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An honest question about Alabama....

RalphieSpeaks

RalphieSpeaks

Club Member
Club Member
why are they the Crimson Tide but have an elephant in their logo? :confused:

and for that matter what exactly are these crimson tides and why are they a mascot? are there no animals of regional origin in the state? No displaced native americans to buy off like FSU......i mean alabama does mean tribal town? couldn't you be the yellowhammers? just a wondering on a monday...
 
RalphieSpeaks said:
why are they the Crimson Tide but have an elephant in their logo? :confused:

and for that matter what exactly are these crimson tides and why are they a mascot? are there no animals of regional origin in the state? No displaced native americans to buy off like FSU......i mean alabama does mean tribal town? couldn't you be the yellowhammers? just a wondering on a monday...
Click to expand...
I have no idea about the tide part. Naming a team after a nasty, potentially deadly algae would not be my first choice. The elephant apparently came about after some reporter said the team coming on to the field sounded like a herd of stampeding elephants. They don't have a real elephant though, just a costumed one named Big Al. I hope the rest of you guys have a field day with this one because I've been waiting to hear some good conversation on this whole elephant business.
 
RalphieSpeaks said:
why are they the Crimson Tide but have an elephant in their logo? :confused:

and for that matter what exactly are these crimson tides and why are they a mascot? are there no animals of regional origin in the state? No displaced native americans to buy off like FSU......i mean alabama does mean tribal town? couldn't you be the yellowhammers? just a wondering on a monday...
Click to expand...
It's because Alabama fans smell just like a herd of elephants - you can smell them as soon as they enter a stadium. If you want a wiff just make sure you are doing it on an empty stomach. It's worse than Burbon St. early on a Sunday morning before the sanitation crews wash away what the drunken tourists have left behind.
 
From a reliable source:

In 1891, a year befor Alabama football was born, the P.T. Barnum circus was rolling through Tuscaloosa. Apparently, a large female Indian elephant escaped and was rampaging through the countryside. Eleven local boys managed to capture the beast and sequester her away in a secluded barn. For three days and nights, the local sheep population slept soundly as the young hooligans had their way, sexually, with the unlucky creature. An elephant hunt ensued and the poor pachyderm (named Tad) was found and returned to the circus. The 11 disenfranchised youths were captured, painted crimson, and ridden out of town on a rail. According to some of the locals, the elephant would never had been found if not for the chants of "Roll Tad over, Roll Tad over" being accidently over heard by a local sheep herder, investigating the sudden re-appearance of 11 of his sheep near said secluded barn. A year later, the 11 boys returned to Tuscaloosa, were allowed to enroll in college, and were forced to be the founding members of the football team. They were, however, forceably reminded of their dark past by being made to wear crimson uniforms, subjugate themselves to a slightly shell-shocked elephant, and to listen to a chant that eventually evolved into "Roll TAD Roll". :smile2:
 
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RalphieSpeaks said:
why are they the Crimson Tide but have an elephant in their logo? :confused:

and for that matter what exactly are these crimson tides and why are they a mascot? are there no animals of regional origin in the state? No displaced native americans to buy off like FSU......i mean alabama does mean tribal town? couldn't you be the yellowhammers? just a wondering on a monday...
Click to expand...

I think it's a problem that permeates the entire state of Alabama. Look at Auburn. What are they? The Tigers? The War Eagles? The Plainsmen? What? Alabama is a state with a serious identity problem, methinks. :confused:
 
In the program's earlier days, the Tide was called the varsity or the Crimson White, after the school's colors. The Tide's first nickname was the 'The Thin Red Line.' The name was used until 1906, and then the era of 'The Crimson Tide' began.

The name was supposedly first used by Hugh Roberts, the former editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald. He used the term when describing an Alabama-Auburn game played in Birmingham in 1907, which was the last match-up between the teams until 1948.

The game was played in a sea of mud and Auburn was the favorite to win. Bama held Auburn to a 6-6 tie and later gained the name 'Crimson Tide.' The tradition of the name, 'Crimson Tide' was probably popularized by former Birmingham News editor, Zipp Newman.

-- www.tidesports.com
 
Ever wonder where the elephant came from? The tale goes back to the Tide's 1930 season when the Tide had an impressive 10-0 record and shut out eight opponents and allowed only 13 points all season while scoring 217points themselves record under Coach Wallace Wade.

Atlanta Journal sports writer Everett Strupper wrote about the Alabama-Mississippi game that he had witnessed four day earlier in Tuscaloosa. "That Alabama team of 1930 is a typical Wade machine, powerful, big, tough, fast and aggressive, well-schooled in fundamentals, and the best blocking team for this early in the season that I have ever seen. When those big brutes hit you I mean you go down and stay down, often for an additional two minutes.

"Coach Wade started his second team that was plenty big and they went right to their knitting scoring a touchdown in the first quarter against one of the best fighting small lines that I have seen. For Ole Miss was truly battling the big boys for every inch of the ground."At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, 'Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,' and out stamped this Alabama varsity.

"It was the first time that I had seen it and the size of the entire eleven nearly knocked me cold, men that I had seen play last year looking like they had nearly doubled in size."

Across the country, the Alabama linemen became known as the "Red Elephants."

--www.tidesports.com
 
Readers Digest version of the above:
Alabama grows 'em big as an elephant and an elephant never forgets her period.

Roll, contaminated shellfish, roll.
 
It's Alabama. Nothing down there really makes sense, but it's all good in the end.
 
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