What it's Like to be an Alum From the Most Hated School in the Country

I read an article circulating recently describing what it's like to go to the most hated school in the country. After reading it, I felt like my experience was vastly different from hers. I wanted to describe what it is like for Alabama alum to interact with those from a different alma mater.

Picture it: You’re at a work conference (yay full-time job offer!) after graduating, and the instructor asks people to introduce themselves. You know the drill: name, alma mater, fun fact about yourself. 

Guy #1: Hi, I'm Bob, I went to Purdue and I like fly fishing
Class: Cool, alright. 

Girl #2: Hi, I'm Sandy, and I went to BYU and I speak 3 languages.
Class: Man! I bet you got to ski a lot up there!

Me: Hi, I'm Kristina, I went to Alabama and (interruption)
Class: guttural groans*, I hate you! You shouldn't have even been allowed to play LSU again! And sheesh what y'all did to McCoy should have been an ejection. Gosh I hate y'all so much. 

“Nice to meet you, too”

This is just a taste of what it's like to be from the University of Alabama, “the most hated school in the country.” It’s having people all over the country personally hate you as soon as they meet you because of 100 talented young men who happen to play football at the same school you attended. It’s having strangers scoff at your college t-shirt in the grocery store because they are putting their hatred of Alabama on you like you were the one on the field.

However, it has not always been this way. Unlike the author of the aforementioned blog post, neither me, nor any of my friends went to Alabama for the football. Most of us went for academics. I went because my parents were adamantly supportive of a good education without incurring tons of student loans (and they were right). So, off I went to UA. Some of the people I met were interested in chemical engineering, speech pathology, nursing and business. You name it, students wanted to major in it. The students there were driven about their future, and all wanted those jobs that were so elusive due to the recession. Of course, we all went to the football games because tickets were $5, and we heard this Saban guy might actually help lead the team to a winning record. Our standards were low. We were the kids who grew up during the Shula era. The we-were-happy-to-be-bowl-eligible years.

But then, The Crimson Tide stared to succeed! We couldn't believe it! Game after game we thought “this would be the game that ends the streak.”  But when the voters announced Alabama would be going to the Rose Bowl (hello, destiny! "Remember the Rose Bowl, we'll win then!"), my dad was happier than I was.  This was because Alabama had been waiting DECADES to be this good. Half of the entire state was elated. Nobody was counting on this. They just kept winning, and we couldn't believe our eyes!  Especially after good ole Terrence Cody blocked that field goal against UT. Man, that was a great day to be a student at UA.  The whiff of entitlement that UA’s students and supporters are equated with now didn’t exist.  We were so proud of our leadership, our first Heisman Trophy winner, and the success those seniors were able to reap after their four years of growth.  Those boys were on the team when Alabama was not even considered a conversation piece by ESPN.

But what I remember most about my time in Tuscaloosa isn't the football. It's actually a tragedy. On April 27, 2011 a tornado tore through our little T-Town and left everyone devastated. Days before the storm, we were all just typical college students, trying to study for finals and get home to our friends and families. But after we saw the carnage and devastation from that tornado, many of us couldn't leave. I stayed behind for weeks and saw everyone come together to aid our hometown away from home in a beautiful way. Greeks, independents, atheists, and Christians all gathered together to help those who had lost everything, and I couldn't have been more proud to be from the State/University of Alabama. We typically worked from 8am (after the Red Cross told us our job sites) until sundown (since we were under martial law and had a strict curfew). It was exhausting and exhilarating. We cut down trees, collected food, passed out clothes to newly-homeless neighbors, and searched houses to make sure all the survivors were found. We all wanted to help, and when we came back to school that fall (and were reminded by the empty plots of land that used to stand with thriving neighborhoods), we felt that our city needed a win. And by golly, when Alabama went to the national championship in 2012, our community felt like it had life breathed into it again. Businesses wanted to come back, students wanted to join from all over, and faculty were proud to work at our school. Our school family was coming back to life with more strength than before.

It was a beautiful time. It made me proud of be a lifelong member of The University of Alabama. Nobody felt entitled for the football team to make it to the playoffs. Now, it seems that instead of students being elated when Alabama does well, they expect it. That's not the way it works. You cheer for your team, win or lose. You don't feel entitled to national championships or playoffs, and you certainly don't act like you were personally out there on the field blocking LSU's point after attempt (unless you're A'Shawn Robinson). It makes me sad to see how entitled Alabama's current student body is about Alabama football.

Football is not the end all-be all at the University of Alabama. Each student’s story here starts with the desire for higher education, an avenue for success and maturity, growth that leads to opportunities, and to celebrate the pride that exudes from a family that believes in their institution. Alabama is about much more than sports, especially football.  But of course, some of my greatest memories come from those fall Saturdays.  Where you exclaimed “Roll Tide Roll!” whether they won or lost, because gosh darn, you're an Alabama fan!

Out of the depths of despair, Tuscaloosa has risen through a unified desire for success.  Success requires hard work, team work, leadership, and perseverance.  Winning is a byproduct of the drive for success.  However, to summarize The University of Alabama with numbers (15, 12-0, etc..) based on one group of men is to miss the forest through the trees.  Alabama adds over +30,000 more testaments to its long-standing tradition for success every four years and has countless doctors, nurses, CEO’s, lawyers, entrepreneurs that proudly call Alabama their alum. To that, I say

Roll Tide