Where I Come From: Most Memorable Moment(s) as a Tide Fan

The Goal Line Stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl.

1. Van Tiffins Kick

Agianst Arkansas breaking that streak of X number of games without a 4th quarter comeback. It’s memorable because of my reaction. I’m on a college retreat watching the game outside of a sushi bar and I go so crazy that the owner thought I was drunk but he was nice and invited us to watch the rest of the game in the lobby.

Bama was down 21-0 and roared back to win 62-27.

Honestly, I think the best part of that game was us showboating our ass off to give them a taste of their own stuff.

except ’85 bc I was only a month old and ’89, which was just a little before what I can remember. But one of my all time memories was Kitchens to Riddle in ’96, I am so glad it made this list. I remember being in the stadium and sitting next to my 76 year old granddad (biggest fan to ever walk the earth). As Riddle runs into the endzone, time feels like it has stopped as everyone jumps into the air in celebration. So, I look down the aisle and see my granddad cheering and next thing I notice, he gets absolutely drilled in the back of the head by a big flying glass bottle. I was the only one to see it and I expect it to be really bad. So he bends over for a split second, then amazingly stands right back up like nothing happened, and starts going wild again. Conclusion: 76 yr old man gets hit in the back of the head by glass bottle doing about 20 mph and hardly flinches = my first lesson in adrenaline created by Alabama football…

Antonio Langham, Pick 6. I was a junior in high school and was at the game with my granddad. I thought Legion Field would come apart at the seams.

First offensive play

in OT at the Swamp. Even though we almost botched the extra point, I was going crazy when he motored around Chris Samuels and into the endzone.

Also, Phillip Doyle’s kick vs. UT at the end of regulation in 1990. I was in the stands for that one with a friend who was a TN fan. He didn’t like me for a while after that.

1. Seeing Coach Paul W. Bryant in the flesh (1982).
2. Watching the team carry off Coach Bryant in his fur-lined parka and Bama cap at the end of the 1982 Liberty Bowl (bittersweet, yes, but powerful as hell).
3. The muthaflippin’ kick.
4. The 1992-93 SECCG and Sugar Bowl wins.
5. Feeling BDS shaking at the end of the 1994 win over UGA.
6. Coach Stallings’s ‘Shoulders of Giants’ retirement announcement after Dennis riddles Auburn in 1996.
7. Shaun Alexander’s 291 vs. LSU in 1997.
8. The 1999 Florida wins.
9. Andrew Zow saving Fran’s spineless a$$ pwning Auburn after Tyler Watts gets injured in 2001.
10. 2005: UF, UT, & attending the Cotton Bowl.
11. Attending the 2007 A-Day Game.
12. 36-0.
13. Feeling BDS shaking immediately following Blocky Stop.
14. Julio’s 70+yard TD sprint vs. LSU.
15. Cody-muthaflippin’-5.
16. Every second of attending the 2009 SECCG win over Florida.
17. Mark Ingram’s Heisman acceptance speech.
18. Watching the pure joy on the faces of my wife and child as she throws my toddler into the air after Marcell Dareus scores his TD vs. Texas.
19. The pink shirt and the crystal ball.
20. Realizing how many of these memorable moments are from just this last season…and how many more are likely to be added in the next several years.

 …but I feel like I’ve lived everywhere else. So my favorite moment as a fan happens every time I’m anywhere and see that beautiful script “A” on a hat or a t-shirt and shout “Roll Tide” at someone…and they actually say it back.

I also cry every time I walk into Bryant-Denny.

I got tickets to this game the day before and me and a buddy got there early enough the next day to actually park in the Legion Field lot (as opposed to someone’s yard). We made the rounds through the RV section accepting drinks and food that were offered, came across Keith Jackson outside the stadium taping a segment for ABC that would air on the broadcast later that day, and got high with a Notre Dame fan.

We were sitting in the end zone with Notre Dame’s offense driving toward us and Bama’s D with their backs to us. It seemed like everyone in the stadium saw Bennett coming except 1 guy, and when he hit him the crowd erupted in one big “BOOOOOOM!” and we were high-fiving everyone in reach.

Greg Richardson returned a punt for a TD, Mike Shula and Al Bell hooked up for a couple of TD’s, and Bama beats Notre Dame for the first time. Sweet Victory!

to the best memory of a game I witnessed in person. It was also the first and only time my dad and I have attended a game together.

2005 vs TN. Roman Harpers tackle to dislodge the ball as the UT RB was about to score the go ahead TD. I was sitting in the endzone in amongst an obnoxious group of UT fans and the play was coming right at us. I went from utter agony to uphoria in a period of about four seconds.

1) Watching Alabama win the National Championship in the Rose Bowl in my home state. I grew a USC fan, and had seen a lot of USC’s Rose Bowl wins (and one loss). Once I became an Alabama fan (and student), it was only a pipe dream that we would make it to the National Championship game by the time I finished school at the Rose Bowl. It happened, and I still can’t believe that I was there.

2) Rocky Block. I didn’t think that we would lose this game, even when Lincoln lined up for the potentially game-winning FG. But, I was so scared that we would lose somehow. I had never high-fived so many random people in my life. My girlfriend couldn’t even watch the FG attempt (she turned around) and figured it out when I was going crazy.

3) The Drive against Auburn 2009. My girlfriend and I were at a friend’s house to watch the game, and we were all miserable. The guy that owned the house changed clothes after the first quarter to bring back some good luck, and yet the Tide played better when that happened. My girlfriend couldn’t watch the second half (she played with her friend’s kids) but was always yelling down the hall to see what happened whenever she heard me yell. When we went into goal-line formation with Cody, I had a feeling we would fake the run and go over the top. Upchurch was totally redeemed for all of his injuries and bad luck in his Alabama career.

4) Caddell’s catch against Arkansas 2007. I’d become a student in Fall 2006, and I’d never seen a stadium erupt as crazy as Bryant-Denny did when Caddell made that catch to beat Arkansas. It was like, “So, this is what it’s like to be part of a traditional powerhouse that wins games…”

5) Javier Arenas punt return TD against LSU 2007. We lost this game, but watching Javy run through LSU’s coverage was magical.

6) Celebrating the first Iron Bowl win in 6 years at Bryant-Denny. For anyone that was there in November 2008, I’ll always remember the pure joy, release, happiness, whatever it’s called when we shutout Auburn. We all knew we were going to win that game, and we totally dominated them.

i’d buy Collette a drink any day… she loves her team and her coach, i dont see who could blame er…

my top 10? hard to do…: in no order…

rocky stop ( Roman Harper’s hit, Croyels drive, and Money Christiansen’s FG to win ’05 tenn game)

 prothro’s electric first 3 quarters of the florida game in ’05

 “tebow cried for our wins”

 Cody 5

 the strip (obviously)

 the onside kick to open the ’07 tennessee game (i was there in person, second row, kick came straight at us, was pretty much the only play we had a good view of. lesson learned 2nd row is way too close @ bds. but we won and the cigars i brought came in handy.)

meeting Gene stallings and the team a few days before the 91 fiesta bowl. (we brought a dabo sweeney themed sign to the game..)

anders’ sack and upshaw’s fumble recovery to seal the BCS

Cody’s 2 blocked fgs (especially that last one…)

the penn state blocked FG in 89

freddie milons and the 99 SECCG

Langham’s pick six in the first SECCG, wrapping up a spot in the 1993 Sugar Bowl
Richardson’s TD against Texas to wake us up
Dareus’s TD to end that game (for all intents and purposes)
Langham/Teague’s dominance in the MNC game against Miami
Rocky Stop
Rocky Block
The Kick
Shaun 1999 UF regular season
The whole first half v. UF in 2005
Rashad Johnson’s dominance of LSU in 2008
Every last snap of the 2009 SECCG

ALOT!

Thanks to everyone here. So many great memories. Let me dig even deeper for a few additions, since many already posted above are givens…

Bama vs. Notre Dame, the rivalry: I vaguely recall the agony of the Notre Dame losses in the ‘70s; I had been raised with the history of the Mich. St.-ND tie and national-championship-that-should’ve-been from ’66. Also, in that time period “Ara (expletive) Parseghian” (known only by that description in those times) was on TV it seemed for every important Bama game. So, as great as the Sack was in the ’86 game, the very fact that we finally defeated the Irish mattered more.

1978 season opener, defeating Nebraska 20-3: total domination. After the near-miss of ’77, it seemed that ’78 might be our year. And it was, one of the greatest in our history: “You better throw…!”

Penn State series, 1980s: So many great games throughout, from Goal Line Stand 2 (remember it was right in front of a “No Sugar Here!” sign…?) to PSU blocking their own punt; Preston Gothard’s TD catch which was waved off (he got ovations in classes the following week, classmates of the time told me); the agony of the ’86 loss in Tuscaloosa; Bobby Humphrey in ’87; even better, Derrick Thomas in ’88; and one of the greatest ever, Desperation Block in ’89.

George Teague in the Sugar Bowl: I finally realized, after the 100s of times I’ve watched this over the years, what absolutely gets me every time. Through watching the game for a lifetime, you know the rhythm and the timing of a play that’s about to score on you: the snap, dropback, pass, completion, catch, run, and then the deflating heartbreak. At the moment of Teague’s play, we were riding so much higher than we had expected against Miami. “We are effectively beating Miami’s collective ass! for the whole world to see! for the national championship!”

The few seconds of excitement as the play began, then a moment of heartbreak, then excruciatingly delicious anticipation, then the absolute jubilation of the moment.

Torretta throws, the ball’s in the air. Lamar Thomas has it. He’s behind the defense. I seem to recall Keith Jackson saying “And he will score….” There’s 1-2 seconds of “NOOOO…! DAMMIT! oh, he’s gone… wait… wait! Teague! he’s gaining! he might….! HE DID IT! he got him! AND HE’S GOT THE BALL! (ORGASMIC SCREAMS OF JOY!)”

Sorry, there’s…. something in my eye. And I need to go change my pants.