Tagged with "University of Alabama Archives - The History of Daddy Claxton"
Apr 17, 2012 - Featured, The Real Me    No Comments

The University of Alabama Should Sell Portions of its Broken National Championship Trophy

As an Auburn fan, part of me chuckled inside when I read the story about how the University of Alabamadropped it’s 2011 National Championship Trophy over the weekend when an ogling fan tripped over the carpeting around it and it fell, shattering into a million pieces.

Alabama on offense during the annual Iron Bowl...

Alabama on offense during the annual Iron Bowl against rival Auburn University. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

University officials report that they are going to replace the $30,000 piece of glass, but what of the shards that already exist?

To me it makes perfect sense, that if it is fractured into a million pieces, that the university should go out and buy as many clear glass vials that each shard would fit into and then sell them to fans around the world who would like to either bid for them or simply have the chance to first come, first served, buy a part of Alabama football history.   The funds raised would cover the cost to replace the trophy, and anything left over?   Simple.  Donate it to the continued recovery of the tornadoes that hit Tuscaloosa less than 365 days ago.

Each piece could have a number and a certificate of authentication.   It’d be a perfect solution and give fans a part of something they all earn each year as they fight from the stands for the honor and dignity of their team.

I couldn’t think of  a better way to show a commitment to two very loyal and intense supporters of the university system that is Tuscaloosa. Not to mention saving taxpayers $30,000 to replace a trophy.

Oh, and War Eagle!

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Apr 29, 2011 - Featured    1 Comment

The Strength and Unity of Alabamians–Tornado Recovery

In Alabama you’re either “one of them,” (A fan of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa) or an Auburn fan.  There is no in between.  But after Wednesday’s tornadoes, even that doesn’t matter.  Sure, fokes (that’s how the Montgomery Advertiser spells it and has for decades) are still sporting their loyalist garb, but as a whole, they are one now, and at this time of incredible devastation, people are banding together, whether they know one another or not, and they’re coping, trying to clear their roads and yards of tree limbs, debris, and anything else, and it’s an incredible thing to be a part of.  It’s truly one of the best things about Alabama.

Yesterday morning I was able to leave Huntsville with enough gas to get me to my mom’s in Montgomery.  Part of me wishes I’d stayed up there.  Helping pump gas at The Triangle Grocery in New Market were two guys.  One was a friend of the owner who had been at the station for a couple of hours helping pump gas to those of us desperate to have it.  He wasn’t getting paid.  Had no power himself.  But there he was.  The other was a school teacher who was just learning he and his wife, a fellow teacher, didn’t have to worry about school until at least Tuesday. 

When we, (Tom and Karen Taylor)  drove for cover Wednesday afternoon about 4 p.m. many of the roads had been blocked earlier in the day by fallen trees.  It wasn’t relief coming from Washington, DC, the White House, the Alabama Department of Transportation or Huntsville County Crews that had done it.  It was Alabamians with chainsaws.

On the way north while I was going south, I saw leagues of electric utility trucks with various stickers on their doors all heading into the thick of it.  Lines of unmarked, dark black Alabama State Trooper cars with blue lights flashing and running 10-17 in the left lane (That means they were running code to North Alabama; aka, they were hauling ass) were headed into the heart of it.  (As a side note, this also suggests they were higher ups heading into the fray, because lower ranked troopers don’t have brand new black cars….)

And then there was a time or two when I saw just plain old dump trucks and pickups rolling north, too.  They had bulldozers on the trailers they were pulling.

At the Publix yesterday morning in New Market/Meridianville the doors were open.  The electricity was off, but they’d found a way to run off emergency power and even could do electronic debit/credit card purchases.  But they were open at a time when they were needed most.  And the employees there said they were going to be there until the store closed or they had run out of food to sell.

Alabama is going to recover from this incredible, Biblic-proportioned devastation.  Some have said areas of Tuscaloosa, Cullman, Phil Campbell, Cordova, and Pleasant Grove in Birmingham look like they’d been hit by atomic bombs.  And while there will be help from the federal government and the state, a lot of healing and rebuilding had already begun before those very much needed and appreciated assets could be deployed.

That’s the way things happen in Alabama.  Even if you’re helping a fellow Auburn fan, or one of them Bama fans.

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