Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 48-Tommy Ray Alabama Attendance Record Holder and Alabama Game Preview

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Episode 48-Tommy Ray Alabama Attendance Record Holder and Alabama Game Preview · Johnny's World

• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, glad to do it.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to do it.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I know you got a you got a you got a busy life over there with the doctor and the and the four kids.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: So glad to have you have you on.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Make that happen.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, it's another another another day, another week.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: So uh where we get to talk about college football.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a good thing always.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh looking forward to the weekend, see how everything goes and having fun with our with our little picking league and and uh yeah, it's best time of the year, I know.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, usually I'm not too excited about uh Alabama week coming up here.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I'm excited to talk to our guest today and kind of hear through some of his stories.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: So hopefully that'll make the game a little easier to watch.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's the cool thing about uh about SC football and you know um watching football and and you get to meet all these people from around the around the country and different fan bases, and and uh, you know, the ST motto, you know, is always uh uh it just means more.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: I guess it just does just mean more because you have a pretty good relationship with people around the country.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so happy to bring on our guest today.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I saw a Facebook post not too long ago where a news uh had had interviewed him.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so I contacted the the news people and had some uh this is right up our alley who we'd love to interview.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And uh they gave me his number and I got in touch with him and and uh uh he agreed to do it.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: So so happy to have him on.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh without further ado, I'm gonna go ahead and introduce him.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have uh Tommy Ray from uh Huntsville, Alabama, and uh he is one of uh University of Alabama's biggest fans.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he has a streak of going to uh to Alabama football games and we can't wait to hear all about it.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, Tommy, welcome to uh Johnny Squirrel Podcast and thanks for joining us.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you very much.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it very much, and yeah, I agree.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: It is early, but uh yeah, we'll give it a shot.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: Always love to I always enjoy watching um talking college football.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh Tommy, John was telling me a little bit about your streak of going to games, so uh why don't you just tell everybody kind of kind of how you got started and and uh what led led to where you are now and and some of your your favorite things you've done.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh I guess the old stories started when I was 12 years old, back in 1960, and there was no connections at all with uh University of Alabama football or football in general, period.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but for some reason, the first game of uh 1960, Alabama was on the radio, and I just it just caught my imagination.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: I sat and listened to it.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: And and every week, uh every Saturday, you know, I'd find out where Alabama was playing, and I'd turn and listen to the radio from 1960 to uh 61, 62, and in 63.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: And to me it was just I had just engrossed myself with the stories on the radio, and I and you know, looking back and I've written stuff beforehand, I I don't know at that time if I really thought it was real.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: I figured it was some radio production or some make-believe thing that you know you just listened to and I tuned in.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Well, uh November 1st, 1963, my brother-in-law came home from uh Kenneth McCray came home from work and asked me if I would like to go see Alabama and play football.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I just laughed at him.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I said, you can't go you can't go watch nothing, it's something that's not real.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, uh he pulled two tickets out of his pocket, and uh we and I I held my first two tickets and still uh there was disbelief, and I thought somebody was playing a trick on me.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, long story short, uh the next morning, November 2nd, 1963, and and get this.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: It was homecoming and it was Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: And we had to and we had to get a roadmap to find out where this place called Tuscaloosa was.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we didn't know where it was.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: We had to find a roadmap up in Huntsville.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: So we we journeyed down, and the whole time I didn't think we could get in, even with tickets, because I figured it was uh, you know, things if this thing did exist, you know, hey, they're not gonna let us in.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: We didn't go to the University of Alabama, we don't know a soul down there, and they're just gonna say, ask us some questions and tell us to leave.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I I would have left, I'm sure.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, uh we go down there, we find where Tuscaloosa is, we go in, and I remember walking down the embankment that was at the northwest corner at that time, and they were just bleachers in the end zone.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember walking down, and when the when the crowd parted at the bottom, the first thing I see is Joe Nathan, and he's standing in the end zone there warming up, pre-game, and suddenly the dream that I'd been dreaming for four years, I I walked into it, and that dream was color.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there was red, there was you know, maroon, and suddenly that dream became become colored, and I we made our way to the bleachers in the end zone, and I tell you what, I've never had a 50-yard line suit that was any better than that.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was in the bleachers, but and I was just you don't you don't argue with a dream.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: So we sat there, and every time I saw a policeman or a master anywhere halfway walking toward us, I'd just shrink down and try to hide because I thought they were looking for us to kick us out.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: But long story short, uh we did go we did go to the game.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: They let us in, and uh the Alabama won 20 to 19.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_03: Matter of fact, I still remember uh Mississippi State had several players.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: I uh I remember Overrell and I remember Larry Swearingen, cornerback.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: I remember he intercepted name at that day for the pick six, but Alabama won real late 20 to 19.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: But that's when it started.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: So from 1963, that's the only game I saw that year.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, you know, my dream was just uh, man, I just lived the dream and I figured it would perhaps end, so I'd go back to the radio thing.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: And back in those days, occasionally you could see them on TV, but you know, we didn't have a colored TV.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: We were born very, very poor family.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: And we, you know, when we did see them like once, maybe twice a year, it was a black and white thing.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, uh fast forward to uh from 63 to 1971, I was uh I was able to see uh 26 games, and but they weren't all in a row.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: And then and then the 1970-one season came, and the bowl game, the orange bow, January 1st, 72, I didn't go.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't I couldn't find a ticket, and at that time I didn't know how you do it.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_03: And and of course it was in Miami and had nowhere to get there, so I missed that orange bowl.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: But beginning with the first game of January uh or in 1972, the first game of the season, I went to it, and since then I have been to 640 consecutive football games.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: Last year completed 50 complete years, and and this is in the 51st season.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, I want to say up front, Tommy Ray has done nothing.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the Lord in my life.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: I just uh, you know, football is something the Lord has given me to really enjoy.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I've just uh I just consider myself a very very, very blessed person.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: And every time you know people try to get the attention back to me, I I just want to divert it to where it should be, and that's the Lord, and He just allowed this to happen.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so I have been to the last 640 consecutive games.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: Man, that is amazing.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one thing I'll say is is uh you you went to your first game on my birthday 18 years before I was born, so that's pretty cool.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I was I was thinking about you.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: It was just it I I wrote a piece not not long ago.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Somebody asked me, you know, recounting my first game.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: And of course I sat down as a and I just put my mind back into being the young kid at that time.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: And and you'd have to realize the environment I came up in.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_03: We were I was the youngest of seven, and uh very, you know, I'll say this lovingly, we were very poor.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: We seven people at one time, and we were at l at least four or five were living in a real, real small house.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, uh a high school game was out of the question.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: But to think, you know, to think back then that you know, looking forward that I would I would see that many consecutive football games, a college game, but just amazing.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I I have been very blessed.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, uh that's interesting.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: Your birthday.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, were there some games that were real difficult to get to?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, as far as traveling, it I mean, I don't know how far Alabama's ever been.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever had Go to Hawaii or somewhere just kind of off the wall like that?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I've been uh we've I've been to Hawaii three times, actually four, but I've been three times to a football game.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: We played in the 85 Aloha bow, and then I think it was 2002, 2003 when we were on probation.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, they made their own bow and played two years in a row in Hawaii.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: But uh uh yeah, been three times there and uh been to I think it's 24 different states, and I've seen you know like 55 different stadiums and uh including through last year, I had seen 86 different teams play Alabama.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh but as far as difficult tickets, I I looking back, I think the most difficult one was the 92 national uh national champ, I'm sorry, yeah, national championship again against uh Miami in New Orleans, and that was a very, very difficult ticket.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, you know, since then I've made connections with different people, so it's a lot easier now.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: But that was I remember that was being a very, very tough ticket in 1992, Alabama missed Miami.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, do you some of those games you just have to show up and and hope you can get in there or how but I mean, back before you could get stuff on the internet and and all that stuff, I bet it was a lot tougher.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: Oh well, yeah, that 1963, you know, that my brother-in-law brought those two tickets home, but the 26 games, I I'd say those 26 prior to the seven the streak starting, uh I basically uh I guess my brother-in-law, you know, Kenneth McQuery had best I can remember, just would get tickets one way or the other.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: But starting in 72 when I first started going, all of them, and and and I'll say this right now, this this was not planned, and I ain't planned it now.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not an assuming person, I don't assume anything.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I just I'm just grateful for the day.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: And if the Lord allows me to go to the game Saturday, then I'll just be very grateful and and and leave it in his hands for the next one.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: But uh yeah, for I I'd say from 1972 to probably, you know, guys, probably till about 88, 90, 92, up in there, my tickets came off the street.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: I would go down to the games, I'd put the two fingers up in the air, whatever, and buy tickets.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: And the more and more I did that, the more and more comfortable I got with it.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I've always said there's nothing sold out.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there you don't listen to the media, don't listen to anybody, there's nothing sold out.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: If anybody has a desire and want to go to a game and and just uh you know, just work toward that way, a ticket can be be attained.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's no problem with that.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: But sometimes you have to pay a lot.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: And over the years I I uh I paid some money for some tickets and you know, I made the decision.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: I made it very simple for me.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: I just said, well, okay, Tommy, you're gonna go or you ain't gonna go.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: And if you decide you're going, which I did each week, uh you don't worry about the extra, you don't worry about what you gotta pay, you don't worry about how you get there.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: You just may you just uh you know trust your Lord and just lean on him and just it it it happens.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: But uh the decision is very simple.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: You're going or you're not going.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: If you're going, you don't worry about the particulars.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's it's funny, I I know you don't know us too well, but uh, but my buddy John here, he uh there I hear a lot of the same things that he would do.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he'd always tell me, hey, let's go to this game.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, we don't have any tickets.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: How are we gonna get anything?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, we'll figure it out.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh he he was never afraid to just go up there and like you said, hold up two fingers or go negotiate with some guy on the street corner and and get us in there.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: And it don't matter if we're we're sitting together or not.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we don't care if we're on the front row or the the last row of the stadium, he's gonna get in there when he wants to go.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I know he's gone to a lot of games on his own by himself all over the world too.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: So uh y'all very similar there.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's funny I had the I have the stadium so often, man.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: No game sold out.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: I like you just saying, but there's a way, there's a way.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna have to take it somewhere to tell us how much we're telling you, but but we can always make that happen.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: So uh maybe that's also uh we have a game that's like after that's the best game I went to brand and we have a game that we we always talk about our basketball game that was in Alabama in 2004 on SP State on the on the uh FTC test.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because like for instance, in in some ways I think like you don't want to go back after you experience such a great game, but uh uh but do you have anything to stick out like wow that that's the best game I've ever been to?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I uh let me interject this real quick about we'll we'll get away from the numbers because you know I'm not a I'm not a number freak.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: And for many years, uh the number as it grew, you know, family and stuff like that said, well, we're gonna notify you know the news media and I don't I was just about threatening their life, you know.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, No, I don't I don't want to need the attention.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not, I'm just a a common person on the street that's right that's living a game.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, I don't want to bust that dream.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_03: But when it got up to like 500, word got out, and man, it engulfed me.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, uh back back to the numbers, Rogan, and we'll leave it.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, one of the interesting things about it, you know, you think about 640 games in a row and then plus 26, that's God forgive this number, but I've been I've been to a total of 666 games.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: And if and if the Lord allows me to live and see 14 more games at that point, Alabama started playing football in 1892.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_03: And at that point, I will have seen exactly 50 percent of their games, half of them.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that you know, it just you know, when you stop and look at the numbers, it just says, hey, this is not possible, but just you know, and and people say, Well, how do you do it?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: I said, Well, time of radio and do a time where I had a lot of help with the Lord and friends and stuff like that, but you do it one game at a time.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, back to your question.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'd say the favorite one, you guys are like this, was that first one 1963?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: You know, going in and of course hearing the cowbells.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we won't get into what I think about, but anyway, walking into that stadium, hearing the cowbells and staying seeing the maroon and just seeing my dream become color.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it it just I will never forget that game.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: And and then, of course, fast forwarding the other games is you know, the Texas National Championship game and the Rose Bowl, because Alabama had such a history in the early days of the Rose Bowl.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, you go in that old stadium and you sit there and you think about the number of just memorable players and teams that have played there at the stadium.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: That was pretty special.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, winning it was was nice too.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and um, and of course I'll go to the worst uh guys that you in 19 January 1st, I guess no, I'm sorry, December 31st, 73, uh Alabama played uh Notre Dame in New Orleans, and it was uh a heartbreaker.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: We we Alabama lost 24-23.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_03: And uh guys, I um and let me preface before I say this I've matured a lot over the years and and it doesn't affect me.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: I can walk out of a game now and and losing and and be a human.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: But back then, I remember I was very devastated every time Alabama lost the game.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm to the point of almost like a child, you know, just I cried and it's just upset and just it it really affected me too much.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: And of course I had a brother at that time and other people that sort of tried to get through to me and say, hey, you know, you're putting too much faith in you know, 18, 19, 20-year-old kids.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: But I was just engulfed in it as far as attachment to it because of my early history of following it and just being able to see it.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: But uh that 73 game, I recall we we it was in New Orleans, and and what I'm about to tell you, I'm not very proud of, but it's a story and it's it just could be laughed at.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_03: We uh early in the day we just walked down Burberry Street just to to see the environment, didn't go into anything, but I I ate a hot dog or something down there and then went to the game later that evening.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: Alabama lost, and I got up the next morning.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that night we drove back to Biloxi, stayed there, and we didn't need a bite of supper, got up the next morning, drove home, didn't eat a bite all day long, and then the following Monday I had to go to work uh on my job in Dyersburg, Tennessee, you know, after getting back home to hustle.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it was lunch that day is the first bite of food I put in my mouth.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I went basically three days without eating, and that's how it consumed me at that time.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I just, you know, I look back and I'm you know embarrassed about how it affected me.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: But hey, it was real.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it just it really and that every Alabama fan, I promise you, that was of age at that time and and saw that game, they will say the same thing that that game was the most difficult game that they ever had to go through.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: And it was just very a very tough game the way it happened.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was like a game of the century.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: But it was uh, hey guys, I've grown up blight and I can I can lose like at Tennessee when I left that place the other night.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: I was able to eat with no problem.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_03: Life goes on, so you finally realize that.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: But but uh I've been you know very, like I say, very blessed.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: And as far as my record, you may enjoy this, but as far as my record against Mississippi State, uh my personal record is 44 and 7 in the games that I've seen state played.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: And Tuscalosa it's 22 and 2 and Startwall 14 and 4.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: Jackson 5 and 1 and Birmingham 3-0.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I've got a sheet that I've because of a number of questions and over the summer I just I just write all this stuff down so I can answer questions.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I know personally, you know, where I stand with each team as far as having seen them.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: But so I've seen uh Alabama, Mississippi State uh now 51 51 times.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: And hopefully, Lord will it do Saturday.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that you sent me that.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: That was uh that was amazing.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: I love how you had it break broken down from each state and city and all that.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool to to see that.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um is there any is any stadium that just sticks out that like, hey, that's my favorite stadium to travel to, or or is it um which one do you like the best?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it it's uh Tiger Stadium in LSU.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: It uh I know the first time I went in there, I've I walked into that place and it's so intimidating.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the colors of the stadium itself, the purple and the gold, are dark, you know, intimidating colors, and the stands go straight up, as you know, and they were originally dorms all around.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: There was no portals to let the the portals, but they were you know closed off by dorms.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: So it's the sound we get trapped in there, and it's uh, you know, that's why they'll call it what they do, uh Death Valley.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: Death Valley.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that was that was probably my favorite.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: I always enjoy going to LSU, but I'm you know, I I got an LSU friend, I met down there, but I every now and then I have to realize I have to make him realize that going to LSU, my record of seeing Alabama play down there is 20 wins and four losses and one tie.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: So Alabama for many years from Alabama for many years owned that place down there.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: They didn't lose for like five decades at a tie in there.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: But uh yeah, LSU uh Tiger Stadium.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: And uh of course, I you know, I'm not saying it's because of you guys, but I enjoy my trips to start startable because it's like an open-air type thing, and they've made such wonderful improvements, and it's become quite an atmosphere.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I've seen them, you know, like I said, I've seen them, I've seen them loss, lose, and start for four times over, and just uh probably the most heartbreaking one, of course.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Mississippi was not instructed, but Jackson went Alabama fumbled on the goal line at the end of the game to lose six to three and broke a like a twenty eight game winning streak and a two year run of national championship.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: So I remember that day very vividly, and I remember the celebration of Mississippi State players out on the field, even though it hurt.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: I knew how much it meant to them.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: And you just sort of look at it in that in that perspective that, hey, you know, you play the games, you're gonna win and lose.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: So uh that's a game I remember for a long, long time.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had uh we had the uh John Bond on our podcast not too long ago.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: He was a quarterback from state on that team.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh and I I remember I read somewhere, or maybe he told me or somebody said something that the coach Bryant, after that game, he went into the state locker room to congratulate the state players and the coach uh at Mississippi State.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's just amazing.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't see that this day in time, uh opposing coach after such a loss like that, do that.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: So just uh you could tell why that man was so respected and everything.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Just really amazing to hear that.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he in fact did, and I'm and I'm 99% sure I'm correct on what I'm saying.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: The next year you guys came to Tuscaloosa and and just about pulled off an upset there.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he about sat down.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: I remember Bond drove him, he broke some long runs on the last drive and got him down to the go line.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember he he threw a batted interception in there, and and Tommy Wilcox of Alabama intercepted at the end, but yeah, y'all were about to pull off one there too.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: But uh John Bine was a uh he was a good one.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: He he's uh a great football player.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: Fortunate fortunate to see him play.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this has been amazing.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I really appreciate all these stories.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, it's it's always hard for me to root for Alabama just because y'all win all the time.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: But man, I I I I feel a little bit better about it now that I that I know one of the fans there and and uh how passionate you are.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I don't think I'll feel quite as bad next time y'all beat us.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: I I fully been an Alabama fan, I've you know, very enjoyable and I enjoy it and I but I do fully understand.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm and I'm not a typical Alabama fan in a lot of ways during the week, during the days.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_03: You you'll never it will be a very rare circumstance if you ever see me wearing red.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: I don't wear the stuff all the time.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: I don't do that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: I you know, I don't take it to work with me, but uh yeah, I just uh but I I appreciate college football.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I really do, and and just the the enormity of it and just the pageantry of it, and just uh it yeah, the um, and I was gonna make a point and I I forgot it, but it was um, yeah, it was it's something I really enjoy and and and you know it uh you you put too many personal factors into it and it becomes something that really isn't.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it just I'm I've sat you know, I've sat in the middle of the opposing theme, student sections and stuff like that, and just uh and I survive, but uh yeah, it's a special game, and I think people ought to realize that you know that we live in a free country and God has really blessed this country and and and and and has allowed us to be able to make choices and to be able to go to Hawaii or to be able to go to Baton Rouge or start to see a football game.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: And and I tell you what, when that star spangled banner is played, I mean every place in there ought to be standing with hats off and chills just running down their back to be able to be fortunate enough to live in a country and under a wonderful God that allows us to do things like that and just uh hey, count your blessings because like I say on my personal situation and attending these games, I assume nothing.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I don't assume any of the games and I never planned it.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, just to be thankful for the moment and just uh I guess just revel in it and be thankful.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think that's that's a pretty good way to end it right there.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: So uh we really appreciate it, Tommy.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: And uh looking forward to sharing this with our audience.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks so much, Tommy, for joining us.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: We really really appreciate that.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, hopefully one day I'll get to meet you guys and uh also to uh should anybody ask.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: I've already asked family and stuff, how how would they be able to access the seat to hear this or whatever y'all put on Facebook?
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Can you send me a link or yes, sir?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we'll sit we'll send you a link and uh I've got your email address.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I can email it to you, and John can also send it to your phone.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll make sure you have it.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: It'll probably go up later today.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll um we'll be sure to send you that.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: And just be, you know, I just want to make it straight known to anybody that's listening or whatever that football's not my life, the Lord is, and I'm I'm blessed to be able to share it.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm that dream that started November 2nd, 1963.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's still going, and and I thank the Lord for every single day.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: And guys, you have a great day.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's been my it's been my pleasure.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate it.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: All right, thank you, guys.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: Take care.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: All right, all right, bye-bye.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Man, that was amazing.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I wish I could uh have seen some of the the stuff that he's seen.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he he he's seen a lot through the years.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh on our end, if we were if we did this at Mississippi State, uh man, we would have seen tons of losses.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we would have.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: We would have.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, it's about the experience there.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm running a little short on time, Johnny.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: So let's uh let's make some picks and wrap it up here.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: All right, let's do this.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I just I just wanted to say, man, uh after that game last week, I was, you know, like I I I wasn't quite as upset as as Tommy was after that Notre Dame game, but but I was pretty upset.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: I I just uh got my hopes up, thought we'd we'd get up there and do something, and we just kind of lost our identity up there.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh I'm hoping it it turned out to be that that Mike Leach game you talked about at the beginning of the season that we're gonna have one that's just kind of unexplained.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I hope that's it and uh hope we can kind of get back on track here after after this week.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh yeah, that's the Mike Leach effect of learning through the years.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh anyone who watches college football knows that Mike Leach is liable to drop an Atlanta egg against somebody there he's supposed to beat, and then lo and behold, he'll come back and beat someone that he has no business beating.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: So uh going into the season, when we made our preseason predictions, I I said we'd lose to either Arkansas or Kentucky.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know which one.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought we'd drop one of them, and it turns out we did.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: But uh when we made our picks last week, I thought we were gonna beat Kentucky because I thought we had turned it around.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we beat AM, beat Arkansas, seemed to be on a roll.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: But ma'am, why do I why do I fall myself into this stuff?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen this so many times happen that that we do something like that when we're favored and go on the road, and then we lose a game that weren't we're not supposed to, and then the whole fan base falls off.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same pattern.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the same thing happens over and over again.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: You get so fired up, you get let down, people get mad, and then lo and behold, you come back and win, and people jump back on.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a continuous process.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, hey, all they can do is just uh is whether they say flush that one and move on to the next one.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the worst part of all those we got to play Alabama after a loss.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I think I read where uh five times after Alabama has lost, Mississippi State has been their opponent uh coming up.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that hasn't been good for Mississippi State, and I don't expect it to be good this week either.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, look, all you can do is look forward to the uh schedule and see what we have coming up next.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh we have a bye week after Bama, so that'll be a good thing to get everybody's um mind right and going on to the last few games of the season.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, yep.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't think I have a whole lot to say about the game.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: I you know, I I don't see a way we could go over there and pull it off, especially after uh they lost last week.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I think maybe we'll score 14 points and they're gonna put up something like 35, 40, 45 something points on us, and uh just depending on how much they want to run the ball and run the clock.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think that's my prediction.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: You're being generous, uh BW on that.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: I I I'm going Bama 59, Mississippi State zero.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we're gonna score.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're gonna just get absolutely taken to the woodshed.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we had an unfortunate thing happen with a football player passing away yesterday.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I think our minds are not on football.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the uh I hope I'm wrong on all this, hope that we we are focused, but I just feel like um our minds aren't there and and just I don't know.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm hoping we can we can do stuff.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: The way I'm saying it is when I say something negative like that, and then we end up doing better, it makes me feel better compared to uh going into it with big hopes and then getting let down.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm going into it with a just just a disastrous feeling.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Feel sorry for the state fans or traveling to the game because it's probably not gonna be a good one.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, uh be going there, get to go and do stuff in Tuscaloosa and go to the game and everything.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's what's about the experience.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so probably yeah, we do need some state fans there, and hopefully some will show up, but uh but I'm not looking forward to um to the game as far as playing.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, I've been I've been shocked before, so uh I don't know, but I think we're gonna get blown out.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: But uh with me saying that, let's go ahead and uh talk about our our pick'em league, Brandon.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Looks like uh my friend uh Tommy Robinson, back-to-back winners won last week and won this week.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: I messaged him, told him he won, and he told me uh he said, Hey man, if you want me to come on the podcast and give uh listeners uh uh ways on how to pick, uh, I'll be happy to do it because he's on a roll.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, I think me and you are still in the top three or four.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh uh it's coming down to the wire.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I had a pretty rough week last week.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: I I did I I'm kind of tailing off here.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess got two up on the high horse about it.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe we do need to get Tommy on here.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: If he come on here and tell us how he's how good he is, maybe he'll fall back down and we'll we'll move back up.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, but if you're out there listening, uh thank you for joining us and thank you for listening to us, and thank you for um yeah, we just hit 9,000 downloads last week.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh uh so awesome to have people here who are consistently listening to the podcast and we really appreciate it.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh um, of course, I have to say this every time because it's why we do it, you know, is to is to uh we enjoy talking to people like we had Tommy on today and hearing stories about SEC and about football and things in general uh that we enjoy.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: But uh it's cool to uh do the pick them thing and and uh and when we do that, you know, the winner gets a uh bag of coffee from jonypacker.com.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we really appreciate Brandon putting that together with johnnypacker.com because uh just helps people know my fight with CF and and uh that the money raised through uh purchases on that website goes towards helping people like me who suffer from cystic fibrosis.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so yeah, so win-win deal all around and and uh thankful for um people out there.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're in our pick'em league and you hadn't made the picks yet, make sure you pick pick them because uh uh it's a season um continue it continues on through the season as far as overall standing.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: So if you miss one week, you get behind.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh for those that have been doing it every week, we we thank you for that and and keep it up.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Johnny.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, y'all have a good weekend.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: Have a good one.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: Take care.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: All right.