Saturday, during the various celebrations and activities going on for the annual A-Day spring scrimmage, I had the privilege to be a first-hand witness to the unveiling of the statue for our beloved football coach, Nick Saban.
The ceremony, which I watched from across the street, consisted of former University players, along with University of Alabama radio announcer Eli Gold, crowded around the covered statue commemorating the moment. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of fans crowded around the Walk of Champions just to get a glimpse of their enshrined coach.
As I stood there, I pondered the enormity of what was happening. Here we were, students and fans of the University of Alabama, huddled around a giant bronze statue of a man that walks around this campus every day. This kind of worship and adoration is not something most Americans are accustomed to.
The first thing that came to my mind when I was told of the upcoming statue unveiling was the image of Firdos Square in Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq by American forces. The act of the American forces tearing down a giant, 12-foot statue depicting the tyrannical despot known as Saddam Hussein was circulated to every news outlet around the world. To this day, the image is a lasting symbol of the end of a brutal reign of power.
In imagining this distorted comparison, I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between the Walk of Champions and Firdos Square in the event of Coach Saban taking a job with the Dallas Cowboys or the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The masses would number in thousands, pitchfork and torches in hand, wreaking havoc on anything in their way until they made it to the bust of their former savior. The mental image of a bevy of scorned rednecks tearing down the Saban statue is not only hilarious, but also terrifyingly believable.
The mere fact that we, as a fan-base, are enshrining the current head coach of our football team shows an intense passion and love for the football team. Nowhere, and I mean nowhere, is there an obsession so deep and radical as the obsession that lives along the Black Warrior River.
In 2007, media pundits from Boston to Los Angeles criticized Bama when 92,000 fans showed up to watch Coach Saban’s first spring game. Four years later, packing out a spring game is the norm for most major college football programs. Recently, Auburn announced the plan to build a statue for every Heisman trophy winner ever to play at Auburn. (Yes, even the ones who played for just their one year and didn’t graduate). This kind of imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
Alabama is the power of college football, and while the fan base criticisms and jokes are sometimes just too accurate, there is no football program more celebrated and recognized. So, take the criticisms in stride, Tide fans. This “obsession” is the backbone of this program, and that, too, is known nation wide.
Jake Gray is a junior majoring in journalism.
