I'm going to break Coach Saban's "24 hour rule" this week and talk about my trip to Nashville. I know I should've posted this on Sunday or yesterday, but things were all hectic and junk for me over the last couple of days (still are, but I've found a minute to blog.)
The theme of this post is "I hope the team appreciates what we do to get there."
I planned on heading up to Nashville on Friday night to visit some friends there. They're Kentucky fans, and barely care about football, but I love 'em anyway. My car breaks down before I'm even on the interstate. Smoke is pouring out from under the hood and the temperature needle is redlining and I'm thinking "Yeah, this probably isn't good." I'm still on McFarland at this point. I pull over, pop the hood and notice that the cap on the coolant reservoir has come off and coolant is sprayed all over the engine.
I'm fairly certain there's an auto parts shop in the area down Skyland (there was a Napa) but the engine is way too hot to drive. I have a quart of Gatorade in the car and pour it on the engine in an attempt at external cooling. It brings the temperature down some, but it mainly achieved creating a warm sugary smell akin to cotton candy. Then, it starts raining, so I just leave the hood open and let it rain on my engine for about five minutes and then the temperature is back to normal.
I drive over to Napa, get some coolant and hear a speech from the guy working there about how I won't even get to the next exit, much less to Nashville. I told him this had happened before and he didn't seem to believe me. Oh well, I filled the reservoir back up and headed to Nashville. Thankfully, there were no more engine problems the rest of the trip. That didn't negate the fact that my air conditioner is broken though. 4+ hours in an unairconditioned car. I guess it was better for everyone that I was making the drive alone.
The game has been talked about though, so there's no point in rehashing all that's been said about it, but there are two anecdotes that I wanted to share:
- Towards the end of the game, this guy gets up in the Bama section dressed head to toe in orange and holds up a sign that said "I'd rather be in Knoxville." Needless to say, he was the recipient of a healthy dose of booing.
- After the game, when filing out of the stadium, I heard a Vanderbilt fan behind me complain to the man she was with, "This is so embarrassing. Their fans take over our stadium, boo our team coming out of the tunnel and then they beat our team. I hate Alabama." I found that amusing.
Enough of all of that though, onto the pictures...
