Being part of our past tradition, when an opponents band did not make the trip, we in the Million Dollar Band most always greeted our opponents by playing their fight song.  I was totally disgusted when I came back in 1997 and saw how our opponents were "greeted" with the Rammer Jammer yell.  I was glad when this was at least stopped before the game started and is now only done when the game ends. 

The last game I saw before moving back to the Midwest was when we finally beat Notre Dame in Legion Field in the late 80's  I was with the band as the game ended and unless we were too concerned about hurting the feelings of ND fans, this yell was not yet a "tradition", as it is now seen.

Some may not agree with me, but I will be more than surprised that during the years Saban is with us, he does not far surpass all previous Alabama coaches in their winning percentages.  He is not only recruiting well in the South, because of the football class he has brought back to Alabama, he's now beginning to recruit well nationwide.

Yes, football class is definitely back again in Tuscaloosa.  But in both the SEC and nationwide, we are considered one of the most arrogant universities in the nation.  In what had to be Paterno's last time in Bryant Denny Stadium, the Rammer Jammer was yelled out again, despite Saban's request to honor Paterno's presence with us, as well as his being honored before the game began.

My class was part of those two years in which we didn't win one game and I was in Denny Stadium when that losing streak was broken.  We were celebrating as if we had just won the national championship.  Then the "Bear" came home to "Mama" and everyone was happy again.  The MDB had never stopped greeting our opponents who didn't have their band with them, as Oklahoma did for us.

After the Bear left, had it not been for our 1992 National Championship, from 1979 until 2009, we would not have had one national championship.  Despite many seasons with 10 wins, primarily because of so many head coaching changes, the Alabama Nation became very dissatisfied and out of so many frustrating years, insecurity about our program began developing.

Insecurity of any kind brings on negative thinking.  Negative thinking brings on negative statements.  Because we didn't have football teams in which we could consistently proudly speak about, as insecure people always do, many started putting down our opponents with the Rammer Jammer yell.  For those who knew nothing about our courteous past, this yell became "Tradtition."

If this game ending yell can be stopped, those of you "with tough skin", as you described yourselves, who find it a very high point of the game will still be able to enjoy the games without it.  Those of us who want to see it end will enjoy the games even more.  While our "Football Class" is back, we want this campus to also become one known as being of class, where opponents feel welcomed.

While I never lost any of my Crimson Tide Spirit from living more than half of my adult life in the Midwest, I can best be described as a Midwesterner in my thinking, which is "What you see is what you get" and "Don't bother me and I won't bother you.  I see those in the Midwest as being more courteous than those of us who are Southern.  What better role model could we have than Nick Saban?

Few universities will fail to have at least a pep band with their team, but when they don't, think how well our opponents will regard us if we greet them by playing their fight song.  While there will be some deep rivalries in which this could never happen, I would like to see us become courteous enough to applaud some visiting teams, as they do in gymnastics, when they run on the field, instead of booing them.

All of the normal activities that take place while two teams are playing each will always continue happening.  But until games start and until their end, with the class that Nick Saban has brought to the Capstone, has there ever been a better time to work on presenting a kind of class our nation respects, no matter how much they dislike our winning ways.