Is Bama Back?
You might have missed what I considered to be the biggest sports story this weekend. Alabama's big and very convincing win over the Florida Gators got a pretty fair amount of media coverage, and the powers-that-be have taken notice by bumping Bama up to #7 in the latest AP poll, but for Tide fans like me it's hard to overstate just how big this win was. First of all, Alabama didn't look like a scrappy underdog pulling out a miracle win against a vastly superior foe; no, they absolutely manhandled once-mighty Florida (hey BTW, how's super-genius Steve Spurrier doing these days?), which came into the game ranked #5 in the nation. The final score was 31-3, but the game wasn't really even that close. Alabama was simply a stronger, faster and tougher team than the hapless Gators.
This is bigger than one game, though. The last six years have not been kind to the fortunes of the Crimson Tide, this once-dominant college football powerhouse. The glory days of National Championships under Wallace Wade and Bear Bryant and Gene Stallings have seemed like a very distant memory as coaching changes, scandals and losses to lightweights like Hawaii and Northern Illinois have made the last few seasons a continuing embarrassment to the 'Bama faithful. Like a faint light at the end of a very long tunnel, Saturday's game was a long-awaited glimpse of what the future just might hold. If the Tide can establish that what happened against Florida was not a fluke and that they really are as good as they appeared to be, then they will definitely be the team to beat in the SEC this year.
Of course, it's a little early to be thinking about naming streets in Tuscaloosa after head coach Mike Shula just yet. The season is still young. VERY big games loom on the horizon against old and bitter foes like Tennessee, LSU and, as always, Auburn. The loss for the season of pint-sized dynamo Tyrone Prothro (and yes, he still needed to be in the game at that point, so don't even start that) will be a tough one. And no matter how impressive 'Bama looked, Saturday was just one game.
For now though, with the victory still fresh and cheers of "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer" still echoing across the state of Alabama, I'm going to allow myself to believe that maybe, just maybe, the corner has at last been turned.
This is bigger than one game, though. The last six years have not been kind to the fortunes of the Crimson Tide, this once-dominant college football powerhouse. The glory days of National Championships under Wallace Wade and Bear Bryant and Gene Stallings have seemed like a very distant memory as coaching changes, scandals and losses to lightweights like Hawaii and Northern Illinois have made the last few seasons a continuing embarrassment to the 'Bama faithful. Like a faint light at the end of a very long tunnel, Saturday's game was a long-awaited glimpse of what the future just might hold. If the Tide can establish that what happened against Florida was not a fluke and that they really are as good as they appeared to be, then they will definitely be the team to beat in the SEC this year.
Of course, it's a little early to be thinking about naming streets in Tuscaloosa after head coach Mike Shula just yet. The season is still young. VERY big games loom on the horizon against old and bitter foes like Tennessee, LSU and, as always, Auburn. The loss for the season of pint-sized dynamo Tyrone Prothro (and yes, he still needed to be in the game at that point, so don't even start that) will be a tough one. And no matter how impressive 'Bama looked, Saturday was just one game.
For now though, with the victory still fresh and cheers of "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer" still echoing across the state of Alabama, I'm going to allow myself to believe that maybe, just maybe, the corner has at last been turned.
posted by Yukon Sully | 8:59 AM
1 Comments:
I saw that game. It was fun to watch until that dude's leg broke in half. That was totally disgusting. I was screaming out loud. I'm walking with a limp now, a sympathy limp.
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