San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
From friends to foes ... with help from NIL
Sez Me …
“Some people think they’re God.”
— Jimbo Fisher, humbly excluding himself
It’s the grimmest of Grimm’s College Football Fairy Tales. The warlock’s pot stocked with hypocrisy calling the kettle brimming with duplicity black.
If there were anything holy about it, the verbal battle between prominent coaches — Alabama’s Nick Saban and Texas A&M’S Jimbo Fisher — would feel Biblical.
But Pontius Pilate would have washed his hands of these two, who between them make $20 million a year.
I’ve been around for a few sunrises, and I’ve never heard two coaches — once friends, no less — go after one another like this.
I’m finding it fun. I think it’s hilarious — except for ripping kids and their families, which my ancestors would call “infamnia.”
Saban started it all — which Nick now says he regrets, but really doesn’t — when he basically called Fisher a cheat. A&M just had the No. 1 recruiting class (Alabama was No. 2), and Saban said Jimbo is “buying players.”
Fisher surprisingly knows what an insult is, so he naturally fired back, basically gathering everything under the sun and throwing it at Nick, even thinking Saban “should be slapped upside his head.”
“We never bought anybody,” said Jimbo, during a press conference for the ages. “No rules were broken. Nothing was done wrong. It’s a shame that you have to sit here and defend 17-year-old kids and families and Texas A&M. Because we do things right.
“It’s despicable that a reputable head coach can come out and say this when he doesn’t get his way. The narcissist in him doesn’t allow those things to happen. It’s ridiculous when he’s not on top.
“Some people think they’re God … Go dig into his past, or anybody that’s ever coached with him (Jimbo did). You can find anything you want to find out, what he does and how he does it. It’s despicable.”
Saban also took a shot at Deion Sanders, who managed to land a 5-star recruit at Jackson State. So, if Nick can’t get them, nobody should.
This, as should have been expected, is over NIL, which now allows athletes to make money for their name, image and likeness, heretofore exclusive to greedy schools and the NCAA.
There were reports that Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, who won the Heisman as a freshman, was handed a million before he took a snap in Tuscaloosa.
Saban told a group of backers, “we didn’t buy one player,” adding his guys made a total of $3 million last year. Right, and I’m Knute Rockne.
Gotta love the hypocritical semantics.
I’d love to know what Nick thinks of USC’S Lincoln Riley, who, as I predicted, has processed the transfer portal as though it were NIL’S Ellis Island.
Also as expected, the NIL/ transfer portal has become the OK Corral. It’s legal. Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holiday, didn’t even go to trial.
It never was Sunday school out there, but it’s beyond cutthroat now. A Crimson Tide of blood is in the water. But how to stop it, even slow it down? There doesn’t appear to be a tourniquet.
The NCAA has lost its muscle, few figs on its tree. There have been cries for a college commissioner, a czar, but good luck with that — bonne chance, getting back that chip on the table.
Maybe they can get Roger Goodell. If nothing else, he would find multiple ways to get them a lot more money, damning the torpedoes.
But, for now, both of these phonies should be sent into a forest, where, perhaps, if they fell, they wouldn’t make a sound. …
Stink O’ The Week Even Bigger Lie Sezment: Saban hopes parity can return to college football. What a remarkable wheelbarrow of stinking Alabama country manure. I have a better chance of winning the State Meet pole vault. …
Mark your calendar. Oct. 8. A&M at Alabama. They should hold it in Rome’s Colosseum. …
The Tide are opening as a 15-point favorite over Texas. My, how the Longhorns have improved. …
The Judases/l.a. Lodgers/
Fredo Spanos & Sons have broken ground on their new El Segundo practice facility. Another rental. “Build it not on our dime and we will come.” …
The Rams Super Bowl trophy tour stops today at Seaport Village. So we finally get one. …
Someday, someone will realize San Diego doesn’t like L.A. …
Does Clarence Thomas believe schedule leaks will erode our trust in the NFL? …
Peter Seidler can spend his money as he likes, and it’s easy to spend it for him. But the thought of cutting Joe Musgrove free sounds like a PR/ baseball error, at first. …
While running to second after a Robinson Cano single that just missed his head, Wil Myers ducked, lost his helmet, and paused to pick it up. Never seen that one, but his hair looked great. …
Hope Wil doesn’t do that chasing a fly ball in the outfield. …
Outside of injury, I see no reason for a top player to take the day off now that there’s a universal DH. …
Surprised by San Francisco fans throwing identified objects onto the field? Tony Gwynn always said they were the worst in baseball. …
The Cardinals, up 15-2 on San Francisco, pitched Albert Pujols in the ninth. The Giants didn’t cry “unwritten rule?” I find that humiliating. …
Coach K made $12.1 million in 2020-21. And people are bitching about NIL? …
The top four defensive teams are still ambulatory in the NBA. I don’t know what that means. I’ll ask A.J. Smith .…
Pope Francis: “I need a shot of tequila for my painful knee.” I assume he’s talking about drinking it. But how great is that? I do like my popes honest and my masses lively. …
U.S. News and World Report ranks Huntsville, Ala., as the best place to live in America. I’ve never been there, but it isn’t. …
Saw a cute couple riding bikes the other day. Side by side. One in the bike lane, the other outside of it. They must be widened. …
The problem with professional golf is that one must walk to play it. Grimacing, bogeying
Tiger making another major cut is amazing. …
IKEA is spending $3.2 billion on old and new stores. Primarily providing customers with compasses. …
Rumor: Chris Paul wants to be a Laker. But, he’s 37, and
Jeanie Buss thinks he’s too young. …
RIP, Roger Angell. He wrote baseball as literature. The best. …
Roger was 101. So he lived to see baseball as it should be and whatever it is now. …
Bud Grant turns 95. Happy Birthday. One of my all-time favorite coaches. Didn’t believe in training camp. Made the Hall of Fame, anyway. …
Here I thought The Wall would stop border tunneling. …
Just voted and mailed my 2020 ballot. …
San Diego averages 68 percent of daily sunshine per year, Yuma 90 percent. So, for those seeking a non-artificial 365-day tan, it’s an easy 2½-hour drive. …
The Feds are looking deeply into studying the “origin” of the UFO. Stop useless spending. Hell, even I know the answer. Outer space. …
Socrates: “Awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom.” How long can you hold your breath, Soc?