The Crimson Tide

Steven Taylor posted some commentary on the University of Alabama's head football coach search. He suggests:

The ongoing assumption that the Alabama job is the job in college football continues to permeate Bamanation, despite the fact that it simply isn’t what it once was, and probably won’t be again, given the way college ball works these days.

And I really can't argue with him. However, it did make me think of an old song and something that one of my friends once told me. My friend's husband is Italian and she says that Italians are still caught up in the illusions of grandeur that hearken back to Roman Empire. I think Alabama football fans suffer from the some problem.

There was a time when the phrase "The Crimson Tide" was synonymous with "winner". And the fact was immortalized in song, "Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan.

They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call alabama the crimson tide
Call me deacon blues

That is a hard thing to let go of. If my friend is right that the Roman Empire still shapes the psyche of Italians today, it will surely be many a generation before the grandeur of Bear Bryant releases the psyche of Alabama fans.