Iron Bowl Weekend
For those of Ya’ll who don’t come from around here, the Iron Bowl is the biggest deal in the great state of Alabama. That is what we call the annual contest between the University of Alabama and Auburn University. This year’s grand event will be down on the Plains in Auburn and will start at 7pm. My Christianity will not permit me to say what I would like to say about 7pm starts down on the Plains in Auburn. That pretty much means I will be getting home just in time to get up. Not nice at all. Never the less, I would not want to miss being at this game.
It’s not because I am a huge Alabama fan or Auburn fan, I just want to be at the big events, period. This game kind of represents what I love about photojournalism. The whole state is polarized. The whole state will be watching or listening. Churches will have Iron Bowl parties. Bars will have Iron Bowl parties. Heck, even Boy Scout troops will probably be having Iron Bowl parties. It is an event and I get to be there. Not only that, but most newspapers send their best to this game. Most newspapers send more than one shooter to this game. There is pressure. There is a challenge. There is intensity. And I’m not even playing in the game. Fun!
Now my wife doesn’t understand this. She just knows I am leaving her at home, alone, with six of our eight children. She also knows that I will be gone until basically Sunday. And I know that I will have to come home and be civil even with pretty much no sleep to our six children who are at home. (Two of our children are now all grown up and out on their own. One of them is at Auburn in school.) And no, we didn’t exile her there. She chose it on here own. And she hates football. Go figure!
Now, the other thing I hate about 7pm starts on that network that has both elevated and ruined college football (not naming any names here but their initials are ESPN) is that deadline is all over you. There is a page one deadline for the showcase story. There is an inside pages deadline for sports and there is the rather amorphous deadline for the sports front which means that they get their picture whenever the game is over. Did I mention the pressure. Of course, pressure also pushes you to do your best work - quickly! Finally, there is that long, dark drive home with the only thing to keep you awake being the smell from sweat soaked, or rain soaked, clothing which is pretty effective. Its kind of like smelling salts. Then, when all is said and done and you are sitting home fully recovered from this year’s edition, you have the satisfaction of knowing you were there and competing right alongside the athletes. And you will have your stories to tell too. Like the year the game began with sleet and freezing rain and ended with the coldest rain I have ever felt. And my clothes were soaked by halftime and all I had was a light weight rain jacket to use in the second half. I am still shaking!
I will have an update post later with actual pictures from this year’s game. The photo with this post is from a few years back when Auburn beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In fact, as a final thought leading into this game, if Alabama wins this year they will end a five year losing streak and lay to rest all that ‘one for the thumb’ business they heard all last year when Auburn racked up their fifth consecutive win. And if Auburn wins, I guess they will be chanting something about Saban spelling his last name SHULA.
Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
