Thanks SC, My mission is the same, mutual respect and tolerance However not quite sure Bama becoming Tiger Nations second favorite SEC team is coming together as I originally envisioned it some months ago. Perhaps I underestimated LSU's recent decade dominate success (you do sound a lot like us.) Winning the NC this year may have burned a few bridges of good will as well. Finally this seems to be a transition year for Tiger Nation as they look for solutions back to the big Dance. My comments perhaps are taken as comparisons as opposed to "here's an interesting point." Don't hold me to it, but it appears some on this forum are happy to express what their "thinking" and a bunch are just as happy to express what their "feeling." If this phenomenon isn't resolved by football season, I fear this cycle will only repeat itself once again. Maybe I should have started with Vandy.
Lets see, you have a mission to make Bama the LSU fans second-favorite team. A team that is our main competition in the SEC and disdains our coach, program, and fans. A fan base that treats every other program in the SEC with contempt. You would be wasting your time if you tried it at Vanderbilt, too. You should have been here during the two days after the LSU/Bama game last year. The Bama Nation behaved contemptibly here and we deleted, infracted, and banned more people that we've ever had to before. Bama was my second-favorite team once and I also tried to promote some more tolerance on TideFans. It was a wasted effort.
Tusk, to add to what Red has said, something you need to realize many of the fans on this site are not new LSU fans, we have been around since the 60's and 70's. There is no way in hell you are ever going to have any of us consider Bama as a 2nd favorite team. And I agree with him, Vandy wouldn't be receptive either nor would anyone else in the SEC for that matter. Nothing to do with you personally, but Bama's arrogance over the past umpteen years has been imbedded in many a rival SEC fans minds. Something that many of us just aren't willing to look past.
I'm more built toward taking on the issues as opposed to the person. Everyone with a favorite team is coming with a certain bias, that's a given. Not everything on TideFans is agreeable to me either, but I don't think overall they are as adamant in their disdain. Could certainly be recent success too, either way if I don't agree I'm just as quick to say it to a bama fan if it's worth the effort. It's good you gave it a go as far as rehabbing the Bama fans, I think it's the "group mentality." Anyway with your experience you can let me know if I'm getting close to a major break through.
Tusk, I like your posts, and you've been the best consistent Bama poster we've had in years. While you support your school, you are as respectful as a visitor should be, about as respectful as Red is when he posts on TideFans. My formative years as a Tiger fan were in the 60's and 70's, and Bama held the better cards (coaches) in those days. Those memories are not wiped out by Bama's subpar ball the last decade and a half. Ya'll were due. Now, ya'll got a top flight coach, and he used to be our coach. We realize he didn't go straight there, and if he were at Penn St. or out of the SEC we wouldn't care. At any rate, he's got you competing for championships again, so the rivalry is hot again. If Saban quit, the rivalry would still be hot as it is now. Just a few years ago, the winner of :lsup: vs. Auburn determined the SEC West, and that rivalry was white hot for a few years. I congratulate Bama for 2 consecutive undefeated regular seasons, an SEC and nat. championship. I think Bama has been lucky that both LSU and Auburn were in down years the last 2, and LSU's permanent East foe is Fla. and yours in Tenn. LSU has sent out a redshirt frosh QB against Bama the last 2 seasons. We'll get better, so will Auburn (I think). LSU fans won't like Bama anytime soon. I don't think you really expect they will. And keep on posting, I enjoy an outsiders opinion!
Thanks for the sportsmanship. Time and circumstances will keep this rivalry new, different, and I'm afraid fierce. Your analogy of the Auburn series with LSU does show the swiftness football fortunes can change. I think Auburn is close to being back and not really sure if LSU went anywhere talent wise. Just a better commitment to what works. If Miles plays his schedule like he prepares for Bama I don't see much "down time." This Saban thing is real and will not change.Where these bye weeks are now landing is clear both coaches know who they have to beat to win the west. Plus Miles and Saban truly want to beat each other. Both Fan Bases are more than embracing the head coaches. As you know the old days it was never this clear, there was only one division and everyone was clawing their way to the top. Now these teams in our division are fewer creating even more intensity and bad humor. I try to keep in mind the history of some of the posters on here though. I can remember this series as really important back to Bert Jones, unfortunately. You can see how the "grayer" perspective are different than many who remember a lot less. Reds OK. Like the rest of us he's just extra adamant he's right.
I think that you are starting to see the light of many of the LSU faithful. The LSU/Bama rivalry isn’t going anywhere. As I have stated several times the bigger problem for both of these programs is the rest of the SEC West. I believe our division is stronger top to bottom than any other in college football. When your doormats are strong enough to go head to head with the top tier, and your middle has closed the gap as is the case in the SEC West it only gets tougher to remain a dominant program. Auburn, Arky, Ole Miss have all closed the gap some on LSU and Bama. This is not to say that they will become the elite programs that LSU and Bama are, but that they will compete with us year in and year out. Every now and then taking the top spot away from one of us, and being a big deciding factor in who wins the west. I really see the SEC West not having another National Champion contender for the next couple of years. I think we will all knock each other out of contention. The great thing for LSU and Bama is we have the staying power to remain at our level for longer. The other 4 from the SEC West will go thru greater downs than we do and I don’t think that they have the ability to have long periods of top level runs like LSU and Bama. Can one of us make a run at it, of course, especially when you consider that 5 of the last 6 National Champs have come from the SEC and 3 of those are from the SEC West.
Yes, but it's not a new thought. You just have to wade through all the self analysis' stuff in the Bayou. Plus as a Bama enthusiast, I have to stay in survival mode. But you are correct about the SEC, and winning the west the last two years, LSU's mindset right now is "just shut up and deal."
