What was the moment when Alabama became more than a football team to you?

BigBama

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Oct 13, 1999
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Although I was born in Birmingham I have lived most of my life outside Alabama. I've lived in Tennessee, Florida, and Kentucky. Having two parents that are Alumni of Alabama, the Crimson Tide have been apart of my entire life. Living outside of Alabama has always made for a strange but welcome challenge of being an "exile." Although Alabama was on our TV sets every Saturday, as a small child I still didn't really understand the importance that Alabama football held in the lives of my parents and extended family. The moment that changed was at the 1992 National Championship game versus Miami. At the time our family lived in Tennessee and the Volunteer nation might be nice church going folk but when it comes to football they are as rotten as chunky milk. When our boys defeated Florida in the SEC championship game all I heard from the Vols were a chorus of how badly Miami was going destroy Bama. On Christmas day of that year my dad surprised us with four tickets to the Sugar bowl! This game was a stark contrast from the only other Bama games I had been to on homecoming. I knew this was an important game but this was the first time Alabama had played for the national championship in my lifetime and I didn't really understand its magnitude until our trip to New Orleans began. Whereas I was the only crimson clad kid in Knoxville it seemed, darting around the French Quarter high fiving Alabama fans from all over the nation was a thrill my 12 year old self had never experienced. I fed off the frenzied party crowd. The enthusiasm and excitement was palpable as the beignets and po'boys.

We all know how the game turned out. I lost my voice by the end of the first quarter and stood in complete awe as Alabama dismantled the arrogant and prideful Hurricanes. This was the moment that Alabama football became more than a team for me. I left Knoxville as an admirer of Alabama football, I left New Orleans as a crazed and obsessed junkie, like many on this board.

What is the moment Alabama football became more than a football team to you?
 
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92tide

TideFans Legend
May 9, 2000
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when i was born ;)

i went to my first game in 1978 (i think it was against vmi) and was already in awe before stepping foot in the stadium
 
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Go Bama

Hall of Fame
Dec 6, 2009
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16outa17essee
September 10, 1971 I was a senior in high school. An arrogant friend of mine bet me $5 (a lot of money since I made $1.25/hr) that Southern Cal would beat Alabama. Of course that was the pivotal game that debuted Bama's wishbone and Bama won 17-10 because we had the best coach.

Until that time, I was going to Ole Miss. The following Monday morning I sent a letter to UA asking for admissions papers. It was absolutely one of the best decisions of my life and I owe it to the football team.
 

JamieSPC

1st Team
Aug 29, 2004
785
172
67
Maylene, AL
When I graduated... or wait, when I started school. :)

The success of Alabama as a football brand has had way more to do with the success of the school itself than many would like to admit, but the impact is real. Ask our system Chancellor what he thinks about it.

Still, Alabama is more than a football team to begin with, and it's important to remember that. I still teach there, and it's an incredible campus and culture.
 

JeremyS4Bama

BamaNation Citizen
Apr 22, 2011
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Alexander City, AL
The 92 championship game against Miami. I was 6 years old. I was sitting in the floor 6 inches from the tv. And there was nothing better in the world to me than watching that defense dominate that game.
 

BigBama

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Oct 13, 1999
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When I graduated... or wait, when I started school. :)

The success of Alabama as a football brand has had way more to do with the success of the school itself than many would like to admit, but the impact is real. Ask our system Chancellor what he thinks about it.

Still, Alabama is more than a football team to begin with, and it's important to remember that. I still teach there, and it's an incredible campus and culture.
I'm fully aware that it is more than a football team. I was referring specifically to the football team as holding a sentimental and emotional position in our lives. Not growing up in Alabama and attending a different university, I have a much different perspective than many of you.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
20,950
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Boone, NC
It was a combination of:

1. Going to several games in the mid to late 70's.
2. Knowing the Bear would be leaning against the goal post in the pre-game warmups and watching all the attention he got.
3. Getting E.J. Junior's autograph and having it attached to a Bama banner hanging in my room.

Honestly, it's probably many other things...but I NEVER REMEMBER NOT BEING A FAN!
 

Al A Bama

Hall of Fame
Jun 24, 2011
6,658
934
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When I listened to the Barn vs Alabama Crimson Tide game in 1957 on radio!

I wanted vengeance! And we got it many times under Coach Bryant.

My best friend growing up was a Barn fan. I just never understood why he could be a Barn fan, because he didn't have a pasture with animal dung.
 

4Q Basket Case

FB|BB Moderator
Staff member
Nov 8, 2004
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September 10, 1971 I was a senior in high school. An arrogant friend of mine bet me $5 (a lot of money since I made $1.25/hr) that Southern Cal would beat Alabama. Of course that was the pivotal game that debuted Bama's wishbone and Bama won 17-10 because we had the best coach.

Until that time, I was going to Ole Miss. The following Monday morning I sent a letter to UA asking for admissions papers. It was absolutely one of the best decisions of my life and I owe it to the football team.
Same day for me, too, but I had a slightly different perspective. I was 12, and grew up in Tuscaloosa. So I remembered the really good times, but the years of 1968-70, when I was becoming more aware of the world in general, were relatively lean, and a lot of people were wondering if Coach was losing the touch.

That game wasn't on TV, so I listened on the radio channel that came in the over cable TV. It was electrifying, especially as we were holding on at the end against a team that, by any measure, had us outmanned by a wide margin.

When the clock finally hit 0:00, Tuscaloosa went nuts. Students in the fountain in front of Bryant Hall, The Strip flooded with people...I begged my mother to take me there, but she (probably wisely) declined.

But I was forevermore hooked, and still am to this day.
 
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Go Bama

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Dec 6, 2009
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Same day for me, too, but I had a slightly perspective. I was 12, and grew up in Tuscaloosa. So I remembered the really good times, but the years of 1968-70, when I was getting more aware of the world in general, were relatively lean, and a lot of people were wondering if Coach was losing the touch.

That game wasn't on TV, so I listened on the radio channel that came in the over cable TV. It was electrifying, especially as we were holding on at the end against a team that, by any measure, had us outmanned by a wide margin.

When the clock finally hit 0:00, Tuscaloosa went nuts. Students in the fountain in front of Bryant Hall, The Strip flooded with people...I begged my mother to take me there, but she (probably wisely) declined.

But I was forevermore hooked, and still am to this day.
OK, so you'll remember the game was on a Friday night. Central High School in Fayetteville, TN, my high school, was playing Shelbyville in Shelbyville. I didn't play ball my senior year because I had a job. I rode the pep bus to the game which we won and then someone had a transistor radio on the bus and we listened to the Bama/USC game on the way back home. Of course everyone on the bus but me was against Alabama. You chose the perfect adjective, electrifying.

Coach Bryant could regularly out coach the opposing team and this just one example. Coach Saban's call of the onside kick reminded me a lot of Coach Bryant.
 

JCase

1st Team
Jan 29, 2005
335
5
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42
Portland, OR
My first game as a student. UCLA, 2001.

The energy and passion inside the student section was something I had never experienced before. I can't even imagine what that same experience would be like with CNS at the helm instead of Fran.
 

JQBama42

Scout Team
Sep 24, 2014
138
2
37
Enid, OK
Sitting in the living room with my dad, here in Oklahoma, watching us whoop Ohio State in the 1978 Sugar Bowl. I was 8 years old and had probably watched several Bama games to that point, but that was the one that fully captured me. I clipped out a picture from our local paper of players carrying Bruce Bolton off the field and it hung on my dresser mirror until I packed up and left for college.
 

PaulD

All-SEC
Dec 29, 2006
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near Perry, Georgia, United States
My first game as a freshman at Alabama, listening on the radio to us beating California 66-0 in Birmingham in September 1973. (I didn't have a car and only knew other freshmen who couldn't have cars either, so I didn't make it to Legion Field games until the next year.) I had never lived in Alabama and had no ties to UA. In fact, my mother's family were all Auburn grads! I didn't follow Alabama football and it had absolutely no basis in my choice of schools. It completely changed my life and allowed me to meet my future wife at the Nebraska game in 1978. We've now been married 34 years and have a daughter who is an Alabama grad. (I remember her getting completely excited about Bama at her freshman orientation.)

One of the nicer "off-season threads!"
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
36,286
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Beautiful Cullman, AL
Several dates stand out. 1990 - Iron Bowl. I was 7 years old. I still remember Byron Holdbrooks lighting up Stan White in the early goings, which set the tone for the game.

1992 - Sugar Bowl. Self-explanatory.

1995 - North Texas game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was the first game my dad and I ever went to and I'll never forget the feeling of walking into that stadium. I was in awe. All I'd ever seen in person were high school stadiums in Marshall County. I could believe how big Bryant-Denny was. Of course, since then, over 30,000 seats have been added. We also went to the Bryant Museum that day. It's a memory with my dad that I will cherish forever.
 

Tideflyer

Hall of Fame
Dec 14, 2011
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Savannah, GA
Coach Bryant`s first season (1958). I was 11. Family has always been an Alabama family since then. It`s been fun and I feel privileged to have lived through the years of Alabama football from then until now. Far, far more ups than downs!
 

TideMom2Boys

Hall of Fame
Nov 17, 2010
20,214
398
102
Alabama
I am not from Alabama, but moved here in middle school. I never really watched football all through school. Most of my friends were Alabama fans, but at that point it wasn't interesting for me to start watching college football. I grew up with Pro sports and never thought about college sports. It wasn't till Saban got here that I started watching it in 2007.

I went to my first Bama game in 2008. And I fell in "love" with the game of football and Alabama. The fans and atmosphere of the game was it for me. I haven't never looked back, I am definitely the biggest fan out of all my friends and family.

I am one of those that at the watching parties for football, I am on the couch paying attention to the game with the men. All the women are in the kitchen and chatting it up...lol. Sorry, but I need to watch my Bama play. ;)
 
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