Question: How did you become a Tidefan ?

[GoBama#1]

Lived in Virginia all but 3 years of my life, did not attend the University, neither did my parents or siblings.

My dad grew up in the 1960's and fell in love with Coach Bryant and the Tide, seeing how successful they were. He was raised in Petersburg Va and still living there at the time, when he met my mother. Her dad/my grandfather was career military and they were stationed at Fort Lee, Va (close to Petersburg). Before joining the army, my grandfather has attended a year at UA, so my mom's family mostly pulled for the Tide (yes, we have a couple of Barners, unfortunately).

Meeting my mom and marrying into an Alabama family only solidified my dad's love for the Tide, and he raised all three of his kids to love the Tide as much as he did. My mom was in on the act too.

For three years of my life, I attended seminary school in east Tennessee. When I wore my Bama gear and such, I got nothing but snide remarks from Vols. So what did I do, I threw it back in their face and pulled for the Tide more and more. My love for the Tide has always connected me to out of state relatives, mostly in Mobile, whom I only see about once a year.

 

[rickvox79]

Grew up in Milton, FL (or around Milton)My dad and grandfather were Tide fans from long ago. My grandpa's sister lived in Tuscaloosa and her kids attended Alabama so I think that's what got my grandpa and dad started as Alabama fans. Surprisingly that is not what got me into the Tide.

I was a huge baseball fan as a kid and really didn't have any love for football until my family moved when I was 10 (1989). We moved to a small town that was football crazy and I met a family there that are some of the biggest Alabama fans I know to this day. They took myself and my brother in as part of their family and I started watching Bama games there and in no time I was hooked on Alabama football. Went to my first game in 1990 (LSU) and it's something I'll never forget.

Gotta thank Jack, Linda, Greg and Brian Carden because if I would not have met them don't know if I ever would have become the huge Bama fan that I am today. I love baseball and basketball still to this day but nothing compares to Alabama football.

 

[THE BAMA IRISHMAN]

I am An Alabama Fan By the Grace of God. Since I was old enough to remember my uncle Ivan introduced me to BAMA Football at the ripe old age of 3. At 3 I saw my first game. At 9 I saw Alabama win a National Title 1965. I witnessed the 61, 64, 65, 73, 78, 79, and 92 National Title Games. Not many fans can say they witnessed 7 National Titles in their life time. I am looking to see #8 and possibly a few more. It's Great To Be An Alabama Fan.

 

[bamamoss2]

Also ....Curious if there is anyone on the board who:

Didnt attend the University - Wasnt born in Alabama - Didnt have parents who attended - didnt marry a grad or former player ?

You have no physical connection to the state / team or school , you simply are a fan.

I became a fan of TideFans when working in Russia and living in Finland from 2000 - 2006. TideFans was the best site for staying in the know on Bama.

I and wife are '73 alums of Bama, born in Alabama, with parents that did not go to college. Cut my teeth on Bama football in the corn fields of Cullman county listening to John Forney on the AM radio during the early years of Coach Bryant at Alabama.

 

[BamaFossil]

My Mom attended Alabama one year during the depression. My Dad was a Bama fan but work and WW II precluded his attending college. They were lifelong Bama fans and brought me up accordingly. Thankfully I was able to attend 4 years at Bama; received an engineering degree that served me wonderfully well my whole career. Retired now.

 

[Bamaman-n-KS]

Birth-right. :cool2:

I guess I could have been pulled to cheer or Auburn just as well. My Mom's side of the family is all Tide fans. My father's side is all Auburn. Spent a lot more time with my mom's family than I did my father's. He's still trying to pull me over. It'll never happen.

 

[Hal Bennett]

"Pappy was a preacher," so we moved all over the South. I didn't know I was a Tide fan until I went to Howard College in Birmingham, just when Bear was getting cranked up over in Tuscaloosa.

It was as if I had been a Bama fan all along, but just had to be shown it.

When I was about four years old, my uncle was a pre-med student at Bama, and when we visited him at Tuscaloosa, someone in the family pointed to a sandy-headed young man in a football uniform, with no helmet, who I as I remember was out on the practice-field by himself. "That is Harry Gilmer," I was told.

Everybody on both sides of my family were Alabama fans. Except my brother Tommy, who to this day is a heretic, bless his heart. "I don't like the way Bear Bryant talks," he said, way back in about 1960. He has been a longtime Bobby Bowden-FSU man.

It was tough for Tommy to come home for Christmas and hear folks from both sides of the family sitting in our daddy's den talking Alabama football. But I loved it.

 

[JAXFLBAMAFAN]

Auburn was where we sent soil samples to find out which field needed lime. Bama was where championship football was played.

I was a kid and teenager in the 60's and 70's so all I knew about Bama was that they won titles.

Always a Bama fan.

"my home's in Alabama, no matter where I lay my head." Never were more truer words spoken.

 

[GulfCoastTider]

Did you ever post on SuperBama? I think that was before the name change to BamaNation. During that time I ran the Alabama board for a guy named Ryan (Oklahoma St. guy) who had a site called NCAAboards. The Bama board quickly became the premier board with more posts and members than the rest of the boards combined. A lot of those people are now on tidefans. When tidefans would crash we would take in the refugees and keep them posted on when tidefans site would be back up.

I don't remember SuperBama. There was another SEC Board called Fanatic Zone (or something like that) that I posted on a lot. It was infested with Vol and Gator fans. I was one of only a handful of Bama fans there. Even then, the Vol fans showed classic symptoms of Short Man Syndrome.

Before that, I ran the Cybernautics BBS, and helped moderate a fidonet conference for SEC fans. Bama fans dominated that, and I'm embarrassed to admit that the fidonet SEC_FANS conference was responsible for a big percentage of the letters and faxes sent in support of hiring Mike Dubose.

Work took me offline for nearly 1-1/2 years between our SEC title in 1999 and sometime after 9/11. I found bamafans.com had been resurrected as Tidefans.com in early 2002, and I re-joined in May.

I've been home ever since. :smile:

 

[jtl1111]

Been a bama fan my whole life. You ask how I became a Bama fan well I was born a Bama fan. I have so many memories of all the home and away games. No team will ever be as close to my heart as the Alabama Crimson Tide.

P.S. My wife also bleeds crimson

 

[Ldlane]

Birth

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Also ....Curious if there is anyone on the board who:

Didnt attend the University - Wasnt born in Alabama - Didnt have parents who attended - didnt marry a grad or former player ?

You have no physical connection to the state / team or school , you simply are a fan.

I was born with a genetic predisposition to rooting for Alabama.

Actually - you're gonna find this one funny.


I was born in Selma on October 28, 1969 to a military man and his wife stationed at Craig Air Force Base. I moved in 1971 and, in fact, I've never lived in the state of Alabama since then, almost 40 years ago.

I first became acquainted with football in 1976, pro football in 1977.

In September 1978, I was on the school bus at Chanute AFB, Illinois, when my best friend brought up the 'Ole Miss Rebels.' He was from Columbus, MS (where I actually spent 17 years). He proceeded to run down the state of Alabama and everything associated with it INCLUDING the football team.

Having been born in Alabama, I took deep offense to this. Even though I knew NOTHING about college football, I took his swipe personally. That weekend I read the paper and it was, ironically, the week we'd lost to USC. Yet Alabama was HIGHLY ranked, and I didn't see Mississippi anywhere on the poll.

I then followed the Tide, a love affair that has now gone on for 30 years. I didn't even know who Bear Bryant was; in fact, I didn't even know he was called Bear until 1979, when a classmate in Miss. informed me. I just thought his name was Paul Bryant.



That's my point, I think you're BORN with it.

Why would I have taken offense at the putdown of a place I don't even remember living?


Irony? I have two brothers. One is (and it hurts to say this) an Auburn fan, although he pulls for us as long as we ain't playing them.

The other brother - now in journalism in Rhode Island - is a Florida Gator, having seen them his first game when he was six.

So far the national title count is his team 3, mine 1 (during our mutual period of being football fans).

Sorry so long.

PS First time I ever saw Alabama on TV was the 1979 Sugar Bowl.


We won the first 28 games I was a fan.

I honestly didn't think we EVER lost.

 

[Vinny]

I had not ties at all to Alabama. Born up here as a Yankee. I did the juco route and when it was time to move on, I chose Alabama. I had never been there, I knew of the great football tradition. I was looking to go south and don't ever regret making that decison. I was completely overwhelmed by the fanaticism of the Bama fans my first couple of years. I had never been exposed to an environmet like that up here. It just grew on me.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[4Q Basket Case]

You use tidefan as one word, so I'm not sure if you mean, "How did you become a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide?" or "How did you come to be a member of the Tidefans board?"

As to the first: My mother graduated from Alabama.

After a year at Emory, my father spent three years there. Set a record for class cuts. I broke it.

Born in 1959, I grew up in Tuscaloosa (several elementary schools, Tuscaloosa Junior High and Tuscaloosa High School) and didn't know winning football was an option until 1984, when I was 25 and in graduate school in Tuscaloosa.

As to the second: I'm a refugee from another site. You probably know the one. It was once free, but now charges $48 a year to subscribe. On multiple occasions, I begged the site owner to moderate more effectively. He paid lip service, but actually changed nothing. I tired of wading through a sewer to get to anything worth reading, and let my subscription lapse. Walked in the wilderness a while until I ran across TideFans. Member in grateful standing since.

To paraphrase our NAA President, I am no more Alabama than I am male or Presbyterian. Born that way, followed by consistent reinforcement, followed by sincere gratitude.

Alabama by birth, choice, and God's grace.

 

[Bamafan in BGKY]

Born and raised in Kentucky, and until 1988 was a wildcat fan, (still am during round ball) but my sister wanted to get away and came to Alabama. I came down for homecoming and watched Brett Favre, I think, and so miss, well, I've been Bama ever since, and although i didn't make it for undergrad, i went to bama for grad school. so, i guess that made me official, oh yeah, and a married a Bama girl too! Yee HAW! I love that redneck girl, but don't tell her I said that!

 

[Atlmetroguy]

Born in Birmingham in the mid 60's and my earliest memories with my Dad are he and I watching the Tide. Later on in life attended the beloved Capstone. Move from my home state of Alabama in my mid 20's pursuing career and adventure, ended up in northern California and married the only sane woman out there, brought her back to Southeast where she has flourished magnificently and is a RAVING Tide fan.

RTR

 

[califbamafan]

Been a Bama fan all my life was born into it at Druid City Hospital. My mom and dad both attented Tuscaloosa county high. My mom has a masters from UA. My great great uncles were in the first graduating class at the university. I have had many family members attend. Unfortunately I was unable to. I went to college in Calif. As another poster said I have been priviledged to see 7 national championships ( am hoping to see more) in my lifetime. Started attending games before I could walk. Have been a Bama fan all my life and will continue to be one. ROLL TIDE

 

[ncbama]

After finishing my PhD. in Chemistry at the University of Virginia went looking for a job. Interviewed three places, Alabama, Arkansas and Virginia Tech and had offers from all three. Took the one from Alabama and moved my wife and small daughter to Tuscaloosa. Taught there ten years then moved to another school in Tennessee as VP. Later on moved to NC to join my wife's family in the jewelry business. Undergrad work was at Wake Forest.
Became a Tide fan the day I drove on the Tuscaloosa campus in 1967. Have been one ever since and always will be.
Now retired, still living in North Carolina and travel to T-Town twice a year for games.
I have no idea how I landed on TideFans, but my son is a friend of Brett's and I have come to appreciate the quality organization he put together to run this superb site.
I consider each and every one of you my friend.

 

[Boclive]

When I was 4 and 5 years old my dad took me and my older brother to about 5 or 6 high school games that my mothers brother played. I knew more about football after that handful of games than the average six year old. My uncle didn't get a scholarship, but three players from that team lettered at Alabama in 64, 65, and 66. I think my dad was a pretty big fan in the late '40's and early '50's, so it was just a continuation for him.

I've continued to watch a lot of high school football at different times over the years. It can be a great show sometimes.

 

[JagTider]

Grew up in Dothan. Grandfather was a Bama fan and instilled it in me young.