Record Breaking Crowd For A Spring Football Game

[Syrinx]

I just got from Bryant-Denny Stadium for Alabama's spring game. The stadium holds over 92,000 people and it was packed. A policeman that I was talking to said that including people that were standing, the crowd was about 100,000. Amazing.

I hope Nick Saban felt the love. :)

[Syrinx]

1. A-Day: revise and extend my remarks

I just got back from Bryant-Denny Stadium for Alabama's spring game. The stadium seats over 92,000 spectators and it was packed. A police officer that I was talking to said that, including people that were standing, the crowd was about 100,000-strong. And they had to close the gates during the second quarter, on orders of the Fire Marshall. Amazing.

(And about 30,000 of those people were cute and/or hot girls in slutty outfits. I'm in favor of that, too.)

:evilgrin:

I hope Nick Saban felt the love. :)

Comments from the Tuscaloosa's News' Cecil Hurt, a genius when it comes to Alabama football, and the man that is probably more responsible than anyone in getting Mike Shula fired:

It was the best seat in the house – an enviable position when every one of the 92,318 seats in the house are full.

Nick Saban invited a half-dozen reporters to be “media coaches” for Saturday’s A-Day game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. In a wise move by Saban, that invitation didn’t involve any actual coaching decisions. Instead, it just gave those reporters (myself included) an up-close look at what we had really only gotten a far-away glimpse at all spring: the University of Alabama football team.

This spring was just a foundation for the football program and there is a lot of actual construction remaining. But the reason that a record crowd showed up for Saban’s unofficial Alabama debut was to see just such things.

Emily Dickinson once described hope as “the thing with feathers.” On Saturday afternoon, hope was the thing wearing a Crimson Tide baseball cap and a “Got Nick?” T-shirt. As great as the sideline perspective was for watching football, it also provided an amazing vista as the stadium filled, first the lower bowl, then, deck by deck, the upper reaches, an ocean of red whose tidal movement was concentrated in one single direction. And you didn’t have to be standing on the sidelines to see that.

http://tidesports.com/article/20070421/NEWS/70421006/1067/SPORTS0106

I'm not saying that 'Bama will compete for championships in the coming season. We probably won't. But things are definitely different now for Tide fans. We always have hope, but now we have a good reason for that hope, and I'm loving it. :)

Return the universe to it's natural order! Roll Tide and Vote Democratic!

[piedmont]

2. Thanks Syrinx. I was going to post about this too.

Lots of good publicity coming out of this, too.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/templates/sports.aspx?articleid=14216&zoneid=6
"TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- One of the best SEC football arguments is among fans from different regions arguing why their school is the most passionate.
...
The argument is over. There were 92,138 Alabama fans packed into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday for a televised spring game, and officials had to turn people away in the second quarter. "I hate they did that," Alabama defensive lineman Wallace Gilberry said. "I wish the fans could have flooded the place out."
...
And that's why Saturday's A-Day game, won 20-13 by the White team, was so bittersweet. A crowd like this makes the SEC so great. But it also ends one of my favorite arguments. We have a winner, and they were wearing crimson and white Saturday afternoon.
...
Yes, admission was free. Yes, it was a beautiful day in Tuscaloosa. But 92,138? Only six schools in the entire country averaged more fans in real games last year. I would not be surprised to hear that 10,000 more fans crammed into Coleman Coliseum to watch the game on a big screen."

Tony Barnhart also wrote a nice piece in the AJC about it today.

[Syrinx]

8. hey

Did you make it to T-Town Saturday? If you didn't, you missed a rockin' good time. :hi:

[piedmont]

9. Nope, didn't make it. Had to work :(

But that's where "home" is, so I get back there a few times a year.

[trumad]

4. I give Bama 2 seasons before the love affair with scumbag Saban expires.

Saban is a fucking scumbag who now has to recruit against Auburn...

[Syrinx]

7. I think Saban will hold his own

There were some pretty big recruits at the game Saturday, and I can't help but to think that they had to be impressed.

I admit that I look at the world through crimson (#b10021) colored glasses, but I think Saban is going to nab Julio Jones. :)

[northzax]

3. with all due respect

what the heck else is there to do?
:hide:

[piedmont]

5. This time of year the fishin' is amazing.

Football season, huntin' season, fishin' season, then you're back to football season. The only month you're seriously bored is February.

[Syrinx]

10. I've never been hunting

And haven't been fishing in years. But I do really enjoy boating on the Black Warrior River.

[Syrinx]

6. there's always something to do in a University town

Lots of sports, of course. Saturday, in addition to the spring game, we hosted the national intercollegiate triathlon championships. (Florida won that too.)

Then there are all the speakers that come to town. Plays put on by UA's drama department, as well as by the community theater. It seems that there's always some art festival or other going on. There's a fairly lively nightclub scene, though the city council has done their best to hamper it.

Tuscaloosa isn't exactly New York City, but it's not Mayberry either. There was a lot to do Saturday afternoon, but I decided to spend it with 100,000 of my closest friends. :)