History and Tradition: Alabama-USC

On Wednesday it became official. Alabama and Southern California will meet on the gridiron to begin the 2016 football season. This is huge. They are two of the most storied traditions in college football, and they have not played in almost 30 years. And when they have played...wow.

One of my favorite football-related childhood memories was listening to the 1971 Bama-USC game on the radio. Alabama was coming off a 6-5-1 season and the Trojans were ranked #1 in the nation. Nobody gave the Tide a chance in Los Angeles that night, but Coach Paul Bryant unveiled the wishbone attack, and pulled one of the greatest upsets ever:



The Tide went on to play for the national championship that season, and it all began on a shocking night in California.

Another of my favorite Bama memories came in my late teens, when the Tide once again traveled to LA to play Southern Cal. This one was televised nationally with the legend Keith Jackson calling the game.  Once again, Alabama was coming off a disappointing year (8-3) and USC was ranked at the top of the polls. With another improbably road victory, the Tide launched itself into the national picture and laid the foundation to win two national titles in the next three years.

Here is the entire 4th quarter, with the drama of USC nearly coming back from a 21-6 deficit to win. I paced the floor the entire time. Watch the whole thing if you can, but if not, go to the 37:00 mark and see the Trojans' TD drawing the game to 21-20, and the dramatic two-point conversion attempt. What a game!



Two great programs. A total of 26 national championships between them. One of the best venues in the country, Cowboys Stadium. By 2015, Steve Sarkisian should have USC back in the national championship picture.

I can't wait. Roll Tide!

Can't look away

I was reading an article today that was all about the magic of college football. It captured the spirit of the game and why it is that so many of us love it. It's rather lengthy, but it got me thinking about why it is that it captures me - why I can't look away. This quote really summed it up for me:

College football is the world's biggest insiders' club, a sport with too many inane, insanely enjoyable traditions to count. It is off the beaten path. It is messy and absurd. It is nonsensical. It is wonderful. It is always changing, and it never changes.

What a wonderful description. It seems that at least once a week there is a game - not involving my team - that makes me say, "Wow, I love this game." One of the truly marvelous things about the sport is that on a football Saturday it seems like the whole country is in one place. Radios are tuned, TV's are hooked to satellite dishes, and scores are announced. It's truly not just about your team's game - it's about the entire picture, with each Saturday being its own work of art.

But one particular point of the article grabbed my imagination. The author talked about that moment each of us has when college football grabs hold of us. When we realize that it's something that will hypnotize us every fall, making the days of the season fly by like a speedy freight train. And making the days of the off season drag like a tortoise.

And so I thought back to my childhood, looking for a moment when I knew that loved the game - not just Alabama football (that moment would be the first time I walked into the stadium and saw Kenny Stabler lead the Tide to victory), but college football. The game, the pageantry, the whole picture.

It's the first time I remember building a day around watching a non-Bama game on TV. I was ten years old, and the hype was at an all-time high. Two undefeated teams, playing for #1. President Richard Nixon was there, and was planning to present a championship plaque to the winner after the game. And what a game it was! Arkansas jumped out to a....

You know what? Watch this 6 minute highlight video - I don't want to spoil it for you!



So, wow, right? If you didn't watch it, Arkansas jumped out to a 14-0 third quarter lead and looked to be in total control at home over the top-ranked Longhorns. But quarterback James Street (who passed away earlier this year) led an amazing 4th quarter comeback, which included a 43-yard touchdown run, a two-point conversion on the option, and then a long pass on 4th and 4 to set up the winning touchdown. It was dramatic, it was riveting, it was exciting. And it didn't even involve a team I cared about. I was hooked.

Yes, it is a wonderful thing. And it's going by way too fast. It doesn't matter that it's a Saturday like this one where the Tide has an open date. It's college football. And it is awesome.

Two out of three ain't bad

A musical tribute to recent football dominance. Roll Tide!

Sechselauten

What? Well, it's the annual Spring Festival in Zurich, Switzerland...and a major holiday here. They shut down the city for a day to celebrate the end of winter and look forward to (hopefully) a long summer. I have never seen anything like today, and it was fun.

(Btw, I know I've been promising Part II of my volcanic ash story.  But this was just way too cool to ignore.)

In the morning, most of the city was asleep, no doubt because today was a holiday and they stayed out late and then slept in. As the afternoon progressed, the anticipation was building, until finally one of the most grand parades I've ever seen commenced:

The parade was almost two hours of...

...men and women in costume...

...who were greeted by loved ones with kisses and flowers...

...men on horses...

...and horse-drawn floats with colorful characters...

Finally, the day ended at 6 pm with the main event. Every year they build the image of a snowman and place it at the top of a huge pile of kindling and wood.

And with a huge bonfire, they burn up the snowman. Like so...

And thus they celebrate the end of winter. Almost the whole city, (at least) tens of thousands of people, gathered for the annual event. They say that the speed with which the snowman is consumed tells them how long summer will be. (Kinda the opposite of Groundhog Day, eh?) Today, it was nine minutes.

It was quite spectacular and something I'll never forget. It was awesome to see that other people in other lands celebrate things I never knew about. Kinda puts our little corner of the world in perspective.

Oh...I leave you with my favorite parade float of the day:

Roll tide.