DIRTY SABAN.
ProFootballTalk has produced some of the most specious, unfounded gossip you’ll ever hear anywhere. They also have a clip of Nick Saban saying the following on tape, but have bleeped the profanity for reasons we can’t possibly explain. Who doesn’t want to hear Nick “Window Treatments” Saban rolling in the profanity pit as we know he really does? You don’t make grown men who play offensive line weep with goshdarnits, after all.
They have the audio here, but the dialogue reads as well as it sounds:
“My friends are okay with it. The rest of those guys? One of my, one of my guy on the board — you guys won’t be able to put this on the thing — was walking down the street, one of the Board of Trustees guys like these people around here and sitting up on the stage today at LSU, is walking down the street yesterday before the Sugar Bowl. He calls me. There’s a guy working in a ditch. One of those coon-ass guys that talk funny. I can’t talk like him but he can. Most people in Louisiana can. And he says, ‘Hey, you see where Coach Saban signed up with Alabama?’ You know however they talk. And the Board of Trustees guy says, ‘Yeah, I saw that.’ And he says, ‘That son of a bitch. I feel like he’s f–king my wife.’”
Coonass seems to be acceptable usage here as long as you’ve actually logged some time in Louisiana, but expect no serious flak from this. Expect some masterful signs from Auburn fans referencing this one. In fact, please accept our humble submission done with the magic of Microsoft Paint. Should Auburn win the Iron Bowl again in 2007, we beg Tiger fans to use it.

Kind of makes ‘fear the thumb’ take on lascivious meanings you hadn’t considered before.












67
Cowherd of ESPN calls people living in trailers in Alabama “tornado bait” then 20 people die in a tornado in Florida. Where’s the outrage? The ” coonass incident ” is a non-story. The reporter who started this shit looses his Super Bore ticket and I guess now someone will ask Don Shula if he has any more negatives for Nick Saban. Just strengthens our resolve. And thanks for all the publicity. Roll Tide
Comment by ParanoiaDotCom — February 3, 2007 @ 6:17 pm
66
i’ve heard this term my whole life and never even once thought it was racist but have had to explain it several times to folks without louisiana connections. Bottom line, get over it. Only 7 months to kickoff
Comment by possumjuggler — February 3, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
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I love how people from out of the south who have NO CLUE what it is like here feel like they are all knowing. We are just more laid back and have a lot more fun than our other american brehtren, They are too busy being PC and trying to act like they are smarter than everyone else when they are not living LIFE!! Go hang out with some Coonasses and you might have a newfound look on the south and our ways in general. Some of the best, funniest, and most ALIVE people I have ever known.
ROLL TIDE ROLL and Geaux TIgers.
Comment by h dog — February 2, 2007 @ 3:26 pm
64
Everybody needs to stop painting everything with such a broad brush. I’m all about LSU and what Saban said was not offensive. But it wasn’t using good judgement, as you can see by all the hoopla it has created nationally. I think the deal is that there were a lot of people in the press that he rubbed the wrong way. The press is kind of a fraternity so they are giving him hell now at the drop of a hat.
I think Saban deserves to take some heat for leaving Miami so soon, but this slur should not create more heat. However, perception can be just as powerful as truth…they can both burn you if your not careful.
A friend of mine works in LSU sports information and he told me 2 years ago that Saban really had a tough time letting go of LSU. Its a shame that it has all gone down like this because this community really supported him while he was here. But he has chosen a path that had no chance of preserving the goodwill he once had here. I would ask you Bama fans to imagine for a moment that Saban has just won you a national championship. Then let’s say he retires but then decides he misses coaching after a year or two. He wants to come back but the Bama job is filled. So he has some discussions with Auburn and decides to take a job there. Now Bama fans are you going to tell me that this situation would be kosher with you? I have a feeling the goodwill would dry up long before your first trip up to Jordan-Hare. You would be after blood!
Sure there are a few tiger fans that may be going over the top with all this Saban crap but every school has its extreme fans. Heck Alabama brought Saban into Tuscaloosa with a police escort. I have been to Tuscaloosa. It’s a nice town and a great place to take in a game and then go hang out at the Ivory tusk. But a police escort is laying it on a little thick don’t you think?
To sum it up, people here in BR loved Saban because he won. Everybody knew he was kind of a horse’s behind but we were paying him to win games not host girl scout meetings. And I am pissed at him in as much as he had a good thing here and he turned his back on it.
But I am also impressed with Les Miles. Miles is proving that he can coach and he is damned sure showing that he can recruit. Maybe he has been winning with Saban’s talent up to this point, but there are two interesting dynamics here. First, in his first two years here his record and ranking is better than any 2 year span that Saban ever had. So he has proven that he knows how to handle good talent. Second, he recruits as good if not better than Saban, so a lot of these Bama folks who keep saying that Miles is going to fall off a cliff when Saban’s recruits leave are way off base. That talent is being replaced with even more talent.
Anyway, I guess I had a point here somewhere….oh yeah! After an initial repulsion to what Saban did, I am starting to see the beauty of this whole situation. How could anyone ask for more than the classic LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas battle that is mounting. It doesn’t get any better than this…4 great programs, 4 good coaches and a dog fight every year to get to Atlanta. There is no doubt that the SEC is by far the best conference in the land…it aint even close! And that, my Bama and AU friends, is a beautiful thing!
Comment by tigerfan — February 2, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
63
ESPN is disgraceful. Those fucking clowns are so routinely clueless, yet there seems to be nobody there to hold them accountable.
Comment by Rainmaker — February 2, 2007 @ 9:23 am
62
FUCK YOU ESPN.
ESPN has a poll asking if Saban should be punished. WHAT THE MOTHER FUCKING FUCK. And they automatically call it a ‘racial slur. That’s the whole issue…Is it really a racial slur?
For the love of God, leave Alabama alone, ESPN!!!
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK YOuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu ESPN!
Comment by Buttocks — February 2, 2007 @ 12:02 am
61
Nice post COONASSDH. I think you may be right about Saban wanting to get back to Baton Rouge. However, that probably will never happen…his home is in Tuscaloosa now.
Comment by Cardiac Kids — February 1, 2007 @ 10:26 pm
60
Jesus Christ. I’ve lived in Louisiana for all my life minus the years in The AF (Air Force). The word coonass isn’t a word that is offensive at all. Not in the least. I have never met anybody who takes offense to the word. I’d venture to say I never will. ESPN is trying to make Nick Saban The Coach Version of TO. Tis simple facts people. I laugh @ these LSU fans who are giving Nick all this sh#t. He went to take a dream job in Miami. The simple fact is he wants to go back to LSU. He never wanted to leave. His family never wanted to leave BR. I remember just a short time ago seeing “Saban For Senator” in DV. Enough of the backlash and jealousy. The only thing that you can possibly get upset about (Even this is ignorant) is him trying to steal a few recruits. Recruits are fair game until they sign the LOI. Fact.
Comment by COONASSDH — February 1, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
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This controversey is an example of the downside of blogdom. I am not from the South, but once it was explained what the term means, I could see no problem. He clearly meant Cajun, the reporters understood it as such, end of story.
Comment by SeaTrojan — February 1, 2007 @ 6:54 pm
58
screw all y’all coon-ass southerners
Comment by kris — February 1, 2007 @ 5:40 pm
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“coonass” and “coon” are not related in any way apart from the fact that they have the same first 4 letters. This is NOT a black / white thing at all. Maybe you yankees should just stay out of this since you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.
Comment by karlhungus12 — February 1, 2007 @ 5:31 pm
56
“It’s like I was running his campaign for re-election, and he was fucking my wife!”
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/31/BAGM3NSFGQ7.DTL
Comment by panhandler — February 1, 2007 @ 4:26 pm
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What you’re missing i-n-i is that coonass is not used in a derogatory manner. It’s not used to insult someone as lazy or stupid.
Frankly, the etymology of the word is unknown. Lots of sources cite the origin as being from the French connase, which did mean ignorant or stupid whore. But there are others that claim the origin is from the Carib word cunaso, which means one who lives off the land.
Now the word refers to people of South Louisiana who speak with a pronounced French accent.
Some of which people find it offensive, I personally haven’t met any of those people.
But hey, if it hurts Saban’s ability to recruit, great. Believe what you want.
Comment by Beer Baron — February 1, 2007 @ 4:04 pm
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As a native New Yorker I have never heard the term coon-ass before. I have however heard the term “coon” used only in a derrogative way towards black people. It seems to me that if white people call each other coon-ass to describe when they have done something foolish, stupid, lazy, etc. then the term itself is inherently racist as it implies that they have done something in the way a foolish, stupid, lazy, etc. “coon” would do. As these attributes are the same ones associated with the prejorative and derrogatve term that everyone except for Black people have seemed to keep behind closed doors, it would make sense that any “coon” related terms would be best kept there as well.
Comment by i-n-i — February 1, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
53
The Great American,
The word ‘coonass’ not a racist term, but that’s not the point. The point is that Saban is not “stupid” for telling it to a bunch of reporters he felt comfortable with. For those that don’t understand, football coaches used to (and most still do) get along with reporters. There are certain rules in the field of journalism. When a coach goes off the record and opens up his human side, you don’t disrespect that and lose his trust by recording it and putting it on the Internet.
I understand what you are saying about racism…Saban and many other people may have racist tendencies, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was wrong for the reporter to break the trust. In a related train of thought, Democrats and Republicans get along behind closed doors.
Comment by Cardiac Kids — February 1, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
52
Hey ricksteel, it doesn’t look like he repeated the story verbatim from the trustee.
http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/SPORTS/701040339/1006
Unless Mr. Weems happened to have the same experience as another LSU trustee.
Personally I think his mistake was using a word that could be offensive in today’s PC world. I don’t think it reflects his feelings about the people of Louisiana.
It will probably blow over soon enough. Unless Rosie O’Donnell gets wind of it.
Comment by sevenDs — February 1, 2007 @ 2:37 pm
51
Ricksteel,
Actually the BOT member that supposedly told the joke went on record yesterday in the newspaper vehemently denying that he used the term “coonass” or any foul language whatsoever when he relayed the story.
The point is that you may have something to worry about when your coach is stupid enough to tell a dirty joke with the word “coonass” in it, to a group of reporters, regardless of the local dialect and usage of the word.
And most importantly, that joke was not the least bit funny whatsoever. I would release a statement to the media apologizing for telling such a dud in the first place.
Comment by GoldieWilson — February 1, 2007 @ 1:10 pm