Passion runs deep for football for Alabama fans. That's not exactly a secret. Football isn't so much a sport here as it is a religion.
That passion helped birth the greatest football program in the country. It set the stage for the Nick Saban dynasty in Tuscaloosa when fans were turned away from Bryant-Denny Stadium at the 2007 A-Day Game because the venue was at capacity.
That passion is a good thing.
It can also be a bad thing when it's not channeled properly.
Kadyn Proctor shared the ugly side of Alabama football fandom during an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio at this week's NFL Combine.
"Not too many people know this, but after the Texas game my freshman year, I think I gave up two sacks that game and we lost at home. It was a tragic loss for Alabama and all hell broke loose," Proctor said. "I remember I was going to Jimmy John's to pick up a sandwich after the game, to eat and everything, and I had my own Alabama fan come up to me and ask me if I was Kadyn Proctor. I said yes. He said, 'Well, you f'in suck.' To my face. That's a tough thing to go through.
"...I don't think people understand how tough it is."
Kadyn Proctor shared how tough expectations are playing for Alabama football
First of all, there had to be many, many adult beverages involved for anyone to confront Kadyn Proctor, right? That man is 6-foot-7 and has weighed as much as 400 pounds during his time in Tuscaloosa. I'm not saying any words to his face that don't include the word "sir."
But the story goes to show just how much Alabama fans live and die with every single game. That was even more true in 2023 during the Nick Saban era, when losses were so few and far between that they hurt that much more.
The loss to Texas in 2023 certainly stung, especially when it came at home. But credit to Proctor, who was a freshman starting left tackle that season, because he and his teammates bounced back effectively from that early-season loss to win out in the regular season and capture the SEC Championship before falling to Michigan in the Rose Bowl.