I hate the vols more than even the barn because I learned from the man I respected the
most in football what that the rivalry means . it goes back a long time , to my boy hood days .
I figured if the best coach I ever saw hated them enough to play against them with a broke leg it
was good enough for me too . As it turns out even after he passed away he was right
they lived up to (and then some) the reason he hated them so much
I knew he was right and they proved it ... was there any doubt he knew all along ?
we always have cigars for the vols game , smoked my last one in Bryant Denny in 2009
shortly after Cody blocked that kick . I knew before that game we were going to win ,
the guys just had that aura to them , especially Cody ...
ya'll have probably read it but in honor of CPB and the cigar tradition it deserves to be read again ... so
Smoke-em if you got 'em, Bama fans.
The sweet taste of an October victory-cigar after slapping-around the Tennessee Vols in front of their home folks, is pretty sweet. Coach Bryant started the victory-cigar tradition for Bama when he returned to the Capstone in 1959. He hated Two things:Tennessee and his players smoking cigarettes. As a player, Coach Bryant, an all-SEC tight end, despised Tennessee more than any other opponent. He even broke his leg in the first quarter of a game aginst Tennessee and played the entire game. He said he did not want to miss a single opportunity to hit someone from Tennessee.
Smoking was prohibited on Bryant's teams and if you were caught smoking, you were kicked off the team.No fancy-smanzy two-week suspension like today, OFF THE TEAM. Ask Joe Namath. He was kicked off the Bama team late one season for smoking and reserve QB Steve Sloan guided the Crimson Tide to a Sugar Bowl victory. But Coach Bryant knew his kids. After that first win over Tennessee, Coach Bryant locked the doors to the dressing room immediately after he and the team had entered. No press. No one that wasn't with the team. Coaches passed out cigars and the team had a victory smoke and sang Yeah! Alabama.