Alabama is becoming America's Team

[Denny Chimes]

Our national image or brand is also strengthened when top recording artists mention the Crimson Tide or Coach Bryant in their songs. I'm not a fan of country music but it's hard not to like Tim Magraw's "Southern Voice."

That kind of publicity is priceless and must drive our rivals nuts! RTR!

 

[crimson mo]

When I was a kid in the summer of 1980 my family went to Wichita Kansas to visit my sister.
We pulled into a gas station next to a car full of college students From the University of Kansas.
I got out of the car as my dad pumped the gas and one of the guys in the car next to us saw my Alabama t-shirt.
I guess he was showing out in front of the girls in his car because he yelled "Alabama... Hey kid where's Alabama? I'v never heard of it. is it a State?"
I looked at the girls then him and smiled and asked him" you never heard of Alabama?...... You must not watch much college Football!"
One of the girls in the car busted out laughing and yelled roll tide!
He looked sick and just went back to filling up his car.

 

[dave12]

I love to heard people say good things about Bama.:biggrin:

That's really good to hear, i know for a fact there are a lot of Bama fans in Hawaii. I had and uncle from there born and raised, and he said that Bama fans there out numbered Hawaii fans. I remember once we were racing in the nashville area, and duing a break we were watching Bama play Tenn back in B'ham. Most of the guys there were pulling for the Crimson Tide, i thought they were from somewhere in Alabama, when asked where they were from most said Tenn. I was in shock, that was 17 years ago and it still gives me goose bumps when i think about it. It was sooo cool.

Yes we may very well be Americas team.


RTR

 

[Dogtown Darren]

Three years ago, this very week, my wife and I were in Peru, South America, on a mission trip.

We visited an area called Paracas, which is about 100 or so miles south of Lima on the PanAmerican Highway. The depths of poverty in Peru are as bad as you can imagine, times two. I'm almost tearing up as I sit here and think about it.

Anyway, on to the good stuff!! I had on an Alabama t-shirt and cap (it was ratrher hot down there...their spring is our fall), and the kids were pointing at my hat and cap and smiling. Our missionary friend told the kids that it was an American football team, and the team was strong and powerful. I then pointed to my cap and said "ROLL TIDE!!!". All the kids said "ROLL TIDE", or something close enough! They had no idea what they were saying, but it was super cool! Until we left, as a kid would approach me, they would say "Roll Tide".

I wish my story had a happy ending, but it doesn't. A major earthquake hit Peru, and the epicenter was just north of Paracas in a town called Pisco. Much of Paracas was swallowed by the Pacific Ocean.

I have often wondered and prayed about the folks we met in that region. I take some comfort in the fact that a big, fat gringo from Ft. Payne Alabama made those kids laugh and have fun, if only for a short while...

Happy Thanksgiving, and RTR.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

I've gotten a couple of Roll Tide's while walking around the airports when I head home to California (or come back to Alabama).

The most random place was at the Rose Bowl between USC and Michigan a couple years ago - a USC fan above me yelled out Roll Tide (which I responded in kind). Then two of the USC fans right behind me asked if we were going to get Coach Saban (we hadn't hired him yet), and I said that I'd hoped so, but doubted it'd happen. They said that Alabama would be unstoppable if we got him - they were right.

 

[Squirrely]

Nothing like hearing "ROLL TIDE" from strangers when out & about. Even non Bama fans do this, and this makes me proud to be a Bama fan without question. Bama is doing great, and we should all be enjoying this ride.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone............



:BigA: ROLL TIDE :BigA:

 

[ncbama]

Definitely happening in Myrtle Beach! I get Roll Tides! all over the place. And loving it.

 

[RyTide]

I too have received many more Roll Tides these past two seasons. Wonder where all these fans were during the lean years?

 

[paul02085]

Our national image or brand is also strengthened when top recording artists mention the Crimson Tide or Coach Bryant in their songs. I'm not a fan of country music but it's hard not to like Tim Magraw's "Southern Voice."

That kind of publicity is priceless and must drive our rivals nuts! RTR!

Its alot better than being like UT. They are San Quentins team.

 

[theBIGyowski]

I thought I would bring this topic back up now that Mark Ingram has won the Heisman. Having someone like him represent the program and the school is amazing. I think he is winning over millions of people who normally wouldn't think twice about Alabama football. Mark putting the focus on his family and his team really makes this award special this time around. I think we are going to see a lot more Alabama pride around the entire country as a result of all of this. Boy it's great to be a Tide fan!

RTR!

 

[Crimson Surfer]

Maybe its cause I easily recognize and so often notice Alabama football "stuff" but I have to say there has been a lot of Bama pride being shown here in Hawaii, especially on Schofield Barracks. There are probably 10-12 cars and trucks I see all the time with flags, decals, and stickers... And more and more lately you see the t-shirts and ball caps. It's crazy. I love it but I part of me knows that a select slice of those folks are total bandwagoners... But that doesn't matter - Bama is strong baby, very strong!

RTR

I was at the Pearl Harbor Exchange last month while on vacation in Hawaii. I parked near a crimson red charger with Bama flags and an Alabama window sticker. I run across Bama fans all the time out here in Las Vegas and even my neighbors in Henderson are greating me at the mail box with a Roll Tide!

 

[bat123]

I have gotten "Roll Tide" almost every where I have been in the world and believe me I have been quite a few places........... The coolest was in the airport in Dubai I saw a local in a Bama t-shirt and gave him a Roll Tide as i walked up, first he looked like he'd been slapped with a cold fish and the a huge smile broke out and he enthusiastically gave me a hearty Roll Tide back.
:biga:

 

[J.E.B. Stuart]

It is America's team. I was in PA towards the end of the season last year and a guy I met had a NOBAMA (NO OBAMA) sticker on his truck. I asked him if he was that dead set against Bama football. We talked football (of course he was a Penn State fan) and by the time I left he had put a sticky letter over the N to make it read GOBAMA.

I think you seriously missed the meaning of the sticker.

 

[TommyMac]

In late 1961 and early 1962 I made a Far East cruise aboard the USS Lexington. We made numerous liberty calls in Yokasuka, Kobe and Sasebo, Japan. I used to get a big kick out of teaching bar girls about the Crimson Tide, I really got a charge out of hearing them say....."Yea Arabama" or "Roh Tide." It was really neat to go into a bar after a spell at sea and be greeted with either one as I entered.

 

[TheCrimsonLiver]

I was in St. Louis earlier this year and a guy asked me where I was from, and I answered Alabama. He said, without hesitating, "Oh, Roll Tide then!"

Can you imagine what the Auburn fans must think when they get that? Because you know they do. It's just the default setting for anyone who is from Alabama.

Jess, if you ever go back to St. Louis find a place called O'Malley's. It is right across the street from the old Lemp Brewery off the Arsenal exit on 55 south. I just moved back to Alabama this June and they put up a Bama vanity tag on their wall in my honor. They all just called me Bama and would always put the game on for me every weekend.

My first time there was probably the funniest. The pub started to get crowded and one of the girls getting a drink at the bar asked Fish (the bartender) "Wow it's so loud in here. Why are there so many Bama fans in O'Malley's." Fish looked at her puzzled and said, "What do you mean? There's only one."
By the end of last season I had 10 or so people that would watch the games with me every week. From what the owner tells me, they have put the Bama games on ever since.

 

[TheCrimsonLiver]

Thanks for the offer...might have to look you up when I'm back there next February/March.

Thats the best time to be there! Mardi Gras and St Patty's. I might go back up for both myself.

 

[BadgerTidefan]

I have a friend here in Wisconsin who is a big Alabama fan. He wears Alabama gear and is teaching his grandson to say "Roll Tide" when he says "Go Bama".

 

[CDsdad]

I live in Wayne County, MS and 20 years ago when the county consolidated all the local high schools into one county high school, they picked an awful shade of orange and blue as the new colors and a putrid bird as the mascot. Eventually, most of the people around converted from crimson and white to these colors as their college choice if they were not a fan of an in-state college. Times are changing. Crimson and white is back. You can tell the bandwagonners, though. They still have the john deere tags.

I even got out of a speeding ticket in Empire, LA because I had an official state of MS, University of Alabama license plate. Success stretches far and wide.

 

[BamaPilot]

Thanks to my career choice, I get to travel extensively throughout the world... I currently live in Kuwait and have received (and given) "Roll Tide" 's many times. It's always a great feeling and it almost makes you feel like you're back home for a second or two.

Remember, there are lots of Bama fans around the world who would like nothing better than to make it back for a game, especially on Jan 7th. I made it back for the Bama / UT game this year and am desperately looking for a way to make it to Pasadena, though I doubt it will be possible. Regardless, I'll be over here watching it on TV starting at 4AM on January 8th for me. Can't wait!

Roll Tide!

 

[socalbamafan]

You guys are correct, everywhere you go people react positively toward anyone in tide gear, especially the northeast, go figure. I think the people in the northeast appreciate good hardnosed football, we are not the spread or wishbone, we are the closest thing to pro football in the college ranks.Plus we've got a QB that looks and acts like someone out of a norman rockwell painting, a heisman running back that's about as nice and humble as you can get, plus a superstar middle linebacker that you would let your kid sister date, and an almost mythical creature in Mt. Cody. It's a great time to be a tidefan. God bless our guys overseas and RTR.