Alabama Crimson Tide "A-Day" Game

On Saturday April 1, 2006, I took the boys to The University of Alabama football team's annual A-Day game. We went to bed early the night before so we could get up early Saturday morning. We have never been to this event before. We left Cullman around 5:30 and arrived in Tuscaloosa around 7:30. I drove the boys to Northport to see if City Cafe was open for breakfast. I told them how I often ate lunch there as a college student. I recall at that time, in the 1980's, you could get one meat, three vegetables, and a roll for $1.10. City Cafe was closed so we headed toward campus. I made a brief stop on the way to show them one of the places that I lived as a college student. When I was a graduate student I lived in one side of a small duplex on the eastern side of downtown, just off University Boulevard. Then we drove down Bryant Drive and ate at Rama Jama, just adjacent to Bryant Denny Stadium. We ate breakfast there and really enjoyed it. David and Joe had the two pancakes for $1.99 and Matt had the bacon biscuit. I had an egg sandwich and two pancakes. We had all of that for about $10.

It was now about 8:20, so we drove over to park at Coleman Coliseum and got in line for fan day. The line at that time extended 3/4ths of the way outside of the coliseum. During the next two hours the boys had the opportunity to meet members of the Crimson Tide and obtained numerous autographs, including one from star running back Kenneth Darby of Huntsville. From there we went to the car at 10:30 to "re-group". Then we walked to Bryant Denny Stadium to watch the game. On the way we stopped at the Alabama Book Store where the boys bought a few souvenirs. We got to the stadium around 12:30 and got seats on the 48 yard line. It was a very sunny, warm, and humid day in Tuscaloosa. Of course Bama won the game. Darby, kicker Jamie Christensen, and quarterback John Parker Wilson, and receiver DJ Hall all had good performances.

After the game we walked back over to the car. The Bama baseball game against Mississippi State was sold out, so we visited the Paul W. Bryant Museum. Believe it or not, it was my first visit to the museum. We left Tuscaloosa around 4:30 after a really good, but tiring day!