Alabama loses. No, really. Imagine hearing that a year ago, or even in early September, when Alabama beat a top-20 Southern California team by seven touchdowns. Or at the end of the SEC season, when Alabama dominated an entire conference, shaking its East rival to the core.
Now imagine this. The pride of a state and arguably, the entire South, rested on the shoulders of 18-21-year-old college students. The talk was of history, legacy, and every week, for the greater part of their lives, Alabama players reached for perfection. Maybe the loss to Clemson in the 2016 Championship game humanized these young men, to show that they are people, not gods. Maybe the loss teaches the students at The University of Alabama and fans of The Crimson Tide how to lose with class and dignity, to love our team in highs and lows. While recent years have been nothing shy of golden for The Tide, losing is a part of football and a part of life. Learning to lose builds immense character, and leaves players, coaches, and fans hungry for a better season next year. This loss may be a valley for Alabama, but with every valley comes a mountain.
Therefore, I encourage The Crimson Tide players to find peace in their accomplishments. To know that no loss can tarnish all the wins they earned for their team. To believe in a brighter future. A future that for our underclassmen, holds more wins and accomplishments than we can understand at this moment. A future that for our already-accomplished Seniors, promises full and happy lives rather spent in the NFL or in great careers. I hope the players take the lessons they have learned this season to heart, as they put their noses to the grindstone-- physically, academically, and personally, with the support of their fans, peers, teachers, and coaches.
Regarding those coaches, they too, deserve high praise. Being the daughter of a football coach, I have seen up-close the long, grueling hours that go into a football season. Coaching is more than showing up at practice and drawing plays. Coaching a football team requires a man to build something bigger than himself, to be a role model for young men, to teach character and teamwork and class and pride. He has to do all these things with administration and media watching his every move. That being said, I think Nick Saban and his staff have exceeded their duties as coaches this year, accomplishing feats that no loss can dampen.
Between every team and fan base, there is a gap in feeling after wins and losses. Most fans feel as if they feel what the players and coaches feel, but I don't think that's true. I think that being on the field is something special, and deeper feelings toward the game can only be rooted on the gridiron, thus players are more sensitive to wins and losses than fans. However, in the Southeastern conference and at The University of Alabama, students and fans-at-large are almost as sensitive as players are to victories and defeats. This means that Alabama students and fans are hurting, too. A belief our team was unstoppable ran from a hot September all the way into the final seconds of that last bleak January game. While being disappointed and hurt is natural, fans too must pick themselves up by their boot straps, and without criticizing our own team or the opposing one, look forward to football games with happier endings.
As God reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3, "For everything there is a season."
Congratulations to the Clemson Tigers, and congratulations to The Tide.
