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Some Tennessee fans paint their reaction to USC firing Lane Kiffin as head coach on The Rock on the UT campus Sept. 30, 2013, in Knoxville, Tenn.
Moms worry about their children. It's one of the million things moms do, every day, cradle to grave, and it doesn't change just because their child is a boy and the boy grows up to be a football coach.
Sometimes football moms read or hear terribly unkind things that people say about their baby boy. What do they do when that happens? They get angry, and they worry, and never mind that 99.99 percent of all unhappiness directed at football coaches never bleeds over from names to sticks and stones.
Moms don't care about precedent and logic in these situations. Moms care about their sons. It's just another reason that moms rule.
So while it may not have been logical or advisable, it was perfectly understandable that Robin Kiffin told Jon Solomon of CBSsports.com that she's more than a little concerned about her son's return to Knoxville this weekend for the Alabama-Tennessee game.
"I'm scared to death for his safety," Mrs. Kiffin said. "They should put him in the press box. I want him to be in the press box."
That's not going to happen, of course. Kiffin will call plays from the Alabama sideline as he's done since the West Virginia opener because Nick Saban thinks that's what works best. Saban's not going to alter his Process because some checkerboard knucklehead might carry the wrong kind of torch for the former UT head coach.
After all, Saban has coached Alabama three times at LSU and lived to tell about it. He didn't hide in the press box, not even after some LSU fans burned a dummy of him in effigy in 2008.
Beyond logic and reason and personal experience, there's one reason why Saban wouldn't fear for Kiffin's safety on the sideline in Neyland Stadium. He's not a mom.
Robin Kiffin is.
Don't hate her for it. Don't mock her or laugh at her or use her genuine concern as evidence for any amateur psychological conclusions you might draw about how much her son has or hasn't grown up.
Oh, and tell Daniel Tosh to leave her out of it the next time he might be inspired to put together an epically profane skit about the Kiffin family in the name of comedy.
Lane Kiffin's a big boy. He signed up to coach at Tennessee and, after that dream job at USC turned into a nightmare, at Alabama. He's fair game for boos and hisses and snarky signs Saturday night, no matter how foolish any continued disgust for him in Knoxville may be.
Let's be honest. The only potential physical danger he faces is being on the receiving end of a Saban death stare if Blake Sims attempts another one of those vertical quarterback sneaks.
Kiffin's critics may suggest that his mom didn't help matters by going public with her concerns, but actually she did him a favor. She made him a little more human and a little more likable. He won't be received that way in Knoxville, but c'mon. The guy has a mother that loves him enough to say something that might embarrass him. How bad can he be?