Bama’s Saban Ducks A&M Cheap Shot?

Alabama coach turned AFLAC’s smooth-talking pitchman, Nick Saban, learned the hard way that if trash talking an opponent “waddles, quacks & flies” like a cheap shot, Texas A&M will see it as a cheap shot.

“I’m done with him,” A&M’s head coach Jimbo Fisher told ESPN, even though Saban now says “I should never have singled out another school” for allegedly using name, image and likeness deals to buy their top-ranked recruiting class in a press conference two weeks ago. Yet, Saban now also insisted, “I didn’t say anyone did anything wrong.” Huh? As one reporter asked, hadn’t Saban clearly said A&M, and, therefore, its head coach Fisher, “bought every player”? Like a duck hit over the head, Saban glared at the reporter & repeated his earlier qualified mia culpa.

Saban’s one-time offensive coordinator while both were at LSU from 2000 to 2004, didn’t seem ready to buy an insurance policy from his ex-mentor, at least, just yet as he apparently boycotted an SEC media meeting with Saban. Maybe Jimbo, his own feathers still ruffled, still thinks Saban is “despicable” and a “narcissist.” Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who worked with Saban & Fisher at LSU, said folks shouldn’t be surprised by the controversy saying “they should listen to what’s said on headphones [about one another] during games.” Or, maybe Saban could learn from the AFLAC duck and remember next time “the less said about your product let alone your competition, the better.”

Davd Soul