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THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS
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SPORTS
**
THE BUZZ
|
PREP GAMEDAY
Vestavia’s Burgess at
the center of the action
against Minor 6B
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2008 SECTION B
MONEY | 8B
NFL 4B ❘ NBA 4B
Padres GM says Peavy won’t be back 2B
THUMBS DOWN
THUMBS UP
Tony Gwynn. The Hall of Famer signed a
three-year contract to remain the baseball
coach at San Diego State, his alma mater.
The former San Diego Padres star is 173-190
in six seasons at SDSU.
Mike Peterson. The Jacksonville Jaguars
linebacker was sent home again Thursday
and probably will be benched or
suspended for this weekend’s game at
Detroit. Coach Jack Del Rio was still deciding
how to punish the Jaguars’ captain, who was asked to
leave Wednesday after a confrontation with the coach.
ALABAMA FOOTBALL
SOUTHERN HOSTILITY
COLLEGE BASEBALL
BEVILL STATE
Player says
punishment
was abuse
Freshman pitcher says coach fired
baseballs at him as punishment
By MIKE PERRIN
News staff writer
The Sumiton Police Department and Bevill State Community College-Sumiton are
investigating the claim of a Bevill baseball
player that his coach punished him by forcing him to kneel in catcher’s gear in front of
a pitching machine that hurled fastballs at
him.
The player’s mother, Debbie Rider of Gilbert, S.C., said she saw photos of multiple
bruises on the left elbow, left bicep and left
shoulder of her son Shawn, as well as on
both collarbones and his right elbow. He
underwent an MRI on Monday, she said.
The player’s grandfather, Fred Hambrecht
of Gilbert, contacted The News about the
incident, but the family has not made
Shawn Rider available for an interview. One
of his attorneys, Frank Russo of Birmingham, also declined comment while the
investigation continues.
Hambrecht said Rider, a right-handed
pitcher, missed a Bevill practice and initially
gave coach Ed Langham a false excuse.
“Like any other 19-year-old, he told the
coach he was someplace he wasn’t to avoid
practice,” Hambrecht said.
When Rider later told the coach the truth,
the freshman was told to put on a catcher’s
mask and chest protector and kneel about
45 feet from a pitching machine without a
glove, Hambrecht and Debbie Rider claim.
The distance from a mound to home plate is
60 feet, 6 inches.
With the player holding his hands behind
his back, Langham dispatched “80-,
90-mile-per-hour fastballs” from the machine, Hambrecht claims.
See BEVILL
SPECIAL
Page 5B
Shawn Rider
Freshman
pitcher claims
Bevill State
coach abused
him
Ed Langham
Has coached
at Bevill State
for 10 years
and, according
to Bevill
Athletics
Director
Russell
Howton,
“nothing has
ever come up
with him.”
A Baton Rouge condominium advertises its sentiments toward the once revered, now reviled, ex-LSU coach Nick Saban.
An effigy and bonfire at the ready, LSU awaits return LSU needs win
of its former coach, the once-revered St. Nick
to save season, but
By KEVIN SCARBINSKY
News staff writer
ALABAMA
AT LSU
When:
Saturday,
2:30 p.m.
Television:
CBS 42
Radio:
FM-99.5,
AM-690
L
BATON ROUGE
ate this afternoon, Nick Saban’s fear is going to become
reality. The Alabama football
team’s plane will touch down
in the town where he used to
coach — and Dana Hastings will be
there to meet it.
Hastings plans to pick up Saban’s
wife, Terry, at the airport and take
her shopping.
“I am Nick’s worst nightmare,”
Hastings said. “I am an Olympic
gold-medal shopper.”
Hastings suspects that Saban arranged for Alabama to arrive at a
time when he thought all the stores
would be closed.
“I called a few, and they’re keeping their doors open for us,” Hastings said. “I can hardly wait.”
From friends of the Sabans, then
and now, to Saban supportersturned-enemies to entrepreneurs
trying to make a buck, it seems the
entire state of Louisiana has been
waiting for this weekend since Jan.
3, 2007.
That was the day the former LSU
coach, two years after leaving for
the NFL, accepted the Alabama job.
The day the man many LSU fans
idolized as St. Nick during his five
years here became, in their eyes,
Coach Satan.
“It’s amazing that people are so
angry that he has the job at Alabama,” retired LSU Athletics Director Skip Bertman said.
“As long as he was in the pros, he
was still our hero,” said Charlie
Weems, a longtime member of the
LSU board of supervisors who still
calls Saban a friend. “When he
came back (to Alabama), the general feeling among the rank and file
was that he had somehow betrayed
us.”
Oh yeah, a ballgame, too
This game would be big enough
without a subplot thicker than “War
and Peace.”
See SABAN
Page 5B
“As long as he was in the pros, he was still our hero. When he came back (to Alabama),
the general feeling among the rank and file was that he had somehow betrayed us.”
CHARLIE WEEMS, a longtime member of the LSU board of supervisors who still calls Saban a friend
Saban visits LSU with no extra security
By IAN R. RAPOPORT
News staff writer
TUSCALOOSA — It began
with a joke. At the Southeastern Conference spring meetings, Alabama coach Nick Saban
recounted
an
administrative meeting to discuss the itinerary for the
team’s visit to Baton Rouge.
An assistant raised his
hand, and with all the sincerity of a standup comedian
said, Saban related, “ ‘Ain’t
none of us riding on your
bus.’ ”
A day away from the topranked Crimson Tide’s visit to
Death Valley, it’s not nearly so
funny.
When Saban rides into Tiger Stadium to face his former
team, the 15th-ranked Tigers,
it will likely be as hostile an
environment as he has ever
entered.
LSU fans have a well-earned
AP
Alabama coach Nick Saban, left, and LSU coach Les Miles
are surrounded by police officers after their game last
season in Tuscaloosa. LSU says it doesn’t plan to increase
security for Saturday’s game in Baton Rouge.
reputation for enjoying libations and taunting opponents.
They have been known to terrorize opponents’ buses with
bottles.
ONE-MINUTE MADNESS
Security personnel from
both sides are on high alert,
though without additional
personnel.
“We’re going to have be
more vigilant, of course, because of who he is,” said Maj.
Lawrence Rabalais, the LSU
police spokesman. “But as far
as actual numbers, we’re not
adding any. The only thing
we’re concerned about is, if
we win, are our people going
to rush the field?”
This won’t be new to Saban.
He is a villain in most opposing stadiums. For a look at
how Saban handles such situations, ask the man who protected him for five years at
LSU.
“Certainly, fans have gotten
irate with him,” said Mike Edmonson, then a captain and
now the head of the Louisiana
State Police. “He never
showed anger toward that
person. He understood it was
a part of life.”
On Saturdays, LSU’s security is already immense.
See ALABAMA
Page 5B
Ray Melick and Kevin Scarbinsky video on Saban psychology:
Tide coach fixes focus by saying LSU game is “not about me.”
Go to al.com/sports/birminghamnews
Tide is too tough
S
aturday’s game in Baton
Rouge shapes up as a
season-saver for No. 15
LSU. The defending national
champs have a chance to
knock off No. 1 Alabama
(9-0) and former coach Nick
Saban in his return to Tiger
Stadium.
Because of lopsided losses
to Florida and Georgia, that’s
where LSU (6-2) finds itself.
The good news for LSU is
that it matches up well with
Alabama. Both teams like to
hang their success on defense and the running game
and, if they have their druthers, avoid a lot of air time.
Now we’ll see who blinks
first.
For Saban, he knows LSU
is going to do everything it
can to make the Crimson
Tide play left-handed. What
Alabama does best — run
the football — is what LSU
will try to stop. If that means
putting seven and eight players near the line of scrimmage, they’ll do it.
LSU coach Les Miles believes his defensive front,
which hasn’t played as advertised, can contain running backs Glen Coffee, Roy
Upchurch and Mark Ingram.
That puts the game on the
passing arm of quarterback
John Parker Wilson, who
hasn’t had to win a game
with his passing in the fourth
quarter this year.
For Saban, Alabama’s
strength lies in discipline
and hammering away at a
team’s weakness. In LSU’s
case, that’s first-year quarterback Jarrett Lee, who has
thrown almost as many interceptions (10) as touchdowns (12) in eight games.
If Saban’s defense can get
in Lee’s head early,
3 1 ⁄ 2 -point favorite Alabama
is on its way to clinching the
SEC West and a berth in the
league championship game.
This weekend’s picks:
ALABAMA AT LSU
If you’re LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton,
you’ve watched films of Alabama a gazillion times and
you know Saban’s style
rarely changes.
See HOLLIS
Page 7B
CHARLES HOLLIS
COLLEGE PICKS
INSIDE
Tigers in a rush to win
Tommy Tuberville says Tigers’
problems revolve around the running
game. The offense can’t run the ball,
and the defense can’t keep the other
team from running the ball.
See the story on PAGE 7B
by CHARLES GOLDBERG j News staff writer