Internet Goes Wild After Viral Ring Girl Sydney Thomas Poses With Nick Saban On The Golf Course

Nick Saban... I owe you an apology. I wasn't familiar with your game. Believe it or not, it's been almost two months since Jake Paul and Mike Tyson "fought" each other and Sydney Thomas had her star-making moment. The millions of people that tuned into Netflix to see the spectacle of a YouTuber-turned-boxer take on a 58-year-old in the boxing ring ended up realizing the real star of the night wasn't a boxer. It was one of the ring girls. How could we have seen that coming though? The hype before the fight was through the roof, as many were hoping “Iron Mike” could turn back the clock and show the world why he used to be considered the baddest man alive. Instead, Mike Tyson showed both his age and his ass: https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1857634466304504156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1857634466304504156%7Ctwgr%5Ee337a55dc45e8882b324c826f0d18216ee62a75e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whiskeyriff.com%2F2024%2F11%2F18%2Fsydney-thomas-viral-ring-girl-from-tyson-paul-fight-gains-300k-followers-in-less-than-48-hours%2F Bet you had almost forgotten about that, didn't you? You're welcome. Other than Mike Tyson scarring people for life with his bare ass, the other memorable moment from the night belonged to Sydney Thomas. One could make a very reasonable argument that the ring girl stole the during fight night. The 21-year-old started popping up all over social media even as the event was still unfolding, and Thomas has done a tremendous job of extending her 15-minutes-of-fame by staying active online ever since. Sydney Thomas recently made headlines when she shared on the Like a Farmer podcast with Pat Spinosa that an SEC coach had snuck into her DM's shortly after the Paul-Tyson fight. Thomas revealed that an unnamed coach seemingly found out she was a University of Alabama grad, and sent her a fitting message through social media: “It was from another SEC football team coach. And they just DM’d me, ‘Roll Tide.’ So I’m not going to say what coach it was, but they’re an Alabama fan, now at least. We’ll let everyone else figure that out for themselves, who it was.”

@pat_spinosa Who was the coach? #sydneythomas #collegefootball #dms #viralvideo #fyp ♬ original sound - Pat Spinosa

Which SEC coach could have sent her a message? Many people were quick to assume that it was Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. I've even seen a couple of images online (none confirmed to be real) that appeared to show the "Roll Tide" from Kiffin's social media handle in the direct messages of Sydney Thomas. But would that really be appropriate for the head coach of Ole Miss to send "Roll Tide" in a shoot-your-shot kind of way? The world might never know. All we do know is that Sydney Thomas posted a picture today with the GOAT of college football: Nick Saban. Could this have been sitting right in front of us the whole time? Someone slid into her DM's and said, "Roll Tide." Wouldn't it be fitting for it to be the former head coach of the Crimson Tide. She said an SEC coach, but didn't clarify if it was a former a current one. That's all reckless speculation though. The only evidence we do have is this picture, which Sydney Thomas captioned: "Out on the course today with the GOAT." https://twitter.com/itssydneythomas/status/1878897769085325704 Now to be clear, Nick Saban is happily married, and has been for over 52 years. The former football coach talks highly of her endlessly, and there's even some that say he stepped away from coaching altogether to be with his wife more. After all, he spent many years fully invested in being the best college football coach he could be - which translated to seven national championships. But you know how social media goes. The internet saw this picture and they started running with the idea that Saban was the one that sent the "Roll Tide" DM. I'm glad everyone is having fun with it, but I'm Germ-X percent sure (99.9%) that Nick Saban doesn't know the first thing about social media:

Well now we know about the DM situation

— Preston Battle (@pbattle__) January 13, 2025

He heard an SEC coach was sliding in the DM’s and had to take things into his own hands

— HEAD OF THE TABLE 🔱 (@Hollywood_Hop) January 13, 2025

Two legends on the course!

— Foul Ball Podcast (@FoulBallPodcast) January 13, 2025

SEC coach < ex-SEC coach

— Rocket (@UptownPeeeet) January 13, 2025

IT WAS A SLEEPER SEC COACH THAT SNUCK IN HER DMS. I SEE YOU SABAN

— Hunter Reese (@huntereese3540) January 13, 2025

Hall of Fame meets Hall of Fame

— depressivehacks.eth (@depressivehacks) January 13, 2025

Not that there was any doubt before but this really cements Saban’s legacy

— Woody (@woodyVSworld) January 13, 2025