What is Alabama Football?

[BAMAFAN IN NY]

Im not sure who wrote this, but I like it.

SO WHAT IS ALABAMA FOOTBALL? It is Wallace Wade. It is Bear Bryant. It is Gene Stallings. It is now Nick Saban. It is NOT Bobby Bowden, Phil Fulmer or Dennis Franchione. It is the Rose Bowl. It is hearing Keith Jackson call an Alabama game. It is watching George Teague running down Lamar Thomas in the 1993 Sugar Bowl then rewinding it and watching it again. It is hearing the first notes of Sweet Home Alabama. It is the desire to beat Auburn at any competitive event that exists. It is a houndstooth hat. It is being "Dixie's Football Pride". It is cheering the same amount for a first down on second and 6 as fourth and 1. It is watching Cornelius Bennett give Notre Dame quarterback Steve Beuerlein a concussion on that October day in Birmingham in 1986. It is determining who you are going to date and marry by which team they swear allegiance to. It is beating Florida in the SEC title when everyone said the game in "The Swamp" was a fluke. It is watching The Bear on the jumbotron before a game in Bryant-Denny Stadium and almost seeing him leaning against the goalpost in the end zone. It is right behind God and Family. It is spending a day at The Bryant Museum and still not seeing everything. It is cool crisp autumn Saturdays where you can smell football in the air and feel it whenever there is a slight breeze. It is watching The Bear get number 315 against Auburn. It is watching The Bear get number 323 against Illinois. It is hearing Paul Kennedy do the play-by-play when Van Tiffin kicked the 52-yard field goal against Auburn in 1985. It is remembering the feeling of the upper deck at Legion Field rumbling due to feet stomping. It is knowing how many days until the start of a season year round. It is driving down Colonial Drive to see Bryant-Denny Stadium not the sorority girls. It is getting chills up and down your entire body whenever you hear anything about the 1993 Sugar Bowl and the pride you feel because that night Tradition ruled. It is hearing The Bear's voice and having all the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up because you know no matter what he said, it was something special. It is hearing The Million Dollar Band play "Yea Alabama" and knowing it just does not get any better. It is imagining hearing Penn State Quarterback Chuck Fusina ask Alabama linebacker Barry Krauss "How close is it?" and hearing Krauss say "About an inch, you'd better pass" right before 4th down during The Goal Line Stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl. It is almost coming to tears whenever Alabama loses to Auburn or Tennessee. It is The Kick. It is The Goal Line Stand. It is The Desperation Block. It is the 3rd Saturday in October. It is not needing an alarm clock on game days, you bolt upright in the bed long before the alarm goes off because you know that it is a gameday, you can sleep after the bowl game. It is walking into a stadium and knowing Alabama wins the game no matter who they play because it is just the way it's supposed to be. It is the saying "Offense wins games, Defense wins national titles." It is the Bear Bryant 'A'. It is getting to the stadium hours before the game just to be there. It is walking into another team's stadium and having those fans hate you because you are from Alabama. It is the pride that a parent has when they bring their children to a game so they may cherish the Tradition. It is the hit by Roman Harper in the 2005 game against Tennessee that meant everything. It is beating LSU in Baton Rouge. It is hearing the crunch as a linebacker dressed in crimson and white hit a running back dressed in orange and blue. It is the pride you take in being every team's rival. It is pulling for any team that is playing Auburn. It is pulling for any team that is playing Tennessee. It is singing Rammer Jammer period. It is hoping for the stadium to blow up when Auburn plays Tennessee. It is knowing that the SEC Championship is a birthright. It is being respected and feared at the same time. It is holding up 4 fingers at the end of the 3rd quarter. It is not caring about a Heisman Trophy. It is knowing what "Mama Called" means. It is whipping Auburn 31-7 in Jordan-Hare Stadium when nobody picked you to win. It is NOT "The Jungle". It is "The Catch". It is having 21 Southeastern Conference Titles. It is having 12 National Titles. It is more than I could have ever mentioned on this list. It is Class It is Tradition. It is Alabama Football. ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!!

 

[BamaBobo]

It simply is ALABAMA!:BigA:

 

[tupelosusan]

i think that that says it all

 

[Ugobama]

Did he mention it is pride?

 

[RollTide12]

Ben Windham of the Tuscaloosa News wrote this article back in September of last year. He was responding to a question about the passion of Alabama fans from an "outsider".

Hard to explain Alabama’s devotion to a football game

RollTide12

 

[3 tide tats]

Alabama football is ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and you

 

[deliveryman35]

It is, literally, a part of our lives and the common bond that all of us here on this board share. Remember that before you criticize or flame away at someone here who is expressing an opinion...

 

[Alabama_Man]

Reading that article gave me chills. RTR!

 

[Elefantman]

It's like dying and going to heaven, without having to do the dying part.

 

[BAMMAR]

It's having a museum when most school's have pamphlets.

 

[TidesofWar]

It is about blazing trails, and succeeding despite the odds

 

[Mussofan22]

It's like dying and going to heaven, without having to do the dying part.

If you think it's like that now, you should have been around in Bryant days. That was unbelievable. Perhaps you were around then. I'm hoping Coach Saban gets us back on that track very soon.

 

[Bamaball2001]

In addition to the many things that you stated....WE are Alabama football.

:BigA: RTR!

 

[BamaFanTraeInGeorgia]

For me, Bama fottball started as "class". When I was a kid, my dad told me about Coach Bryant benching Joe Willie before the Orange Bowl, and then still winning the game. Then Bama football became another thing. It was an expectation. I did not hope to win. I expected to win. Then it became pride. Pride in that even though the NCAA has levied strong sanctions against us, strong enough to have broken most programs, we are on the verge to returning where we rightfully belong.

Today, my children face a terrible amount of grief for being an Alabama fan. I have promised them to hold on...that Bama would soon be back. IT is hard for them. They are young and have no concept of history or tradition. Instead they only see the "now" and what it equates to. Together they have never seen Bama win against UGA, and only my oldest has been alive long enough to have "seen" a victory over Auburn. Most of their friends are either UGA or AU fans.

Still, I have the confidence to tell my boys that Bama will be back. It will take some time, but soon their UGA friends will begin telling them how Bama is the second favorite team.:BigA:

 

[rhYno]

Most of their friends are either UGA or AU fans.

You should monitor your kids when they're around their friends. Let's hope they don't corrupt them. lol

All of my friends are API fans as well (I'm from Aubarn), so I feel their pain.

 

[Alanbama27]

When I was a kid and was under-the-weather my mother would take me to our family doctor. She'd ask him after he had run tests what was wrong with me and his answer was always the same "he's go it...whatever "it" is, he's got it" and summarily give us a prescription and usually a shot in the butt and on our way we went.

To me that's what Alabama Football is! We can't really explain it, but we've got it! I don't think it's a born thing because while I was 2 when we moved to Alabama and immediately were Bama fans, I nonetheless was born in New York! A great friend of mine was a Michigan fan (born and bred) until 1992 when he married a Bama girl, moved to Bama and began going to every football game...today I'm sure he doesn't even follow Michigan unless they are next on our schedule or ahead of us in the polls.

Being a Bama fan is about being bitten by the bug and getting "it" again whatever "IT" is and frankly I've got "IT" really bad!

Roll Tide!

 

[tydegrl07]

A wonderful state of mind!

I can remember my Dad watching the Bear Bryant show every Sunday afternoon. He never got to go to a game, but he always watched the show on Sunday. When it (the show) was over, he talked about how he couldn't understand a word he (Coach Bryant) said, but he watched it anyway.

He now has pictures, elephants, etc., all over his house. We gave him the "Time" magazine covers of Coach Bryant (matted in Crimson, and framed, of course) for Christmas a few years ago. He was like a kid with a new toy!

This is Alabama Football! Memories, Family Time, Expectations, Believing! ROLL TIDE ROLL!