by Warren St. John
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Product Description
What is it about sports that turns otherwise sane people into raving lunatics? Why does winning compel people to tear down goal posts, and losing, to drown themselves in bad keg beer? In short, why do fans care?
In search of answers, Warren St. John seeks out the roving community of RVers who follow the Alabama Crimson Tide from game to game. A movable feast of Weber grills and Igloo coolers, these are hard-core football fans who arrive on Wednesday for Saturday’s game: The Reeses, who skipped their own daughter’s wedding because it coincided with a Bama game; Ray Pradat, the Episcopal minister who watches the games on a television beside his altar while performing weddings; and John Ed, the wheeling and dealing ticket scalper whose access to good seats gives him power on par with the governor. In no time at all, St. John buys an RV (a $5,500 beater named The Hawg) and joins the caravan for a full football season, chronicling the world of the extreme fan and learning that in the shadow of the stadium, it can all begin to seem strangely normal.
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer is not only a hilarious travel story, but a cultural anthropology of fans that goes a long way toward demystifying the universal urge to take sides and to win.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 The Root of Fan is Fanatic, 2008-11-04
The word fan is so common in our culture that we often forget that it is derived from the word fanatic. For those of us who have forgotten, Warren St. John reminds us in Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer.
In 1999, St. John bought a beat-up RV and followed the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team to all of its games. St. John fell in with the true fanatics who live for Alabama football. By writing about his experiences, St. John entertains his readers with some incredible stories.
The best aspects of Rammer Jammer all involve the colorful characters who follow the Crimson Tide. Few of these passionate fans attended the University, but somehow they all latched on to the football team. Among many others, you'll read about: a man who is proud that he can make EXTREMELY hot food, a couple who misses their daughter's wedding for an Alabama game, and a man who needs a heart transplant, but violates doctor's orders to attend Tide games. You also get a great insight into the festival that surrounds football; the degree to which southern culture revolves around college football may amaze you.
St. John's book is not perfect. He tries to be a participant observer; he wants to participate in the fan mania while making detached comments on it. I didn't feel that he was always successful. At some point, you begin to wonder why a grown man gets himself thrown out of the press box at a game or why he cannot see how boorish it is to shout "We just beat the hell out of you!" to opposing fans each time the Tide wins a game. In the end, St. John admits that he cannot explain his own behaviors, but he runs on for many pages while trying.
In spite of a few drawbacks, Rammer Jammer is an entertaining book that is worth a reaad.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Thoughtful and well-written voyage of subtle discoveries, 2008-05-26
St. John's exploration of die-hard college football fans is extraordinary in several ways. First, he's a first-class investigative reporter, able to follow slender threads of connection to find interesting people and stories. Second, he's an excellent writer who's able to move back and forth from reporting to observation with ease; he describes the characters he encounters along the fan trail with exceptional vividness. Third, and most importantly, he's able to see social and personal truths that are larger than the immediate subject of his story. It's true that sports fans, and college football fans in particular, will connect to his subject most fully, but St. John's broader discoveries about individuals, groups, allegiances, friendships, and rivalries will be interesting to anyone who has even a marginal acquaintance with the dimensions of fanship, sports or otherwise. St. John's story of ingratiating himself with the RV crowd that follows Alabama football games at home and on the road is a page-turning read, artfully set to the dramatic backdrop of a turbulent SEC-championship run by the Tide. He weaves the stories of those he meets into a deep historical fabric of college football in the South, discovering some subtle (and not so subtle) realities about his own fanship in the bargain. This is a fine read for anyone interested in fanship, group dynamics or just good people stories; and it's a terrific read for sports fans. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Why we are fans, 2008-04-03
Sports brings out the best and worst in a fan. It gives people a sense of belonging to a group, but can also encourage violence and uncouth behavior towards opposing fans.
The theme of this book for me was the need that people have to belong to something. In today's fragmented and fast paced world, this is even more of a concern for people. St. John, a lifelong Alabama football fan, is able to gain entrance into people's lives simply by supporting the same team as they do. The frenzied postings on the Bama Fan message board and the sense of togetherness these total strangers feel on game days further shows the need for belonging most of these people have. The way most of them are described, Bama football is the end all and be all for them.
St. John's book also explores the dynamics of minority groups in a roundabout way. By traveling to opposing teams' home cities, the Bama fans show themseleves to be a vocal and aggressive minority. Everywhere they go, Bama fans are ridiculed and derided for their football allegiance. The way that the Bama fans band together and repel the assaults and insults of their rivals can give the reader some insight into how and why sports teams' fans can be such diehards.
This is a good book to give to the person in your family who can't understand the dynamics of being a fan.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
one awesome book, 2007-12-05
I received this book for christmas i guess 3 years ago from my brother. I went to Bama so obviously I'm a fan. However.....I must tell you that even if you don't like the Crimson Tide, but do appreciate college football, you WILL LIKE THIS BOOK. You will be able to relate how you and your friends follow your team and all of their glory. It's a fabulous book that I have decided I will read once again; very entertaining, completely amusing, something you cannot put down. I do think you must like college football to some degree, but it really is a comedy-drama, dramady, if you will; anyone I have loaned it to has absolutely loved it. The writing was gripping, the storytelling almost like a folklore. You wanted to keep hearing more. A fabulous tale of how one writer/fan put it all on the line.........and came up with something really, really special. Enjoy-I can't imagine you wouldn't.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Roll Tide Roll, 2007-10-02
This is a must read for anyone with an interest in college football and in particular the Crimson Tide. It is a delight to read.
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