Players know Alabama fatigue is real, but that doesn’t stop the Crimson Tide’s title quest

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Alabama linebacker Anfernee Jennings was on a westbound flight to Los Angles before Christmas when he struck up a conversation with his neighbor, a Harvard graduate interested in whether the 6-foot-3, 266-pound junior played sports, and where.

Yes, I play football, Jennings answered, and I play at the University of Alabama — aware of the response that almost inevitably follows.

Replied his seatmate: Are you guys ever going to lose?

"I understood what he was saying: I’m tired of you guys being so good," Jennings said.

On Twitter and elsewhere online, in person, back home and on the road, Alabama players face an onslaught of negativity diametrically opposed to the vitriol saved for rivals, sad sacks and also-rans: Crimson Tide student-athletes wear a target as college football's greatest power, leaving fans outside of Tuscaloosa to unkindly wonder when, or if, the dynasty will ever end, sometimes in words not fit to print.

"There are Alabama haters everywhere," said sophomore wide receiver DeVonta Smith.

Call it Alabama fatigue, and it's not a unique development. The New England Patriots went from plucky upstarts in the franchise's first Super Bowl win to the NFL's version of the Evil Empire. Likewise with the Golden State Warriors; once celebrated as an NBA game-changer, the Warriors' early-season swoon, in relative terms, has been greeted with happiness from those tired of the franchise's powerful run.

Alabama occupies the same head space in college football, the byproduct of a stretch unmatched in the sport's modern history. The Crimson Tide are college football's version of the Patriots, Warriors, Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees, only more successful — the program hasn't lost more than two games in a season since 2010 and have captured five national titles in the past decade. Think Notre Dame, but with the added factor of Notre Dame winning championships.

"It is what it is," said senior center Ross Pierschbacher. "When you win a lot, people don’t really care for you. It’s like the Patriots or the Yankees. Either you hate us or love us. No one is like, ‘Oh, I kind of like ‘Bama.’ It seems like that’s what is with nothing in between."

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