Where Were You?
By Tony Breland
Where were you six years ago? I was at a friend’s apartment, screaming into a cell phone. My friends and I were leaving drunken voicemails on the phone of an Auburn fan we worked with. He was at that game, watching Alabama destroy the Tigers, and had long since turned his phone off. My life is miles away from that night in so many ways, but one thing has remained; that was the last time I watched Alabama beat Auburn. Where were you six years ago?
Where were you when Alabama was put on NCAA probation? I was at Bob Baumhower’s Wings Sports Grill, sitting in the bar area, my gaze fixed on the big screen TV as the sanctions were announced. It was worse that we thought it would be, and apparently worse than Dennis Franchione thought, as well. Holding the rope under those circumstances were more than he and his personal mythmaker, writer Mike McKensie, could bear. Now that rope has become a noose, and Fran must surely think back on where he was when his rising star reached its apex.
Where were you when you heard the rumors about Mike Price? I was listening to Finebaum, on the way home from work, when the callers began to ask about reports that Price had left a strip club with a chick who looked like Joe Namath. I had only a short time back watched him coach his first A-Day game; a few days later, I was watching him plead – in vain – for his job. Soon, we all watched as the third Mike in four attempts took the stage.
Where were you when you realized Mike Shula was not the man who would return Alabama to prominence? For me, it was last year’s Duke game. I sat in the new expansion of Bryant-Denny stadium watching a clueless Tide team stumble and stagger to a lackluster win. The previous year, I had watched Alabama completely dismantle Florida, and thought we had turned the corner. Now, as I walked down the steps to exit, the fans doing the Rammer Jammer cheer provided indisputable proof of how low we had sunk, and what Alabama would accept as a measure of success.
Where were you when Nick Saban was announced as Alabama’s new head coach? I was at work, watching the press conference when I had deadlines to meet. Some things are more important than gainful employment. Since that morning, it has been a season of incredible highs. A capacity crowd at A-Day. Arenas scoring on the opening kickoff of the first game. The heroics against Arkansas. Whipping Tennessee.
It has also been a season of new lows. Fumbling away our chances against LSU. Mississippi State and LA-Monroe. And now, six in a row against Auburn. All this while watching players get arrested and suspended, and seeing some of them quit on a new coaching staff that set expectations higher than those players were willing to reach.
This is not the end of Alabama football, no matter what they are saying on the Plains. It’s no more the end now than it was for the Tigers when Auburn didn’t taste victory for a decade. In the last six years, Alabama has been at its nadir, reaping the just due of men who put themselves before the team: players who were unwilling to risk draft position for making a play; coaches who used Alabama to further their resumes, or their carnal pursuits; administrators who would rather accept the death penalty than give up the access Coach Bryant granted them.
Not to mention the fans, myself included, who have grown to accept success as our birthright. No amount of yelling, drinking or posting like a champion made one damned bit of difference last night in Auburn, when one run by an Auburn freshman for a final first down put the exclamation point on a season of futility and impotence.
And so it begins again. Where will you be on National Signing Day, when Alabama finalizes a top 3 recruiting class? Where will you be during Spring drills and Fall practice, as new players – who will come here because of the pressure and the expectations, not despite them – work their way into the starting rotation? Where will you be when you first realize the culture of mediocrity is gone? When a winning mindset prevails? When players take the field not just expecting to win, but willing to do what it takes to ensure it?
Where will you be when Alabama beats Auburn again?