Something I felt needed to be added to my other football pages:
Credits: TideTenn
- It is Wallace Wade.
- It is Paul “Bear” Bryant.
- 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.” Sorry UAB & Auburn, but that isn’t your song.
- It is the desire to beat Auburn at any competitive event that exists.
- It is the houndstooth hat.
- It is having enough pride to fight for your school but having enough class not to.
- It is cheering the same amount for a first down on 2nd & 6 as on 4th & 1.
- It is watching Cornelius Bennett give Notre Dame QB Steve Beuerlein a concussion on that October day in Birmingham in 1986.
- It is determining whom you are going to date & marry by which team they swear allegiance to.
- It is watching The Bear on the Jumbotron in Bryant-Denny Stadium and almost seeing him leaning against the goalpost.
- It is spending a day at the Bryant Museum & still not seeing everything.
- It is cool crisp autumn Saturdays where you can smell football in the air &feel it with the slightest breeze.
- It is watching The Bear get #315 against Auburn (how appropriate).
- It is watching The Bear get #323 against Illinois.
- It is hearing Paul Kennedy call theplay-by-play as Van Tiffin kicks the 52-yd game winning field goal against Auburn in 1985.
- It is knowing how many days until the start of the season year around. It is driving down Colonial Drive to see Bryant-Denny Stadium.
- It is getting chills up & down your entire body whenever you hear anything about the 1993 Sugar Bowl & the pride you feel because on that night, TRADITION RULED.
- It is hearing Coach Bryant’s voice & having all the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up because you know that no matter what he said, it was something special.
- It is hearing The Million Dollar Band play “Yea Alabama” and knowing it just doesn’t get any better.
- It is imagining hearing Penn State QB Chuck Fusina ask Alabama linebacker Barry Krauss “How close is it?” & hearing Barry 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 purposely not wearing any clothes with the colors orange & blue.
- It is the 3rd Saturday in October.
- It is not needing an alarm clock on game days. You sit straight up in bed long before it goes off, knowing it’s game day.
- It is walking into the stadium with the feeling that Alabama will win the game, simply because that is the way it is supposed to be.
- It is saying “Offense wins games, defense wins national titles.”
- It is walking into the stadium hours before the game just to be there.
- It is walking into another school’s stadium & having those fans hate you because you’re a Bama fan.
- It is the pride that a father has when he brings his children to a game so they may cherish the tradition. The grin you get when an Auburn Fan proves again to the world how little class they really have and how envious of Alabama Football they really are.
- It is beating LSU in Baton Rouge, again and again.
- It is hearing the crunch as a crimson clad linebacker takes down a running back dressed in orange & blue.
- It is the pride you take in being EVERY team’s rival.
- It is pulling for any team that’s playing Auburn.
- It is pulling for any team that’s playing Tennessee.
- It is hoping that the stadium blows up when Auburn plays Tennessee.
- It is knowing that the SEC Championship is a birthright.
- It is being respected, & feared at the same time.
- It is holding up four fingers at the end of the 3rd quarter.
- It is knowing what singing “Rocky Top” in Neyland Stadium with the Million Dollar Band in Knoxville feels like.
- It is knowing what “Mama Called” means.
- It is knowing what “paying property taxes in Tennessee” means.
- It is having 21 SEC Championships. It is having 12 National Championships.
- It is more than we can ever mention in these thoughts.
- It is class.
- It is tradition.
IT IS ALABAMA FOOTBALL.
Father Luke
I sure miss Bear Bryant.
Okay,
Father Luke
Nitallica
Me too, Padre. :(