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Color Me Crimson: Can Football Unite Alabama?

Tua Tagovailoa #13 of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts with Evan Neal #73 after fumbling the ball during the first half against the LSU Tigers.
Todd Kirkland/Getty Images
Tua Tagovailoa #13 of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts with Evan Neal #73 after fumbling the ball during the first half against the LSU Tigers.

Nothing brings people together like a common enemy, right? Also, matching jerseys and a rallying cry. University of Alabama football fans have been united by the Crimson Tide for generations, but is chanting “roll tide” really powerful enough to bridge Alabama’s political and social divides?

As Ben Flanagan writes for AL.com:

Covering Alabama football fans for the better part of a decade now, spending countless hours around hundreds of tailgates operated by all sorts of people, I’ve seen an almost universally positive and cohesive environment. Time seems to stop in Tuscaloosa when the Crimson Tide hit the field.

But is this cohesion as fleeting as the game clock?

Produced by Haili Blassingame.

GUESTS

Ben Flanagan, Entertainment and sports producer, AL.com; host, “Bammers.” ; @ThisBenFlanagan

Hannah Stephens, “sign girl,” University of Alabama; analyst and contributor, Roll Tide Wire.; @TheHannahSShow

Erin Tarver, Associate professor of philosophy, Emory University; author, “The I in Team: Sports Fandom and the Reproduction of Identity.”; @drtarver

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

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