re: OK so you don't Like "O". Answer the questions logically so I can begin to understand

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The more I re-read this the more I don't think you see what you've done here. I realize you think you're pointing out that there was a time when winning wasn't the ONLY thing we cared about and that even during those days between titles we had lots to celebrate.

And that's all true.

But what you're also doing is completely and totally downplaying the difference between existing and thriving as a program. Yes...we had great moments and wonderful players prior to 2000. But for much of that time we were not much more than an also-ran nationally. And even THEN, as much fun as we were having...we hoped for more. We watched programs like Nebraska wax us time and again in bowls and wondered when it would be our time. We watched teams that were nobodies in Florida State and Miami and even Florida rise up and win titles while we sank.

Then things changed with Saban coming and they REALLY changed for good on January 4th, 2004. It was not just hoping anymore...we'd done it. Saban showed us that all those things we said to ourselves really COULD happen...if we did the right things and really made an effort to take care of what we had.

So I think you're missing the point here. I don't think there's anyone that can;t look back nostalgically at the old days and remember them fondly. But are you REALLY wishing things were like they used to be...when we "had fun" getting are heads beaten in on road trips to BAMA? Being "happy" about 8 win seasons...when we now have a program that's average 10 over the past decade? Going to ANY bowl?

No...those were fine enough to wish for back then, because it was, unfortunately, as much as we could hope for given what we had. But we're not that program any more...thank goodness. We're better, we're beyond it, we're above it. And with that comes higher levels of expectations. That's not being spoiled, it's being realistic about what this program CAN achieve and doing everything we can to ensure we stay in a position to achieve them.

Read in the wrong light, your post really does seem to read as if you'd prefer to go back to 1975 when winning was great but it wasn't the real point of the endeavor on Saturday Night's in Death Valley.

Personally, I would not. That's not to say that I would not like more fans to find some of the same enjoyment we used to in the OTHER things that make our program so special. But the idea that we ought not have high expectations because we once sucked and we still had fun makes it seem as if those concepts are mutually exclusive...and they are not.

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