Alabama Football: What One Thing Makes Crimson Tide Football so Great?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)—Sometimes you get the best story ideas from the funniest of places. Today I was at the car dealership to pick up my car that had a recall notice for some insignificant part or another and a small child heard me talking football as I was waiting for my car to be driven up.

He couldn't have been more than six years old and as is often the case in Florida, he was wearing a Florida Gator tee shirt. He approached me a little timidly, but his question and comment made me know he'll be quite an intellectual adult one day.

He said, "I'm a Florida fan, and do you know why?"

Of course I had to ask, so I said, "Sure, tell me why."

And his answer stunned me.

"They were once the worst team in Florida, worse than Florida State and Miami, but they did something about it. They became the best school in the state. You got to love somebody who can do that. That shows heart."

I'm not sure what I expected to hear from a six year old, but certainly not something that was both as deep and that showed as much knowledge of football history as he possessed. Florida had been on top for all of his young lifetime. How did he know about all the bad times previously?

Then he asked me who my favorite team was and I replied Alabama.

Then he asked me why?

After his deep answer I didn't want to simply say, because I went there, or they were the best, I wanted to give him an answer that showed to same kind of reasoning and sentiment that his did.

So I said, "Alabama used to be a little nothing school, especially to the big schools up North and out West. They thought everybody in the South were just uneducated hicks that couldn't play with the big boys. Once we got good, they invited us to Rose Bowl to show the whole country that we weren't as good as we thought, that they were SOOOO much better and we were. But we went there to win, not to be made fun of and we beat the tar out of them."

The boy asked, "When was that?"

I replied, "Before your father was ever born, back when your grand daddy was about your age."

"Wow! That was a long time ago!" he said, and now more people began to listen.

"And then they invited us back, to show everybody the first win was just a lucky thing and we won again. Then all the teams up North and out West had to admit that football in the South was just as good, if not better, than football anywhere else. Alabama made football what it is today, not just for Alabama, but for all the teams in the South, even Florida."

"Cool," said the little boy. "My dad said that the only reason Alabama is good is because of Nick Saban." 

"Well, that's a reason, just one of many, that we're good right now, but we won more national championships without Coach Saban than almost any school has and we'll keep winning them long after Coach Saban is gone," I told him.

"You see, we've been winners since way before I was born and they'll still be winners long after I die. People thought we'd never be good after Coach Wade left, but they were. They said that about Coach Thomas, then coach Bryant, then Coach Stallings and now Coach Saban, too. But we'll always be winners, that's just who we are and that's why they're my team."

"Wow! That's cool! I may have to make Alabama one of my favorite teams now," he said.

I asked if I could shake the hand of the newest Alabama fan and he jabbed his hand out and gave me a hearty handshake. "Roll Tide," I said as I let his hand go and walked to the car.

"Roll Tide!" came a cheer from the back of the room and I turned to see an older man grinning along with everyone else in the area.

I guess today just made me ponder back to my own childhood, why I picked the Tide despite being raised in an Auburn household. Many things make the Tide great, but one that will always endure is tradition.

I once told a group I was speaking to that tradition is never a finished project, each team builds on the Tradition of the one before them.

Being great in the past is not tradition, that's history, to continue winning, to continue to strive for winning, that's tradition, and that's what makes Alabama great.