Remember those “Roll Tide” commercials ESPN played all during the bowl season last year? They were a somewhat cute way of mocking the obsession Bama fans have with their football team. Of course that obsession is no longer humorous when you have crazy fans like Harvey Updyke, but the commercials were somewhat funny.
Apparently Steve Spurrier felt otherwise. The South Carolina coach complained to the SEC commissioner to say the commercials gave Bama an unfair advantage.
“I said, ‘How much did Alabama pay those guys to do that?'” Spurrier said, recalling his conversation with commissioner Mike Slive. “He said, ‘Oh, they didn’t have to pay them anything.’ I said, ‘Well, what happened to Go Gators or Rocky Top or Go Gamecocks?’ I didn’t think that was all that fair.”
He’s exactly right. That is extra exposure for Alabama that other schools in the conference don’t receive. The same way other Big 12 schools are complaining about the Texas Longhorns Network on ESPN potentially giving them an advantage, this is also unfair. The answer is not to have current programs or collegiate athletes featured in national commercials. That seems pretty easy to accomplish.
Thanks to Dr. Saturday for the story
