Every year there's the random thread like this one. It's a thread that references the heights of success obtained under Coach Bryant. Many of our older members and alumni can remember those times and speak of them fondly.
Then came the decade+ until Alabama would win a national championship. Flash forward to 15 years later with the arrival of Coach Saban, and we all know how that's gone.
I'm a "younger" fan, who grew up with VA tech in Virginia, and despite all Beamers attempts, Virginia's a basketball state. The military moved me to Bama around 2006 and like so many others I was asked a question...."who's your team?" Didn't matter what state I was from, I had a choice - Alabama, Auburn or tar and feathers. I chose Bama, and lucked out. I'm not a fair weather fan however. My wife (from Hawaii, another nonfootball state) and I have attended full seasons for years now, travelled to every opener and post season since 2011 (even when I'm not in country, she still goes.)
My wife was at auburn for the kick 6 (for her birthday) and has a hatred for that team that seems unnatural. She called me in tears at our TOC in Afghanistan as I saw the events unfold about ten minutes later.
We were at ole miss in 2016 in the most miserably hot and humid game I've ever been to, when Bama finally put them back in their place.
I'm working on my masters through UA, not that it makes me a "better" fan, but because this program has given me some incredible moments that my wife and I cherish, and I want to be a part of the legacy that is Alabama.
I was in Manhattan, Kansas at our units cmas party in a room full of kstate alum the night that both they and Oregon lost, giving Bama the opportunity to play Notre Dame.
So the reason for this thread is due to the reminders that popped up on my phone a few minutes ago. See the attached image. Every year after the iron bowl and the SEC championship, and the new years 6 games, reminder pops up reminding me to cancel my hotel reservations at the location of the next game in the post season.
Another reminder pops up telling me that I need to make reservations in the appropriate city for the NEXT years college football playoffs.
Imagine if you will......a run of success so constant that I can LITERALLY make plans and reservations off of it? This won't last forever, and by god, it's clear that many of us take it for granted and are really starting to get skewed perspectives (11-1 seasons are enough for near riots.)
I keep going back to the Bama Notre Dame game and the tickets. We all remember how expensive those things were. Talking to my grandmother I explained how I couldn't justify the thousands of dollars for airfare, tickets, etc for a trip like that. She said, "Do this. Tomorrow everything could change. You may never be able to go to another game. Alabama could fall from where it's been, never to return in your lifetime. No matter how often it happens, how many titles they get, treat each like it's the last because you don't know what the future holds."
So here I am, tickets enroute for New Orleans, ready to break the bank on Atlanta, hopefully and gleefully. I hope each one of you are enjoying the games in your favorite way, be it live, on your favorite recliner, with family, friends, or maybe just an auburn or tennessee fan nearby so you can rub their faces in it.
I never knew that over ten years ago moving to some podunk town in southern Alabama would change my life. No, we won't always have Coach. We won't always have a top 3, 5, or one day even a top 20 recruiting class. And no, my sun neither rises nor sets on the backs of 18-22 year olds playing a game.
But my life is richer, my heart skips a beat, and a smile breaks out every time I hear those two little words.....
Roll Tide.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Then came the decade+ until Alabama would win a national championship. Flash forward to 15 years later with the arrival of Coach Saban, and we all know how that's gone.
I'm a "younger" fan, who grew up with VA tech in Virginia, and despite all Beamers attempts, Virginia's a basketball state. The military moved me to Bama around 2006 and like so many others I was asked a question...."who's your team?" Didn't matter what state I was from, I had a choice - Alabama, Auburn or tar and feathers. I chose Bama, and lucked out. I'm not a fair weather fan however. My wife (from Hawaii, another nonfootball state) and I have attended full seasons for years now, travelled to every opener and post season since 2011 (even when I'm not in country, she still goes.)
My wife was at auburn for the kick 6 (for her birthday) and has a hatred for that team that seems unnatural. She called me in tears at our TOC in Afghanistan as I saw the events unfold about ten minutes later.
We were at ole miss in 2016 in the most miserably hot and humid game I've ever been to, when Bama finally put them back in their place.
I'm working on my masters through UA, not that it makes me a "better" fan, but because this program has given me some incredible moments that my wife and I cherish, and I want to be a part of the legacy that is Alabama.
I was in Manhattan, Kansas at our units cmas party in a room full of kstate alum the night that both they and Oregon lost, giving Bama the opportunity to play Notre Dame.
So the reason for this thread is due to the reminders that popped up on my phone a few minutes ago. See the attached image. Every year after the iron bowl and the SEC championship, and the new years 6 games, reminder pops up reminding me to cancel my hotel reservations at the location of the next game in the post season.
Another reminder pops up telling me that I need to make reservations in the appropriate city for the NEXT years college football playoffs.
Imagine if you will......a run of success so constant that I can LITERALLY make plans and reservations off of it? This won't last forever, and by god, it's clear that many of us take it for granted and are really starting to get skewed perspectives (11-1 seasons are enough for near riots.)
I keep going back to the Bama Notre Dame game and the tickets. We all remember how expensive those things were. Talking to my grandmother I explained how I couldn't justify the thousands of dollars for airfare, tickets, etc for a trip like that. She said, "Do this. Tomorrow everything could change. You may never be able to go to another game. Alabama could fall from where it's been, never to return in your lifetime. No matter how often it happens, how many titles they get, treat each like it's the last because you don't know what the future holds."
So here I am, tickets enroute for New Orleans, ready to break the bank on Atlanta, hopefully and gleefully. I hope each one of you are enjoying the games in your favorite way, be it live, on your favorite recliner, with family, friends, or maybe just an auburn or tennessee fan nearby so you can rub their faces in it.
I never knew that over ten years ago moving to some podunk town in southern Alabama would change my life. No, we won't always have Coach. We won't always have a top 3, 5, or one day even a top 20 recruiting class. And no, my sun neither rises nor sets on the backs of 18-22 year olds playing a game.
But my life is richer, my heart skips a beat, and a smile breaks out every time I hear those two little words.....
Roll Tide.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
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