SO WHAT IS ALABAMA FOOTBALL?
It is Wallace Wade.
It is Frank Thomas.
It is Bear Bryant.
It is Gene Stallings.
It is Mike Shula.
It is now Nick Saban.
It is not Bobby Bowden, Phil Fulmer or Joe Paterno.
It is knowing the only time Auburn can successfully defeat you is in your years of decline.
It is the Rose Bowl.
It is the Third Saturday In October Bowl.
It is the Iron Bowl.
It is naming your children and pets after former Alabama players and coaches.
It is living for the fall.
It is having strangers greet you with a big "Roll Tide," at any time, or any place across the world.
It is having respect for anyone you see wearing Alabama attire, or anything positively related to Alabama.
It is traveling to the game, passing cars, having the passengers wave at you and give you the thumbs up.
It's the cars lined up, miles and miles down the road traveling to the game, just as you are.
It is the feeling of anticipation as you enter into one of the biggest and most electrifying college towns during the college football season, seeing tailgaters lined up down the street, miles and miles away from the football stadium.
It is making friends with every stranger you run across tailgating.
It is standing alongside thousands of fans all dressed in crimson and white as they welcome the team during the "Walk of Champions" ceremony.
It is attending the football games along with over 93, 000 of the nicest and most respectful fans you'll find anywhere.
It is thousands, millions almost seeming, of people parading the streets after the game, all slapping each other high five's and giving each other "Roll Tide's" along with it.
It is traveling home, stopping at gas stations all over the state, having fellow fans greet you with a "Roll Tide" and chat with you about the game everyone just witnessed.
It is the pride of selling out every home game since the 1988 football season.
It is about being everything that those rednecks down in East Opelika wish they was half of at the least.
It is hearing Keith Jackson call an Alabama game.
It is watching George Teague running down Lamar Thomas in the 1993 Sugar Bowl then rewinding it and watching it again.
It is hearing the first notes of Sweet Home Alabama.
It is chanting "Roll Tide Roll" to the high heavens after hearing the "Sweet Home Alabama" lyric.
It is the desire to beat Auburn at any competitive event that exists.
It is hearing the elephant roar on the PA system, prior to kickoff.
It is a houndstooth hat.
It is being "Dixie's Football Pride"
It is having enough pride to fight for your school but having enough class not to.
It is cheering the same amount for a first down on second and 6 as on fourth and 1.
It is watching Cornelius Bennett give Notre Dame quarterback Steve Beuerlein a concussion on that October day in Birmingham in 1986.
It is determining who you are going to date & marry by which team they swear allegiance to.
It is beating Florida for the SEC title while everyone else said the game in "The Swamp" was a fluke.
It is watching The Bear on the jumbotron before a game in Bryant-Denny Stadium and almost seeing him leaning against the goal-post in the end zone.
It is right behind God and family.
It is spending a day at The Bryant Museum and still not seeing everything.
It is cool crisp autumn Saturdays where you can smell football in the air and feel it whenever there is a slight breeze.
It is watching The Bear get number 315 against Auburn.
It is watching The Bear get number 323 against Illinois.
It is proudly knowing coach Gene Stallings sent Auburn coach, Pat Dye into retirement, never losing a game to him.
It is hearing Paul Kennedy do the play-by-play when Van Tiffin kicked the 52-yard field goal against Auburn in 1985.
It is remembering the feeling of the upper deck at Legion Field rumbling due to feet stomping.
It is knowing how many days until the start of a season year around.
It is driving down Colonial Drive to see Bryant-Denny Stadium not the sorority girls.
It is getting chills up and down your entire body whenever you hear anything about the 1993 Sugar Bowl and the pride you feel because that night tradition ruled.
It is hearing The Bear's voice and having all the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up because you know no matter he said, it was something special.
It is hearing The Million Dollar Band play "Yea Alabama" and knowing it just does not get any better.
It is imagining hearing Penn State Quarterback Chuck Fusina ask Alabama linebacker Barry Krauss "How close is it?" and hearing Krauss say "About an inch, you'd better pass" right before fourth down during The Goal Line Stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl.
It is almost coming to tears whenever Alabama loses to Auburn or Tennessee.
It is The Kick. It is The Goal Line Stand. It is The Desperation Block.
It is purposely not wearing any clothes with the colors orange and blue.
It is not needing an alarm clock on game days; you sit bolt upright in the bed long before the alarm goes off because you know that it is a game day, and that you can sleep after the game.
It is walking into any stadium and knowing Alabama will win the game no matter who they are playing because that is just the way it is supposed to be.
It is the saying "Offense wins games, Defense wins national titles."
It is the Bear Bryant 'A'.
It is getting to the stadium hours before the game just to be there.
It is walking into another team's stadium and having those fans hate you because you are from Alabama.
It is the pride that a father has when he brings his children to a game so they may cherish the tradition.
It is the hit by Roman Harper in the 2005 against Tennessee that meant everything.
It is beating LSU in Baton Rouge.
It is hearing the crunch as a linebacker dressed in crimson and white hits a running back dressed in orange and blue.
It is the pride you take in being every team's rival.
It is pulling for any team that is playing Auburn.
It is pulling for any team that is playing Tennessee.
It is hoping for the stadium to blow up whenever Auburn and Tennessee plays each other.
It is singing Rammer Jammer period.
It is knowing that the SEC Championship is a birthright.
It is being respected and feared at the same time.
It is holding up four fingers at the end of the third quarter.
It is not caring about a Heisman Trophy.
It is knowing what "Mama Called" means.
It is whipping Auburn 31-7 in Jordan-Hare Stadium when nobody picked you to win.
It is NOT "The Jungle"
It is The Capstone.
It is The Catch.
It is having a winning record against every SEC team and nearly every NCAA team.
It is having 30 bowl victories.
It is having 54 bowl appearances.
It is having 28 ten win seasons.
It is having 21 Southeastern Conference Titles.
It is having 12 National Titles.
It is more than can ever mentioned in this list.
It is class.
It is tradition.
It is Alabama Football.
ROLL TIDE ROLL!