Last December’s trip to Legion Field was a bittersweet moment for me.On the one hand, I was going to see Talladega County Central play on the state’s biggest stage, a seminal moment for the tiny school as well as the area at large.
On the other, I was going back to Legion Field.
Backtracking, it took me until 1996 to make my first-ever trip to the Old Lady of Greymont. By then, I was a sophomore in high school, and my dad surprised me with tickets to the Iron Bowl — back when it was still somewhat correct to call it that — during the week.
You have to understand, I’m a sports junkie, and college football is where I most often get my fix. So a trip to Legion Field was a revelation — even in 1996, when the stadium was largely run down and the neighborhood a mess, a true fan can still see Bo Jackson, Van Tiffin, Shug Jordan and Bear Bryant.
My return to Legion was less triumphant. Like most fans in the state, I’d left Greymont Avenue behind me after 2003, when I visited for what turned out to be Alabama’s final appearance there: a ho-hum season-opening victory over South Florida in the debut of Mike Shula.
Going back for the ’08 Super 6 was akin to visiting a sick friend you haven’t seen in a while — you’ve prepared yourself, you’ve heard other people talk about it, you know it won’t look like you remember ... but still, it’s a little jarring when you see it up close, isn’t it?
So believe me when I say: I’m not advocating that Auburn and Alabama make a return venture to Legion Field, or even in Birmingham. I’m not. Too much has happened, too many factors have ruined the idea of the Iron Bowl ever becoming THE IRON BOWL the way it used to be
All I’m saying is that I truly miss the concept of the neutral site. I miss the bands playing the national anthem together, miss the two student sections jeering at one another, miss the idea of neither side having a home field advantage.
I miss all this, and I wasn’t even around to see it. And I’d like to be around to see it happen again.
Can it happen again, though?
Unfortunately, venues around the state don’t offer us very many options as fans. In the old days, Legion Field was the state’s largest venue, large enough that both Auburn and Alabama played occasional home games in Birmingham (and in some cases, on the same date).
Now Bryant-Denny (92,000-plus) in Tuscaloosa and Jordan-Hare (87,000-plus) are easily the two largest football venues in the state. In fact, among sports venues within the state’s borders, only one place can rival either stadium.
You’ve probably already guessed where it is.
Come to think of it, what if the world’s fiercest rivalry came to Talladega Superspeedway? Couldn’t this work, or am I crazy?
It’s not as though Talladega isn’t equipped to handle the crowds. The folks at TSS don’t release official attendance figures after each race, but anyone can see the crowds at Talladega rival anything you get at an average football weekend in either Auburn or Tuscaloosa.
The tailgating spots are plentiful. And frankly, there’s nothing local law enforcement would see from an Auburn-Bama crowd that hasn’t been seen during race weekend.
As many reasons exist for why it wouldn’t work, too.
For one thing, there’s the question of where they’d actually play the game. Constructing a football field isn’t like marking off a cow pasture — these days you need quality turf, and plentiful space for sidelines, media, fans and so forth.
(Note: the turf problem could possibly be solved by the folks at Pursell Farms, just for the record. Just ask the folks in Fayetteville.)
The biggest problem, of course, is lighting. Talladega doesn’t have any (and doesn’t plan to, they insist). And unlike racing, football games tend to take place during times in the day where lighting is somewhat necessary.
(Note: if I could, I’d solve this problem by telling the TV networks to cram it in their ear, and play the game at noon. But TV dollars talk too loudly, and no one’s going to turn those down.)
All I’m saying is to give the idea a chance. It’s the age of outside-the-box thinking — the NHL’s playing games outdoors, the NBA’s trying the same thing ... even the NFL is experimenting with games overseas.
And even though it probably won’t ever happen, we can dream, can’t we?
