I’ve been an Alabama football fan since this one moment.
Alabama football has picked up some bandwagon fans over the Nick Saban era. Many started watching college football consistently in 2009 or later, and that doesn’t sit well for the lifelong fans that had to sit through the Mike Shula years. I have to admit that I became a Crimson Tide fan in the 2009 regular season, but I have an excuse.
Family friends were the ones that introduced me to football. I learned about first downs, touchdowns, and everything in between by a bunch of Tennessee fans. Their son had a PS2 and let me play NCAA Football 07, and that’s what sparked my fandom in the game. He always told me to play as the orange team with the dog for the mascot, so I became a Volunteers fan. I was a kid, don’t judge me.
However, members of my family were casual Alabama football fans. My dad never liked it when we eventually watched college football together and weren’t rooting for the same team. Once Alabama was starting to pick it up in 2009, we officially made a deal. We agreed to root for whichever team won the Alabama-Tennessee game that year.
To be fair to my dad, this probably seemed like a surefire thing for him. Alabama had just come off of an undefeated regular season, Tennessee was unranked, and the Vols had an unproven coach in Lane Kiffin. However, this game turned into one of the closest matchups in the history of the rivalry.
Alabama’s offense was stagnant for the entire game. They failed to score a single touchdown. In the end, Tennessee was a chip-shot field goal away from achieving the upset. However, one moment changed it all.
This historic Alabama football moment changed my entire life.
I still remember rooting for Daniel Lincoln with the ball on the 28. My dad was sweating. He was one field goal away from having to root for the Tennessee Volunteers for the rest of his life. However, Terrence Cody blocked the attempt. Rocky Block turned the tide on the rest of my life. It also seemed to turn the tide on this historic rivalry.
I followed through with my side of the bet, and I slowly became an Alabama football fan. I tried to stay a fan of Tennessee basketball, but that went away after a few years. I am now attending the University of Alabama, writing about the Crimson Tide, and I’m two years away from becoming an alum. Without that play, I would probably wear burnt, inside-of-a-pumpkin orange on Saturdays.
My family still believes that it was fate that forced Rocky Block to happen. Terrence Cody blocked two field goals in the game, and they’ve called me Cody (short for Dakota) since I was born. In that one moment, all the stars aligned.
I still don’t know if Dad would have lived up to his side of the best if Lincoln would have drilled that field goal. Let’s just say that I’m happy that I’ll never have to learn.