The Sweet Home of Alabama

However the Tide turns, Tuscaloosa is a champion among college towns

- RICK BRAGG

OXFORD HAS a better party. I am told the tailgating tents at Ole Miss are lit by chandeliers.

Baton Rouge has better food-vats of gumbo thick with blue crab. That aroma mixes with the tang of 10,000 drive-through daiquiris.

Fayetteville has a better mascot: a massive hog. Fans don plastic pig hats. I wish I had one. I would even wear it to church.

Knoxville has a better fight song; you can play it on a banjo.

Athens has better football fortune lately, with back-to-back championships. Now the Dawgs are drooling over a 2023 schedule that features mostly peewee teams, and they expect to make it three in a row.

Tuscaloosa? Well, it has legend. I recently met a man from Sri Lanka, and when I said I worked in Tuscaloosa, he knew precisely what that meant.

"Roll Tide!" he said-and then happily added, "Ha ha!"

"Roll Tide!" I replied-and then said "Ha ha!" to be polite.