Rammer Jammer

The west wind is blowing the first home football game into town. For several years the Alabama Crimson Tide has played the season opener in bigger venues and has played the best of the best – and won – but nothing can compare to the first game of the season at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The excitement is brimming with anticipation and again a power-packed team prepares to dominate Saturdays in the fall.

I began attending Alabama football games with my dad in the late ‘50s and ‘60s, tagging along behind him, trying to keep up with his long strides. Daddy loved to tease me that the only reason I went to the games was to see the Million Dollar Band but we both knew that my heart was with the Tide football team and not the tuba players. During this time, football games were a Sunday-best dress up occasion, men wore suites and ties and the ladies wore hats and dress shoes and mums. We were there to cheer on at the great games with unforgettable players, including Joe Namath, Kenny Stabler, Lee Roy Jordan, Cornelius Bennett, Barry Kraus and of course Bear Bryant strolling along the sidelines with his rolled up game plan in his hand.

Years later I took my nephew to his first game. We sat on the fourth row around the 20-yard line in the freezing rain. We were ahead the entire game but refused to leave, suffering through the bad seats and cold wet conditions. But worth it all since I was able to introduce him to his first game and we have attended many since then together.

However, our seats never improved, we have sat low down and we have climbed to the top row of the upper deck and sat in the clouds. One time it rained on the field but we were up so high, it wasn’t raining on us. Another game lasted over seven hours, rain delays and three overtimes, only to lose to a tenacious opponent. We have baked in the hot sun for hours and shivered in three layers of clothes, jackets, gloves, and blankets, and loved every minute of it. Now fans wear anything and nothing much at all to football games, the dress code is anything goes. Just be there.

Win or lose, each game is worth the experience of being among one hundred thousand football aficionados and sharing a Saturday with friends as well as foes. I think there is a rule that another team has to be present or you get penalized. Needless to say, it is best when the game ends with a Million Dollar Rammer Jammer. Roll Tide!!!