The Chimes rang out at Midnight

Last night, the University of Alabama won the NCAA National Championship Football title by beating the University of Texas in a game that was by turns frustrating, agonizing, exciting, boring, a little too exciting and, finally, euphoric. We watched at the home of a colleague with a bunch of people who know a whole lot more about Bama football than we do, and have a lot of passion for the stuff. It was a great time. Our contribution to the festivities was a crock pot full of Bevo (UT’s bovine mascot) y Queso dip, which was well received.

After five hours of hanging out with fun people and generally having a blast and feeling on top of the world, we couldn’t resist taking a detour through campus on our way home. Okay, so it was like way out of the way, but how often do you get to be in a college town when they’ve just won the national championship in anything, much less the sport for which they are rightfully the best known? There weren’t huge crowds or massive unruliness. No burning cars – the good people of Tuscaloosa, Alabama are far too genteel for that sort of thing. Just people running around, screaming, hugging, standing in line in 20 degree weather for championship t-shirts and creating experiences they will remember forever.

The highlight was hearing the Denny Chimes ring out the midnight hour as we waited in a line of traffic on University Boulevard. The University of Alabama campus is beautiful and the Quad area is one of the most picturesque I’ve seen. The Denny Chimes are housed in a campanile that was built as a memorial to those students who fought in World War I. The chimes ring out the day Westminster style and occasionally host carillon concerts. But early this morning, they rang in the first full day of Alabama’s reign as college football’s national champion. And we were there and it was thrilling and awesome.

Now back to work.