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Take This Man's Keyboard Away

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MikeyCanez said:
Fine, I'll play devil's advocate. Saban's dynasty is a lot more impressive than anything our coaches did and sure, he paid players, but so did everyone else.

I guess you could argue that he didn't "build the template", but he actually built a real dynasty, our coaches built a national championship contender.
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The key is he got to play with an unfair advantage. While the NCAA was slapping down anyone with a pulse over some free french fries, Saban had players literally flashing money on social media on a regular basis without even a concern since emmert was never going to look in their direction.

I'm not saying there's a real argument against him as GOAT coach, but he definitely got there partly due to an uneven playing field.
 
poncho0091 said:
The key is he got to play with an unfair advantage. While the NCAA was slapping down anyone with a pulse over some free french fries, Saban had players literally flashing money on social media on a regular basis without even a concern since emmert was never going to look in their direction.
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Don’t forget the Dodge dealerships!
 
poncho0091 said:
The key is he got to play with an unfair advantage. While the NCAA was slapping down anyone with a pulse over some free french fries, Saban had players literally flashing money on social media on a regular basis without even a concern since emmert was never going to look in their direction.

I'm not saying there's a real argument against him as GOAT coach, but he definitely got there partly due to an uneven playing field.
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Not saying I disagree, just saying that Bama was hardly the only program paying players under the table (that tale is as old as time). He was to paying players what Lance Armstrong was to doping. Just institutionalized that stuff on another level.
 
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MikeyCanez said:
Not saying I disagree, just saying that Bama was hardly the only program paying players under the table (that tale is as old as time). He was to paying players what Lance Armstrong was to doping. Just institutionalized that stuff on another level.
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I make my unfair playing field statement with acknowledgment that he was actually a great coach as well. I think he'd have pulled some of those off on an even playing field, but the dynasty aspect went into overdrive when there was no risk of repercussions. Yes everyone was doing it, but bama bag game is about as legendary as the dynasty run itself.

Kirby caught the tail end of a golden era of bagmen and SEC not needing to follow any rules, and we see how quickly the momentum has fallen off now that it's an even playing field.
 
poncho0091 said:
I make my unfair playing field statement with acknowledgment that he was actually a great coach as well. I think he'd have pulled some of those off on an even playing field, but the dynasty aspect went into overdrive when there was no risk of repercussions. Yes everyone was doing it, but bama bag game is about as legendary as the dynasty run itself.

Kirby caught the tail end of a golden era of bagmen and SEC not needing to follow any rules, and we see how quickly the momentum has fallen off now that it's an even playing field.
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But NOT everyone was doing it. Only certain schools were permitted to do it. That's the whole point.

Further, of those schools, some (cough, Bama, cough) were permitted to do it to a higher level.
 
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