Alabama Football: 5 Reasons the Crimson Tide Is the Most Despised Program

Success breeds contempt, and 'Bama has had a lot of success. Historically and currently, the Tide is a powerhouse to be respected on the field.

So, what is it that Alabama has done that causes people to hate it so much? It's not all about the success, as the success at the Capstone was severely lacking between Stallings and Saban with the exception of an SEC title in 1999.

While there are at least 825 reasons that people hate the Tide (825 wins), here are the five major categories that all those reasons fit into.

Championships

The Tide completed its 14th championship run on Jan 9, 2012 with a 21-0 trampling of the LSU Tigers.

However, the 'Bama haters have already added that championship to the list of titles that the Tide should not claim. Here's the breakdown of 'Bama's questionable national championships and why the Tide shouldn't claim some of them (J.J. Kennedy of CollegeFootballTalk.com via Scout.com):

1926: Other teams with better records should own this title.

1941: Alabama was ranked 20th in the final AP poll.

1964: Alabama lost its bowl game to Texas. Arkansas beat Texas during its undefeated 1964 run.

1965: Any of the three teams with better records should claim this one, not 'Bama.

1973: UPI names 'Bama national champions before the bowls. AP had them at fourth.

1978: Alabama lost to USC in '78 and USC finished with the better record.

2009 and 2011: Kennedy's article was written in 2008. We've all heard the haters shouting about the fact that Alabama shouldn't have been in the BCS game for the 2011 season. We will assume that haters like Kennedy will confirm the 2009 championship and deny the 2011 one.

In quick response, it should be noted that Alabama was hand-picked to play in the 1926, 1927 and 1931 Rose Bowls. The gurus were "sure" that they could silence the Southern sympathizers if Alabama lost to their "unbeatable" powerhouses. That fact alone legitimizes the 1925, 1926 and 1930 championships.

Anyway, what makes them hate Alabama even more is that, even if Alabama dropped all the national championships that they disagree with, the Tide would still get to claim seven. That would still be more than the majority of FBS schools.

Plus, if the Tide claimed all the championships that the NCAA recognizes, they would claim 17.

Fringe Fans

Alabama is routinely ranked in the top tier of rude and/or arrogant fanbases. This article from 2010 and these two articles (first link) from 2011 (second link) are the most recent examples from one of your favorite websites.

Also,though they are not claimed by the majority of the Tide's fanbase, the tree killer and the teabagger are associated with Alabama because...well, the school can't exactly issue a "license to cheer" for their football team. It would be too costly. Plus, there would be no way to really police it.

What's to stop a reporter from tagging Harvey Updyke as a 'Bama fan just because he wasn't carrying his card? Like it or not, these guys reflect badly on the fanbase as a whole.

Winning

Regardless of the nitpicking about 'Bama's championships, people still would despise the Tide simply because of the on-field results.

There are very few teams that can claim a series advantage over Alabama in the entire history of the program. (Missouri, Notre Dame and Texas can claim that. There are more, but those are the ones that come to mind immediately.)

Here are the winning statistics that many other programs wish they had:

1) Conference championships with 22.

2) National championships with 14.

3) Total wins: tied for fifth with Ohio State.

4) Win percentage: seventh with 70.7,

If Alabama is winning conference and national championships, then others are missing out. Those fans are sick of 'Bama getting in the way and would be happy to see 'Bama slide into another mid-'90s slump never to be heard from again.

Alabama Coaches Break the Rules

Alabama's Nick Saban is one of the fiercest recruiters in all of college football. He is so fierce as to have drawn the other SEC coaches to petition the NCAA to make what is referred to as the "Saban Rule." This rule irks a lot of fans because it stops great coaches from being on the recruiting trail.

It doesn't level a playing field. It stops the great from being great. This goes for any coach that loves to recruit. If it were instituted in 1960, it would probably have been called the "Bear Bryant Rule."

Speaking of Bryant, he can be called the father of oversigning if you want. He was not the first to do it, but he's certainly the biggest example thrown in Tiders' faces. (That is, until Saban came to Tuscaloosa.)

There is only one argument for oversigning:

Kids are allowed to sign contracts at age 16 with parental consent. (The easiest examples of documents come from the music and photography/modeling industries.) If a recruit gives a verbal commitment, he is not legally obligated to actually sign with that team.

Oversigning is an issue, not a problem. Schools should not be limited in the number of scholarships they can offer until it's punishable for a recruit to back out of a commitment. There's more substance to this argument, but that's probably best presented in another article entirely.

Haters Make Stuff Up

So, the haters have argued you through the first four points, and you have answered them with diplomacy. It's over, right?

Not hardly! If they run out of "legitimate" issues to discuss, they will just plain make stuff up. They are ridiculously mad at Nick Saban (and therefore, the Tide) because of some comment he allegedly made about conference champions not belonging in the national championship.

The haters I have crossed paths with will simply not let that go. Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman has this to say about the quote: "Saban didn't say it." She came to this conclusion. It is highly recommended that Tide fans bookmark this page.

It's written by a journalist that works in Oklahoma in November of 2011. You won't get a more powerful piece of ammunition than that as a Tide fan. Not only does it not come from Alabama, it comes from the home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Roll Tide!