is this pic not explanation enough?
Actually, "Roll Tide" is the rally cry/chant for Alabama, like War Eagle is for Auburn.
The team is nicknamed the "Crimsom Tide". The name Crimsom came from the school colors of Crimson and White.
This from
Crimson Tide - RollTide.comThe Official Web site of University of Alabama Athletics!
How the Crimson Tide Got its Name
In early newspaper accounts of Alabama football, the team was simply listed as the "varsity" or the "Crimson White" after the school colors.
The first nickname to become popular and used by headline writers was the "Thin Red Line." The nickname was used until 1906.
The name "Crimson Tide" is supposed to have first been used by Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald. He used "Crimson Tide" in describing an Alabama-Auburn game played in Birmingham in 1907, the last football contest between the two schools until 1948 when the series was resumed. The game was played in a sea of mud and Auburn was a heavy favorite to win.
But, evidently, the "Thin Red Line" played a great game in the red mud and held Auburn to a 6-6 tie, thus gaining the name "Crimson Tide." Zipp Newman, former sports editor of the Birmingham News, probably popularized the name more than any other writer.
I've heard several other stories about it also. One was that red clover was that a Birmingham News reporter wrote that as the drove to Tuscaloosa, there was a Red Tide of Crimson Clover in bloom rolling all the way there along the highway to Tuscaloosa.
They got their nickname the Elephants, which became their mascot, because of a fan or radio announcer said "it sounded like a heard of elephants thundering down the field". Some folks say the "Roll Tide" came from this as it was a Crimson Tide Rolling down the field.
All of this of course is part of the Legend of these teams as there are several historical variations no matter which shcool you go to.
BTW... the Alabama Auburn game is called the Iron Bowl. This is because orignally the game was played in Birmingham at Legion Field which was at the time the biggest stadium in the state and was supposedly "neutral ground", although Alabama played many of it's home games there, so they indirectly had the home field advantage.
It was called the Iron Bowl because it was the state rivalry and because the Iron Mills that were the major industry in Birmingham for years. The event is always the last game on the schedule for both teams and typically played one of the last weekends in November. If it wasn't held on a Saturday, I'm sure the Alabama Legislature would pass it as an annual state holiday.
It was played there until about 15 years ago when Auburn moved the game to Auburn since Jordan Hare stadiumn was now bigger than Leigion Field and also due to the fact that even though it was supposed neutral ground, somehow Alabama always got more ticket sales allotted to them when playing in Birmingham. Go figure.
The Alabama home games were continued to be played at Legion Field for the Iron Bowl until they finally enlarged Bryant Denny stadium and move the Iron Bowl game to Tuscaloosa. Legion Field now is in it's decline as I've heard it has structural problems in it's upper decks. I think they removed the upper decks a few years ago due to building code issues. It's now used by UAB for it's home games.
