This week, in our new newsletter Welcome Y’all, we attempted to explain Alabama's obsession with college football. Describing this passion to people outside the state can be tough, but writer Bob Carlton aptly put his fanaticism into words:
"Fanatic is too nice," he writes here. "Lunatic is more like it.
Even if you’re new to Alabama, as some of you are, you’ve no doubt figured out there are hundreds of thousands of others with the same affliction — some of whom have an even worse case of it than I do.
We are mild-mannered, church-going folks who politely welcome our new next-door neighbors with a plate of homemade brownies and who instinctively pull off the road to help a stranded motorist fix a flat tire.
But on Saturdays in the fall, our inner Mr. Football Hyde comes out, and we turn into unhinged, bloodcurdling cuckoos who unwisely invest all our self-worth into the fickle fortunes of an unpredictable game played by mistake-prone young men who are apt to fumble, stumble or jump offsides at the most inopportune moment.
Yes, we are nuts."
No matter what team you're cheering for, most people in the state will agree, this is the most wonderful time of the year. This hilarious explanation truly captures the feeling of being an Alabamian during college football season.
