The Bear

Whether you're an Alabama football fan or not, it's hard not to know who Bear Bryant is. He is considered by many to be the greatest college football coach ever. He coached at Alabama from 1958-1982, which is a century in coaching terms. Rarely do coaches stay at one school for that long, especially now a days. His first season he coached at Bama was the first winning season the University had seen in 5 years. His second season he took Alabama to a bowl game, and did so for the next 25 years, which is a record that still stands. In his third season, he led Alabama to an undefeated national championship. The turn around in three years from a losing team to an undefeated national championship is almost unheard of. Over his coaching career at the Capstone, he won 6 national championships and 13 SEC championships. He also only lost 2 home games during his tenure at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Bear retired after the 1982 season, and died shortly after in January, 1983. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom posthumously after his death, which is the highest honor to be bestowed upon a civilian.

Paul "Bear" Bryant is still thought very higly of throughout the country as being a great coach and a great person, making sure his team always played with the highest amount of class and sportsmanship. His legacy at the Capstone still lives on to this day. His football accomplishments will never be forgotten. He donated lots of money to the University throughout his time here and there several buildings on campus named after him. However, behind all the money and football championships, he created a tradition at the University of Alabama that still stands today. He wanted to make sure that class was always something his teams had, and that philosophy still stands today. Alabama football is rivaled by few in the country and the fans make sure the tradition lives on year in and year out. The tradition isn't something you can see, it's something you can feel. It flows through the quad on gameday and follows the band into the stadium where 92,000+ fans are awaiting the kickoff. The atmosphere is amazing and the tradition flows throughtout the crowd. If this is something you have never experienced, then I highly recommend buying a ticket to a game next fall and see for yourself just how great of a tradition Bear left us all.

From the corn belt to the corn casserole....

Coming to the University of Alabama from Southern Illinois, I had no idea what to expect. I had only been to the campus 2 times before the start of the semester on Aug, 2007. Coming from a small rural farm town in the heart of the corn belt, a town like Tuscaloosa seemed like a major metropolitan area to me. There was an immediate change of surroundings and it seemed weird at first. No longer did I have to drive 45 minutes to go to a mall to get clothes or travel to the one grocery store to pick up food. My recources now seemed endless.

The most obvious change was the seperation from my parents. This is a very obvious difference. However, this change helped me to realize more what was around me then before. I have always been an independent person, trying to rely as little on my parents as possible in order to best prepare for what is to come. Because I was even more on my own then normal, I had to be more aware of what commodities existed in order to make best my four years at the Capstone. I have always believed in the power of the family owned greasy spoon restaurant. The hole in the wall restaurants always have the best food at the best prices. Immediately, I searched for the best local restaurant I could be called a regular at. The diner on 15th street had been rumored to be what I needed, but I had to check it out for myself. After one meal I was hooked. This southern meal was just what I had been looking for and what I anticipated upon arrival to the heart of dixie. It has all I need in more in a local restaurant and is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in T-Town. The moral of the story(even though it wasnt really a story, therefore doesn't need a moral and a moral doesn't make much sense but it sounded good so go with it) is that McDonald's can monopolize all it wants and turn us all into robot consumers, wanting all the same machine made food, but its the Mom and Pop restaurants that make us feel like we're back home again, and thats just what I needed after my 6 hour drive to UA.