This blog is in no way meant to shit on small schools. I did a small stint at Scranton. I had some of the best nights of my life there with people I cherish dearly. But going to Alabama was possibly the best decision I’ve made thus far.
First of all money wise, especially in the south, it isn’t even close. I saved nearly 70k leaving Scranton for Alabama. Of course if your in-state you might want weigh your options, but don’t. I urge everyone choosing a school to go big. My little brother was thinking that Rowan or FDU or Ramapo route. I plead with him to get out of our little part of the world for a couple years. Unconvinced, I took him on a college tour to see campuses by day and party by night. Just him and I. We did Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Florida, Florida St., Georgia, and Alabama in about a week and a half. He was a Seminole by spring.
If you’re a sports fan already it’s an easy sell. Do you know how much I paid for my student ticket package at Alabama? $75. It included every single home game and a free first come first serve approach for away games.
Nothing fired me up like walking to class on a Friday seeing them starting to set up the tents on the quad for Saturday’s showdown. Passing guys that I would be drafting on my fantasy team the following year on my way to sociology. And the games my goodness, there’s no describing it. Nerves despite a perfect record. Screaming your head off despite losing your voice. Losing your ever loving mind for touchdowns and turnovers. Then win or lose, we booze. Luckily in my case, we rarely lost.
But even if you aren’t into sports, something will happen to you. Whether it’s camaraderie, protecting your investment, or just an excuse to drink, you will become a fan. The culture will swallow you up. There’s a sense of pride that you wear going to a big football school. Nobody talks shit about your small private college, there’s no reason to? But when you go to an Alabama or a Michigan or whatever, you have to constantly defend your program. You will find yourself drunk in a bar screaming at a stranger with a finger in their face over the state of your team. It’s inevitable. I had a friend who went to Alabama, didn’t give a fuck about football. Didn’t know a quarterback from an offensive lineman, told me she planned on selling all her tickets. I can still see all 5’2” of her screaming with her eyes bulging out, “BLOOD MAKES THE GRASS GROW!! KILL! KILL!”
Then you graduate, and you’re very very sad.
Until football rolls back around. You dust off your lucky hat, throw on a jersey and socks with your school’s emblem and verbally assault a TV. It’s just like you remember it. The passion is still very much alive.
Look at this last week. We have programs throwing parades for their newly hired messiahs. Grown adults treating an ex-coach like a terrorist for releasing a photo of him flipping the bird. Michigan snuffing Ohio St.’s dreams after a ten year losing streak. Then 100k people stormed the Big House to dance on their graves. Bedlam was, well, Bedlam and OK St. quite literally ran Lincoln Riley out of town. I had to watch the Iron Bowl with shock paddles on standby as Alabama and Auburn went to quadruple overtime. I was screaming to let me suit up. The anger and heat inside me truly convinced me believe I could plug our right side of the OLine. Thankfully, Alabama broke the streak of five home teams winning in a row to keep their playoff hopes alive.
This shits for life. I mean, so are the loans but totally worth it.
If you’re just graduating high school, get out there. Your hometown isn’t going anywhere. There’s no cure for a hangover quite like sweating in a stadium filled with 100k people. If you’re at a small school, leave. Coaches leave on ten minutes notice, athletes enter the transfer portal, there’s no reason engineer majors can’t pull the same stunt. If you graduated from a big school, I’ll see you in the rear view. If you graduated from a small school, you fucked up.
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