I would not expect Tide fans to give this theory much credence, and sure enough, TideFanInTN at Third Saturday in Blogtober took issue with this argument in a post titled "Auburn: when reason fails, just make it up." The response in a nutshell:
Were I an Auburn fan, I would also be looking for any possible reason to believe the Feathered Tigers could beat the Tide. Unfortunately–for you–you are down to “they are overlooking us” and that holds no water either.
First, well, I'm not exactly "down to" this one. I've got other arguments, but also a whole 'nother week to get through them, so for now, we're talking about this one. And while there's some hemming and hawing from TideFaninTN about whether Tide fans are actually looking past the Iron Bowl and how the Tide's players have unequivocally stated they're not taking Auburn for granted--what else are they going to tell the press?--it basically boils down to he-said-he-said. I believe the Tide won't be completely focused and I offered my reasoning; TFiTN believes otherwise and offered his. We even have dueling interpretations of the David and Goliath story, and while I happen to think the one that places the 5-6 team in the David role rather than the undefeated one hews a little closer to the spirit of the thing, I'm biased as hell and there's no doubt TFiTN's is awful clever. We find out who's right Nov. 29.
There is one thing, however, TFiTN is undoubtedly correct about: when looking for reasons to believe Auburn will win this year's Iron Bowl, reason itself doesn't help a whole lot. The Tide has better players. The Tide will be at home. The Tide has won 11 games in frequently dominant fashion, often over good teams, while Auburn has struggled mightily to win five games over a I-AA team, two mid-major also-rans, and Tennessee and Mississippi St. The Tide are the better team. Reason does, for the most part, fail.
But of course, with Auburn's coach, reason only plays so big a role. Many times, reason has failed to give Tommy Tuberville what he needed to explain an Auburn win. So he's made it up. He made this up:
and made this up:
and, in one of my favorites, he made this up (well, he made up the stuff that starts at the 2:45 mark):
So Tubby and Auburn and fans like me have to make things up. I'm OK with that. Maybe next week we all end up OK with that.
5 comments:
It sounded like he just got cranky, screamed, "*I* wanna be the underdog!" and ran out of the room.
AND he totally put you in your place. Its his God, not yours. You Philistine you.
Shows why they play them on the field and not on paper. Remember, anything can happen! War Eagle!
So let me get this straight. If the fan base of a team is overlooking an opponent, because their team has a big game the next week. The team itself is at a greater disadvantage?
Let's try it again. If the FANS of a team THINK one way. That TEAM will struggle.
Dan: Uh, yes. Go back to the original "mailbag" post. There is a broad correlation between fan overconfidence and team underperformance.
It is natural to search for an overlooked possible edge when you want so badly for your team to win. That's fair enough. But really, you don't believe Alabama is looking past Auburn.
'Bama is sick of Auburn. We're sick of hearing about 6 in a row when the last 4 wins came on a combined 40 yard edge and UA was sans 1/3 of its scholarships almost half the decade.
Our seniors of sick of you. Our juniors are sick of you. Our underclassmen are sick of you. Our fans are sick you. Our coaches are sick of you. We're all sick of you, and no one - NO ONE - at Alabama wants anything, right now, more than to make you guys sick of us. Like in the good old days.
Here's hoping...
Roll Tide.
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