As I walked towards the stadium Saturday afternoon I could not help but think of Warren St. John’s book “Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer.” For those unfamiliar the book is about the author buying an old used RV and following the Crimson Tide around for the 1999 season.
His main focus was on the groups that follow the team in their RV’s, he wanted to see what would make people be such fanatics for a college sport.
As I looked at the throngs of people heading towards the stadium one fact in particular stuck out from when I read the book, that there are more atheists in the state of Alabama than there are football fans.
I no longer have a copy of the book and don’t remember where that stat came from, but it’s impressive. From there my mind rambled on thru some of the stories that St. John discussed in the book.
One of my favorites concerned a man who was on the waiting list for a heart (or was it a lung?). According to the terms of the waiting list he was on he had to stay within one hours’ drive at all times to be considered for the transplant. Basically, if the hospital called and he wasn’t an hour from Birmingham then his name slid to the back of the list automatically.
According to St. John he was told this story by the patient himself… at the Alabama vs. Vanderbilt game in Nashville. Which is, of course, more than an hour away from Birmingham.
This man was risking his shot at a new heart to see a football team play. That’s how important the experience of tailgating and seeing the games are to this man. Granted, the odds of a heart coming in during the 24 hours he was in Nashville are slim, nonetheless, it’s a big risk.
The other story I thought of, and it’s one of my favorites, concerns the tale of Freeman and Betty Reese. The Reeses attained a small level of infamy for missing their daughter’s wedding. The problem was a simple one, the wedding was scheduled to take place during the Alabama Tennessee game. However, the Reeses do like to state in their own defense that they “made it in time for the reception.”
I may be on the wrong track, something tells me that if all of a sudden fans had to choose between religion and Alabama football, well that atheist stat may rise thru the roof.
Lots of good sources to look at, so start with searching words like "football, south, religion" in the Extreme search database to see what you come up with... One scholar who's made much of his career on thinking about football is Eric Bain-Selbo. Check him out. There are others too--eager to see your annotated bibliography, and I'll give you more sources if/as needed. Happy hunting.
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