Archive for October, 2011

Roll Tide, Chicago!

A full third (actually 34%) of current UA students hail from outside the state of Alabama.

Recruitment event wrap-up

This past Monday’s recruitment event in Lombard was a huge success. There were between 150-200 people there, local high school students and their parents. And we had 10-15 chapter members on hand to greet guests, help them check in, and answer questions. The representatives from the University were very impressed; they mentioned to me that out-of-state events never get that many chapter members to show up. So thank you for making us look good!

I wanted to share with you an excerpt from a letter our chapter received from our first-ever scholarship recipient, Michael Kallay, who is a freshman at UA. But first off, I offer the chapter’s sincere gratitude to all of you who have ever bought a square, a t-shirt, a membership, or a raffle ticket. We have several purposes as a chapter–promoting the University, fostering camaraderie among alums–but the most satisfying to me is establishing a scholarship to help students from our area attend Alabama, particularly those students for whom our scholarship will make a big difference. While our scholarship is small right now, someday, we’d love to offer one that equals a year’s tuition. And every time you buy a square or raffle ticket, you help us toward that goal. Your support and generosity are always deeply appreciated. But perhaps Michael says it best: “Thank you for your generous contribution in funding my education at the University of Alabama. The Chicago, Illinois Chapter Endowed Scholarship will help make my dream of attending the University of Alabama a reality. There is no other University in the country with a greater tradition of success…I will work hard every day at UA and prove myself worthy of the scholarship.”

Enjoy your bye-week. Happy Halloween!

RTR,

Laura

Last weekend I had the chance to see the Tide up close and personal down in T-Town. A couple of random observations about T-Town and the game day experience:

• The campus is growing faster than even I thought was possible. I lived in Paty Hall my freshman year which back then was the wasteland of campus. Now there are so many new buildings over there it is like an entire new version of Alabama has sprouted up.
• When  a Bama polo shirt costs more than the ticket to get into the game you know that something is out of whack.
• As you know, I am old school when it comes to my Alabama football viewing. I don’t like new uniforms, I wish Bama ran the ball 50 times a game etc. I am also a 100% music snob (ask Laura), so two things caught my ear at the game Saturday. First, when the Million Dollar band came out at half-time to do their tribute to Elton John, I was expecting to hear, you know, some Elton John songs. So what song does the band start off with? Elton John’s version of Pinball Wizard from the Who’s movie Tommy. I have two problems with this: #1 how in the world can a marching band play a different version of Pinball Wizard? Like if you walked in and heard this you’d think the Band is playing a Who song. #2 are you telling me that with the 100’s of Elton John songs that we all know they couldn’t have picked three of his own to play. That said, I still get chills when the band breaks into Yea Alabama nothing tops that seeing it live.
• When you think of rousing sports anthems to play at stadiums what comes to mind? We will Rock You? Rock N Roll Part 2? Pump up the Jams? When did Sweet Carolina by that hard rocker Neil Diamond come into vogue? I get that it is played at Fenway Park in Boston but in the 3rd quarter of the game on Saturday all of a sudden it comes over the PA and the words come up on the video board. The entire student section starts singing and during the Da-Da-Da part they change the words to Roll Tide Roll. Please make it stop…
• Seeing what is left from the tornado just brings it all right back. We all need to continue to support the tornado relief effort because while 15^th street is cleared of rubble it will take a long time for people to rebuild.

Can you imagine losing a chance to play for the national title or at least be in the conversation on a Hail Mary? If I were a Wisconsin fan last Saturday I think I would have put my foot through the TV.

Mark my words, the winner of the LSU/Bama game is going to play Boise for the national title. Thus ending the BCS as we know it.

This week in things I didn’t know until I was a dad: Maya has started to get into music. I play all kinds for her, and I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that the group she seems to respond to most of all is Hall and Oates. At least they are better than Neil Diamond.

Roll Tide, Chicago!

Well, that’s what I get for calling another shutout, I guess.

UA fun fact: Alabama can claim, among other alumni, a Supreme Court justice – Hugo L. Black, who graduated from the law school in 1906. He was appointed to the Court by FDR.

Enjoy some sanctioned, adult-supervised aggression this Saturday at the Houndstooth with our annual Tennessee Pinata Party. Just don’t trample each other for the candy. Also, in addition to our usual squares fundraiser, we’ll be having a raffle with some fun prizes, including a Bama snuggie. So bring your money! I will be at Another Round this Saturday, and I’m looking forward to meeting the crowd out there.

I love the Third Saturday in October. Event when it’s not the third Saturday in October.

Just a reminder that the University will be hosting a student recruitment reception at The Westin Lombard in Lombard, IL on Monday, October 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. Yours truly will be introducing somebody or saying something (I promise to be more eloquent when the moment arrives). If you are available to help out at the event, please contact Margaret Ila Christian at the university. Her email is margaret.i.christian@ua.edu.

I have it from good sources that you’ll learn a few things at this event that you never knew about your alma mater. The East Tennessee Chapter had 400 people at their recruitment event, and while we may not be able to match that, we’d love to have a strong crowd. So even if you can’t volunteer, come on out.

RTR,

Laura

We like to claim that the SEC is the best conference year in and year out in college football. While LSU/Bama and Arkansas are holding up their end of the bargain this year the rest of the SEC is average at best and down right awful at most. While I enjoyed watching the Tide lay the beatdown on Ole Miss it’s embarrassing to the conference to have a road team win 52-7. Combine that with LSU crushing the Vols 38-7 and you have the two best teams going on the road and winning 90-14. That my friends is not the SEC football we are used to seeing.