Alabama fans can be a quirky bunch. As this fan that sat there last night trying to get sleepy, a lot of thoughts came through my mind.
I had read it the statement on Twitter quite a few times during the week but I really started to think about it last last night. “To Mississippi State, this is a big game but to Alabama, it’s a Saturday in the fall.”
That’s not meant in a negative or condescending way at all to Mississippi State or its fans. It just means this is new territory for them. They come in ranked the top team in the country with everything to play for but it could all be taken away after the final second ticks off the clock at Bryant-Denny. The bad thing is that the games just keep getting bigger as the weeks go on after this one – for both teams.
Sometimes when you are reaching for a higher level of success, the losses hurt just a bit more. I know, I speak from experience. Some of those Tide losses from years ago did the same thing to me. However when you get to the point when you see everyone is going to bring their “A Game” to play you, it seems to me that they go down a little bit smoother. They do still hurt.
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Alabama is used to these games. They usually come a few times each season. Most of us have something that we do to calm us down until we get to kickoff. We will win more than our share but we will lose some here and there as well.
I think it comes with age. As I got older, I still get just as excited on Saturday as I did when I was a child. The losses don’t linger as long, either. It could possibly be that our Coach is Nick Saban and the odds are usually in our favor. Hard to doubt a coach that has posted an 82-16 record at Alabama and six of those losses came in his first year.
Nov 1, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs mascot cheer with the fans during the game between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Arkansas Razorbacks at Davis Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
Mississippi State fans are almost there and have been on an upswing for a few seasons now. I noticed a lot of Bulldog fans that are friends that expressed to me just how nervous they were about Saturday. They wondered how I seemed to be so calm. Lots of people have asked me that this season.
I think even with loss, this Bulldog team has something special left to play for this season as well as to build on for the coming years. Without even having to say it, a win puts things in a better perspective to build on. As the Bulldogs continue to improve and possibly even this year, the fans will start to come to the realization. Saturdays will seem like business and it will be business as usual in the fall. That could happen today.
No matter what happens, their fans should hold their heads high on what they have accomplished. They very well could celebrate a big game and it may finally start to seem like just another Saturday.