Cruel Irony: Alabama football success detracting from tornado coverage
AP -- Rosabella Rodriguez remembers the afternoon of April 27 vividly. She was sitting in her home in Stewartville, a small community in Coosa County, watching in horror as ABC3340 weatherman James Spann broadcast images of a massive tornado cutting a swath through the city of Tuscaloosa.
"It was terrible," Rodriguez says now as she sips tea from the front porch of her modest home. "I never saw anything like that. Everything was being blown apart and it even went right by the mall. They said a BBQ place and a donut store got demolished. I saw that on the news."
The tornado destroyed thousands of homes, leaving many Tuscaloosa residents without shelter and is credited with taking more than 50 lives.
"Just awful," Rodriguez says.
For weeks after the event Rodriguez, like many across the state and nation, was riveted by the stories of heartbreak and triumph that poured out of Tuscaloosa. She was touched by the outpouring of support that flooded in from around the country and saddened by the many scenes of devastation she saw on blogs and news sites.
"I watched probably 50 different tornado videos," Rodriguez says. "I bet I looked at 2000 pictures, too. When they came by looking for donations I gave some canned food and some old clothes. I wanted to do my part to help."
But now, less than six months after the horrific event, Rodriguez says the tornadoes are almost forgotten. She says they've been dwarfed by Alabama football mania. She says she speaks for many when she says the priorities are mixed up.
"Every day I turn on the TV and all I hear is Nick Saban. Nick Saban, Nick Saban," Rodriguez says. "It's Alabama football this. Crimson Tide that. There's a cleanup and rebuilding effort going on in that town and when I think of all the good 90,000 people could do in four hours if they came there to work instead of drive by to go sit in a football field it just makes me sick.
"Folks are more concerned with why some stupid screen pass got stopped than they are with all those houses in Tuscaloosa that don't have screens. I think they need to check themselves."
Reminded that football is almost a second religion in the state of Alabama and that former Tide coach Bear Bryant is considered by some to be a deity in those parts, Rodriguez is asked if perhaps the football games themselves are a part of the healing process. They show that Tuscaloosa is still alive and vital and that even the force of a tornado can't bring it down.
"Where was Bear Bryant when that tornado was tearing up all those houses?" Rodriguez fumes. "I heard somebody say Bryant 'pushed it away from the stadium.' That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. I think it shows that priorities are all messed up. What's important over there?"
Rodriguez says she is no fan of the Tide, nor does she support the Auburn Tigers, UAB Blazers, Troy Trojans or any other football program in the state.
"I like baseball," Rodriguez says. "The Yankees and Derek Jeter and A-Rod are my favorites."
When reminded that baseball went on in New York not long after the 9-11 attacks, Rodriguez dismisses it.
"That's different," she says. "Baseball is the American pastime. It's important."
Alabama hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. They'll play football, not build houses.
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