Revealing The Whole Nine Yards About Tune-Up Teams

Revealing The Whole Nine Yards About Tune-Up Teams

Tune-up: Noun; Inspecting a device, plan, or design to prove its reliability and solve weaknesses when found. Most Americans tune-up their golf games while some get their cars tuned-up from an adopted family member: "Eddie," their neighborhood mechanic. In America today, it is obvious that we are not the trusting souls that we once was when JFK was in The Oval Office. Tune-up is used often prior to, during, and after the first Saturday in September which is a hallowed day for all college football husbands and boyfriends, and an unsure number of knowledgeable females. These fans use a secret code to ask who is playing our alma mater on the first Saturday? That's easy. Some college from "Donkey Ears, Missouri," (not a real college). No sighs of relief are ever heard from the people who might be worried about their Division I college team (their alma mater) facing such a devastatingly powerful team as "Donkey Ears University." A certain laughable situation. And reason for drinking before the "big game" (quotes signifies sarcasm). I am a football fan.

I became a fan of The Crimson Tide from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 1966 when Joe Namath was lured (by William Paul "Bear" Bryant, head coach) from Beaver Falls, PA., to be the Tide's next powerful quarterback. Namath was smooth talking, nice looking, and lived to enjoy his fame, fortune, and a name worthy of an autograph. After he graduated from Alabama, he was lured by Sonny Werblin, Jets owner, who was willing to do whatever it took to get him. 427,000, which was the highest rookie contract in pro football history . Sometimes I hate watching and following college football. It's those doggone'd tune-up teams and the very idea of whomever started negotiating tune-up teams to play their powerful, hungry dogs to massacre their lowly-touted team, but to take home a million bucks or so. Except for Saturday, Sept. 2, when my team, The Crimson Tide played against an equally-tough Florida Seminoles in Atlanta's Mercedes - Benz Stadium and beat them 24-7. None of us really knew which team would really win. I loved the outcome, but loved it (the game) more for Bama playing a gridiron equal.

This game, I believe, that head coach, Nick Saban and assistant coaches, did this scheduling on purpose to one, be brave enough to let their freshmen players get in a real game against a real team. I would assume, and this is only an assumption, that the head coach of any given tune-up team does know what it feels like to face pressure. One being, which of the Division I elite college football teams to be the sacrificial lamb on some Saturday in late September. This same head coach of the same tune-up team does not have to really get charged up when talking to his team before any Division I team. His tune-up team already knows that they are going to lose--and sometimes badly. But there is that one trait that the coach can instill on his team: Letting losses help you build endurance. I like this one. Tune-up teams do not have any super-star athletes. And when was the last Heisman that a player from a tune-up team won? Are you getting the gist of this piece?

Oh, an up and coming quarterback, "Lance Filbert," can and many do have stellar seasons, but that only comes when the tune-up team's record is 7-5-0. It could be worse. And has been. This same tune-up team had identical 0-12-0 records last year and the year before. Teams, and I am not talking your garden variety tune-up team, say, Ivy League schools--Harvard or Yale, they never get to compete in Division I play. I suppose that if Harvard or Yale had a bigger number of students, the president of these colleges could have a sit-down with the powers-that-be in the powerful, wealthy Alabama's, Georgia's, and Tennessee's. But these very respectful Ivy League teams do have their strong fans who will face most any weather to see their team not lose more than three touchdown's. As a rule, there are far more head coaches fired in Division I coaches than in Division II and III.

What I am trying to delicately to say is: a head coach in any Division II or III school would have to do something really, really awful just to be reprimanded by the college president. Think about this. When Mike Price was hired by the late Mal Moore, Athletic director, Alabama, Price was found out to be boozing beer with his pals (out of camera's view) during a charity golf tournament. The same source, Sports Illustrated, ran a lengthy story about Price and a few male friends having some gorgeous female company in their motel room. Price was brought up to Bama President, Roger Sorensen, and with a short discussion, broke the news on Fox 6, WBRC, Birmingham, Ala., that Price was fired. The funny thing about this was Price, although let go, still has the BEST win/lose record: 0-0-0, of any previous or present coaches. But at least he did not lose any games. I'm closing the doors here with a tone of high respect for tune-up teams.