PUBLISHER / THE DAILY IBERIAN
Tiger fans will be roaring, as LSU gets ready for its big game with the Alabama Crimson Tide, headed by former LSU coach, Nick Satan … er, Nick Saban.
Nick broke the heart of many when he seemed to have the football program ready to be a dynasty, and then suddenly left to take the head coach’s job for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League. That he left LSU was bad enough but it was even worse when he came back to college football and in the same conference as LSU.
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While we know the University of Alabama as the Crimson Tide, I saw several sources on the Web that told how when football started at the school in 1892, it was known as the Crimson White. It later got the name “Thin Red Line” in the media. A sportswriter in Birmingham reportedly came up with the Crimson Tide name in 1907, and that’s what it’s been since.
I read that the association with the elephant at Alabama also came from references from sportswriters, who talked about the size of some of those playing for Alabama, and then later some referred to them as Red Elephants, big guys playing in those red jerseys.
Another explanation for the elephant is said to come from the team’s use of luggage from the Birmingham Trunk Co. when the team played in the 1930 Rose Bowl. The logo for the trunk company was a red elephant standing on a trunk, and again reporters there associated the big guys on the team with elephants.
Fans of current college football probably know about Terrence Cody — “Mount Cody” some call him. He plays defensive tackle for Alabama and is listed at 6-foot, 5-inches tall and weighing 354 pounds. He’d certainly qualify for some of those references as a Red Elephant, though I’d want him to know I meant it in an admirable way.
Interestingly, the university didn’t make the elephant an official mascot until 1979.
I never knew it until doing the research for the above, but the Alabama elephant mascot is known as Big Al.
I also read that betting lines have Alabama as a 3-point favorite for Saturday’s game, and that as of Monday when I looked, 63 percent of those placing bets were taking ’Bama.
LSU has three football national championships. Alabama lists 12 on its football resume.
Is it gonna be Tiger Bait or Roll Tide?
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You’ve probably heard about how in the old days, some of those football players for Alabama were really gifted athletically, but not so much in the classroom.
The professor had one big ol’ Bama football player in her class, and she just knew he was cheating, sitting right next to the smartest guy in the class. She watched him closely but despite her suspicions, she never caught him — until one day when she was grading a test.
The smart boy didn’t know the answer to question No. 5 on the test, and wrote next to it, “I don’t know.”
Next to No. 5 on the Bama football player’s quiz was written, “Me neither.”
WILL CHAPMAN is publisher of The Daily Iberian.
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