Nick Saban wants his players focused for the national championship game and not getting lost in all the hype surrounding the team. In his quest to have his team achieve the proper mindset, Saban reportedly banned ESPN in his players’ hotel rooms.
According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Tom Rinaldi said Saban had the team’s hotel make ESPN unavailable in players’ hotel rooms since Sunday.
Yahoo! Sports Dan Wetzel reported something similar.
That’s a classic Saban move, if true. It’s also smart.
The last thing Alabama needs entering Monday’s BCS National Championship Game is to hear how great they are and how they’re favored to beat Notre Dame by 10 points. Believing one’s hype often leads to teams playing with less motivation for a game.
Remember how things were leading up to the 2006 Rose Bowl? ESPN spent weeks fawning over USC and trying to decide where they ranked among the best college football dynasties of all time as if they had already beaten Texas. Sure enough, the Trojans lost to the Longhorns. Saban is doing what he can to make sure Alabama avoids the same fate. He has Bama in contention to win its third national championship in four years, which would be pretty incredible.
