Once I was a child, I used to be not a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide. I discovered about soccer by enjoying on my babysitter’s PlayStation. I discovered about basketball by enjoying Yard Basketball on a pc.
I didn’t develop into a fan of Alabama till I misplaced a wager with my dad. When Terrence Cody blocked a subject purpose within the closing seconds towards Tennessee, third-grade me promised I might root for the Alabama Crimson Tide to simplify Saturdays in our home. Rocky Block was a large second for Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide, however it additionally put me on a path my household couldn’t have anticipated.
I used to be not part of one thing greater than my mind may fathom. It was greater than a shift in my wardrobe’s shade scheme and a altering of the channel on Saturday. Being an Alabama fan gave me readability. I discovered why all of my mates had canine named “Bear.” I skilled rivalries firsthand and understood why the hatred of two colleges can’t be put into phrases. I noticed success develop into the usual for my staff and made it a normal in myself.
Going to soccer video games taught me how far a fanbase can unfold. I sat in a stadium with 100 thousand individuals wanting the very same factor. I screamed chants in unison with strangers from throughout the nation, and I discovered how stunning it was to like one thing along with strangers.
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My love for the Alabama Crimson Tide reached a brand new degree once I got here right here for faculty. I used to be immediately classmates with gamers I had idolized on my tv display. I turned half of a student-athlete (albeit the simpler half), and I may perceive what challenges would include including the athlete half to the combo. Like each different graduating class since Nick Saban got here to city, I skilled a nationwide championship and felt like I earned the appropriate to say “we” once I talked in regards to the Tide.
I then went to different sporting occasions with gamers sporting the identical brand and staff colours. I cheered for elite volleyball gamers, future stars of the NBA and WNBA, softball legends and Olympic gymnasts. I might all the time root for the staff in crimson, however having the ability to go to any sporting occasion totally free gave me an opportunity to fall in love with the Tide yet again.
The great thing about the Crimson commonplace is that it teaches you about extra than simply your favourite staff. Different groups observe swimsuit with Alabama as a result of being a reduction Tide is best than being the rest. It additionally teaches you the way one thing as simplistic as throwing a bit of leather-based can unify individuals. Soccer helped this college get well after torndadoes tragically took the lives of scholars. When family and friends members who cheered for the Tide cross away, I reminisce on how a Tide win used to make them smile. I consider these smiles the following time I see a win in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Followers can say this about any sports activities staff, however I wouldn’t know what it could be like rooting for them. I solely know what it means to be a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide, and I wouldn’t have it every other manner.
In different information, this shall be my final put up for BamaHammer. Now that I’ve graduated from UA, it’s on to the following section in my life. I want to thanks all for studying and interracting with any of my articles, whether or not you liked or hated them.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — CJ Hines scored on a layup at the buzzer and finished with 23 points as Alabama State rallied to beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 93-91 on Monday night.
Hines also contributed six rebounds for the Hornets (6-9, 2-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference). Amarr Knox added 20 points and Micah Octave scored 13.
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The Golden Lions (3-12, 0-2) were led by Doctor Bradley, who scored a career-high 35 in his second game of the season. Bradley, a junior who had a career-best 30 points in his first game, added seven rebounds and seven assists. Christian Moore had 19 points and Caleb Jones scored 15.
Alabama State rallied after trailing 50-41 at halftime.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Houston Texans have signed cornerback Anthony Averett to their practice squad, the NFL team announced on Monday.
The former Alabama defensive back joins the Texans as they prepare to play the Los Angeles Chargers in the first round of the AFC playoffs at 3:30 p.m. CST Saturday at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Averett fills the roster spot opened when the Texans signed cornerback D’Angelo Ross from their practice squad for their 53-man active roster on Saturday, and he played 48 defensive snaps in Sunday’s 23-14 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
Each NFL team can elevate two players from its practice squad to active status for each game, and that rule includes playoff contests.
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Averett was in training camp and played in the preseason with the Pittsburgh Steelers in August and spent the first eight weeks of the season on the team’s practice squad before being released with an injury settlement on Oct. 28.
Averett hasn’t played in an NFL regular-season game since Nov. 20, 2022, when his injury-affected, lone season with the Las Vegas Raiders ended early. He spent time with the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions in 2023.
A senior starter for the Crimson Tide’s CFP national-championship team for the 2017 season, Averett entered the NFL as a fourth-round selection of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2018 draft.
Averett spent his first three seasons largely as a reserve with the Ravens before moving into a starting role when Marcus Peters got hurt in the second game of the 2021 season. Averett’s performance across 14 starts in Baltimore’s defensive backfield included his three NFL interceptions and earned him a one-year, $4 million contract from the Raiders in free agency.
Averett sustained a broken thumb and broken toe with Las Vegas in 2022.
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Averett has played in 51 NFL regular-season games and three playoff contests.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
As we learn more about the stories of those impacted by the deadly New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans, one Alabama woman is sharing her story of how her friends’ quick thinking after the attack likely saved her life.
That’s So Random With Tiffany Boone
In the early morning hours of January 1, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a rented pickup truck into a crowd of people celebrating the start of 2025 on New Orleans’ world-famous Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.
Mobile, Al. native Alexis Scott-Windham was celebrating with her friends in the area when the 23-year-old says she noticed the truck speeding towards them.
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“As we look to our left, we see the truck come down the sidewalk because he was halfway on the sidewalk and halfway on the street. As he’s coming down, he has no lights on,” she told CNN in an interview. “He was hitting people like speed bumps like we were nothing.”
Jabbar’s truck clipped the back of Alexis’ leg. But when she tried to get up from the ground, she realized something else was wrong.
“That’s when I tried to run, but I couldn’t,” she told NBC News. “I knew something was wrong with my foot. I thought it was just a broken bone or something, but it wasn’t. My feet had started leaking.”
When Scott-Windham’s friends realized she’d been shot, they immediately called her mother, who told them to make a tourniquet in order to apply pressure to the area and stop the flow of blood.
“So I just told my daughter’s friend to just tie her other sock around her leg so she wouldn’t bleed so heavy,” Alexis’ mom Tryphena Scott-Windham told NBC News.
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Alexis’ friends sprung into action, getting her blood loss under control before a good Samaritan drove her to the hospital.
You might think Tryphena Scott-Windham’s advice comes from years of medical training, but she says she got the idea from watching television.
“I just blurted that out. I was in straight panic mode,” she told NBC News.
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