in that kind of, the “way you made it with that cow that time” kind of way.
March 1, 2008 at 2:15 pm
picturemerollin
On another note Gerry, thanks for the link on your site. I am going to link you as well.
March 1, 2008 at 4:21 pm
gerry dorsey
a stripes reference?? its that kind of genius that keeps me checking in on this blog.
March 2, 2008 at 10:47 am
MoonDog
You know how I feel about all of this. However, there is one thing that isn’t being mentioned. These kids will find a way to have a few beers, if that’s what they want to do. Saban’s initiative in this arena may be a positive step, but if they want to toss a few back, they’ll do so regardless of what laws he lays down.
Oh, and Gerry, 3rd Down is a veteran and served our country in Iraq, as did I. And LWS isn’t a place for reason, it’s a place to talk trash. We can be reasonable here and at other venues.
March 2, 2008 at 1:23 pm
3rd Down H-Back
picturemerollin, I appreciate it. Maybe we can get together, go to Bear’s grave and split a bottle of George Dickle with el Sprit del Bear, and leave a little for him, sitting right on his headstone. RTR. (On a serious note, that is what some goofball English majors at Ole Miss used to do at William Faulkner’s grave.)
Gerry, regardless of what you think of me, I still think you have the baddest ass named blog on the web. It makes me laugh every time I read the title. When I’m at work people wonder why I just randomly say “You want to make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains? ”
MoonDog, I appreciate it. I don’t see how anyone can try to bring “facts” and thin skin in their comments at LWS. They can save that shit for somewhere else.
March 2, 2008 at 4:02 pm
picturemerollin
MoonDog, I hear what you’re saying but I don’t believe that the effort is to try and make them stop having a beer. I don’t think it would not be realistic or fair to cut alcohol consumption out altogether. They’re college aged young men and like any other college aged young man they are going to drink.
I believe that the effort is to let the program take care of out of hand incidents before they get out of hand. The fact is in a town this small with a program as big as Alabama’s, these kids are known and that makes them targets. There is a difference in Bobby Fratboy and a Football Player getting out of line. Bobby Fratboy steps out of line and nobody really thinks anything of it. Football Player does and everybody in the place is on their cell phone calling someone and telling them, “guess what I just saw Starting Tailback do.”
These players have got to understand that but it has to be an awful lot to bear to not ever be able to “let your hair down” like the rest of us mortals can.
But, I do not think the idea is to prohibit drinking- only that you should “drop a dime” if a player is headed in a direction that shames the program. And I can totally see some pissed bartender turning somebody in cause his girlfriend’s panties get all wet when Stud Linebacker is chatting her up at the bar.
March 2, 2008 at 4:46 pm
MoonDog
I don’t think I conveyed what I really meant too well in my first reply. What I’m trying to say is the bad apples have been pre-ordained and they’re going to cause problems regardless of what Saban does.
Look at what Fulmer has done at UT over the years. Over 20 players have had run-ins with the law over the past five years and he’s implemented various disciplinary responses, yet, he’s still having trouble. Why? Because of the reasons I believe that we’ve already talked about, primarily a lack of individual accountability with these players.
Most of these top college players are from low-income environments and they’re only way out of the ghetto is to play a sport. Education isn’t a factor in their minds. It’s the mentality of the weak-minded that has been allowed to foster the idea that being good at sports will allow me to buy my mother a house. You know I speak the truth.
I understand your point and again, it’s good to see Saban trying to resolve it. But think of this. When I was in the service, do you think I could let my hair down? Some, yes. But get arrested? Oh shit, the consequences would have been most harsh. Do you think U.S. Service members in a foreign country are targets? I played college football and I understand the hassles you get from the average student at times. But I have no sympathy for them nor do I believe they should be coddled. I certainly don’t believe a coach should have to call local bars and essentially ask them to alert the coaching staff if any potential problems with the players is about to take place.
I don’t care what you do in life, once you’ve reached 18, you need to start acting like an adult or pay the price for your actions.
March 2, 2008 at 4:59 pm
gerry dorsey
haha…much appreciated h-back. much like mr. rollin’ said, its not nearly as much you as some of the other yahoos over there…but the people seem to love it.
March 2, 2008 at 5:05 pm
picturemerollin
MoonDog, You certainly offer a unique perspective to the discussion. I’ve never thought kids should get free rides just because they played football.
All I can say is, there is a big difference in being a kid and having a little fun. I was a kid and wanted to have fun and certainly pushed the limit. That’s the perspective I come from.
Jeremy Elder did an idiotic thing. He pulled a gun (pellet or not) and threatened another person for money. There is no justification in that. He is, as a consequence of that, off the team, as he should be.
Johnson, and it’s going to be interesting to see what comes out this week, might have gotten a little rowdy at a bar. He was legal drinking age and with his peers. If he was out of line and a phone call made, perhaps he could have been escorted home, been kept from driving while intoxicated even, and gotten up and made to run the next morning. He learns responsibility, the media and police are not alerted and everyone is better off.
I realize that is a total hypothetical but I hope it illustrates my hope for the policy.
I agree with you though. You’ve got to be a man at during the day if you’re going to be a man at night is how I was taught. I had to test that a little and learned (I hope) from it, but my screw ups were not in the news and message boards. Is it the price of football “stardom”? Maybe. But overall, if you’re a thug you don’t need to be given a pass at this or any other program.