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This is an opinion column.
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President Donald Trump used sports to divide the country in 2020, but if he wants to attend another Alabama game then he is certainly welcome.
I can’t say that I agree with Trump about most things, but the rules of Southern hospitality dictate that everyone is entitled to a good time on Saturdays in the fall. Some things are more important than politics.
Just make sure Sen. Katie Britt carries Trump’s carpetbag into the stadium because Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hands will be full.
Trump is running for President again, and so he’s going to use the big football game in Tuscaloosa to steal some face time. Good for him and good for all the extra overtime for law enforcement and security staffers. Kickoff for Alabama vs. Georgia isn’t until next Saturday, but everyone should probably leave today in order to make it into Bryant-Denny on time.
There have been two assassination attempts on Trump’s life in recent weeks, which means Bryant-Denny Stadium will be a fortress and Tuscaloosa will be on lockdown. Sad and terrifying. I go back to the words of SEC commissioner Greg Sankey after this summer’s first assassination attempt. Sankey usually doesn’t say much, but I was proud of him for speaking up at SEC Media Days.
“When you attend one of those games on Saturday and you look around,” Sankey said, “you see Democrats and you see Republicans. You see liberals and conservatives. You see those who work in a white-collar setting and those who work in a blue collar-setting. You see young and old, families and individuals, people from every religious background, every demographic range in this nation.
“This sidebar is not about politics. It’s actually about what we do on Saturday, that comfortable point of conversation at those family gatherings. These remarks are about the ability of people to come together even when there are differences. On Saturdays in this country, for decade after decade, people come together.”
In the name of fairness, I think that probably means Alabama should extend an invitation to Trump’s political rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Does Vice President Harris even like football, though? She has probably changed her stance four times since I started writing this column.
Sankey is right, though. Sports are supposed to bring people together. Fans have been putting aside their differences in the name of sports entertainment for a long time. Take the Colosseum in Rome. Good times and no instant replays. Maybe Trump can give Georgia a big thumbs down before the game like the Roman emperors of yore.
They fought to the death for sport in the old days, but the modern-day stuff is all about celebrating life. Take for example the Major League Baseball game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham back in June. That was an unforgettable day. Dems and Repubs were there together in honor of Willie Mays. Vice President Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, was on the field with Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin. Up in the stands, Sen. Britt attended the game in a Birmingham Black Barons jersey.
No one cared about politics at Rickwood that day. It was all about baseball and honoring the history of the Negro Leagues.
With Trump, it’s never that easy. He makes everything awkward. I’ll never forget the 2018 national championship game in Atlanta. Trump attended that one, too. The Secret Service had to check everyone who entered the stadium, but it was raining and the outside temp that night was about 37 degrees.
The wait got so bad that it turned into a breaking news event.
They let reporters into the building early, but I was there in the rain, too. I remember interviewing Alabama fan Claire Schweiker. She was shivering and soaked to the bone.
“Gate 1 wasn’t open,” Claire said, “so we went around to the other side of the building and waited in line for about an hour and half, barely moved, still couldn’t see the end of the line. We heard a rumor that this other gate had finally opened, so we came back around and got in after about half an hour.
“So, it was about two hours total in the rain and freezing.”
The way the game turned out, I’d say it was worth the wait.
Unfortunately, some people waited so long to get into the game that their phones died. Not good when tickets are all digital. The point of the story is this. The first rule of attending a game with Trump is make sure to put your phone on airplane mode while you wait outside the stadium. Maybe print out a set of backup tickets, too.
Or, and hear me out on this, sell your tickets and buy a couple new TVs.
Real college football fans know that Trump is bad luck for the Crimson Tide. Trump attended LSU at Alabama in 2019. It was another Game of the Century-type deal. They showed Trump on the videoboard during a timeout and on the very next play Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa fumbled the ball while running for a touchdown.
No one was even near him. The ball just fell right out of Tua’s hands. I still blame Trump.
LSU won the game that day and went on to hoist the national championship trophy. I’m not saying Trump is a curse for the Crimson Tide. I’m just saying Jalen Milroe should use two hands to carry the ball if he finds himself rushing for a touchdown.
I’ve been to two games with Trump and my best advice that I can give is this. Watch the game from afar and hope for the best. When next Saturday rolls around, I already know where I’ll be … in Jordan-Hare Stadium for Auburn vs. Oklahoma.
MAILBAG
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I am rooting for Freeze to have great success at Auburn, but only because I am an Auburn fan and can’t help myself. I trusted Freeze a lot more when Coach Cadillac Williams was looking over his shoulder.
That said, he wouldn’t be much of a coach if he weren’t able to adjust his plans and behaviors after a sound defeat, whether at the hands of an opposing football team or the embarrassed alumni of Ole Miss.
The last time I personally played tackle football was in the 1970s, so I am no expert, but what I saw with Hank Brown was a combination of vision and (relative) calm in the backfield. When I could see an open receiver downfield from overhead, Brown could also see it from the ground, and that’s where the ball went. If he knows where and when to throw the ball, that should be a big improvement for Auburn. Some NFL QBs don’t know that, as we have seen already this season.
Also, how did Malik Willis get so good?! Was he that good at Auburn but nobody noticed?!?!
ANSWER: Some certainly noticed, and he’s now the coach at Auburn. Willis transferred after Bo Nix won the starting quarterback job as a freshman. Where did Willis wind up? Liberty to play for Freeze. I’ll never forget Willis coming to Birmingham with Liberty for a game against UAB. It got ugly, but only for the Blazers.
Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”
