Saban spoke, and the students responded.
For the second truly noticeable time this football season, and the first time since the Ole Miss Rebels were in town, the student section – and more importantly, the block seating section – seemed to remain filled long into the fourth quarter as the Tide delivered a bashing to Tennessee.
This is an impressive feat, considering this comes only a week after attendance fell so low in the second half against Arkansas that SGA President Jimmy Taylor deemed it necessary to suspend block seating privileges of the major deserters.
In the end, Taylor and his cabinet made the bold decision to suspend 21 of the 36 represented organizations, and that decision happens to be one that I readily commend.
When organizations applied for their seating this year, they were readily informed of the guidelines to blocked seating in the student organization seating handbook, that only last year was updated to be employed in this exact manner.
The handbook clearly names tardiness or early departure from the stadium as “unacceptable behavior” and goes on to state that suspensions from one or more conference games – depending on the offense – would be the proper course of action.
In the end, the enforcement of this bylaw based on the pictures taken of the block seating section was the right decision.
Granted, the system has flaws. Groups at the front of the student organization seating layout did benefit from students pushing forward to get a better view of the game, allowing them to have the sheer numbers to retain their seating last week. However, with both the blocks’ defined rows and the public knowledge of the consequences for abandoning your section (either in favor of a seat closer to the field or for a cold one at Gallettes), organizations have the ability to control their own respective destinies.
However, I think the most important lesson that came out of this suspension process was that block seating just isn’t necessary.
With block seating suspended on Saturday, we saw one of our greatest fourth quarter turnouts in recent memory. I would like to attribute that to the conglomeration of random students – both greek and independent – who sat in the bleachers directly behind the south end zone. Regardless if they were normally sitting there or just taking advantage of the open seating (I have spoken to both kinds), the fact that such a large number of students remained is a testament, not only to the power of Nick Saban’s wishes or the enticing prospect of smoking a nice cigar after yet another victory over Tennessee, but also to the unnecessary nature of the student organization seating.
Effectively, what this program does, is entitle organizations to their seats. Without any concern about getting good spots on the bleachers, students can stroll in leisurely and leave in the same fashion.
But when you give a crack at the prime seats to the general student body, suddenly everything changes. Suddenly, you have competition.
Not only that, you also create a seemingly more cohesive culture of Alabama fans, rather that the typical greek/non-greek differentiation that has run rampant in the block seating section. The games seem louder, maybe even more enticing.
Personally, I would like to see this culture continue to be cultivated and nurtured, and I would love to see those stands filled through four for every game.
Still, I fear that as soon as the suspension is lifted and a nonconference team like Chattanooga comes to town, history will repeat itself.
All I can hope is that we don’t get another scolding from Saban.
Maxton Thoman is a sophomore majoring in biology. His column runs weekly on Wednesdays.
