okietown says: First off, congrats on beating the Sooners last year, seeing LSU win was fun, especially against such a spoiled fanbase. As someone who has followed and admired LSU from afar and pulled for them to win, I thought I would pass along a few observations on some posts on this board. COACHING - At Okla St, a Coach by the name of Eddie Sutton lost half of his team to a plane crash, and sufferred by his standards thru a couple of bad seasons. Fans SPOILED by the very winning ways he brought to Stillwater said he was finished, could no longer recruit, time to replace him, etc... RIDICULOUS stuff. A few years later (last year) Coach Sutton returned to the Final 4 with players that were neither Micky D AA's, or national recruits, he basically took transfers, other teams disgruntled players and formed a winner. LESSON: Great coaches do not simply forget how to coach unless they have a mental disease. Coach Saban is a great coach, you do not go from being a coaching genious to the village idiot overnight with one loss. If LSU score 2 more points last week, Saban is still a genious. Something seems odd about the previous statement. TALENT - Barry Switzer ALWAYS stated he received way to much credit for his success, and he use to say: Hey idiot, it ain't the the alignment, it is the alignees. LESSON: Great Coaches can not win without great mature talent that is performing. PERCEPTION - An old coach once said in regards to the perception of a win or a loss: You never are as good as you think after a win, and you never are as bad as you think coming after a loss, the real truth lies somewhere in between. LESSON: Fans should refrain from getting to high or low based on the results of a single game, you are setting yourself up for some major heartache if you do. Living here in Oklahoma, many hate the Sooners on a local and national level because of the behavior of the fanbase after a loss, some of those folks literally will eat their own after a loss. Don't eat your own after a loss, don't allow the success of your program lead to an arrogance by the fanbase that causes fringe fans to your program to look at LSU in different light....don't allow a loss to detract from the class your fanbase has. It is a good idea not to post on a bulleting board concerning your team until about 24 hours after the game and the liqour is gone from your system. I watch the following cycle on college bulletin boards all over the country every week following a loss, and it is entertaining: Saturday - Post game - Denial, time to drink even more. Sunday - Anger - Fire all the coaches, the players all suck, no way we should have lost, we are superior. Monday - Depression - Man, we really do suck, the season is over, we really do need to fire everyone and start that back- up QB. Tuesday - Bargaining - What did I do from my normal gameday ritual that screwed this whole thing up? It had to be me. Ok football gods, I promise never to break my pregame ritual again and I will never speak bad of a coach or player again along as my team wins. Wednesday - Acceptance - Okay, we lost the game, it was just ONE game. I love State-U, I really do. I love my coaches and players, they are great. Thursday - Excitment - Man, I am getting PUMPED for the game this week-end. Friday - Talking Smack - Let's tell the opposing State-U fans how we are going to kick their *ss, our players and coaches are soooo much better than yours. I am convinced we should win 55-0, and if we don't it is becasue our players and coaches probably blew it. Saturday - Gameday & pregame - Perform game rituals and hope football gods are pleased with your offerings, go to the temple, I mean stadium, and pulll for beloved State-U. Good luck to LSU this season, your coaches and players have accomplished much recently, they wil be back, don't eat your own, it does not reflect well on the fans.
The fans you see condemning Saban are bandwagon fans. They are the ones who only accepted him when they saw we had a chance at the NC last year. 99% of us true fans still support Saban and would follow him off a cliff.
Who is condeming Saban? I haven't read all the post but I have yet to read one like that. If you would have told me before the game that we would hold AU to 10 points I would have been pumped. We played a good game although not a great game. We can sit here all day and "shoulda, coulda, woulda" the whole situation, but it won't change the outcome. This team is going to surprise a lot of people and still go to the SECCG.
I agree, forget all the defensive mistakes and consider that o:Auburn was held to 10. If someone were to tell me that the defense can hold everyone to 10 points then I would expect a NC. I'm just shocked that we were held to 9 :cry:
Great post Tigerskin I am in a profession to know, and what you are describing is almost the same thing that happens following a death, you know the cycle of shock, anger, denial, depression, etc. It really is sad that some LIVE and DIE over LSU football. I love LSU, graduated in '86 from LSU, but it's not my life, NOT EVEN CLOSE. That said, Geaux Tigers, Beat State.
...from "On Death and Dying" by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross... ...it's really not surprising that some folks view LSU football as a life or death proposition... ...I used to be that way, but thank God I found a good adult beverage cure... :grin:
