Alabama Crimson Tide Football Team What it Really is

When someone hears the words “University Of Alabama”, Crimson Tide Football is probably the first thing they think about. Its past runs deep through the veins of many who have grown up in the state of Alabama. Those who play or have played for the Crimson Tide are considered celebrities by the hoards of Alabama fans who religiously watch them perform on Saturdays. Although this is true, playing football for the Crimson Tide is not only about fame. By putting in countless hours of practice and hard work while playing at the University of Alabama, the young men of the team obtain an identity that they are able to carry with them throughout college and the years after.

For Crimson Tide Fans, Alabama football is a way of life. One can then easily imagine how much more is involved when you actually play for the Tide. Since its first year of existence, 1892, the Alabama football team has bulldozed through opponents and set many NCAA records. Fifty six post season appearances and eight perfect seasons are just two of the NCAA records the Tide currently owns. In addition, Tide fans never let football fans forget about their twelve national championships (2^nd most), 807 total victories (7^th most), and twenty five conference championships. Obviously, playing for the Tide is a big deal, but it is not always just about the glory. Only eleven Tide players are on the field at once but the Alabama football team has 109 players on its roster. This means that less than a quarter of the team gets to play on any given Saturday. The team is made up of mostly underclassmen with 19 juniors and 24 seniors. Fifty seven of the players played high school football in the state of Alabama. Twelve players are from Florida, eleven are from Georgia, eight are from Mississippi and Tennessee, and there are five from Louisiana. Players also hail from Texas, South Carolina, and Ohio. For the games, only about half of the players dress and the other half is part of the scout team. The season only runs during the fall but spring training starts in early spring and practices go throughout the summer and into the fall. Spring training is capped off with an A-Day Game in April and summer workouts often consist of two-a-days. Through all this, members of the football team carry both the responsibility of playing a collegiate sport and the normal load of an average college student. This leads many to question why these young men, especially those who don’t even play, choose to put themselves under so much stress.

Clearly, there has to be something other than glory that drives the majority of the team’s players who practice just as hard as everyone else but never see the field. Being a part of a team is more than just wearing your free Nike clothes around campus and getting into any party on campus simply because you are on the football team. By being a part of the team, the players learn important life lessons such as managing time, discipline, and the importance of brotherhood. As mentioned earlier, players not only have to worry about succeeding in football but they also have to worry about succeeding in school. The fact that the majority of the players who are on the team do not have any sort of a chance to make a living playing football means that they need to succeed in school in order to make sure that they have a career after college. The ability to manage time is a skill that players can also use after college in their jobs and in their families. Apart from learning to manage their time, players learn discipline and the importance of working hard. They learn how to listen to their coach’s, how to play and practice through pain and fatigue, and also how to work with others. Morgan Ogilvie, a sophomore quarterback for the Crimson Tide, said “It’s tough waking up early, working out, going to class, hurrying to practice, and then doing it all over again the next day. But just like with working out, you don’t get anywhere by just sitting around so I know I’m developing skills that I can use later in life.” In addition, players learn the importance of brotherhood. When you are around the same people during spring training and summer workouts where the hardest part is physically getting into shape, it makes it easier to relate to your teammates because you are all in the same boat. As cheesy as it may sound, you really do form a unique kind of bond with your teammates and that really makes being a part of a team so special.

Still, part of their motivation does lie in the fact that they understand what it means to come play football for the University of Alabama. Many will not go on to play football at the NFL level but make no mistake; they treat their season just like professionals do. Many players will come to play football at the University of Alabama just because it is Alabama. Everybody across the nation knows about our program’s tradition and they want to be a part of it, even if they know they won’t see the field too often. Being a part of the Crimson Tide is something that these men can carry with them even after college. No matter what happens the rest of their lives, they can always say that they wore the crimson and white jerseys. They will pass on stories of their football days to their children and grandchildren, thus giving them a sort of immortal identity as a Crimson Tide player.

As one can see, those who put in the hard work that it takes to be a part of the Crimson Tide football team do not only do it for fame or to learn lessons. Although a select few will make a career out of the sport of football, the majority will not. Collectively, these young men choose to dedicate their time and effort so that they can say that they were more than just a student at Alabama, but were instead a part of something much bigger. They play football because it provides them with an identity that they would otherwise not be able to obtain. Unlike the identity provided by other college groups, such as fraternities, sororities, and other clubs, these men can carry with them their identities as Crimson Tide players long after college.

As a whole, the Alabama football team works for both the athletes that play on it as well as everyone who is associated with it, including fans, the university, students and faculty, and the city of Tuscaloosa. The amount of revenue home football weekends generate for the university are enormous as you have 100,000 plus people coming into town and spending money that goes towards the university and local businesses in the Tuscaloosa area. I know many restaurants and bars survive off the money they make during football season that lasts them all year. Also it gives students a chance to let loose during the weekend after preparing and studying for tests and papers all week. One student I spoke with who is a senior in the Business School, Alvand Khoshgavar, says he makes better grades in the fall because of that same reason. “It gives me motivation to get all my studies done during the week so I can fully enjoy a weekend of watching the Tide play and not thinking about schoolwork at all,” Khoshgavar states.

Alabama Football is a huge part of this university not only during the fall but year around, and for good reason. It does so much for the community and benefits everybody as a whole associated with the University of Alabama. The University of Alabama would not be the university it is today without the help of its football team throughout the years and I strongly believe it will push us to become a top level university across the board in the very near future.

Works cited

Khoshgavar, Alvand. Personal Interview. 28 Oct 2009.

Ogilvie, Morgan. Personal Interview. 1 Nov 2009.