What Makes Us Crimson Tide Fans

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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With the Crimson Tide football season quickly approaching, we share what we think attracts so many to their Alabama fandom.

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Starting off, I am one and in my opinion, we are the best fans on the planet with regards to sports.

The first thing that comes to mind is one big family.  It always seems to amaze me and it doesn’t matter where I may be.  I always bump into several Crimson Tide fans and I live in Tennessee.

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They will walk by and see the Bama gear on, which of course I am always wearing just about every day of the year.  The old saying “football season never ends” is a common theme in our household and is the same with many other fans I talk with.

You could debate that other SEC, Big Ten, and ACC fanbases are the same way.  Although at the end of the day the passion that we as fans carry with us in our cars, on our devices, the tattoos, merchandise, and our shrines to Bama football are the most respected, revered and hated all at the same moment.

That tells us something and not just the that Coach Saban and his staff have Bama football competing for a National and SEC Championship. Every year. Go back to when Coach Stallings retired.  The probation that followed.  The “lean years” as many of us call them. It’s deeper than all of those things.

Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /

Most of us look back to the beginnings. Whether you started by studying the current standard of Alabama football or you go back to Coach Bryant or the days of Wallace Wade, there is so much rich tradition behind our program.

That brings me to the next aspect of our fanbase: The Tradition.

Tradition seems to be the one word that can paint a clear picture for fans of other teams.  Since the time that the Crimson Tide fielded its first football team, the tradition has been building more and more every year and is now the stuff of legend.

Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports /

Just last November, my wife and I were getting a bite to eat at Dreamland BBQ and I got into an interesting conversation with a guy that was a Bama fan from Georgia.

We got to rambling on and started talking about every facet that you would expect, but what stood out was the fact that the tradition at Alabama is what sparked his introduction to the Tide.

At that moment, I realized that we as Alabama Fans are very proud of the Bama way. While a lot of it has come from the success that the program has had since Coach Saban arrived, I realized that most of what we carry with us each day comes from the days of old and the ways set forth many years ago from Coach Wade, Coach Bryant, and Coach Stallings.

Until next time, I leave you with this familiar quote.

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“If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, ‘Roll, Tide, Roll.’”-Coach Paul Bear Bryant.