Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania

Rating:
Summary: Very engaging, interesting read
Review: As a fellow tailgating aficionado I can say without reservation that this is a wonderful book. Tailgating has replaced the county fair as the most anticipated community event. St. John realizes this. His book is entertaining and frank. Southern stereotypes seep throughout the tome. An exceptional Southern portrait of the burgeoning American cultural phenomenon of tailgating and its many sociological ties. If you love college football and tailgating you will enjoy this book wholeheartedly. Kudos to Warren for a fantastic effort!

Dr. Chris Warner
Author, A Tailgater's Guide To SEC Football

Rating:
Summary: A skillfully written, thoroughly enjoyable read
Review: Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Warren St. John knows plenty about the fanaticism that surrounds college football in the Deep South. Like millions there, he grew up idolizing the life and career of "Bear" Bryant, even meeting the legendary coach once. His younger years coincided with a period of domination for the Alabama program, fueling his love for his team and the game.

Now a writer in New York, St. John decides to explore the question, "What is it about sports that turns otherwise sane, rational people into raving lunatics?" He takes a leave from his regular work and spends a season with the most hardcore fans, who comprise the tailgating scene. What he finds surprises even him, at times.

We are introduced to the Reeses, a couple who skipped their daughter's wedding because the date coincided with a game (although they did make it to the reception.) We also meet Don Cole, the Heart Guy, who in spite of being on the list for a heart transplant, defies his doctor's orders to travel to as many games as he can get to.

While the book offers hilarious accounts of many of these characters, these fans are more than crazed caricatures. We really get to know some of them, like Jerral Johnson, the Show Chicken Man. Johnson is a former businessman, who is living a second life with prize chickens and Alabama football as his twin passions. He's recently lost his old football buddy to heart failure.

We also meet John Ed Belvin, the ticket scalper - - er, ticket broker - - who alternately makes a killing and takes a shelling off of playing the Alabama ticket futures game.

Of interest to many in the south will be the time the author spent with sports columnist and radio announcer Paul Finebaum, the quintessential curmudgeon of the Crimson Nation. St. John describes the many precautions Finebaum must take, as he is frequently concerned about his personal safety.

The author straddles two worlds, which makes for an interesting cultural study. But while he references scholarly work on the psychology of crowds, he never loses his everyman focus. He pokes fun at how many of the fans butcher the English language, but he can get away with it as he is a native son.

In large part because St. John is such a skillful writer, this enjoyable book will appeal to fans and non-fans alike. The author has found the universal elements of his subjects and their humanity - - sometimes funny, sometimes disappointing, and occasionally disturbing - - shines through on every page.

Rating:
Summary: For true believers and football agnostics alike
Review: First, a disclaimer: This reviewer is a die-hard Florida Gator (and he's hard-dyin' today, after our New Year's Eve humiliation at the hands of Hurricanes in the Peach Bowl), which undoubtedly colors my opinion of this book. That said, I'd recommend "Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer" to any serious college football fan, if only for a reality check. And for anyone who wishes to understand college football fandom -- especially in the South -- this is a good starting point.

Marino Casem, longtime coach at Mississippi's Alcorn State University, made the oft-quoted observation that "Football is, in the West, a cultural experience; in the Midwest, cannibalism; in the East, a tourist attraction; but, in the South, football is a religion, and Saturday is the holy day." "Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer" is an Alabama fan's attempt to fathom that religious experience by following a group of RV-driving Crimson Tide faithful on their season-long pilgrimage to stadiums around the Southeastern Conference.

The religiosity of Alabama football fans is a special case, even for the South. There are no major league pro teams in their home state for Alabamians to worship, so the Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers are the icons in their sports universe; and if the South at large is "Christ-haunted" (in the words of Flannery O'Connor), Alabama also is haunted by the spirit of Paul "Bear" Bryant. Elevated to Christ-like status in his 23 years as head coach in Tuscaloosa (22 winning seasons, 13 SEC championships, six national championships), Bryant`s shadow has darkened the tenure of every succeeding University of Alabama football coach since he retired at the end of the 1982 season and succumbed to a heart attack just a month later. As with Steve Spurrier at Florida, Bryant raised expectations of consistent victory to unrealistic heights among his fans. As a boy, Alabama-born Warren St. John had the privilege of meeting the Bear, and he appreciates the mystique that Bryant still generates in the Heart of Dixie, as well as the heartbreak that Tide fans have experienced when succeeding coaches fail to continue Bryant's winning ways.

It's interesting that St. John chose to make his Crimson Tide pilgrimage during the fall of 1999, when Bama was reeling from two disappointing seasons and a sex scandal that involved head coach Mike DuBose. Perhaps St. John needed to see the truest believers (as opposed to fair-weather fans) up close, before the Millenium. (Why did he wait until 2004 to published the book, though? As it worked out, the Tide wound up 10-3 in 1999 and beat Florida for the SEC championship. They haven't done as well since then.) Whatever, St. John's account of his adventures with the Tide's RV camp followers, while not especially insightful, is amusing and an excellent read (mostly). If you are a serious college football fan, you'll probably recognize many of these people (despite a few grotesques St. John wrote about), and perhaps yourself. If you're not one of the faithful (and I mean to college football), you can still laugh and feel smugly superior to we poor believers in God's chosen game.

Since it's about the 1999 season, there are some anachronisms in the book. For example, the University of Florida no longer allows fans to leave home games at halftime and re-enter the stadium after a few drinks. There have been a few coaching changes in the Southeastern Conference since 1999. But the book's major weakness is St. John's attempt to incorporate academic analysis into what should have remained a straightforward chronicle of Alabama football fandom. The book reads extremely well until those sections where St. John cites this authority or that scholar about sports fans and sports loyalties. Then the book comes to a dead stop. Really, you can skim these passages.

Neither St. John nor anyone else should be surprised to find white racists among the faithful of the Tide or any other SEC team. Racism twisted everything in the South, and still does, only less so. There's still a good book to be written about the transformation of Southern college football since the 1960s due to racial integration of the teams and universities, but that's not what St. John was trying to do here. "Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer" is one literate fan's effort to understand and explain the religious experience that is Crimson Tide football. He is honest enough to conclude that, like many adherents to the true church, his loyalty to Bama (rather than, say, Auburn) is largely irrational. Like all faiths, it just IS - but it gets us through the day, and the season.

Rating:
Summary: Roll Tide!
Review: I am not a fan of Alabama, I do however understand the fervent fan world. Living in Columbus, Ohio, you can almost not avoid the intense Ohio State Buckeye support.
I found Rammer Jammer a fun book to read. The fans depicted by St. John were both endearing and understandable in their manis to support 'Bama. I like that St. John did not come into their world as an absolute outside, he was already an ardent Alabama fan. To have done this otherwise would have come off as condesending and mocking at the expense of his subjects. I would recommend this as a good read for family members of those crazed fans of any sports team. It may help to shine a light on the mania of your loved one who devotes so much time and energy to their team.

Rating:
Summary: Roll Tide Roll!!!
Review: I love the Crimson Tide, but have never liked sports books. I bought this as a Christmas present for a friend, but couldn't put it down and finished it in 3 days. I'm not part of the RV crowd, but scream so loud during Bama games that my boyfriend has refused to sit by me, especially during the Iron Bowl.
I recommend this for all Alabama fans, fanatic or not. It gets to the heart of what we all love about football. He makes it seem like you're there with him--seeing all the interceptions and touchdowns, and feeling the loss too. And after you're done, make your spouse, kids, family, who just doesn't understand why you're crazy for 3 months out of the year read it too. Maybe they'll begin to understand.


Rating:
Summary: simply fabulous
Review: I'm not much for long reviews - reading or writing them- so I'll simply say that this book is fabulous. You MUST read it!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Funny, real, and telling
Review: I've been an Alabama fan now for most of my life. Since the beginning of the 1992 season, when my sister was admitted to the University. I too ended up in Tuscaloosa for three years, so I got to experience the gameday aura. It is interesting now seeing it from a different perspective, especially now after graduation. What I liked about the book was the "I've been there!" or "I drive down that every day." feeling I get through most of the book. I also like the memories (good and bad) about the 1999 season he brings up. I remember what I was thinking during that good season (not great, because we lost 3, a great season ends with a National Championship).

I also enjoyed the different perspective on the RVers. I viewed them mostly as faceless androgenous beings clogging up the streets of T-Town. Now I can place faces, attitudes, perspectives, et cetera on these people.

You'll laugh. You'll cry--and not just at our losses. It's humorous, but deperessing in parts as well (seeing how some people let it absolutely rule their lives).

An enjoyable read--to be sure.

Rating:
Summary: ROLL TIDE!!!
Review: Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer is a close-up look at the most extreme versions of Alabama Crimson Tide football fandom and anti-fandom. As such, the book will be an obvious winner for Crimson Tide football fans who want to walk down nostalgia lane. Surprisingly, Mr. St. John also pays quite a bit of attention to southeast opponents in 1999 like the Florida Gators, Auburn, Tennessee Vols, Vanderbilt, Louisiana Tech, Ole Miss, Southern Mississippi and LSU. Fans of those schools' teams will also enjoy this book (especially if their team beat 'Bama that year or this season).

If you need to have the title explained to you, this book may not be right for you. It's part of a taunting victory chant favored by 'Bama fans.

The book alternates between describing the author's own path into extreme fandom as he deals with withdrawal symptoms in New York City and the extraordinarily devoted fans who turn their lives into a paean to the Crimson Tide. The book has a third, but smaller, focus which is to provide insights into the psychological, emotional and physical roots behind fanatic behavior by fans. That part of the book was the least successful.

You will meet people who build their lives around a short football season . . . and suffer painfully whenever the Tide loses. Interestingly, some of these people are wealthy and the expense of their devotion will probably astonish you. In other cases, people put 'Bama ahead of all else . . . including a heart transplant or attending their daughter's wedding. Intriguingly, many of the most extreme fans never attended the university.

If you are a fanatical fan (you can take a quiz at the author's site for the book to find out), you will probably enjoy reading about other extreme forms of devotion. You will feel reassured that you haven't yet lost control. For example, do you plan to be buried in a casket with the university's seal on it?

If you own an RV, this is a fascinating book about the problems of traveling with and living in an RV. I've never been in one, so this element of the book was the most novel to me.

As you might imagine, the book is laced with vulgar language, drunken engagements and embarrassing behavior. But that's all part of fandom. Right?

If you want a book about sports fans, this book is very light weight in one area . . . gambling. Although the book references gambling, it doesn't have many individual stories about it. Writing about college football fans without emphasizing the gambling is like writing about sex without mentioning intercourse.

I have never gotten into college football although I remember having a few intense experiences at games (including the 1960s Rose Bowl when Wisconsin almost came back to beat USC before bowing 42-37). I am much more familiar with the pro football extreme fans . . . especially those who go to the Super Bowl every year. As a result, I found the book didn't connect well for me. So if you're not an extreme college football fan, I suggest you skip this book.

The book's main limitation is that by focusing on the extreme RV fans you don't get very much about other types of fans. I found the amount of focus on the RV experience to be a little more than I wanted to know about that subject.

Rating:
Summary: Alabama Football -- A Way of Life
Review: St. John's book, tracing his interaction with Alabama's famed Crimson Tide football team for a single season, distinguishes itself from other fan-books in that the author maintains an ability to laugh at himself and not indulge in the all too easy mocking of others who share his passion for college sports.

A quick, well-crafted and enjoyable book.

Rating:
Summary: Life on and off the tailgating road
Review: What makes rational (or seemingly rational) people to put part of one life on hold during the fall to follow another life on the road RVing across the south following "their" football team? I don't know if you will come away from St. John's book knowing the answer, but you'll have a great trip along the way. There are sports fans in the world, and there are college football fans, but the southern college fan is a breed all unto itself. Life in the fall takes on a new dimension following teams to their weekly Saturday matches. The author's journey begins with the story of a couple who missed their own daughter's wedding because it conflicted with an Alabama Football game (they made the reception). And with that story the door is opened to world of colorful characters, each expressing his or her devotion to 'Bama football in their own way, but while each story is unique, they all make up the sea of red to be seen in Bryant-Denny Stadium on those glorious Saturdays. The book is an enjoyable armchair ride in the tradition of the best travel writing of Bryson and others. It looks at how deep the legacy of Paul "Bear" Bryant runs to this day, over two decades since he coached his last Alabama football game. The book is a portal into a world most of us see at a distance at best. Roll Tide!