Tom Weiskopf was a major champion, a 16-time PGA Tour winner, World Golf Hall of Famer and owner of perhaps the most beautiful tall man's golf swing ever invented.
But he was no Jack Nicklaus, and Weiskopf knew it. He knew the mental edge his fellow Ohio State alum had in his prime over him and the rest of their peers.
"Jack knew he was going to beat you, you knew Jack was going to beat you, and Jack knew that you knew that he was going to beat you," Weiskopf once said.
That's the way it was for Alabama football over the previous decade and a half under now former Bama (and former LSU) coach Nick Saban.
Yes, the Crimson Tide had superior talent. But it was more than that. It was the knowledge, the fear, the expectation that somehow, some way, Saban and his team were going to figure out how to pull out the victory yet again. The proof was in the winning: six national championships and nine Southeastern Conference titles from 2009-23.
Saban's successor, Kalen Deboer, also has a stellar resume. He left Washington, which he led to last season's CFP national championship game, for Bama with a sparkling 104-12 record. Yes, a lot of those wins were piled up at Division II Sioux Falls against schools you never heard of (It says here he beat Smithsonian? What?), but the same is true of LSU coach Brian Kelly and all early career success he had at Division II Grand Valley State.
As Kelly can tell you, and as Deboer has found out, the SEC is not Division II. It's like the NFL minus Andy Reid's moustache. And as Alabama quickly discovered, there is no other Saban out there.
The FON factor for Alabama opponents (Fear of Nick) is in the past, like leather helmets and Keith Jackson's signature "Whoa Nelly!" (I still miss that guy). Yes, Alabama is still very talented. Yes, it's still one of the upper crust programs around. And yes, I'm sure Deboer will have success in Tuscaloosa.
But six national titles and nine SEC crowns in 15 years? Nope. Isn't happening. In fact, so far the opposite is happening.
At 6-2 overall and ranked 11th in the AP poll entering Saturday's game at LSU (6:30 p.m., ABC) the Alabama program has far from unraveled. The Tide is not out. But Bama this season looks like one of my favorite sports shirts that has a thread pull right in the middle. It's still a nice shirt, but it's hanging in the back of my closet waiting for me to be able to wear a sweater vest over it once the fall weather gets here (if it ever gets here).
Vanderbilt pulled the first thread back on Oct. 5, shocking Bama 40-35 a week after the Crimson Tide looked practically perfect for a half before holding on to beat Georgia 41-34. It was Bama's first loss to the SEC's perennial doormat in 40 years.
Alabama hasn't really looked like Alabama since. A week later at home the Tide survived South Carolina 27-25 at home when the Gamecocks failed to convert a late two-point conversion and did cover the subsequent onside kick before Domani Jackson saved Bama's bacon with an interception as time expired.
"Another game down to the wire," Deboer said. "We're kind of getting accustomed to those."
Um, Kalen, Alabama is not Washington, where they're happy to make a big national splash once a decade or so. They don't cotton to close wins over South Carolina or losses to Vandy. Ever.
A week after South Carolina, Bama lost a tough one 24-17 at Tennessee. Saban's Tide had beaten the Volunteers 15 straight times before a 52-49 last-second defeat in 2022. Now Bama has dropped two of three to its northern rival.
Yes, Alabama rebounded with a 34-0 smackdown of Missouri two weeks ago, but Mizzou quarterback Brady Cook played less than half a game and the Tigers have already been shown they aren't the 11-win team they were a year ago.
No, Alabama hasn't fallen far, but it has fallen. The Crimson Tide comes to Baton Rouge ranked outside the AP top 10 and with two losses on its ledger for the first time since 2006 B.N. - its last season Before Nick. A loss in Tiger Stadium on Saturday would: 1) knock Alabama out of CFP contention; and, 2) saddle the Tide with its first three-loss season since 2010.
My brother Jeff has been waiting for that day like the return of Hailey's Comet. Waiting for the reaction of entitled Alabama fans, people who truly think it is their school's divine right to win football games, to that crooked number on their record.
"Three?!?" Jeff said Bama fans will exclaim. "What do you mean, three? Three losses? What's three?"
Alabama is still a talented and dangerous team and figures to be for years to come. LSU coach Brian Kelly said at his Monday news conference that the Crimson Tide, which is a 2½-point favorite over the Tigers, is a team without weaknesses. That's a bit of coachspeak, but not much.
What Alabama isn't is invincible. Not anymore. Why? Because the Crimson Tide no longer knows it's going to beat you, and you know it might not beat you either.
That's an intangible, but it's not nothing.