Nick Saban is in the news again. Which makes sense, because the devil makes news.
Of course, the devil looks nothing like Nick Saban. He looks like whoever is winning big in college football.
Saban wins a lot, whether it's at Michigan State or LSU or the Miami Dolphins or in his current coaching stop at Alabama. But he doesn't want his players to think about their next move. Last week, he implied the Crimson Tide lost to Ohio State in last season's College Football Playoff because some of his players were worried about their NFL Draft status.
His silly statement brought to mind an interesting issue in sports: What do we owe each other when it comes to moving on or switching teams?
For the record, here is what Saban said at SEC media days: "We're trying to get ready for a game, and then all of the sudden a guy finds out he's a first-round draft pick or a guy that thought he was a first-round draft pick isn't a first-round pick ... I think that it would be better not to submit that information to a player until he was finished competing in college."
Former Michigan State wide receiver Plaxico Burress -- who played for Saban at Michigan State in the 1990s -- took to Twitter and ripped his former coach.
"Now Nick Saban players are being distracted by the NFL and chasing a dream, haha tell your story Nick. LSU showed you $$, you was GONE! Ha," Burress tweeted.
Saban left MSU in 1999 for LSU. Then he left LSU after the 2004 season for Miami in the NFL. Then he left Miami in January 2007 for Alabama.
With each move, he irritated -- or alienated -- the fan base he left. That's fine. It was his right to move.
Just as it was his players' right to get ready for the NFL even as they prepared for a bowl game in January. Plenty of students look for postgrad work as they prepare for their finals.
Saban's public complaint was unnecessary and silly considering he'd spent time negotiating with LSU while preparing for a bowl game at MSU. He even said he wanted to stay in East Lansing just before bolting for Baton Rouge.
Still, his hypocritical statements last week shouldn't muddle the issue. We've seen several examples recently of sports figures changing their minds about the direction of their career.
Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan ate up a few days' worth of news cycles after he told the Dallas Mavericks he'd sign with them, then backed out of the handshake deal and decided to stay in Los Angeles. The indignation was swift and predictable.
Just as it was when high school basketball player Caleb Swanigan told Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo last month he was coming to East Lansing before he changed his mind and reopened his recruiting and later committed to Purdue.
Another highly regarded recruit -- Tyus Battle, a five-star, sweet-shooting wing -- committed last Monday to Syracuse after initially telling Michigan Coach John Beilein he was coming to Ann Arbor. Battle apparently wanted to play closer to his New Jersey home.
Battle's indecision didn't generate near the snark that Swanigan's did, and Swanigan didn't incur the slap-down that Jordan did.
For good reason, too. Jordan's decision involved tens of millions of dollars and put the Mavericks in a tough spot as they try to reload around aging superstar Dirk Nowitzki. Still, Dallas executives had to know that Jordan might change his mind.
Certainly Izzo and Beilein understand recruits and families rethink their choices all the time.
Mostly because all of us do, in nearly every facet of modern life. We walk away from signing mortgages and marriage licenses, from signing car loans and business contracts. From telling a boss in another city who has spent a month recruiting us that, sorry, we just can't do it.
Yes, we risk alienation. We risk the promise of our word, too.
At least with some.
For a while, until emotions subside and everyone remembers that indecision is just another form of imperfection, which is another way of saying, hey, we're human.
Saban is, all joking aside. Jordan and Swanigan and Battle are, too.
Sports on 07/20/2015