A Message to SEC Fans: Don’t Be Like the Soviets
Dr. B has a good message for SEC fans, as well as sports fans in general.
By: Dr. B
Started last season, “The Deep South’s Oldest Column” is a weekly feature from Biscuits & SEC. Each week during the season, B&S contributor Dr. B will examine an SEC topic from a cultural perspective. There will be examinations of the conference we love and why we love it. Stories of the role models who passed on the love of football in the South. Fun will be poked at other conferences - and often at ourselves. There will be introspection, life lessons, tales of big wins, crushing losses, history, tear-jerkers, joy...and the ties that bind us together.
OK SEC football fans, time for a mid-season chat. This week’s column comes due to the fact that many of our teams are experiencing terrific football seasons so far in 2021, especially in Athens, Tuscaloosa, College Station, Oxford, and Lexington (quick side note...did you know that the Kentucky women's volleyball team won the SEC’s first national title in the sport last season? Go Cats!). Those of you in Knoxville, Fayetteville, and Auburn, there is a lot of hope and positivity around your programs, so you don’t need this message quite yet, but perhaps sooner than we all thought. Those of you in Gainesville and Columbia, Missouri, you all are pretty angry due to high expectations not being met right now and don’t need this message yet either. To those in Columbia, South Carolina, you have a ways to go and those of you in Nashville and Starkville, this message is more for your baseball programs, especially State, which is coming off its first baseball national championship last season. In terms of Baton Rouge, let’s table the discussion until your new coach is named.
For context, this message originated in my own home. My wife and I are naturally competitive people but not to an obnoxious degree like many of our SEC brethren. We have passed this trait down to our two kids and it makes for an exciting household indeed. Our kids have also grasped on to a true love of college football, especially our beloved Crimson Tide. As a family, we all watch Tide games together and without a doubt, there is always running commentary throughout each game. Our 14 year old son has become quite a student of the game and will oftentimes point out formations and strategies behind each play. Our 11 year old daughter is quite a fan herself, as she is the most celebratory when things are going well. At the same time, she understands the game well enough to know when Bama is playing like crud. For the past two years, her most common negative comments have had to do with our secondary, as it is common to hear her say “What are Branch and Jobe doing?!?!” Hey, we love defensive backs Brian Branch and Josh Jobe, yet like the rest of us, they have their “moments.” Unlike us, their moments are laid bare each Saturday on public display, so our respect for them is great no matter what happens on the field.
Josh Jobe and the Alabama secondary had an uncharacteristic performance against Texas A&M. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr., USA TODAY Sports
The success of the Tide has spoiled us, and I have the feeling that my fellow Bama fans would agree with me on this point. We simply are not used to losing, and we aren’t used to close games. It is to the point that simply winning is not enough...we need to dominate our opponent and anything less than total domination can feel like a defeat. That fact was on full display in our house a few weeks back as Alabama stormed out to a 21-3 lead yet hung on and barely defeated the Florida Gators, 31-29. It was a great win in a hostile environment against a quality opponent, yet all I heard from Bama Nation was how the win really felt like a loss. I had to look no further than my own home as my son was furious that the Tide did not play their best and my daughter was perturbed as well (don’t even ask about the Texas A&M game...that was an interesting night in the house of Dr. B).
My wife and I felt great about the win, as we remember several lean years in the late 90’s and early 2000’s when wins were at a premium, yet our kids have never experienced Crimson Tide mediocrity. Coach Saban has been extremely positive lately about the close wins, reminding reporters and fans that wins need to be celebrated. He even cracked several smiles during the Florida post game interview with CBS sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl. Saban’s measuring stick is perfection, which will never be realized, yet he understands the value of a win and it looks like he is enjoying them well, which is a great example to us Bama fanatics that cannot comprehend why we can’t beat every team by 30 points.
The dominance of the Crimson Tide throughout the Saban era is really stunning, and few programs in any sport can compare to this era of Alabama dominance. A few that may rival Alabama’s run include Geno Auriemma’s women’s basketball program at UConn and UCLA men’s basketball under John Wooden. The Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls all had great NBA runs, and in the NHL, the New York Islanders had quite a stretch in the early 1980’s, winning four straight Stanley Cups between 1979 and 1983. USC had a great college football run under Pete Carroll in the early 2000’s, yet nothing seems quite as dominant, or lasting, as the current dynasty from those wearing Crimson and White jerseys.
Nick Saban has won seven national championships, the most by a coach in college football history. Six of those have come since he took over the Crimson Tide in 2007. Photo by David J. Phillip, AP Photo.
So what sports programs can compare to what we are seeing out of Tuscaloosa? If we expand our search for sports dynasties outside the United States, there are a few we can mention. The best comparison might be the old Soviet Union’s international ice hockey program that dominated the world from the 1960’s to the early 1990’s. During that stretch, the Soviet national team won 8 out of 10 Olympic gold medals and 19 out of 26 world titles. At one point leading up to the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, the Soviets won 33 out of 34 games against world-class competition, which in any professional sport is absolutely ridiculous. Moreover, interviews with Soviet players years later revealed that winning had become so common for the Russians that all joy from victories had disappeared because it was so common and expected. They also stated that playing the game they loved had become drab and very much a chore.
Which brings us to the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, where the Soviets were the heavy favorites to win their 5th straight gold medal. The team was coached by a tyrant named Victor Tikhonov, who cared nothing for his players but was obsessed with winning every game the Soviets played. As a result, the players hated him, yet they dominated all in their path unlike anything international sport had ever seen. In Lake Placid, the Soviets breezed through the preliminary round, beating teams by scores like 16-0 and 17-4 (which in hockey, is absolutely ridiculous). The Medal Round (which essentially was a final four) pitted the unbeaten and unchallenged Soviets against a group of college upstarts from the USA in the first round, and in front of a raucous home crowd, the greatest upset in the history of sports occurred.
The celebration after Team USA took down the Soviets. Photo by Heinz Kluetmeier, Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
The young and heavily underdog Americans knocked off the “Evil Empire” in a thriller, a game that was famously dubbed the “Miracle on Ice” by a final score of 4-3. For context, two weeks earlier in the final exhibition game before the Olympics, the two teams met with the Soviets routing the Americans 10-3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City (ridiculous comment not needed). That night, the Americans got an effective Saban-esque “ass chewing” from their coach, Herb Brooks, who was a bit of a hard ass himself. One could say that it was quite effective indeed.
So what’s the lesson and what’s the connection to the current Alabama dynasty and the possible emergence of other ones in the SEC? As the clock struck 0:00, the Americans stormed the ice and celebrated the victory over the Soviets in legendary form. In the history of sports, there may not have ever been a better, or more emotional, post-game celebration. The key was not the celebration, but what was occurring at the other end of the rink. ABC cameras caught the stunned Soviets just standing there, watching, motionless, taking in the scene. Soviet players later commented that although the defeat was extremely bitter, they thought it was great to see the enthusiasm of the young Americans. Perhaps the greatest team in the world had not realized how much they missed the joy a victory could produce...a joy that had been snatched from them years prior. It was a classic and famous shot that to this day speaks volumes about the psychology engrained in sport.
The Soviets went on to win gold in the ‘84 Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and their celebration was a beautiful thing to see, as they had regained their appreciation for coming out on top. They would also win gold in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary as well. The only thing that stopped the Soviet hockey machine was the fall of their country in 1991.
A note to my son, Alabama fans, and SEC fans of budding dynasties...let’s not turn into the Soviets and forget the thrill of each and every victory. Let’s appreciate the hard work put in every day by the coaches and the players and experience that joy of a hard fought, and perhaps closely contested win. Fellow Alabama fans, there may be a day where our beloved Crimson Tide will not be on top of the college football world and we will be spending our days recalling the glory days to our grandkids. In the meantime, let’s ingest every single win as a celebratory moment to be treasured. Finally, let’s accept the lessons the Soviet hockey team taught us and not allow our thirst for victory steal our joy for the teams and the game we love.
Dr. B
Dr. B has lived and taught throughout the South, attending The University of Alabama and earning a Ph.D. from The University of Georgia. He has come to know and love the people and rich traditions of the SEC and its rabid fan bases.