Alabama Football: Will Tragedies Give the Tide Extra Incentive to Win This Year?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Alabama already had a talented team that was picked by most to be in the midst of this year's title talk. It has great coaches, talented top-rated recruiting classes and maybe the best, most fervent fan base in all of college football.

By most standards, it has everything it needs to make a run at yet another national championship.

But now it has more.

Recent back-to-back tragedies have given the Tide even more incentive to win. This could be bad news for all the teams on its schedule.

Players have been helping out with the tornado relief, and now they're showing support to the Douglas family following the loss of their son and the players' own teammate.

"Our fans and this community has always been there for us. I'm glad to able to give something back to them." Trent Richardson, just one of many players, echoed. "We'll do everything we can for them and it would be extra special to give them a championship."

Many of the players feel exactly the same way, as do the coaches.

Other players have noted on their Facebook pages and on Twitter that, in addition to the fans of the area that suffered so much, they'll also be dedicating their season and thoughts to their fallen teammate, Aaron Douglas.

When they come back for summer workouts and fall camp, many have said there'll be sadness over this missing man who was taken too soon and was on the cusp of becoming one of the great players on the team.

And there are more things that are eating and driving this team year, embarrassment over last year's losses that could have or should have been victories, revenge for those who beat them last year and, lastly, the sense of unfinished business.

The teams that face Alabama this year already had their hands full with this team; this extra incentive will just make it tougher on them.