It's no secret to anyone that cares about college football, that things are starting to get difficult for Alabama in the usually calm, comfortable and warm waters of the media. A few shots have crossed the bow and ripples are rocking the boat. While Alabama media members work hard to steady the boat, hand out life rafts and calm the Crimson masses, NONE of them are asking where the shots came from. Nobody is asking the why's, the who's, the how come's or even if it could happen again, or if there had been others. They'd rather shelter the weak minded and hope for calm.
This is in direct conflict to the actions taken when shots were fired at Auburn University over the past few years. Maybe shots weren't the right word. They were bombs. Big ones. They seemed to be coming from anyone and from every direction. So, did the Alabama media members grab buckets, or work to bilge pump water from the sinking ship? Absolutely not. In fact, most media members in the state took it up on themselves to jump up and down and throw their weight around in an effort to make things as difficult as possible.
THAT is why Auburn fans have issues. THAT is why, Alabama media folks, YOU take so much direct heat from Twitter, message boards and column comment sections when writing your "Does the NCAA really have the stomach to..." type scribbles. It's a direct slap in the face to those that deserve to hear the same questions asked, when troublesome accusations are delivered at your front door.
Last week, when the news broke that an Alabama Assistant Strength & Conditioning coach was placed on administrative leave, the narrative of most Alabama media was to go out and find any "expert" they could to explain that the issue for the student athlete was not a big deal. That's awfully convenient, but in the end, it will have little to do with what happens to Alabama collectively, if the right questions are asked, and the universities recruiting practices are called to question.
To the flip side of this. This last weekend, I worked the Dix story pretty hard on my Twitter account (@AuburnChopper). People cared about the subject, and so did I. News kept coming out, and I kept putting it out as well. Rand Getlin, a Yahoo Reporter that co-wrote the story with Charles Robinson on DJ Fluker's recent issues, even got into the act later that day when he posted pics of HaHa Clinton-Dix's 2012 Dodge Charger, complete with custom paint job, personalized number appointments on the quarter panels, as well as on the wheel hubs. A current model year (when this happened), custom painted Charger? Anyway you slice it, it's a vehicle that costs about $35-$50 GRAND with all accessories, paint and stereo equipment. To be desperately hunting down a "less than" $500 dollar loan from a coach? If you don't think that stinks, or Alabama media should be hounding Nick Saban for SOME SORT of reasonable answer, other than "It's an internal matter", is losing their mind.
So, why keep posting about it? Why keep asking the questions? Because they need to be asked. Because not only do I know what Auburn went through, I lived it. I watched a military career go down the tubes from the wrong questions being asked. I watched a military career get scrubbed because regardless of facts, the subject matter made me more guilty than the substance of any truth or fact pertaining to me specifically.
When I've asked the questions about Alabama, it's recruiting practices and the manner in which it happens, it's because I WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWERS. They're questions. I DO NOT know whether or not ANY OF IT happened. What I DO KNOW is that Alabama media members do NOT seem to want to know if any of it is true or now. None of them. THAT is not fair to Alabama, Auburn, college football, or the integrity of the game. If you don't care to answer the questions, then quit celebrating the grand traditions that go along with it, because you do NOT care, as shown by your inactivity.
For the first two years of my military stint at Maxwell AFB in the mid-90's, I was a model airman. Airman of the Quarter for one of the larger squadrons on base TWICE. I was on honor guard and folded flags that honored the fallen, or the deserved few that served our country. I was on several committees that determined different lifestyle improvements for airman peers on base. I was involved. I was proud. I was looked up to.
It all came crashing down in less than three months for nothing. First I was accused of having "weapons in the dormitory". This was untrue. I had a display knife, a collectible, that was kept by dorm management, and was given back to me the week of Christmas holiday to take home to Georgia while on leave. After a surprise inspection, the knife, which I had grabbed from management the morning I was leaving was found on my bed, and I was hauled to police HQ for questioning. The accusation was eventually dropped, but not before much explaining, many meetings with my superiors and the squadron commander.
I was then accused of racism. SOMEONE (not me) on the FLOOR of my dormitory, yelled an inappropriate racial term late on a Saturday night. I had several folks over to my room, as we were watching a pay-per-view fight. Someone from outside the room, THOUGHT it came from my room, where everyone was gathered. It started a three week investigation, again, that was ultimately proven unfounded, and no charges, were ever filed, but now, with the weapons charge and this racial issue, I was being questioned about everything.
I was accused next of a "hit and run". After completing an exercise early in the day, I left for lunch, evidently not knowing that the back end of my car had bumped the bumper of the car behind me. Several folks saw it happen, but just let me know when I got back. I went to the car's owner, who I was friends with, and I gave her the necessary money to fix it. It was no big deal to either of us. However, at the time, in the state of Alabama, she was required to have an "accident sticker" given to her by authorities showing the "accident" had been documented for insurance purposes. While obtaining this sticker, my friend told the base police that I had left, not knowing I hit the car. BOOM... Hit and Run charge. Yes, even THAT was eventually scrubbed from my record, but pair that with a weapons charge and racial issues? The game of telephone on my past record had begun. There was no repairing it and no stopping it.
For the last two years I was not allowed to join any new committees, and while I STILL managed to leave service with an Honorable Discharge, I had already been disqualified from re-enlistment due to prior derogatory files in my record pertaining to those THREE issues of which I wasn't even convicted of, or proven to have had anything to do with.
THAT still bugs me to this day. I've been fortunate enough, that the same drive and determination that made me successful my first few years there, drove me to complete school and enjoy a good career in what I do.
It ALSO is directly responsible for the way I have to question everything. It's why I question those that seem to SO INTENTLY ignore those that deserve to have questions asked, and why I defend those that have been so wrongfully accused. It's just a coincidence that I happen to be wrapped up in the fanship rivalry that is the Iron Bowl Rivalry.
War Eagle, and never stop questioning.... Ever.
