Love me some football!

Ah! Opening day of football at BDS. Nothing can be better than being surrounded by 92,000 people wearing crimson and/or white! As I've said before, I am not the "typical" female because I don't particularly care for all of the fussiness of being all girly. Never have been...never will. Now, if you are a girly-girl, that's fine. We can be friends, but I'll get really aggravated at you if you are still primping when it is time to go. :)




John and I drove up to Tuscaloosa yesterday. We left early enough to stop at THE original Dreamland Ribs for lunch. Oh yum!! There are Dreamland franchises around now, but none of them even come close to the original. There is no way to duplicate the taste of the ribs because none of the franchises have grills that are anywhere close to being "seasoned." After a slab and some tea, we headed to campus.



When we got to the campus, we walked over to our old tailgate spot in front of Foster Auditorium. That is where Gov. George Wallace made his famous (infamous??) "stand in the school house door" during the time of integration. No one is tailgating there this year because they are doing renovations to Foster. There had been some talk of tearing the old gym down, but I'm glad they decided to renovate. While I don't agree with Gov. Wallace's stand, there is still historical significance. I cannot tell you the number of people, both black and white, who, over the years, have stopped there and taken pictures. We did talk to Butch, whose group tailgates across the street from our old spot.

I tell ya what...even though tailgating had gotten to be a headache (because about 95% of the work was done by about 50% of the people) I miss it. I miss hanging out with friends, watching the other games on TV, snacking...all of it! Susan and I have decided that we're doing something for a couple of the games this year!



After our visit with Butch, we walked back across the quad and over to Ferguson Center (now called The Ferg by the younger "kids".) We hung out there watching Tennessee until it was time to walk to the stadium.



Since they are doing the renovations to the stadium (Bryant-Denney will hold around 101,000 when completed), our seats got moved to the north endzone. I REALLY like them! I hope they don't decide to move us around after the renovations are complete.



I took my camera yesterday to see if I could get any halfway decent pictures. I got some that were actually pretty good. My dream is to someday have a GOOD camera and to take some classes so that I can do an even better job at this little hobby. I've added some of the pictures below.

The coach working with James Carpenter is Willie Carl Martin. Coach Martin was one of our former teachers/coaches at Ben Russell. Our only state championship in football was won during his tenure as head coach. I always look for him. One of these days, I'm going to go down to field level and try to say HI!



The Million Dollar Band doing the pregame show. The band is so named because during one of Bama's early years when the team didn't do so well, a reporter made a comment to a manager about Bama not having a very good did and he asked what they did have at Alabama. The manager replied, "A million dollar band." The name stuck, and I am proud to say that I was a member of the color guard during my freshman year at Bama.


The team prepares to take the field. This is one of the most exciting points of every game to me. The PA is blaring, the cheerleaders and Big Al are standing ready, and then on the screen, we see Coach Saban and the team walking down the tunnel. They gather at the opening of the tunnel until Saban gives them the go ahead. The cheerleaders lead them onto the field, the band is playing "Yea Alabama" and 92,000+ are singing along. Chills run all over me!

Greg McElroy getting ready for a play in the 1st quarter. He has done a very good job so far this year. He set a school record yesterday of 14 consecutive passes. After Julio went out with a bruised knee, the Double Mac Attack--McElroy to Mike McCoy--worked beautifully!

Javier Arenas prepares to take a punt in the 3rd quarter. He is such an exciting player to watch. He hasn't broken a punt or a kick off return. Yet. The Bama faithful believe that he will before the season is over. Go Javey!

My wonderful hubby and me just before the end of the game. I had a really hard time breaking him out of the "nervous hospital" but there was no trouble getting him back in following the game. I did have to feed him a mustard biscuit and some "big uns" though. Carl was really glad his roomie made it back safe and sound. Well, safe, anyway. LOL (If you have never seen Slingblade, that will make no sense to you.)

My favorite way to see the clock: triple zeroes and the most points on the side of the guys in Crimson!

We won't be going next weekend. John will be going to stay with his mom, and the pups and I will be hanging out here. I have to work the Ben Russell game on Friday night. But I can promise you that the TVs will be tuned to football all day long. :)

Hope you had a GREAT weekend and that you will have a GREAT week!

ROLL TIDE!!!