Feel Free to Call Nick Saban By His Name

Rick Karle, veteran anchor at Birmingham’s WVTM, is either in the beginning stages of a great bit or has chosen the silliest and self-owning-iest hill on which to plant his flag.

Because his fingers found a keyboard and typed the following blustery prose about Alabama football coach Nick Saban, whose name — we can’t stress enough — is Nick Saban.

Karle’s accompanying Facebook post is the type of thing that initially makes most folks angry but is overwhelmingly sad upon any deeper reflection.

Don’t get me wrong. If Karle wants to call Saban “Coach” and cling to some one-off fishing trip like Al Bundy would high school football exploits, then more power to him. In fact, there’s probably some value in shedding the pretense that he’ll ever hold the legend accountable and be a worthy adversary. Now his audience knows without a doubt where he’s coming from.

So he should do what he feels is right. But self-appointing himself moral arbiter is beyond weird. No one has to ask this guy what they call Saban, whose name, again, is Nick. Saban is also not the coach of the people asking him questions on which to grumble upon week in and week out.

Though he doesn’t name the other journalist in the clip, he makes tacit judgement on their professionalism, even if misguided. This will surely lead the person in question to have more doubts, when the very incident in question more than likely was borne out of nerves.

Pretty weird stuff from an unabashed proud cheap date.