We Want 'Bama!: Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide's Decade of Dominance

(Hardback)

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Was Alabama's Crimson Tide in 2020 the greatest team of all time The squad went 13-0 in a pandemic year, scored a combined 107 points against SEC powerhouses LSU and Florida, crushed Ohio State in a National Championship Game 52-24 in a contest that wasn't even that close, and followed it up with another top-rated signing class.

Nick Saban called his boys the "ultimate team," but it wasn't just because they kicked the ever-living hell out of everyone on the football field. It was because the team leveraged a power and influence born of Southern pride to push back against a hateful legacy of racism that a populist president was exploiting to divide the nation. At a time when Americans needed real leaders in the face of so much hate, the sports world answered the call and fought back for the soul of the country.

In the summer of 2020, the Tide players left their training facility and, led by their celebrated coach, marched to a campus doorway made infamous sixty years earlier by another political demagogue and showed what people can accomplish when they fight together for a just cause in the name of unity. The most powerful force in a state crazy for college football had chosen to make a stand and replace George Wallace's "Segregation forever!" with a different message, written by one of the players: "All lives can't matter until Black lives matter."

There have been some great football teams through the years, and they all deserve respect. But here's what we know for sure: They all would have been appreciative of what this Alabama team represented, and proud of what it accomplished. The Crimson Tide in 2020 captured something special that moved it beyond the conversation of best ever, and into the place reserved for most important of all time.

Reviews

"If David Foster Wallace was from red clay country and liked football instead of tennis, he might have approached Goodman's gonzo-lashed prose. An outstanding work of sports journalism that far transcends mere sports. Roll Tide."

--Kirkus (starred review)
"OMG. Read this book. Now. Joseph Goodman's fever dream about our great and terrible state recalls Hunter S. Thompson, Charles P. Pierce, and W.J. Cash on a good day, which is to say, Game Day."--Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of CARRY ME HOME: Birmingham, Alabama--The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution
"WE WANT 'BAMA isn't just a story about a great college football team--this is also Joe Goodman's love song to the state of Alabama: its flaws, its charms, and its wonders. With an unflinching, biting, and humorous style, Goodman shares the economic, political, social, and historical factors that converged for the Crimson Tide to thrive through an unforgiving and unforgettable 2020 season. A must-read for every college football fan--but especially Alabama lovers and haters--who wants to understand what's required for excellence."--Michael Lee, The Washington Post

"Covering Alabama Football over the years, you discover early on the importance of 'team' to Nick Saban. In a year filled with so much strife, seeing the 2020 Crimson Tide come together to win in the most unpredictable of seasons inspired so many Alabama faithful. Goodman's focus on the significance of togetherness through adversity is something that can ring true for us all."

--Laura Rutledge, ESPN/SEC Network Host & Reporter
"Joe Goodman, Alabama man, sports fan, and one hell of a writer, takes the reader along on a deep dive into the fascinating, complex, and wildly passionate pool of crazy that is Alabama Crimson Tide football."--Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize-winning humor writer
"Joseph Goodman on Alabama's best season ever--and all that went with it--is exactly what I'd expect from him. It's smart, it's funny, and it's a bit out there. If you're an Alabama fan, a college football fan, or someone who wants to enjoy an unconventional approach to a sports book, you'll love this."--Pat Forde, National College Football columnist for Sports Illustrated
"Joseph Goodman's WE WANT 'BAMA is a book about sports, sure. But it is far more than that. It is a stunningly stylish take on psychology and success, a free-wheeling but deeply reported look at the culture -- some might say the neuroses -- that makes phenomena like the University of Alabama possible. This is a sports book, sure. But not like the others you've read."--John Archibald, Pulitzer prize-winning columnist, The Birmingham News

"Alabama football might be a larger unifying force than Jesus in some parts of the south. For three hours on a Saturday the state stops spinning. Joseph flawlessly dissects the people and the catalysts for this phenomenon and flawlessly walks us through the one thing that unifies every fall in Alabama. Win or lose, football is religion. On Sundays we pray to Jesus, on Saturdays it's Nick Saban."

--Roy Wood Jr., The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Author Bio

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist of the Alabama Media Group, which publishes the three largest newspapers in Alabama (Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register and Huntsville Times), in addition to AL.com, which is the state's online news source for news and other curious Southern things, but most importantly for college football. Joe worked at the Miami Herald for 11 years before returning to his home state of Alabama to chronicle the greatest run in the history of college football. He's from Irondale, Alabama, the fabled home of Fannie Flagg.