Nick Saban's new hobby: "Talking shit" to old ladies

You can take Nick Saban out of competitive sports, but you can't take the competitor out of Nick Saban.

Speaking at the Quarterbacking Children's Health Foundation on Tuesday, Saban told the story of picking up a post-retirement hobby of bridge and ignoring Miss Terry's warning not to trash talk the old women he'd be playing against.

"Miss Terry tells me, we'll teach you how to play. She said, we're playing with these older ladies who are very southern, proper folks. Terry says, you can't talk shit. I said, I'm not playing if I can't talk shit. Now I've got all those prim and proper ladies talking shit," he said.

Though Saban went to great lengths to keep up his image of College Football's Ebenezer Scrooge in the media during his coaching days, this story illustrates how Saban's storytelling skills, his playful ability to turn on the charm, and his talent for connecting with people he'd never met and had nothing in common with helped him become a generational recruiter, which in turn helped him win seven national championships. 

Now in retirement, it's only a matter of time until Saban wins seven bridge national championships.