Alabama Game Day

I was asked the other day if I have joined the Alabama Crimson Tide bandwagon, and my immediate response was "Of Course, they are winning".  And there is a fascination with Coach Saban that is not entirely understood.  A team that I was raised to despise, yet a program that was built for perfection, and process that seems to work year after year...I mean, they won a championship with Jay Coker.  Ridiculous.  

But here we are working our third year of Alabama Game Day parking with the scouts, and I know that there is a connection that I will always appreciate thru these moments watching Alabama football.  I have been able to watch my boys fall in love with a sport that captures the Southeast.  We have sat and watched three quarterbacks that now we watch on Sunday afternoons.  The boys now each have fantasy football teams, and like to sit with their dad (occasionally) and enjoy a ball game.  We know the campus well, we listen to the million dollar band practice in the mornings near our parking deck, and we cheer as they beat New Mexico State 42-7 in the first half of this ball game.  We know that ACDC will play for each third down of the opposing team,  we know the fans like to say Roll Tide after every first down, and we know we will hear the elephant after a score.  But I also know we will leave the game early, and I know we will hit Chick-fil-A in McCalla on the way home, and while always tired from an early morning, we enjoy have something to smile and laugh about during our days in Tuscaloosa.  

So what did we laugh and smile about on this day?  Well, it began very early, as the New Mexico State was an 11AM kickoff...so our parking duty began at 6AM...so we had to leave the house by 4:30AM...so we had to wake up around 3:45AM.  Ugh...and did I mention it was butt cold?  We working a new deck on this day, so learning the ropes with Mr. George.  Sam and Davis had to keep count of all the cars coming into the deck, while George and I directed the traffic as needed off of Campus Drive into our ADA/Handicap deck.  So a few things we learned...many people buy handicap passes that are not handicapped, many people use grandmas tag to get into this deck (as in we watched grandma hand her tag to incoming vehicle with little Billy driving), and people are always surprised to find out it is ADA only even after passing the three signs that said this deck is ONLY for handicap.  

George and I also became guides for people that could not find the way to the right parking areas, needing to know where the trams pick up, or how to get to the stadium from here.  I learned the proper was to just point in general directions, and say "Yeah, Gordon Palmer lot is right past those trees".  Sam and I laughed as we learned that anyone with confidence and a wave can drive right past us and into the deck (we assume he was with alabama game day parking, but if not, he had the confidence that made us not question it a bit).  And we also learned that this deck gets crazy crowded in short spurts.  At one time, George was out in the main road directing traffic, I was on the secondary road routing them in, Sam was keeping count, and lining them up for the deck, and Davis...Davis?  Where was Davis?  I ran over to the van, and saw him cuddled up in the back with a big blanket on him.  And after rapping on the window many many times, he woke up.  Haha, and he was not aware of his surroundings.  It is somewhat funny to see someone wake up, look at you, and wonder "Where am I at?"  But finally he woke up and was able to help us with the traffic.  We laughed about that for awhile.  

The only other thing I remember us laughing about was Sam's purple hands at the game.  It was really cold with the wind in that upper deck, and Sam is like me with cold weather.  But he did not have his gloves for some reason, and his hands had a good shade of purple.  So we picked on him about that.  Another fun day, and good to work the deck with Mr. George (Scoutmaster), as he took the boys on a short tour of the field next to our deck and gave them the history of the mental hospital there on campus.  I worked the Arkansas game the next weekend, but the boys were not there, so I didn't care to go into the game.  I did get to direct traffic for the first time in my 42 years.  So thus ends another scouting year at our parking fundraiser in Tuscaloosa.  So Roll Tide, War Eagle, Hail State...glad to have some football memories with these boys!