It would be fair to say that I have never been an avid MSU football fan. In fact, I was one of those people who didn’t even know it was a game day until I found myself in aggravating traffic for hours.
Not that I did not find football exciting. I just did not feel our team was something to be proud of. I am not just talking about their record of wins and losses, but also the ball club as an entity.
This was especially the case on holidays when I was surrounded by my Alabama Roll Tide family.
Today my opinion of MSU football is completely different. When we were searching for a coach, I found myself drawn to Croom and could not believe Alabama passed him up. If playing for Bear Bryant had any impact on his coaching abilities, they were crazy not to hire him.
After we chose Croom, I began hearing Bama fans express their feelings about the two clubs’ choice of coach. I could not suppress my smiles. They may not share their taste in hats, but Sylvester Croom and Bear Bryant have striking similarities in all the right places.
We are in for one glorious ride if Croom can do for our organization what Bear Bryant did for the Crimson Tide. If even half of the prophetic sentiments come true, this will indeed be the Croom Era.
Over the summer, I kept catching snippets in the news about what a disciplined team Croom was running and all the ir hard work.
The more I heard about Croom’s team of Bulldogs, the more my outlook on MSU football brightened. I started realizing that this would finally be a good year for MSU football and a good year for MSU.
On the first day of classes, I heard Croom speak and it gave me chills. I heard him saying things that I desperately wanted and needed to hear. Playing football and representing your school is a privilege, not a right. We were going to have a team we could be proud of and support wholeheartedly.
At that point, I was already on the bandwagon. When I found out Croom had given his speech early to hurry back to practice, I couldn’t help but be proud of our team and its coach.
It was already apparent that they had put in a lot of hard work to give this college, community and state something we could all be proud of.
Since our first game fell on a long weekend, I found myself at home with my family, who were lamenting the exclusion of the Bama game from the televised game lineup for Saturday.
This meant I got to watch MSU on the big screen on mute while everyone else in my family listened to the Bama game on the radio.
It was quite comical, especially when the two teams scored at the same time. Then strangest thing happened: everyone started watching the MSU game. You may not think that is strange, but it is in my house.
As I watched the game I could not help but notice the sleeker, stronger, more confident and team-oriented players. It truly was a whole new ballgame.
When Croom got the obligatory victory cooler dousing, I could not help but cheer.
For the first time I was excited to watch the Bulldogs play, and elated at their victory.
As for Auburn, I will be at the stadium in person this time cheering our new and improved Bulldogs on to victory. See you there tomorrow.
Adrienne Howse is a junior communication major. She can be reached at [email protected].