Build a Bear

Tough times for Alabama fans. The search for a replacement for the fired Mike Shula currently resembles a ship without a rudder, and with no qualified candidate in sight, Southeastern Conference rivals are chuckling. At the top of the list of jokesters is the Tennessee site Loser With Socks, which is running a daily "Build a Bear" feature that pokes fun at the Crimson Tide's bumbling. It gets more entertaining by the day, including this entry regarding Alabama athletic director Mal Moore's new strategy of apathy, which the site says is starting to pay dividends: "Moore has begun to act like he doesn't really give a rat's ass about hiring a new coach. A kind of a 'Hunter becomes the Hunted' approach to finding a new coach. The strategy is proving very effective as current Bama coaches believing that Shula's replacement will never be hired begin to leave T-Town for other schools."