TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WAIT) – The football rivalry between Alabama and Tennessee is still strong and the traditions remain the same despite a new era in Alabama football.
“Everyone hates Auburn because they have to, but with Tennessee, we hate them because we want to,” said Reagan Starner, owner of R&R Cigars.
The Tide and Vols game happens once a year, but the five days leading up to the game have been dubbed “Tennessee Hate Week.”
“We hate them so much we don’t even have Jack Daniels whiskey in our Jack Browns restaurant,” Lauren Field said.
In typical Tennessee Hate Week fashion – whiskey made in Tennessee is put away for the week.
The rivalry didn’t start as a week of hate. It started as a friendship between two coaches after the Iron Bowl was suspended for 40 years in the early 1900s.
“There was no in-state rivalry for Alabama,” said Olivia Arnold, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum. “Since Coach Bryant and Johnny Majors were friends, Alabama and Tennessee naturally became a great rivalry.”
Great rivalries also mean great traditions – at least when we’re talking about The Tide, The Vols and cigars.
“This tradition is so strong, so important,” Starner said.
Just as that rivalry began under coach Bear Bryant, so did the tradition of lighting one after a win against the Volunteers.
“Jim Goostree was actually the one who made sure all the players and coaches had their cigars in their hands,” Arnold said.
Goostree is the former athletic director at UA in the 1960s. Arnold said Goostree told the players that if they could beat Tennessee, they could light a cigar in the locker room to celebrate their victory.
Since the days of Bama football under Bear Bryant, it has been a tradition upheld by the team and fans. This year, this tradition remains intact.
“The team came to get their cigars yesterday,” Starner said.
R&R Cigars has been supplying Tide with its cigars for several years. They have the cigars that the team smokes, Coach Saban, and the cigars for every new game against Tennessee.
“This might actually be the first time we see our [Coach DeBoer] smoke a cigar after we win,” Starner said. “I think that would be really cool.”
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