Unconquered

Apparently, your mods think Winston is 50-50 between us and bama. Here is a kid that is committed to FSU, who has visited bama many times, whose family and the recruit has repeatedly said they are solid to FSU after each visit. Does that sound like a recruit that bama has a 50% chance at? Now I am not saying that he will definitely sign for FSU, because anything can happen with recruiting, but.....
That is why some FSU fans call your fans delusional and arrogant and say your mods are spewing propaganda. Personally, I just enjoy the ride of recruiting and will be happy to see who we actually get on campus and which of those turn out to be elite players.

The feelings toward recruiting against the state of Alabama didn't all pop up when Winston committed. The Julio situation a few years ago among others have created a distaste for Bama recruiting. Not sure if this makes you feel better but I don't care for Auburn's recruiting either with some crap they've pulled off like Corey Lemonier. I don't speak for everyone, that's JMO of why that's what you are reading.

As for BOL, I think every one of these sites can be a mini propaganda machine. Bama fans have been sippin the cool aid pretty hard lately and I'm pretty sure 48 states agreed that a team who didn't even play for their conference championship shouldn't be there. You guys have benefited from the real propaganda machine in ESPN convincing the country that the sun rises and sets somewhere in the SEC West. If I was a Bama fan, I would just be grateful that my team was given a second chance to beat a team in one year.

Please do keep this peaceful. There are enough jackasses who wander over here daily as it is.

I have friends, clients and acquaintances from other schools in the Southeast besides Alabama - as well as many that are Tide peopls. There is a very strong perception that Alabama is one of the biggest cheaters in the nation - they cite the witness of the various sanctions Bama has undergone (Coach Phat Phil anyone), and the threats they've used against players families to either secure a commitment or reward a commitment.

I have no proof of any of this, and when I ask folks to cite specifics - they mostly demure with the exception of the Fulmer/Bama/NCAA stuff.

However, in our society, perception is reality to most people, and when a source close to your sensibilities - BOL - tells you - Bama Fan - that JW is AT WORST 50-50, then of course you more than half believe it.

I had a HS team mate that was recruited by and played for the Bear back in the day. The stories he told me of what went on during that process would these day, prolly secure the death penalty for most programs - if the NCAA had the sack to inculcate it that is, which I highly doubt.

Ok so you create a topic and ask for our views on various topics. Then you talk about Bama fans not being delusional, but at the end you say, to even question that Bama fans are delusional, we have to show you a published study on thousands of fans that tests if they are delusional. It looks to me that your mind is made up or that you are trolling. Then you offer your experience as proof that BOL doesnt pump out propaganda; thats anecdotal and cant be used as proof. But it doesnt matter because if we do have proof of propaganda then we can just PM you instead of posting it. Again it looks like your mind is made up.

Alos, you said you joined BOL earlier this year so you havent experiecned the crazy part of the recruiting season. And its only going to get worse between now and signing day. This time of year every recruiting site posts articles slanted(maybe even propaganda) to their fan base to get more hits and subs. As fans we want to think that most of these big time recruits want to play for our team and these site give us that hope.

I dont read BOL so i dont know what is said there but i think LocalNole and Semmineer do a great job of pointing out the slant in the BOL articles.

How confident is Bama in pulling Goldman - b/c FSU is very confident on this front also...?

LOL!!! I was told to keep the peace.

But......I would say very confident at this point. All the Bama sites I've been to think he's going to announce for us. I've also heard he's not announcing until signing day so that's a very long time for a kid to change his mind.

Big mistake, if true (and I don't believe it is). Kid is a phenomenal pass rusher and he would be making a huge mistake playing nose (despite Saban's "promise" that he can play DE on some passing downs) in the 3-4. Simple fact is he will have an opportunity to post much better numbers and highlights in our defense playing against ACC offenses.

Yeah, he may post better numbers at FSU...I can definitely see that. But Bama's 3 down lineman first job is containment and holding up blockers. Once they've done that then they rush the passer, which is the reason why Bama will probably never lead the country in sacks. But the defense will always be tops against the rush. This year's group is so disciplined in that manner.

Now I can say without a doubt Eddie Goldman will move around like most defensive lineman his size. The only person who didn't move around was Chapman our starting nose tackle. Everyone moved around and took turns on the ends as well as the nose tackle. But if you look at the Bama line, you should notice Eddie would not fit our prototypical nose tackle, so his time would definetely be limited there. That's the reason why Saban went after Taylor b/c he does fit that big nose tackle to take up two blockers at a time.

If I were you I would just sit down and watch a Bama game and only when they're on defense. If you love football like I do you'll see it's a thing of beauty. Yeah, I know I'm biased, but when you hold opponenets to like 40 yards rushing you can't tell me that's not impressive.

Sometimes it not about individual accolades and more about playing as a unit and winning as a team.

I personally think most Alabama fans are annoying. But, there is also the issue of people (i.e FSU fans) conceptualizing reality via their experiences with "fans" on the internet.

Its kind of like the movie "Crash". For example, when all your experiences with black people are negative, more often than not you tend to be racist.

The people that are forming opinions about Alabama fans are, for the most part, basing that on their internet experiences and applying it to real life. Obviously message board fans are a bit more rabid and fanatical than your average college football fan. But the nastiness and overconfidence tends to overflow on message boards and internet discussions revolving around National Championship contenders.

Most people on this board can remember how arrogant and annoying UF fans were on message boards a few years ago. Now they post a-lot less. Miami fans are also very arrogant during the off-season, but tend to quiet down once the results show up on the field.

Also, Fanatical message board fans tend to live vicariously through their teams. (See NovaNoles suicidal grief over Rick Trickett on the blue board). "Normal" message board fans (people with less than 10,000 posts) tend to get burnt out pretty quick after hearing the same garbage over and over from the same posters about how amazing or awful their team is.

If you look at the blue board, it is essentially a circle jerk between SEC fans over how amazing the SEC is. It is difficult to generate discussion about any other football related subject there. That is why so many non-SEC fans on the internet dislike the SEC.

Now, although much of the dislike over Alabama fans has to do with "internet perceptions", for various reasons there is some validity to some of the criticism that is applied to the fanbase as a whole.

On a state by state basis data consistently proves that Alabama ranks in the bottom tier in various "standard of living" data.

Last in % of college graduates

Last in income per capita

Last in racial integration

Last in corporate investment

And one of my favorite stats that applies to most southern states...

Last in tax base, but first in welfare and food stamp intake.

Also, in general, college football fans tend to support their team blindly no matter what. Think of it as "Scholastic Nationalism". Some fan bases are friendly, some are violent.

Because of these statistical facts, and the fact that their isn't any other sports teams to follow in the state, the average fans from the state of Alabama aren't much different than Jihadi-terrorists.

Like terrorists, your fan-base is mostly ignorant, uneducated, uncompromising and they don't have any other activity to focus on other than watching the game or shooting a deer from the back porch.

Like a terrorist that has no economic future, no education, or any long-term interests or hopes, Alabama fans become blindly fanatical to their "cause" and refuse to discuss any other idea or concept because their entire little world revolves around AU or UA. Any discussion that doesn't revolve around their "cause" is deemed heretical.

And no I don't think Alabama fans are evil I was just comparing the psychological mindset of an Alabama (and UA) fan to a jihadi terrorists, because the cognitive thought process and economic environments are similar.

Also both groups tend to post stupid stuff on the internet.

Hope that helps OP.

rms02d calling it out as he sees it, and ausin' national data to back it up. I live in middle TN. with a lot of Bama fans around me, outnumbered by idiot Vols though. Admittedly the ones I interact with are fellow business owners and folks that actually improved their lot in life.

They all want their team to be the best, get the best and beat the best. Most understand the plethora of "jihadi's" extant in their state and all, but again, want to win. Thing is, and this doesn't get talked about too much here or on other sites. Most older types 40's and up, actually do have a lot of respect for our program, in particular BB and what he accomplished (him bein bred 'n bawn in Alabammy an all). The ones I've talked with are looking at Jimbo with just a bit of apprehension, and Craig with alarm. We're going into their backyard, and getting players to commit and play for FSU - where traditionally all they really had to worry about were Awbuhn and Cajun Tigers.

Toug tittah said the kittah, but the mild tastes jussssssssssst fine!

Not to mention they poach the panhandle of Fla. with impunity - as in their minds - is their god-given right!

See, that's the point. You think you're going to get Goldman when everywhere else says FSU lean. Bama fans are also the only ones that think Landon Collins is going to commit to them instead of LSU. You're also going to get Jameis Winston to switch. The "insiders" on your board are ridiculous and basically tell you that you will get anyone that you want....and if you don't get someone there is always an excuse.

If this guy really wanted an answer, he should hang out on the blue board for 48 hours.