THIS IS...Alabama Football

When I started school at The University of Alabama, the North end zone addition to the stadium had just started. The addition would raise the stadium capacity from 83,000 to 93,000. My walk to class every day was in the shadow of the stadium, and I watched its progress through the spring semester. The first thing to go up was the stairs. These massive cement staircases went straight up into the air, attached to nothing except at the base, and it was a creepy sight. I called them "the stairs to nowhere" because they just went up into the nothingness, and some people referred to them as the "stairway to heaven." I got sweaty palms when I looked up as I was walking by the stadium. I couldn't wait until they added the rest of the addition, but I had a feeling I'd need to avoid ever having to sit in that section because I'd always remember what the stairs to nowhere looked like.
In my last months living in Tuscaloosa after I graduated, work began on the south end zone addition. It was appropriate, I thought, that when I arrived in Tuscaloosa they were adding on to the stadium and when I left Tuscaloosa they were adding on to the stadium. As was the case 4 years earlier, the stairs were the first thing up, a new set of stairs to nowhere, but this time I could envision where they'd lead to at the end of construction. I had seen the north end zone full of Crimson (and once seen it full of "highlighter orange" as Tennessee fans filled the section, leaving early as we kicked their butts and shook our keys at them, saying "See ya, Volunteers!"). I knew pretty soon this new section would be full of Crimson, full of life and full of Bama pride.
This year the stadium will hold 101,000 fans. I can imagine how impressive the roar of "Rammer Jammer" will be and how loud the cheers will be at the first game when the home crowd welcomes the National Champions back to their stadium.