I wanted to give y'all some time before I came back to let things settle down on the board.

 

It was a heck of a game and completely caught me by surprise, as I am sure it did you. I thought this was going to be a real tight game as I mentioned in my comments on this board several times.

 

I don't feel the need to go into the details of the game, we all watched it and it has been discussed to death here already.

 

That said, I did want to offer my sincere congratulations to Notre Dame and its fans on a heck of a season. Y'all are back among the top of the college football universe and that is good for ND and it is good for college football. Traditional powerhouses need to continue to be powerhouses for our great game to continue to grow.

 

Thank you for your hospitality over the last several weeks. I enjoyed our conversations and talking football with many of you. For the most part I was treated with respect which is all I could ask for and more than I expected.

 

I will definitely snoop your board in the future and if y'all want some insight on Bama or the SEC, feel free to reach out to me.

 

Your team and your fans are a class act! Roll Tide! :cheer2:

Thanks for the classy post.

 

You guys stomped us. Very impressive football team you have down in Tuscaloosa. While I think all of us fans would've liked a better performance, I think most of us are taking the game as a demonstration of Bama's might as opposed to the Irish's weakness.

 

Regardless, if I was a Bama fan I'd be damn proud of the way my team played. Best of luck to you, and here's hoping we meet you again down the line sometime.

Edited January 10, 201311 yr by Katzenboyer

All those titles must be making niceness run rampant in Bama. Thanks for your magnanimity. Ya all come back now ya hear!

very classy tambo, thank you.

 

tambo, how much longer do you think nick saban will coach at bama? he's 61 now and i could see him maybe staying untill he's 70. my god he could win 3-4 more titles, maybe the greatest coach ever when he retires. i do enjoy you guys kicking the crap out of auburn though, that doesn't get old.

You and I bumped a few times. No hard feelings on my part. As an avid ND fan, I finally ran out of my mature sense of tolerance in hearing the Bama perspective as we closed in on game time. You were well behaved and your post now was all class. And true to my last post to you.... I bid you adieu. :wave:

 

Congratulations on the win.

I appreciate the classy post and good luck down there until we meet again.

I wish you were more typical of the SEC fans I encounter.

 

At a bare minimum your team and program have earned the praise they get rather than sucking it up via osmosis or conference affiliation - I wish the fans of such non-title programs as Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Mississippi would take note of you. Alabama is great because of what they do on the field...NOT because of the cannon fodder they play with.

 

Seeing as Bama is not really in decline and will be on top for the length of Saban's stay, I hope there is a rematch in the post-season sometime soon and that Notre Dame shows up and plays up to par instead of failing in every way imaginable on gameday. Sadly, we are now reduced to waiting to see if our losing coach stays in the college game or turns tail and runs from the big kid on the block...

 

Auf Wiedersehen!

very classy tambo, thank you.

 

tambo, how much longer do you think nick saban will coach at bama? he's 61 now and i could see him maybe staying untill he's 70. my god he could win 3-4 more titles, maybe the greatest coach ever when he retires. i do enjoy you guys kicking the crap out of auburn though, that doesn't get old.

 

Well I don't know if anyone could tell. Obviously he has a place as our HC as long as he wants it. I think for him it will more than anything come down to if he is still being challenged. He seems in good health, his kids are grown, his life is like the first lady of Tuscaloosa and he is probably more powerful in the state than the Governor (ala Coach Bryant). So really I don't think it is an age thing.

 

I think the best indicator will be if Coach Kirby Smart sticks around. I think he is being groomed as the heir apparent. If he stays I would mean, to me at least, that an exit plan is in place.

You and I bumped a few times. No hard feelings on my part. As an avid ND fan, I finally ran out of my mature sense of tolerance in hearing the Bama perspective as we closed in on game time. You were well behaved and your post now was all class. And true to my last post to you.... I bid you adieu. :wave:

 

Congratulations on the win.

 

No hard feelings. ND fans were getting it worse on Bama boards.

 

Adieu

I wish you were more typical of the SEC fans I encounter.

 

At a bare minimum your team and program have earned the praise they get rather than sucking it up via osmosis or conference affiliation - I wish the fans of such non-title programs as Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Mississippi would take note of you. Alabama is great because of what they do on the field...NOT because of the cannon fodder they play with.

 

Seeing as Bama is not really in decline and will be on top for the length of Saban's stay, I hope there is a rematch in the post-season sometime soon and that Notre Dame shows up and plays up to par instead of failing in every way imaginable on gameday. Sadly, we are now reduced to waiting to see if our losing coach stays in the college game or turns tail and runs from the big kid on the block...

 

Auf Wiedersehen!

 

To be fair, I think if we had interacted pre-Saban you would have a similar opinion of our fanbase as you do for those other schools in our conference. We often heard we acted entitled on the basis of our former glory (sound familiar - not that I agree it applies to your fanbase).

 

I think Saban has taken us back a bit to the days of the Bear when it was not only important to win but to win with CLASS. There is a famous quote from the Bear when referring to his players, “I have tried to teach them to show class, to have pride, and to display character. I think football, winning games, takes care of itself if you do that.”

Tambo, are you finding this board entertaining now with all the Eagles and Anzalone drama?

 

Why is Bama so great? What's your top 5 factors for the success? Could ND possibly emulate that kind of success?

Classy post Tambo appreciate your input over the last few weeks. You have a great team down there

If we're pulling up threads from 2005 I guess it's cool to pull this one from a few days ago.

 

Thanks for the kind words Tambo. Congrats and hope to hear from you in the future. You guys laid it on us and I hope the game serves as proper motivation next year.

 

I think we now see the hump that remains, we need that extra push to get over.

 

GO IRISH!!!

Edited January 13, 201311 yr by Scotty88

Tambo-

Thanks for the classy post and I also want to say that I met so many Bama fans down in Miami that were extremely respectful and polite. They also know A LOT about college football. What a great fanbase! Best of luck to you in the future. I don't think Bama is going to need it though!

Tambo, appreciate your magnanimity.

 

Get on up to South Bend and experience Irish hospitality.

Tambo, are you finding this board entertaining now with all the Eagles and Anzalone drama?

 

Why is Bama so great? What's your top 5 factors for the success? Could ND possibly emulate that kind of success?

 

I appreciate all the kind posts... Certainly speaks to the class of your program and fanbase. I have to say I was impressed by your young men and CBK. In defeat they were extremely classy and respectful.

 

To answer the questions above, which are by no means easy to address, IMHO, Bama is great as a result of a commitment to excellence in ALL aspects related to athletics and providing opportunities for our student athletes. Saban made it clear from the beginning that everything we do, and my we I mean everyone including the fans, must exude excellence and be with purpose. The purpose = to win championships. The most important aspect, because anyone can call for excellence, is that for the most part we all have bought in. What is even more impressive is that this commitment has spread within the athletic department to other sports. Last year we won championships in football, gymnastics (back2back), women's golf and softball. Other sports are definitely on the rise as well.

 

The 5 factors (really 4) for success according to Saban are discipline, commitment, toughness and effort.

 

What I will say is that, and it has happened over time, we have been able to recruit kids with good character and work ethic that take personal responsibility for themselves and their teammates. We have very little off-the-field issues and the players seem to demand excellence of themselves and their teammates; as witnessed by the player leadership council deciding to send the two players who broke curfew home from the BCSNCG. In addition, our performance has improved in the classroom as well, in spite of what some of you think. While we are not ND or Stanford, we are moving in the right direction, our grad rate and GSR are good and improving and players are getting meaningful degrees.

 

I will also say that we are now at a point in recruiting were we are more selecting than recruiting. Sure we don't get everyone we want, but if we want you, we are tough for other schools to compete with. Our facilities and program is top notch and Saban can close. I also think if there is any question as to a players character, work ethic or ability to carry the load, we pass on them, regardless of their football ability, which is not something that all programs can do.

 

Do I think ND can do this...? I don't see how you couldn't. With your tradition & recent success, CBK's ability to recruit and recent commitment to upgrading facilities/programs, I would think the ceiling is as high as you want to take it... Sure it will take time and consistency in recruiting to stock up, but you are already 2 really good classes along the way. I do think easing up on the entry requirements would help but I would assume to a degree that already goes on a bit anyway, even if it is not out in the public. As a funny side, my roommate in college needed athletic dept help to get into Bama (he has the GPA, just not the ACT score), I did not. He consistently performed better than me academically and was Dean's list every semester. Me, not till my last two years. So I think helping a student athlete, who is going to give back tot he school, is appropriate in some cases.

 

I am glad to see CBK coming back. I doubt he ever really planned to leave, rather he took advantage of the opportunity to gain some leverage to drive improvement for him, his assistants and facilities/programs. It is a shame it had to come to the point it did, and this stuff was just not offered to him w/o him having to play hardball, but it is good to see you have a coach willing to take risk to get what is can and is just.

 

Good Luck next season. Hope to see you in Pasadena!

You bring up great points, and revisit the academic issues. I, for one, would like to see more kids like Zorich and Tony Rice (1980's) get a shot at "changing their stars." As you stated, ND does back off on the academic requirements for athletes at ND right now, but as domers, we are all painfully aware of the few who couldn't get in because of grades. It seems it depends on whim of the administration.

 

Prop 48 helped Zorich and Rice. Reading Zorich's bio, I am reasonably certain he would not get in to ND now, however, Zorich went on to attend ND Law school after graduation. Sometimes I wish ND would act more Catholic and take a kid with a great attitude and work ethic, but who is academically weak, and turn his life around...to give him a chance he never would have gotten elsewhere. To some extent, they do that now, but it could improve.

 

Anyway, as to your team, and beyond the success on the field, I do admire that you don't have prima donnas and smack talkers (i.e. USC). I knew of no smack talk b/w the teams before the game. It was almost professional of sorts. Very mature teams. I like that about Saban. I seriously doubt you will ever hear of a Saban player called the "black mamba" or "honey badger." I just don't see Saban putting up with that showboat nonsense.

 

Good luck ruling the SEC for the foreseeable future.