This is a spotlight that highlights a trash football tradition of Ohio State's upcoming opponent. This week, we're looking at the Buckeyes' national title opponent in Alabama.
Ryan Day, Justin fields and Ohio State are set to end their remarkable journey through a 2020 season that wasn't even supposed to happen on Monday night.
When they take the field, it'll be Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide looking back at them from the other sideline. The Buckeyes will be 10 days removed from dispatching college football playoff mainstay Clemson, and they'll be asked to do the same to the only other school in the country with a similar status to win it all.
The Buckeyes used an advantage in the trenches on both sides of the ball to overcome Clemson, and it'll have to do so again to upset the Tide, who are listed as 8-point favorites.
There is no doubt that Ohio State faces its stiffest test of the season on Monday night. Alabama is one of the bluest of bluebloods in college football, with as much tradition as anyone in the country.
But after looking at the Tide's recognized traditions, their lauded marching band stood out.
Tradition's Origin
Alabama's marching band has been a school tradition for well over a century, and it has a lot of history. It started as a modest outfit before growing into what it is today, which is, "easily the largest student organization on campus," according to its official website.
But the band took on a prevalent role in the program in 1922. After getting walloped by Georgia Tech 33-7, a very sassy reporter asked then Alabama head coach W. C. Pickens, "You don't have much of a team, what do you have at Alabama?"
Side note — if Ohio State wins on Monday I will personally Venmo the reporter who asks Saban this exact question fifty American dollars ($50), and I am 100 percent not joking. Please screen grab this and send it to your favorite writer.
Anyway, Pickens had a good response to that question. At the time, the Alabama Marching Band wasn't funded in a way that it could travel with the Tide to road games. Members of the band didn't let that stop them from fundraising efforts that would allow them to make the trip.
Pickens used the question above as an opportunity to complement the group. He simply answered, "A Million Dollar Band."
While the origin of the band's name is weirdly contested in the Alabama community, the story above was referenced in a school program in 1948 and is also cited on the official athletic website, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Why It's Trash
The "Million Dollar Band" story is admittedly cool, but there's a problem with it because Alabama's celebrated marching band doesn't really provide what one might consider a million dollar experience.
It doesn't appear that was always the case. In 2003, Alabama's band won the Sudler Trophy, an award given to crown the "national champion" of marching bands. Ohio State won the award in the third year of its inception (1984), and bands cannot win the award twice.
While doing research, I grew excited to watch what the band was capable of (considering many Ohio State fans are known to enjoy marching band performances for some reason).
This is what I found.
I'm surprised you're reading this because I expected most (if not all) of you to have fallen asleep by now. And that's not even me watching this through scarlet and gray-tinted glasses. This is the only public comment on that video, assumedly from an Alabama fan.
Another super boring half time show from Ozzello ... gosh these amazing men and women deserve so much better. This may be one of his biggest snooze fests he has every [sic] put together.
Even the pregame performance, which as far as I can tell is the same for every game, feels a bit mechanical, unlike the whimsical and artistic performances Buckeye fans are used to.
And meanwhile, Ohio State's Marching Band is out there conceptualizing intricate poetry in motion several times a year.
Those are million-dollar experiences.
There is a clear and distinct difference between the sophistication, skill and precision between these two marching bands. Here's to hoping the same goes for the football teams on the field next Monday.
