What is Alabama Football to you?

by NJBammer on Oct 12, 2009 1:34 PM CDT Comment 13 comments

A year or two ago, when it was obvious that Alabama Football was on its way back, I read a post by a young Tide fan who only dimly remembered the '93 days, and was not even alive for the 70s or 60s. The words he used stuck with me. He said he'd been told about what Alabama Football was like, but "I wanna see for myself!"

Now, this year seems like the kind of year I was used to growing up in the disco decade. So, I'll kick it off with what Alabama Football means to me, and you should see why I feel so at home in the current year. Please add some thoughts of your own.

Alabama Football:

Means looking at a schedule full of top 10 teams, and not seeing a loss.

Means being the target of envy and even hate just for being a fan of such a great program, and bearing that enmity with pride and laughter.

Means asking for and receiving no pity for bad calls, bad breaks, and bad luck.

Means complaining about winning by 20, when you know you should have won by 30. It also means being right about that.

Means making vacation plans in August every year for the SECCG in Atlanta in December.

Means seeing your team up by 3 in the third quarter, and wondering if you'll win by 17 or by 24 by the end of the game.

Means having your team the measure by which all other teams judge their season, knowing if they just beat you, or even come reasonably close, their season is made.

Means knowing, just knowing, that every week you were going to win, and in those rare occasions you did not, being absolutely shocked.

Means looking at the top teams in football, and knowing that there are only 1 or 2 which can give you a moment's doubt that you'll win, and win convincingly.

What else?

FanPosts are just that; posts created by the fans. They are in no way indicative of the opinions of SBN and the authors of Roll Bama Roll.

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Here are few more from the '70s

Never putting up flashy offensive numbers, and when a flashy offense does come to town, shutting them down completely with defense.

Fans that are never as loud, rowdy, and boisterous as other SEC teams, because frankly, we’ve been there before.

Enjoying a football game the same way you enjoy a classical concert. You know how it is going to end, but you go to see the craftsmanship and artistry.

Listening to fans from other teams go on about how their history is just as good as Bamas’, and politely nodding and saying “of course it is”.

A coach that never resorts to cheap tricks to get the team up, but wins through methodical devastation.

Players that are not motivated by headlines and personal trophys, but instead by fear of not achieving their full potential.

Getting the ball at our own one yard line, and thinking “We’ve got them exactly where we want them”, as we march down field, annihilating any last hope of victory from our foe.

Shorty Price Lives

by StarStarr on Oct 12, 2009 1:56 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

I was in first grade in 1993.

So needless to say my most memorable years were Alabama’s worst. But times have changed since then and there’s a feeling that what I’M seeing today is what Alabama football is.

by rhYno on Oct 12, 2009 2:30 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

ya i know what you mean i was in second grade in 1993.

growing up in a family of all Alabama fans i grew up loving them and now i see why.

by firedawg21 on Oct 12, 2009 2:49 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I

was in the eigth grade in 1993, and one of my friends was from Florida. He wasn’t a “real” fan of any team, a total bandwagon “fan” who jumped on every great Florida team of that era. Of course that year it was Miami (subsequently, years later I saw his father wearing an FSU jacket ,like I said, total bandwagoners). He and his family talked trash to me leading up to the Sugar Bowl. I didn’t return the smack talking too much other than to say “we’ll just wait and see.” After it was over I never said a word to them about the game, and of course they didn’t either. All I felt was total pride and elation for my team. Just having that quiet, calm confidence is the best feeling. That feeling of knowing Alabama is going to show up and play well. Win or lose. I experienced it briefly in the Stallings era. Its a feeling I’m happy to weclome back.

"A demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." -H. L. Mencken

by Bens4vcobra on Oct 12, 2009 2:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I was 12 years old in 1984...

I was my junior high school’s mascot and we were Tigers (sad, I know). I have several cousins who are Auburn fans and one of them asked to borrow my mascot costume to wear to their Iron Bowl party. She told me that she was going to wear it back to my house after the game and rub their 3 in a row win in my face. Well, imagine her surprise when she had to come back to my house, carrying the costume in its bag after we beat Auburn 17-15!! She told me thank you for letting her borrow it and I simply said “you’re welcome”. Like everyone has said in other posts here, I didn’t rub it in, I just grinned at the sheepish look on her face. So that is what Alabama football is to me….it is class – both when we loose and more importantly when we win and even at 12 years old, I knew this from years of watching my parents and how they had conducted themselves.

I now live in Las Vegas and miss going to games tremendously! I watch every game (thank you ESPN GamePlan) and am on the phone with my Mom back home after every touchdown and every huge play that we make. We both simply answer the phone “ROLL TIDE!” It has been 11 long years since I have seen an Alabama game in person and this weekend, I get to travel to T-Town for Homecoming! To say I am excited is an understatement!!

This will be my hubby’s first Alabama game and I cannot wait to take him around to the Quad and Denny Chimes and I can’t wait to see his face when he sets his eyes on Bryant-Denny for the first time! I am getting goose bumps and teary eyed just thinking about it! ROLL TIDE!!

by BamaGirlinVegas on Oct 12, 2009 5:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

its15...

or more weeks in a row per year of OBSESSION….in a good way.

Tigers Hide and rooooll that TIDE!

by JiggaTide on Oct 12, 2009 6:22 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh man.

It’s hard for me to even put into words how much Alabama Football means to me. I’m 21 years old, and I started kindergarten in ‘92. It goes without saying that I don’t recall it at all. I have the dvd, and it’s amazing of course. My dad instilled a passion for ‘Bama at a young age, you know, raised up right. One of the best stories he tells me is how he used to tell me Auburn fans were going down there"which obviously meant hell, and probably shouldn’t have been as nonchalant as he made it. But apparently, one time we were in a convenience store, and i saw another little kid and his dad wearing auburn shirts and all that, and i said very loudly “Daddy, they’re auburn fans….they’re goin’ DOWN THERE!” I still smile when i think about that. I’ve always said, since i was old enough to really start following football, that if i had three wishes, one of them would undoubtedly go to being able to watch Alabama win a National Championship with my dad. Hopefully, that one will come true sooner rather than later. Roll Tide everybody.

by Bret on Oct 12, 2009 9:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

You guys...

…in your 20s sound like my parents’ generation, who saw Bama flounder in mediocrity for a couple of decades until a certain coach was hired in 1958….

My generation was raised watching Bama as the most dominant program in the history of college football. I thought the 80s would be the worst decade ever for the Tide. At this point, the only thing that could keep this decade from out-sucking the 80s would be a 2009 national championship. Even if that does not occur, we are functioning the way we did when I was young…instilling fear in every opponent.

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Oct 13, 2009 8:52 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

My

dad used to talk about that. He would say that back then, when you watched Alabama play on TV or went to a game, there was hardly any doubt what the result would be. He talked about the wishbone and how nobody could stop it, even when we played teams who also ran it. I remember he would say, “I wish you could’ve seen it, nobody could beat us.” I may not be able to go back in time, but it I hope this is the start of a similar run. Maybe not one three decades long, but certainly a sustained run of dominance by today’s standards.

"A demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." -H. L. Mencken

by Bens4vcobra on Oct 13, 2009 2:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

there is a reason...

that a lot of teams look at wins over alabama in those eras among the greatest games in their histories.

Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.

by kleph on Oct 13, 2009 2:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mediocrity was only a few years.

Bama went to the Rose Bowl in 1948, the last game before they got tired of SEC teams dominating the PAC 8 teams, and committed to the Big Ten. Coach Bryant arrived in 1958, so not quite that long of a dry spell.

Shorty Price Lives

by StarStarr on Oct 14, 2009 5:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You...

…are correct, sir. I was thinking that it occurred over two consecutive decades, but I obviously worded it to indicate that it lasted for two decades. My bad, and thanks for the correction.

"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban

by NiceLittleSaturday on Oct 14, 2009 10:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs