H2 For You: Storming Fans is Sports' Sincerest Form of Flattery
It's like asking which side of the aisle you're on politically, either you support a team and y'all rejoice in unison by storming the field or court or said team beat yours and you despise the practice altogether.
It's divisive, of course inherently, because not often do opposing sides of supporters simultaneously-while-inversely experience jubilation and jadedness to that degree.
And, as someone no different than the rest of you zealous spectators of sports, I've realized being on the wrong end of a celebratory night like Saturday at Kyle Field is the equal to a well-executed impersonation with pure intentions.
Save for pure being an inaccurate piece to an otherwise true analogy, it's the sincerest form of flattery in an emotional tangle of competition between both players and fans singularly starving for a conversational advantage come time for talks at the water cooler.
If those still exist, that is.
Beating the top-ranked Tide, ending its 100-game win streak versus unraked opponents and getting an intimate look at Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher after defeating Nick Saban, his former boss, sure makes me think they do.
Think about it, though.
Whether we're talking Duke basketball, Alabama football or, though recently an unwarranted example, the New York Yankees, the passion of each fan base isn't only matched but surpassed when underdogs do the unlikely and beat one of sports' royalty.
Which bring me to this: In the eyes of those rooting for said ball clubs, storming fans out of their seats brings a twisted satisfaction to people otherwise witnessing in agony. Admit it, when you saw Aggies coming from all directions, either on television or in person, you thought, "That's why you're not Alabama."
Or some variation, absolutely.
And that's it, my point.
It calls for one or two or five too many beverages, and it calls for a social media rant but, in the case of Crimson Tide fans, it calls for recognizing how fortunate you are to live through the greatest, most accomplished era ever conceived by a college football program.
One more reminder, too, while I remember: It calls for savoring the moments sports supply, just as those in College Station did a few nights ago. In that regard, they've got it figured out.
Not to say everybody with an allegiance to Alabama football should mimic the concept, because then you'd be un-Alabama and you'd be like them.
But flattery can be subtle and demonstrative, passive and aggressive, envious and content, and you know it when you see it.
