What Nick Saban is not thankful for on Thanksgiving

Nick Saban went off again on Wednesday night. His rants frequently bring national attention and not always for the right reasons. The ‘hate Alabama’ crowd typically follows a Saban rant with claims Nick was again ‘out of control’ angry.

Those claims are almost always wrong. It would be hard to find anyone more calculating in their public utterances than Nick Saban.

What distinguished Saban’s passionate words on Wednesday night was the importance of the message. Much of what Saban says in these situations is a message to his players. That was also true on Wednesday, but there was more. His statement carried valuable insight into the psyche of too many college football fans.

His message was a direct admonition,

"for all you self-absorbed folks out there that can’t look past your own self"

Some of us Alabama football fans are not guilty of such self-absorption. Many of us are, in varying degrees and blind to seeing it in ourselves. With some Crimson Tide fans, the loss of perspective is galling. Check out any message board or social media site during games and often for hours afterward. The bilious venom spewed by some ‘so-called’ Alabama fans is disgusting.

So too is some of the behavior at games. Not the behavior of opposing teams’ fans but from Alabama fans. A solid source observed disgusting, group behavior, directed at an Alabama football player, during the Arkansas game. It came from the student section. Alcohol and misplaced passion can be a dangerous combination. Add stupidity to the mix and things can turn ugly fast.

What exactly was being chanted and at which player will not be reported here. Sadly, going back decades, I have heard worse in the stands at Alabama football games. Alabama fans slinging racial slurs at Crimson Tide players in the 1980s comes to mind. For the record, the player singled out during the Arkansas game is white.

What these idiot Alabama fans fail to grasp is how they hurt the program. Players and families of players don’t deserve it. Recruits and their family members are no doubt appalled by it.

Such vile fan behavior must not be excused as a byproduct of intense passion. Heed something else Nick Saban said about his players.

"Nobody wants to win worse than they do. Not me, not you, I don’t care what kind of fan you are. Nobody wants to win more than the players that play. Nobody."

Saban’s players pay attention and appreciate his support.

Video of Saban’s three-plus-minute lesson on how to be a fan can be seen below.

The video shows a man sincerely expressing his strong opinion on an important issue. That the words were communicated with intensity does not make them a rant.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for many, many things. One of them is Nick Saban.