ON PLAYING FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

For those of you not familiar with Alabama culture, college football is huge in this state. The University of Alabama Crimson Tide is one of this nation’s elite football programs, if not the most elite. There’s another school called Auburn that a lot of people in the state also support. While Auburn has had its “flash in the pan” moments, it doesn’t hold a candle to the accomplishments of the University of Alabama. I’ll definitely catch some grief for my last sentence.

Alabama is currently ranked number one in the national and is playing the University of Texas for the national championship on January 7, 2010 in Pasadena, California. The last time that Alabama was national champions was for the 1992 season. I was an adult and remember it well. That was seventeen years ago and that seventeen-year gap is the longest gap since the 1960s that Alabama has gone without a national championship. As you can imagine, we’re mighty hungry.

This past decade has not been a good one for Alabama. In the early part of the decade, Alabama was slapped with probation and sanctions that would have killed your average football program. Did we do what was alleged? The details could fill a novel and I won’t go into it here.

Never the less, we hired as head coach in 2007, Nick Saban, arguably the best coach in the nation. Three seasons later, we captured the SEC Championship and are playing for the national championship. The sanctions that went along with the probation pretty much left us bloodied and dying on the side of the road. But we didn’t die; instead we arose, much to the chagrin of the Auburns and Tennessees of the world.

In addition to being unbeaten in regular season play, playing in and winning the SEC Championship game, and going to the BCS Championship game, one of our players was awarded the Heisman Trophy, an honor awarded to the best college football player in the nation. The player, of course, was running back Mark Ingram. This is the first time a player from the University of Alabama has ever been awarded the Heisman trophy and I do have to admit that I’ve never been much of a “Heisman Trophy” person. At the University of Alabama, teamwork is stressed and there are virtually no prima donnas. But I have to admit that I couldn’t be prouder of Mark Ingram. He’s a wonderful young man. In fact, it’s not so much that Alabama has a Heisman, I’m just so proud of Mark Ingram.

I grew up rooting for the University of Alabama, attended the University of Alabama, and am currently a season ticket holder. It’s a part of who I am. As big a fan as I am, I’m not one to brag or talk “smack” before a game. I’m well aware that anything can happen. Some of us remember the U.S. Hockey team against the Soviet Union in 1980. After winning a big game, I’m pretty much quiet and don’t strut around. What’s the point, we’re Alabama, we’re supposed to win. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy winning and celebrate with my Alabama friends. However, I don’t tend to rub it in to fans of the other team, except when provoked. Besides, saying nothing gets their goat even worse.

On Christmas Eve this year, I had ordered a pizza from a local Italian restaurant to take home and eat for dinner. When I went to pick up the pizza, who should be in there, but a group of folks that belong to one of the clubs that I also belong to. Among the group were some Aubs, a Florida fan, a Texas fan, a plain ole Alabama hater, and maybe a couple of Bama fans that “hang” with that group. One of the folks said something to me and I kind of nonchalantly waved at the group. While I was paying for my pizza, one of the Auburn fans, who is a nice guy, walked up to me and wished me a Merry Christmas and asked if I was going to Pasadena. Other than that guy, no one really spoke to me. I started to do the “gator chomp” for the Florida fan since he was so nasty to me when Florida beat Alabama in 2006, but I didn’t. I think the little nonchalant wave said it all.

Back to the national championship, I don’t think I could be more nervous. Now that most of the bowl games are over, it’s being talked about a lot. While I’ve been here many times before, there is something special about this time around. After the probation earlier in the decade, many thought that Alabama would never rise to prominence again. The aubs thought that they would dominate us for years to come and so did Tennessee. Well, it didn’t happen. Alabama has risen to prominence in the last three years and will now be playing for the national championship. If we win it, it will be the most satisfying one in my life to date. If we don’t, then there’s next year and the next.

Am I going to make a prediction on this blog? No. I just want to let everyone who reads this know how important Alabama football is to me and to so many others as well. We’ve been on top and descended to the bottom, then rose back to the top. I dare say that very few college football programs could have gone through what Alabama has gone through and rise to the top again. I don’t know what my life would have been like if it wasn’t for Alabama football. No matter what happens on January 7, 2010, we’re Alabama and the rest is the rest.

ROLLTIDE! ROLLTIDE!