“What happened yesterday is history. What we do tomorrow is a mystery. What we do today makes a difference — the precious, present moment.” — Nick Saban
I often get asked if I miss Alabama. I miss many of the people. I miss good sweet iced tea. I miss Central time. I miss the accents.
But I don’t miss Alabama.
What I miss is Tuscaloosa. That little white house at the end of the dead-end street off Hargrove Road will forever be home.
Let’s get real, I haven’t lived in Tuscaloosa since 2001. I haven’t visited Tuscaloosa since 2017. But that town will forever be my home.
I want to share a number with you.
79,204…
That five-digit number was the population of the city of Tuscaloosa in 2001. And while I was growing up, that population fluctuated greatly, but it usually was around 75,000–80,000.
The final population of Tuscaloosa in 2023 was 110,602!
The University of Alabama’s total student enrollment in 2000 when I graduated was 19,318.
In 2023…39,623!
I will always remember this one football game that Alabama played in 2000. And that season was a total mess. Top 5 preseason ranking and they wound up going 3–8.
In late October of that season, I was covering a game for WTBC radio. Homecoming, Alabama played UCF…and lost 40–38.
Media members that cover Alabama football games get ushered down to field level with a few minutes left in the 4th quarter. And I found myself standing near the goalpost near the Alabama locker room. And when Alabama clinched that loss, former Bama coach Mike DuBose jogged within maybe 15 feet from me. And he had a look on his face where he knew his job was over.
Several days later, his job was over.
I contend that was the lowest point I have ever experienced in my Crimson Tide fandom.
But it got worse!
Just two years later, we were told that we were staring down the barrel of a gun after the powers that be saw fit to give a huge bag of cash to an unathletic defensive tackle from Memphis.
As we continued through the decade of the 00’s, the halcyon days that people like Martha Ivey, Melborn Ivey, Tony Hall, and Doug Layton would talk about to me seemed like they would never return.
This was until January 3rd, 2007.
When I left Tuscaloosa, Alabama still shared their home football games between Legion Field in Birmingham, a stadium whose heyday was 40 years before, and a far different Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Today, Bryant-Denny Stadium is an absolute cathedral of college football. 100+ thousand souls gather to make all kinds of noise and become a death trap for so many college football dreams.
Through his Nick’s Kids foundation, Nick and Terry Saban have sponsored 20 Habitat For Humanity houses for underprivileged families.
While the news of Nick Saban’s retirement does not surprise me, the sadness is pretty substantial.
I believe the 2009 Alabama team saved my life.
I know, it’s a football team playing football games. I get it.
But that team was special.
That February, my Mother died. That was the same woman into whose arms I leaped when Van Tiffin’s kick sailed through the Birmingham sky in 1985.
That July, I landed in the hospital after having life-saving surgery for a ruptured gallbladder. My Dad and my sister could have buried both Mom AND me within six months.
As that season unfolded, I felt something. I felt that joy and that love come back into my life. Dealing with the grief of losing my Mom and the ungodly fear of almost losing my own life.
The Tide kept growing and winning and making me dream of the halcyon days of the Bryant era returning.
After the Tide clinched that game in the Rose Bowl, I came home and did three things. I poured a drink, I pressed play on Deacon Blues, and I cried like a baby.
We have been witness to — in my mind — the greatest run in college football history. No matter who wears the headset next season, I hope they know what they’re getting into.
This program is set to succeed for the next 20 years.
We will win championships.
But it will never be the same.
To Nick, Queen Terry, Nick Jr., Kristen, and the entire Saban family, gratitude is too small but it has to do.
“They’ve got a name for the winners in the world/I want a name when I lose. They call Alabama the Crimson Tide/Call me Deacon Blues.”
Thank you Coach…enjoy your stress-free Little Debbie cookie tomorrow morning.
