How to Survive a University of Alabama Football Game

Whitney Barton
“How to Survive a University of Alabama Football Game”
Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Some say its “A football town, with a dinking problem” and others say its, “A drinking town, with a football problem”. I think it is the latter of the two. It is a town with a huge football problem, and that problem is everyone is obsessed with Alabama football. Come game day weekend, the town goes crazy. People are sitting and waiting outside, even over night, just so they can set up their tents in a “good” spot for tailgating in the quad. They block off cars from certain roads around the strip so that people can walk on the streets. Fraternity houses rent bands to come play on that Friday night before the game, and people in general just go crazy for Alabama football. Football is something that is loved at all colleges and universities but very few go to the extent of what goes on in Tuscaloosa that Friday night and Saturday of a football game weekend. In this essay, a girl who has never been to the town of Tuscaloosa during a football game with successfully be able to go through all the same rituals that a female student goes through every weekend of a home game during football season.
Step One: Get a date for the football game.
In Tuscaloosa, Alabama it is very important for a girl to have a date to a football game, it’s tradition. It is something that has been going on since at least when my mom was here in the 1970’s. Starting sometime the week before the game, it is very important to go out a lot and hang out around all the guys. Just talk to all your guy friends and maybe they will ask you or, you could be set up with a complete stranger by a friend. Either one is acceptable. When you finally get asked, you accept and make plans for the weekend with him. The plans will consist of ya’ll going to his fraternity house on that Friday night before the game. There will be a band playing that night. Then on game day, your date will pick you up from wherever you live, and ya’ll will go again to his fraternity house. Once you have gotten a date and made plans, you can then rest assured that you will have the most fun possible at the football game.
Step 2: Go to your date’s fraternity house on Friday night
On the Friday night before the game, you will go to your date’s fraternity house with him. There is where you will find something called a band party. This is when the fraternities rent out bands to come play at their house. Your date will pick you up on Friday night and ya’ll will usually go somewhere to pre-game before you go to the party. Once you are ready to go to the house, ya’ll go and hang out there for a while. Then it is up to ya’ll to do whatever you want. Some people go to bars, other people go to other band parties or just other parties in general. But then you go home and sleep, usually you don’t get much because you stay out so late, because the next day will be filled with lots of excitement.
Step 3: Getting ready for the game.
Getting ready for the game may be one of the most important things of the day. You have to look your best, and there are many things you cannot forget when getting ready. You have to make sure you get up in time to shower and have ample time to do make up, hair, and pick out an outfit. Once you get up and shower, it is time to do hair and make up. Many girls here in Tuscaloosa do full make up for the game. This means you should put on cover up, foundation, eye shadow, eyeliner, bronzer, mascara, and blush. Once you do this, it is time for hair. Many girls will dry it and then straighten it with a flat iron. Or some girls prefer to wear their hair curly, but this is not without making sure it doesn’t go frizzy but putting some type of frizz control product in it. Once hair and make up is finished, you then move on to outfit. Now in the South, girls are much more prone to dress to the nines for football games. For example, I have friends that go to school up North in Michigan and other places in that area. They usually wear jeans and a t-shirt representing their team. Not in the South, especially Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This city is an old Southern city, which means that people tend to dress up and go all out for football games. Down here, it is the norm to be dressed up like you were going to a nice party, just for the football game. Girls most likely will always be wearing some sort of dress. Unlike in Knoxville, Tennessee for the University of Tennessee football games, where everyone, even the girls, deck themselves out in only orange and white, a girl does not have to wear strictly red and white here. As long as she has a cute dress on that is not the opposing team’s colors, she will be fine. There is one more thing before you can leave to go to the fraternity house with your date that you must not forget. It is your sorority pin for you and your date. In the South, sororities tend to be a much bigger deal than they are in the North or any other region. This is why to every game you wear a pin that says the name of your sorority and you also give one to your date for him to wear. This is just something fun to do so you can represent your sorority.
Step 4: Go to the fraternity house
A few hours before the football game starts, you will most likely go to your date’s fraternity house. Here you will find good food to eat while you all sit around. Mostly people just sit around and drink and talk and have a good time before the game. There are usually boy’s parents and multiple fraternity alumni who like to come to the house to pre game before going to the actual game. This is a fun way to hang out with your friends and drink before you go into the game, because you are not allowed to bring drinks into the game.
Step 5: Go to the football game
Depending on what fraternity your date is in depends on where you sit in the student section. Fraternities have the whole section from the field all the way to top of the stadium right behind the end zone. And if your date is in a certain fraternity you can sit closer up to the end zone than others in other fraternities. So you and your date go to the game, and cheer Alabama on to victory. There are several different cheers you can sing during the game. It is a fun and exciting time while you watch the team play. Hopefully Alabama will win and you can go out and celebrate with your date and friends that night. A win for Alabama always means there will be much more to do after the game because everyone’s spirits are high.
Some may never fully understand how important football is to Tuscaloosa, but if you are lucky to get to experience it and all its glory, consider yourself lucky. It is such a fun tradition to go to the games and band parties and everything else that goes along with the University of Alabama football. It may seem crazy to some people who aren’t from around here, but to many, its life.