Please indulge my annual post of this timely excerpt from The Tuscaloosa News, (Sunday October 19, 1980).
It should get you ready for Saturday.
I still well up a bit every time I read this. What I would give to have a transcript of Coach Bryant's little Wednesday night "chat" with the team ...
KNOXVILLE , Tenn.
His annual victory dance completed amid dressing room cheers, Jim Goosetree, an Alabama man with Tennessee roots, was asked if he knew why the University of Alabama has won 10 straight football games over his alma mater. The Crimson Tide trainer, a once-a-year Fred Astaire, did not blink an eye before answering.
“You have to look at leadership,” Goosetree said, “and I see no reason to give you a name.”
. . .
Alabama turned toward Tennessee with five games and five so-so victories under its belt. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Bryant complained after practice that his team was not acting like a supreme test was awaiting them.
Thursday, things picked up in the Crimson Tide camp - because Wednesday night, Bryant had a heart-to-heart chat with his team.
“The talk was so emotional that I went back to my dorm room, thought about it and cried,” said E.J. Junior, an Alabama senior defensive end. “We won this game Wednesday night . . . I had never heard anything like that. I plan to tell Coach Bryant that those were the most moving words I have heard. He made me want to go out and kill anybody wearing orange and white.”
It should get you ready for Saturday.
I still well up a bit every time I read this. What I would give to have a transcript of Coach Bryant's little Wednesday night "chat" with the team ...
KNOXVILLE , Tenn.
His annual victory dance completed amid dressing room cheers, Jim Goosetree, an Alabama man with Tennessee roots, was asked if he knew why the University of Alabama has won 10 straight football games over his alma mater. The Crimson Tide trainer, a once-a-year Fred Astaire, did not blink an eye before answering.
“You have to look at leadership,” Goosetree said, “and I see no reason to give you a name.”
. . .
Alabama turned toward Tennessee with five games and five so-so victories under its belt. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Bryant complained after practice that his team was not acting like a supreme test was awaiting them.
Thursday, things picked up in the Crimson Tide camp - because Wednesday night, Bryant had a heart-to-heart chat with his team.
“The talk was so emotional that I went back to my dorm room, thought about it and cried,” said E.J. Junior, an Alabama senior defensive end. “We won this game Wednesday night . . . I had never heard anything like that. I plan to tell Coach Bryant that those were the most moving words I have heard. He made me want to go out and kill anybody wearing orange and white.”
