Tua Tagovailoa's Accomplishments Are Fake News

If a 22 year old writes a blog that he advertises solely on his Facebook page, is he a part of the mainstream media? I'm hoping the answer to that rhetorical question is yes. Because if it isn't, what I've written below no longer serves its purpose as vehemently campaigning for an award The Athletic Acumen so desperately needs: The Most Dishonest and Corrupt Media Award for Sports Blogging.

Alabama's (former) backup quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, is now a legend in Tuscaloosa even if he never completes another pass in his career. When you win a national championship with a walk off touchdown in overtime against a conference rival, you're entitled to never pay for a drink near your college campus for the rest of your life (Of course not until he graduates, though... And of course not until he turns 21, too).

Here's the thing, though. Why are we so quick to praise Tagovailoa? His game winning throw was made on a play I mastered by the time I was ten years old thanks to the NCAA Football video games: Four Verticals.

Watch the replay from behind Tagovailoa, fellas. It should look familiar from your Xbox or PlayStation days. I could've gone in there, "looked off" the safety, and dropped a dime to the receiver the defense inevitably fails to properly cover (Normally, it's the tight end over the middle for the record). This play should be called on every down. It can't be stopped, no matter how the defense opts to counter it. I attempted to stop it for thousands of hours with every coverage scheme you can possibly call. I won Heisman trophies for mediocre tight ends with this play. I beat programs like Notre Dame, Florida, and Texas with the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks with this play. I believe any guy in between the ages of 18-33 could've beat the Dawgs if put in Tagovailoa's shoes after calling this play.

Also, from a narrative perspective, why are we acting like Tagovailoa is a unicorn? He brings nothing new to the table. He's essentially a recycled combination of three of the biggest stars in the past decade of college football all rolled together, and the saying is not one man's trash is the same man's treasure.

A left handed quarterback with the initials of T.T. who isn't shy about sharing his faith? Tim Tebow already made three careers out of this act. A humble leader in the huddle from Hawaii who displays more poise than most of his peers? Marcus Mariota already bores millions of football fans in between his fewer and farther between flashes of brilliance. A backup quarterback who leads his team to a championship? Cardale Jones was a third string quarterback when the season began, started three games to lead his team to a title, and learned how to play school in the process. A common adage is if you have two quarterbacks you actually don't have one. So if you have three media narratives, don't you truly lack any semblance of an entertaining personality?

Most importantly, not enough people are questioning whether Tagovailoa is about to be responsible for the decline of the Alabama dynasty. Nick Saban declared after the game he'd never been happier in his life. I'm concerned by this because he let himself crack quite the exuberant soft smile at least a half dozen times in the post game celebration. Just maybe he was being serious?

This is a man who is obsessed with winning. This is a man whose middle name is relentless. This is a man who I think may have stored Tagovailoa on his bench the whole season only to unveil his own Keyser Soze level plot twist on the college football world when his team needed it most. 

But did it backfire on him? Has he become soft after seeing just how powerful this trump card was? Is he about to find a higher calling in life? We may not get our answer until the fall, but what if the Crimson Tide rolls into Oxford, Fayetteville, or Knoxville and loses next year after an undisciplined week of practice? What if this was the pinnacle moment and crown jewel for Saban's football career? We may look back on January 8th, 2018 as Nick Saban's rat poison. People forget he hasn't won a national championship following Tagovailoa's heroics. 

You're probably thinking this is far-fetched, and I wouldn't blame you. However, do you remember where I said Tagovailoa was from a few paragraphs ago? The Hawaiian Islands have a tradition in their culture where the same word functions to say hello and good bye. Sure, Tagovailoa may have said aloha to the whole country and championship glory on Monday night. But he may have also given college football's kingpin an epiphany that it's now time to walk away and say aloha to the living rooms of 17 year old kids around the country.

Tua Tagovailoa has only played thirty decent minutes of football in his life, yet the media wants you to believe he's won three Heisman trophies and broken every record in the history of the sport. This is a joke. He is a fraud. If he wants to prove me wrong, he can start with winning the starting job in spring ball. 

J. Nave