Auburn Football 2011: Is It Really the World Against the Tigers?

The National Championship did numerous things that were positive for the Tigers program and the fanbase. The championship added another notch to an already storied history for the Tigers football program. One thing that being on top of the college football world has done negatively for the Tigers, however, is provide a plethora of allegations and presumptive journalism.

The Cam Newton saga brought a ton of baggage for the Tigers no doubt, and honestly, it was much deserved. Yes, it looks quite puzzling that a player’s father could shop him to a school and not to another. There is another side to the presumptive coin as well, though. What if the opposing school involved was the one to offer and Newton simply denied taking the money, which would have further solidified his commitment to Auburn?

There are a number of scenarios that could have played out during the Newton investigation that led to his suspension, but at the end of the day, the NCAA ruled him eligible. Now that Newton is gone, however, most would assume that allegations would slow down, but in fact, they have gotten worse.

With sites like sportsbybrooks.com launching grenade after grenade, it has been a rough off-season for the Tigers. It seems that almost daily Brooks Melchior, who runs SBB, launches a new attack. The site that Melchior runs has become the tabloid of sports to put it lightly; the TMZ of sports if you will. The problem is that most everyday sports readers take his site as news and fact.

Tim Grierson of LA Weekly wrote a piece on Melchior in May of 2008, profiling his rise from a play-by-play announcer for minor league baseball games to one of the more influential voices in the darker side of sports.  Brooks uses his website to fuel the thoughts of the readers and bring out as much possible scandal he can. Sometimes he hits a home run; most times, he flops with his “breaking news."

With that being said, it is obvious that the new information age that we live in is here to stay. Anything that someone tweets or blogs about can become instant news, and in the dog eat dog world that is the SEC, those tweets and blogs become news quite quickly.

Lately, it has appeared to many Auburn fans that the media world has taken a stance to bring down the school and its success. Everywhere you turn, there is a headline about something involving the athletic department and its purposed misgivings. Many fans look at the Paul Finebaum radio network with equal disgust, as his show is full of anti-Auburn fodder from his callers that is never really denied by the radio host. To his defense, there are a lot of Auburn crazy callers as well.

Even ESPN has fired some shots at the Tigers. So all this bears to question, is the media out to get Auburn and destroy its football program? The answer is a simple and resounding no. So why do Auburn fans feel as if the media and the world are out to destroy their beloved Tigers?

With the advent of twitter and the openness of the Internet, there has come a beacon of light that is shining on these programs. Ten years ago, photos weren’t blasted to every living room via a laptop and instant twitter “news” was not relayed to everyone’s handset.

Where we find ourselves today is mired in a mix of information, some that is true and most that is false and baseless. Auburn finds itself dead center of the focus for a few reasons. Newton definitely brought his fair share of the media spotlight, but following the pay-for-play scandal with a championship simply made things worse.

At this point, the media does pull Auburn through the ringer as often as possible. Auburn has a very bad reputation nationally because of the Newton saga and the assumed cheating and scandal that must plague the program. Unfortunately, for Auburn fans, it has been a rough offseason.

All of the accusations have Auburn fans taking on an “us against the world” mentality and has provided a rallying point for the Tigers football team. Auburn has always performed well as the underdogs, and the fans take on the same underdog role as their Tigers.

It could be very easy for fans to see the constant barrage of allegations as an attack against their team, but the allegations are pouring in for other programs as well. Ohio State comes to mind obviously, facing its fair share of attacks. Ohio State, however, has been found to have committed violations. Auburn has committed none to this point.

That is the line that has the majority of the fans puzzled and wondering why the attacks continue to mount. Why, if Auburn to this point is innocent, do the media bombs continue to be dropped? The most recent allegation by Brooks Melchior was that the Tigerettes and Tiger Host program was designed to funnel money to recruits by paying the Tiger Hosts and Tigerettes for their duties. There was also insinuation that the Tigerettes were sexually involved with possible future Tigers to woo players to Auburn.

Looking at other programs just inside the SEC, the host and hostess programs are quite impressive. Auburn is not the only school with these types of on campus guides, and Auburn is not the only school that has paid students that work for the University. His point was baseless once all the facts were rolled out.

There was also piece on his site arguing that the national championship ring awarded to the Tigers was very similar to the Super Bowl ring worn by the Indianapolis Colts. Is that really newsworthy? To Brooks’ defense, in the past 11 days, three stories have featured Auburn, three to Ohio State and two stories about plagiarism by the personality known as Woody Paige. Brooks and others in the media are writing what people read. If Auburn headlines didn’t drive reads, they wouldn't look for more reasons to write about the Tigers.

My point is that no, the media is not out to get the Auburn football program despite popular belief. It appears to be the media world against the Tigers almost daily but I would contend that the recent string of focus is because the Auburn football program is at the top of the heap.

No, the media is not attacking Auburn specifically, more so generally. Auburn is up top so it’s natural to navigate toward success. Some writers, radio or television hosts may have an agenda, but they are few and far between.

If anything, the Auburn family should take a deep breath, smile and soak in the feeling of being the current national champions. The fact that Auburn is in the news shows that Auburn is newsworthy and one of the more elite programs in college football. Rest easy, Tiger fans, and enjoy the spotlight, if you can.