We attended the Alabama vs. Kentucky football game. We were a little concerned about going, just because we weren’t sure what to expect with social distancing. We had heard about the changes, but until you experience them for yourself you’re never really sure.
So we started our day out with a stop at Deep Roots Nutrition in McCalla and got a Crimson Tide loaded tea. I mean what else, it was fitting for the day. It was cranberry and grape.
Then we made a stop at Junie B’s Antiques, Gifts and Clothing. It is off exit 100 in the McCalla area. This was like our 3rd trip here. We’ve always found some cute things here.
Next stop, T-town. There was absolutely no traffic. We also noticed that the usual game day signs that are on the back road routes were not present. Our first stop was Foosackly’s on 15th street for lunch. Again no traffic like on a normal game day. We just saw normal Saturday shopping traffic. Foosackly’s has not yet opened there dining room so we took our lunch to a nearby parking lot and ate.
We then made our way over to the campus to park. We had pre-paid for parking so we made our way to the parking deck. Again not a normal game day, there were no RV’s present on the backside of the campus. There were no over flowing parking lots, there were no people everywhere you looked, there were no buses running to shuttle people around the campus. There were no tents on the quad, no porta-potty trailers behind the library at the back of the quad. It was more like an off-season visit.
We get parked and start the walk. We go to the Ferg like we always do on game days, we saw very few other people. We actually saw 2 people go in before us and that is the only people we saw inside on the 2nd floor. The eating area was closed that we normally sit in and watch games on the TVs around.
We start towards the stadium. The quad is quite. Just people walking thru on the way to the stadium and a few kids tossing a football. There is grass growing where normally there are tailgaters.
We get to the stadium. People are mingling about, social distancing as they make their way inside.
We make our way to our gate. We get in line to go thru the metal detectors. There were a few in front of us. Again everyone is making there way to their seats. So few people around.
We go to the tunnel for our section and pass another couple who were rearranging the food they just purchased so that they could carry to their seats. We make our way to our seats. We are the only 2 on our row. There are 2 seats to our right on the row in front of us and 2 to our left, there are some randomly behind us. Again a weird feeling to be there with so few people. Our seats were #6 & 7. These are ones that we would have debated on at a normal game because to get out we’d have to ask people to let us out. Not today.
The pre-game show was a video of a prior show. There was a flyover before the game. We saw the planes on the video screens, but with the pre-game show being pre-recorded we didn’t know if it was pre-recorded or for real. In the past when one was going to happen, they would announce it before the national anthem, but they didn’t this game, so we didn’t know if it was real or not. But it was definitely rea as the planes surprised us and flew over the stadium. So we missed any photos or video. They said the planes were out of Montgomery.
There was piped in crowd noise. Had there not been it would have been a pretty quite stadium. You can’t be as loud when you are spaced out.
There was a small socially distanced band. They actually had covers on their horns to keep any spit from escaping. They had to wear masks the entire game. I did see a flute player pull hers out of her mask when she finished playing. I assume they all have specially designed masks that allow them access to their mouths while remaining covered.
At halftime there was no lines for the restroom, no lines for concessions. We all know that there is ALWAYS a line for the ladies room. But not today.
There was a lady that stayed in the restroom cleaning.
No lines for the concession stands. 
No line for the ladies room. 
Never did we feel we were to close to anyone. Almost everyone followed the social distancing guidelines. We did see a few students that tried to sit more than 2 people. The usher did ask one group to move.
Some of the players gathered for prayer before the game. 
The Tide defeated Kentucky 63-3. This was such a weird game experience that when we left the game before it was over I told Jeff that I’ve never known of him leaving a game early. We left in the 4th quarter right before the last touchdown, we were probably less than halfway to the car when we heard the sounds from the stadium. He wanted to be sure that we got to the car and without being in a crowd of people. There were times on the walk to the car that we didn’t see anyone else on our way across campus.
ROLL TIDE!