well, i went to t-town with high hopes. i felt like we had a better team than auburn, and with the home field advantage we ought to have a good shot at winning. of course, shula is the x-factor and able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at any given moment, so you never know for sure.
the night before the game we went out to check out the new additions to the stadium. there’s now a fancy walkway up to the stadium complete with statues and plaques. much nicer than waht we had before…..i like it.
we, of course, went straight up to the bear and got our picture taken with him.
no one not from the state of alabama can possibly understand how large a figure he was to me as a child. it was sort of like the president, mickey mouse and a tv star rolled into one person. here, i’m seen supporting the tide at a very young age, and looking for another beer in the cooler.
we then went over to check out Beebes (coach stallings). jason rolls out looking for a receiver. he’s a lefty but he’s rolling right. that’s a tough throw to make!
i look the ball in under coaches watchful and approving eye, demonstrating the importance of catching with your hands and not your body.
later i spot a receiver open deep and let one fly downfield.
we then planted the flag in front of the stadium, claiming pre-emptive victory for bama. later that night (while playing the thumb on the table game – which Kent will readily admit and his wife would confirm he is not very good at) we finalized an idea i had earlier. we would all have “victory names” to use after the next day’s game. for some reason i thought that might shake up our luck. i am unclear on why that seemed logical to me. kent’s wife would be beveryly and for some reason kent was going to be named after one of the wiggles. i think jason was going to be called clint. i do not remember my victory name. i didn’t end up needing to use it. : (
here’s a photo of the sidewalk looking up at the stadium. this particular plaque commemorates the 92 championsip game.
here’s a pic off the back of jason’s house with the crew team rowing by.
then we were off to the game. we did a little pre-game napping at rocky’s house, then headed in. we had good seats once again courtesy of jason’s father in law. here’s some video from the game. all in all the crowd on both sides was a little tame this year, but it was still pretty electric when tyrone prothro came out with the game ball. i’m still keeping my fingers crossed for a miracle recovery for next season.
we lost the game, but the team played well. two missed blocks led to two turnovers, and basic math eluded mike shula but the team played hard and had a chance. i’m trusting that next season we will be reasserting ourselves nationally.
later that night we went out to the booth.
it is bar none, the stinkiest bar i have ever visited in my life, but it was a staple of college life. the two biggest “booth” acts from my colledge days were the jones brothers and wayne mills. as luck would have it, wayne mills was playing that night (which would be one of the booth’s last nights in operation). that was a little bit of a bizarre trip down memory lane, but was a decent ending for an otherwise dissapointing day.
one game to go against OK State…..roll tide!!
