Re: TennStud congratualtes Bama fans & bares his soul about former friend Logan Young
I honestly don't care what ANYBODY from Tennessee has to say about our program. Nadda. nothing.
Alabama vs Tennesee was - at one time - the greatest college footbal rivalry of 'em all. It was the war between two cousins getting down in the mud and fighting with everything they had. We won some, they won some. After it was over, you shook hands, had a beer, and talked about how you both could whoop somebody else. The ribbing was at best good-natured and names like Neyland and Bryant were spoken in hushed, reverent tones reserved solely for deities. At the end of the 2000 regular season game, Verne Lundquist quipped that, "The rivalry between these two schools and their fans is exemplary." Many of us, in fact, pulled for Tennessee to win the SEC and national championship in 1998.
But that all changed when a coach who realized that he couldn't hold onto his job without playing a crippled foe joined together with Darth Kramer to nearly snuff out the existence of my beloved football team. And that is something I will NEVER forgive for as long as I live.
Let me put it to ya this way, simple logic: Suppose a recruiting scandal broke in Mobile and five SEC schools were named as prime suspects in the bartering of players. Notably absent on that list of buyers is the University of Alabama. Does that even make simple good sense? A town that is a haven for future Tiders and we ain't involved?
Now switch the name of the town to Memphis, the name of the team to Tennessee - and you'll understand why this always stunk to the high heaven of kickback.
I hate them, and I will always hate them. They have had a decade now to have come clean on their sorry ways. By no means do I think we were virgin clean on that deal, but the fact is that the NCAA investigation of Tennessee took a week led by the Keystone Kops who came to Alabama and stayed on campus long enough to graduate if they'd have attended class.
The fact is that they now see the handwriting on the wall. They got drilled last year by a mediocre team; they fielded their own medicore team this year.
I'll be honest: I'd love to see us score 100 points on a nationally televised game against them just for the fun of it - complete with TD balls thrown into the stands, 15-yard celebration penalties, and going for two just to score more points. I will NEVER forgive them for that even when Phat Phil is gone.
I will forgive Dennis Franchione before I forgive Phat Phil. I only hope he stays around long enough to get nailed a few more times.
