COMMENTARY: Oh, Grow Up

Now LSU fans need to let the Saban hatred simmer down

by Matt Deville
Tiger Rag Senior Editor

(At left) Signs like this one are displayed all in good fun (Photo by Matt Deville)

It was pretty much understood LSU fans were going to go out of their way to see just how rude they could make Saban’s reception back to Baton Rouge.

Considering most Tiger fans have been brooding since the ex-LSU coach was named the Tide’s head man on Jan. 4, 2007, the jilted lover syndrome simmered to an all-time high by the time Alabama came to town on Friday.

Everyone knew there would be the obligatory signs. Well thought out insults poking fun at everything from Saban’s brightly capped teeth, questioning his manhood or teasing him about Alabama’s shocking loss to Louisiana-Monroe a year ago. And with ESPN Gameday on hand, the well-versed fans handiwork could be displayed over the airwaves.

But LSU fans took it a bit too far staging a “Burn Bama Burn” bonfire the night before the game. This Friday night bazaar prominently featured a scarecrow bearing Saban’s likeness being incinerated while beer guzzling fans chanted like the Third Reich burning books in Nazi Germany.

Billboards were purchased along Interstate-10 publicizing the event as if it was the social gathering of the year. The bonfire was broadcast as the lead story on the 10 p.m. news on Baton Rouge area news channels.

Good grief.

And, of course, the ESPN Gameday crew had a camera on hand to document this classy display of sportsmanship. It made for good television indeed.

In the week leading up to the big game, ESPN The Magazine reporter Wright Thompson visited Baton Rouge and spent several days researching a feature story on why LSU fans hate Nick Saban. The story is published in this week’s edition of ESPN The Mag as well as on ESPN.com.

In preparation for the big game, several new additions were added to the Tiger Stadium atmosphere including music being piped in during timeouts as well as pregame fireworks. The setting was definitely electric.

Even the Tiger Band lifted its ban of playing its wildly popular “O-E-O” tune from the movie The Wizard of Oz after an LSU scoring drive. The song was banned following last year’s South Carolina win when LSU students re-arranged the lyrics to insult Gamecock coach Steve Spurrier.

The song was re-instated when it was agreed the students would chant “Go Tigers” instead of alternative lyrics.

The student body agreed and behaved accordingly throughout the game.

However, when John Parker Wilson scored the winning touchdown in overtime, all bets were off. The entire northwest section of Tiger Stadium chanted in unison, “F— You Saban!” over and over again.

ESPN’s Chris Fowler was standing near the goal line in the north end zone and remarked to Lee Corso, “Oh, that’s nice.”

But the most appalling and childish display of LSU’s hatred for Saban and Alabama was someone managed to acquire the cell phone number for Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson.

Wilson’s digits were dispersed among Tiger fans via e-mail and text message and the senior signal caller’s voicemail box was slammed full of colorfully worded words of encouragement.

It was the third incident of its kind involving LSU fans.

Last season, Tiger fans bombarded Florida quarterback Tim Tebow with similar messages when his cell phone number was hacked. Tebow scored a rushing touchdown in the north end zone, then promptly held his hand to his hear as if he was on the phone.

Three weeks ago, Knowshon Moreno followed suit after his cell listing was violated.

When Wilson scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter, he ran to the railing and imitated Tebow and Moreno’s prior antics. Unlike the other two players in the past, Wilson was tagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which actually led to an LSU touchdown on the ensuing possession.

The bottom line is, people need to grow up.

It is one thing to engage in some good old-fashioned ribbing. The signs are fine and humorous chants are entertaining, but the actions of a faction of Tiger fans over the past week were downright embarrassing.

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Matt Deville is the senior editor of Tiger Rag, Reach him at matt@tigerrag.com.