Crimson Column presented by Mercedes-Benz
4/19/2018 3:06:00 PM | General
Another Busy Weekend Upcoming in Tuscaloosa
We've got another full slate of activities on deck this weekend and hope that you'll join us in Tuscaloosa!
- The Golden Flake A-Day Game will kick off in Bryant-Denny Stadium at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free. Be sure to check out the long list of activities also planned on campus leading up to the game.
- Baseball hosts Auburn in a three-game series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. There will be a postgame fireworks show on Friday, and before Saturday's game, we will celebrate the 50-year reunion of the 1968 SEC championship team. The series ends on Sunday with first pitch set for 1 p.m.
- Softball welcomes in the Tennessee Volunteers for three games, beginning with the opener on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. game on Sunday before closing out the series on Monday at 6 p.m.
A-Day Experiences Still Available
We still have a few A-Day Experience upgrades available for purchase. If you're interested, please visit rolltide.com/experience on your mobile device to secure for Saturday's game.
Women's Golf and Gymnastics Competing for Titles this Weekend
Two of our women's teams are in the hunt for championships this weekend with women's golf competing in the SEC Championships in Hoover, Ala., while gymnastics begins its NCAA championship quest on Friday in St. Louis. Our women's golf team had a strong showing in yesterday's opening round, leading the field by five strokes after day one.
Gameday Experience Surveys
I want to thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to participate in our Bryant-Denny Stadium and Coleman Coliseum gameday experience surveys. Your input and opinions are extremely valuable to us, so we truly appreciate it. While the deadline to submit surveys on Bryant-Denny Stadium has passed, you still have until April 25 to complete the Coleman Coliseum survey.
Academic Honors Continue to Roll in for the Tide
More than 50 of our winter sports student-athletes earned a place on the SEC Academic Honor Roll, which the league office announced yesterday. That tally includes eight from women's basketball, which leads all SEC women's hoops teams, as well as 17 from men's swimming and 11 from gymnastics, both of which ranked second in the SEC among their respective sports. Combined with our total from the fall list, Crimson Tide student-athletes have earned 163 SEC Academic Honor Roll accolades already during the 2017-18 academic year, with the spring and newcomer lists still to come.
Crimson Choice Awards
On Monday night, our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, along with the folks in our department of Student-Athlete Enhancement, came together to put on the annual Crimson Choice Awards. As always, it was a tremendous event during which our student-athletes gathered to celebrate the Crimson Tide's tradition of excellence in all aspects of the collegiate experience here at Alabama. These awards honor the success we enjoyed during the 2017 calendar year, with football and gymnastics earning team of the year honors and swimming's Luke Kaliszak and gymnastics' Kiana Winston earning the Paul W. Bryant Student-Athlete Award. Congrats to all who took part and especially to all of our award winners. Also, special thanks to Laura Rutledge from ESPN for taking time out of her busy schedule to serve as the event's emcee.
Inaugural Bama Blitz a Huge Success
Last week, the university successfully completed the inaugural Bama Blitz online fundraising event. This was an unpresented initiative on our campus and was met with great results. The Crimson Tide Foundation raised $253,592.23 during Bama Blitz. Our goal for the initiative was to raise $48,174 – the cost of one full scholarship for a student-athlete. Thanks to the generosity of 168 people coming together during this initiative, we exceeded that goal by raising $53,489.70 specifically to the Crimson Tide Scholarship Fund. You can view all the Bama Blitz results for campus at bamablitz.ua.edu.
I want to thank each person who joined us during Bama Blitz in support of the educational goals of our student-athletes. Recruiting the best student-athletes relies heavily on our ability to provide the maximum number of scholarships allowed by the NCAA, and we can't do that without your help. Since this was a crowdfunding initiative, I also want to thank everyone who shared or retweeted from the Crimson Tide Foundation or Alabama Athletics pages or who created original posts on social media about Bama Blitz. It was great to watch all the #BamaBlitz posts coming in on the website that day!
I also want to express a special thanks to Denise and Phil Webb, whose generous $20,000 matching challenge was instrumental in our success during Bama Blitz. We appreciate your gift and your unwavering support of Alabama Athletics!
SEC Men's Tennis Tournament
Next week, we will be hosting the SEC Men's Tennis Tournament at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. The five-day event begins on Wednesday at 4 p.m. when our men's team faces the Auburn Tigers. Match play continues at 12 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, while Saturday's semifinals are scheduled for a 2 p.m. start. The tournament will conclude on Sunday with the championship match at 12 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $5 per day for adults and $2 per day for youth 18 and under. An all-week pass can also be purchased for $15.
Historic Alabama Football Tour
Alabama students Owen Barnes, Kai Brashears, Claire Coleman, Ryan Wolpert, Jess Arias, Michaela Flanagan and Rachel Horton have been working with the Paul W. Bryant Museum on a class project that will offer free historic Alabama football tours on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. and last approximately 45 minutes. For questions, or to reserve a spot on one of the three tours, contact the Bryant Museum at 1-866-772-2327.
University Spotlight
I know I mentioned our athletics-specific totals for the Bama Blitz above, but in all, The University of Alabama raised just north of $1.8 million in gifts from 1,810 supporters representing 48 states during the one day, eight hours and 31 minutes of giving. What a tremendous event for our entire campus community! Â
#RollTideFriday
With it being just two days away from A-Day, I had to throw it back to last football season for this week's featured photos. We have the Crews family in coordinating Roll Tide Roll T-shirts, and the VanderNoots decked out and fully ready to roll with the Tide!
Remember to use the hashtag #RollTideFriday in your social posts and tweet your photos to me at @Greg_Byrne. We will select two photos to feature in each blog and add even more to our #RollTideFriday Fan Hub.
Upcoming Schedule of Events
View the list of upcoming events, broadcast information, start times and stat links on our composite calendar. (Note: All times are listed in Central Time.)
Access live stats from your desktop or mobile device.
