By. Brett Greenberg
The gates where Alabama students enter has a line that wraps around to almost the other side of the stadium. Over 40,000 students sing the fight song, “Yea Alabama,” and shake their crimson and white shakers while moving seemingly only a foot closer to the entrance every five minutes.
The typical fraternity boys make their way to the line struggling mightily to walk straight or even stand up. The “frat” boys have their cowboy boots on with whitewash, boot cut jeans and some sort of gameday polo or jersey on.
The sorority girls show up later than everyone else in their sundresses while they flaunt what sorority they are in with a pin on their chest showing the Greek letters. With them is a clear bag with their act card, makeup and money.
Imagine 100,000 delirious fans put into one stadium for the third Saturday in October. The “third Saturday in October” is another way fans, alumni and students refer to the annual, highly anticipated Southeastern Conference matchup between the Alabama Crimson Tide football team and the Tennessee Volunteers.
With the Volunteers coming into town, tradition will be carried on for another year. Nearly every student has a Cuban cigar tucked into their back pockets to not be seen by stadium security.
With eight minutes left until kick off, the lower bowl student section begins to fill up with over anxious and extremely excited students. The minutes seem to be prolonged as each second ticks off.
The game clock hits two minutes left until kickoff. Darkness ensues over 100,000 fans who begin to clamor and joy over what is about to happen. The time has finally come for Athletic Director, Greg Byrne, to showcase to the students what he has been promoting since the beginning of the season.
“I knew right when BDS went dark, we were about to be shown the new LED light show that has been talked about for a couple months,” said Jeremy Bettman, a sophomore at UA.
The four corner TV screens pan to Coach Nick Saban and his team as they walk out of the tunnel to a raucous crowd. “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC blares over the speakers and the shakers rise into the air. All the students rise to their feet, the ones who still can, and begin to exclaim at the away team as they run out of the tunnel right before the Crimson Tide.
The long-awaited light show has finally made an appearance. Red and white LED lights flicker and move around each section of the stadium. The lights, in sync with the pregame music being played, turned Bryant Denny into a complete party.
“I pretty much lost my mind when I saw coach walk out of that tunnel with the new lights making it seem like I was at the Rounders rooftop,” said Andrew Collat, a freshman at UA. “I was in the upper bowl, so I thought it was so cool to see how all the students in the lower bowl were reacting.”
For the entirety of the game, Bryant Denny looked like a nightclub. The team was taking care of business all game long and ended up winning by twenty-two points.
“I was actually on the field for the beginning of the game because of my job as a Capstone man,” said Zachary Katz, senior Capstone man at UA. “When the team ran out, it was the best atmosphere that I have been a part of here.”
Students will now have yet another reason to petition for more night games. The lights.
University of Alabama students will be overjoyed to know that the game versus LSU will end up being a night game by the start of the second half.
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