A Letter to Shane

Recently, Shane from Centerpoint posted in his weekly column on the Finebaum web site an article intitled "The Fall of the Auburn Empire". I felt I needed to rebut and reply.

Shane,

Thank you for the laughter and the humor you provided in your latest column. You love to talk down about Auburn and their certian demise, but the problem with that is, rarely do your bold predictions come true. You start a "Tubby Watch" almost annually, because you are certain that Tommy Tuberville is going to take of at the first real opportunity. Again, you have been wrong time after time after time. Sooner or later your may get it right, then you will undoubtedly post a boastful and arrogant article about how you are always right. Every year you predict that Alabama will certainly end the losing streak to Auburn, and again sooner or later you will be right, and again you will post a pretentious and loudmouthed diatribe about how you were right.

You speak of envy and jealousy on the part of the Auburn faithful, the problem with that is you have to have something we want first. Would we pick Nick Saban over Tommy Tuberville? No, would we choose 5 star athletes without character and honor over true gentlemen with dignity and poise? No, not a chance.

You spoke of the lobs pitched to Jason Campbell concerning discipline and good order, well, Jason connected and hit them out of the park. You, just like every other Alabama fan that I have met love to throw the name of Tray Blackmon out there, but I challenge you to find another, dig as deep as you wish. Tommy Tuberville has created a sound and swift way of dealing with things, and Tray's suspensions have been felt. He is an impact player that missed some key games. I guess when you are at the Capstone, La. Monroe is a key game as well. What is missing from the equation is Tray going to the media and talking about his punishment in a flippant and downright rude manner.

The only thread of truth that I found in your piece was that about Tuberville and staff getting out worked. Well, the only thing I have to say about that is that I doubt that happens again. When faced with adversity, Coach Tuberville has always answered his critics and answered them loudly. He has time and time again proven his critics wrong, and made his fans sit in awe of his decision making. No one thought the hiring of Al Borges was a good one at the time it was made, as well as the hiring of Tony Franklin. The Al Borges Hire turned out to be one of genius, I suspect that the Franklin Hire will as well.

Shane, you talk about how smart kids wont buy what Tuberville is selling, and I tell you, you couldn't be more wrong. Tuberville simply got out worked this year, a mistake that isn't likely to be repeated. There are an endless number of recruits that will chose Auburn over Alabama, and continue to make the program on the plains one to be reckoned with.

You wrote of Nick Saban's sure fire success, and I also think that he is the best thing at Alabama in a very long time. I believe that the streak will sooner or later end, and I believe that Auburn will still have the better program. I believe that Auburn will win both SEC and National Championships and I believe that Auburn will be fine. I like Tommy Tuberville, I like him as a man, I respect him as a coach, and I love him as a Christian. He has dignity, honor, respect, character and values, all traits that usually end up on top. Weather or not Tommy Tuberville is at Auburn for one more year or a hundred, Auburn is a better place because of him. Whenever he leaves, the program will be in better shape than it was when he took over.

So Shane, until you have something more than a bunch of 17 and 18 year old kids to hang your hat on, you might want to think about keeping your mouth shut. You see, when you put all your eggs in the basket of immature, undeveloped kids, you are bound to be let down.

As you said.... "More to come"!