Opinion: Taking in ‘Bama’s beauty | Alabama has one of the best facilities
Visiting the University of Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium (along with some other Southeastern Conference powerhouses) has been a bucket list item for me. So on Saturday, en-route to a quick beach getaway on the Florida panhandle, I finally got the chance to see the sprawling stadium for the first time. I made the eight-hour trip from Indianapolis (and made the obligational stop at Buc-ees, too) and arrived two-and-a-half hours before kickoff.
The rain was pouring as I arrived. Somehow, I forgot my umbrella – the same umbrella I purchased many years ago before a 7v7 in Kentucky for precisely this purpose. By the time I got my credential and had my bags checked, it felt like I had just gotten out of a cold shower with clothes on. I took the elevator with a dozen other souls cramped in, walked into the old press box, and looked at the stadium.
It looks great on TV, but even better in-person. For a place that can hold in excess of 100,000 people, it has a homey feel to it, more than any other place I’ve been to. Once the rain calmed down, I went down to the field almost immediately to just take it all in, long before any players arrived on the field for warmups. I made two laps around the field, walking on both sidelines: the same sidelines former head coach Nick Saban spent many Saturdays beating the snot out of his opponents, and the same sideline his opponents would, often helplessly, leave crushed. As I strolled the field, I thought of how it must’ve felt for both coaches in that predicament.
Students started coming into the stadium. Players started warming up, and before long, the place was packed. I knew Alabama was good, I knew they were big, and I knew they were fast, but seeing them up-close just put it into another perspective. If you’re a high school recruit, you gotta realize that all these teams are trying to beat Alabama. And, if you don’t have their size or speed, you won’t be getting an offer from those institutions. The Crimson Tide throttled Western Kentucky by a 63-0 score.
The rain finally stopped for good. I walked out of the stadium shortly before halftime and noticed something else, too: the Alabama campus is beautiful. It reminded me of Indiana University’s campus: green grass, red brick buildings, hilly and scenic. Even on a cloudy night, the place looked immaculate. Not a blade of grass seemed to be untrimmed. Every flower and shrub and plant was placed just so. Like their football program, everything was nice and neat together.
I’m not sure which far-flung, non-Midwestern stadium I’ll visit next. I’m leaning toward Auburn or Florida as the next stop for next year. Either way, ‘Bama sets the standard, and it’s a very high bar to meet.