Curb Your Enthusiasm: Don't Order Your 2012 SEC Championship Game Tickets Quite Yet
by T Kyle King on Aug 12, 2009 12:15 AM EDT
in Football
Email
PrintSenator Blutarsky posted an interesting note in which he quoted this (to which I have added emphasis):
I’m beginning to get a sense of déjà vu. I’m having memories of the early Nineties, a period in SEC football history when the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Florida Gators met annually in the championship game. Both programs dominated their respective divisions, and the only question at the beginning of each season was which team would win the "big" game at the end. Now it seems that history is about to repeat itself; the Tide and the Gators are currently loaded with superior talent and speed. They are also led by two of the best coaches in the nation. I have no doubt that these two SEC "superpowers" will meet in Atlanta for the next three or four years in a row.
Wow, that didn’t take long, did it? Lest we forget, there was a time when it appeared equally clear that the Georgia Bulldogs and the LSU Tigers were destined to square off in the Georgia Dome more or less on an annual basis to settle the question of conference supremacy. That they were the only two serious contenders for hegemony was accepted as a given.
And why shouldn’t it have been? After all, the Bayou Bengals had just appeared in their fourth SEC championship game in the last seven years, while the Red and Black came within missed field goals by three different teams against the Tennessee Volunteers of making it to Atlanta for the fourth time in six seasons.
Sure, the Florida Gators had Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, but they also had no defense, no answer either for Knowshon Moreno or for Evil Richt, and one appearance in the league title tilt in a seven-year stretch. The Alabama Crimson Tide weren’t even on the radar screen, hadn’t been to the SEC championship game in eight seasons, and appeared to have overpaid dearly for a six-loss season, an Independence Bowl berth, and an embarrassing defeat suffered at the hands of Louisiana-Monroe.
Say, when was that again? Oh, yeah, right . . . a year ago.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that one in a row is pretty slender evidence upon the basis of which to declare the rise of dual dynasties. Let’s hold our horses and try to wait to count those chickens until they’ve actually gotten around to hatching. Who knows; maybe it’ll turn out that one or two of the other ten teams in the Southeastern Conference will have something to say about who finishes in first place.
Go ‘Dawgs!
6 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
But...
Bama has had stellar recruiting classes, a top-notch coach with “killer instinct” and you can’t forget aura of the Bear… you just can’t!
WE’re gonna see a LOT more of this stuff before the addled Tide fans return to Earth, Kyle. Nonsense like their court jester Finebaum proclaiming Saban as the second best HC in the SEC (after Spurrier) of the post-Bear Bryant era, etc. From the way these nuts have flooded the boards in the off-season, you’d never know that they are 1-3 against us this decade. You’d never know that under Saban they disgraced the SEC with a loss to Louisiana-Freaking-Monroe. You’d never know what an embarrassing display that they put on against Utah scarcely 9 months ago. They’ve been pretty obnoxious, and I say this as someone who was pulling for them to return from the doldrums of the Shula era. After all, a strong Tide program, like a strong LSU program, only helps our interest in the zero-sum game of SEC power struggles. But now, to my amazement, I find myself having to hold my nose while pulling for them to beat VA Tech in their opener. Their natterings been that bad. But it would be the second black eye in a row they’ve planted on our Conference if they lose and would certainly do the rest of us no good. Anyway, that is unlikely. Beating the Hokies in the Dome….…been there, done that.
If this were 1992, that statement wouldn't be that much of an over exaggeration . . .
however, the SEC is a lot deeper now than it was then. There’s two many good coaches and teams to have an annual show down like that. I mean people forget that Bama almost lost to LSU even though LSU had absolutely no qb play in that game.
And Bama fans wonder why we think they're bat-s**t crazy
Pardon my French, but this pretty much sums up how irrational the Bama fanbase comes across to the rest of us that live in God’s country. By no means do I wish ill will upon Alabama, but just because you’re in year 25 of your never-ending return to glory doesn’t mean you’ve actually reached it.
http://hobnailboot.wordpress.com/
Never paid much attn to Bama fans before Saban's arrival
Just sorta presumed them to be fellow-travelers: top-tier SEC team, shared distaste for the orange-clad, and, like us, they wandered the wilderness for an extended time due to some bad hires and the programs’ general lethargy in the wake of some good runs. I live on the other side of the country, so I’ve never had anything else to go by.
Then Saban happened, and you really saw the crazy come out in a very public way. I can’t imagine the introduction of a Georgia hire producing a circus like when Saban was trotted out. Richt’s second year at Georgia was far more successful than Saban’s second at Bama, and yet I don’t remember anyone automatically assuming that we should have our mail forwarded to the Dome the first week of every December from now until eternity. And that was with Zook at Florida and Fulmer flailing at Tennessee — so that wouldn’t have been that ridiculous of a presumption. LSU is not going anywhere and while Saban has held his own against the conference’s elite coaches, he doesn’t have a dominant record against Richt, Meyer or Miles.
So, as a fanbase, I guess they’re just different from us.
As for “killer instinct,” four words: One and done, baby! Bama toodles around in OT to settle for a field goal, we go for the jugular on the very next possession, and we’re the ones who lack killer instinct? Right.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
