After Alabama defeated LSU 21-0 to win the BCS championship, coach Nick Saban didn't wax on about tactics and schemes. Instead, he credited his team's moviegoing experience from the prior night.
As a way to relax, the Crimson Tide went to see Red Tails, a movie about the Tuskeegee Airmen, America's first all black aerial combat unit, during World War II. Saban said the film actually inspired his team and he used it as motivation prior to the national championship game:
"We went to see the movie Red Tails last night, which I would recommend to anybody, but those guys' motto was the last plane, the last bullet, the last man, the last minute, we fight.
"And we always stay with the mission. And I think that kind of described the spirit of that group extremely well, but it also describes the spirit of the group of players that we have on our team this year and takes a tremendous amount of resiliency to come back.
"It was tougher losing a game, and I think that demonstrates the character of the people in that locker room to come back from that game and finish the season like they did."
Producer George Lucas was so excited about the plug from the three-time national champion that he released a statement saying so:
"The cast and crew of 'Red Tails' are together in New York for Tuesday's world premiere so you can imagine the excitement when we heard Coach Saban reference 'Red Tails' at the forefront of his postgame comments after winning the national championship. Everyone associated with the film was so honored that Coach Saban elected to have his entire team screen the film on the eve of their championship game. And then to have 'Red Tails' and its inspirational message of overcoming adversity, never giving up, self-sacrifice and ultimate teamwork so deeply touch the Alabama team is personally very gratifying. I want to congratulate the Crimson Tide on their tremendous victory...the Tide truly rolled on Monday night."
Who knows, perhaps this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Saban and Lucas and the beginning of a feature-length film about Saban's life. Alabama's already had The Bear, chronicling the life of Paul "Bear" Bryant, maybe Saban's movie is The Scowl?
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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham