The Stuff College Football Legends Are Made From

Image Source: BCS National Championship Guide—Alabama Crimson Tide

As you can see by my banner, I’m super-jazzed about Monday night’s BCS National Championship game between my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide and those other guys from another school.

Bill Plaschke of the LA Times begins his prosaic prediction in this way:

“The oddsmakers favor Alabama in Monday's BCS title game, but many signs point to a Notre Dame victory, and they go all the way back to Rockne and the Gipper.”

“The images will be vivid, history will be haunting, ghosts will be everywhere.”

“This is Knute Rockne versus Bear Bryant, Touchdown Jesus versus Dreamland Bar-B-Que, Four Horseman versus Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Montana versus Joe Namath, and, of course, in the battle of the little guys, Rudy versus Nick.”

“It will be a football game bathed in a complicated mess of legend, religion and roughhousing, but most folks think Monday's BCS national championship heavyweight fight between Alabama and Notre Dame can be symbolized by a single disparity.”

“It's a leprechaun versus an elephant. It's a Notre Dame mascot who belongs on a cereal box against an Alabama mascot that belongs in a zoo. It's a team that hasn't won a national title in 24 years against a team trying to win its third in four years. The bookmakers have made Alabama a nine-point favorite, surely making Notre Dame one of the biggest unbeaten underdogs in title-game history.”

Then Plaschke regales us with the story of how the Domers “won one for the Gipper.”  Hell, sir.  What does a game played 85 years ago have to with this meat grinder game?  Not a damn thing.

“It's gonna happen again,” Plaschke insists, “Notre Dame fooling everyone with a victory in a game that feels like a Gipper speech.”

Any Bama fan worth his salt is well-acquainted with the legends of Alabama football.  We don’t need to be reminded.  I’ve watched or listened to all the Bama games since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.  What we will be relying on is the strength of Nick Saban’s program and the very real possibility that The Crimson Tide will win its third national championship in four years and with it a chance to become a dynasty.

Yes, I am not burdened with a weak opinion.

“If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, “Roll, Tide, Roll!”—Paul “Bear” Bryant