It is the first football Saturday of the fall. It's still going to be a little hot, but finally "game day" is here and for many of us it is the greatest day of the year. Earlier this week I did an interview with a guy who wanted to know what made Bear Bryant a great leader and the answer is simple - his players believed in him.

Gosh, has it been 43 years since I first met him? One day at practice in Tuscaloosa he called me over to the famed tower and looked down to say, "C'mon up here and tell me what you know." I climbed the ladder and sat for about 30 minutes, just watching and talking only in brief spurts. It was wonderful.

There was a little chain that had a snap-hook at the top of the ladder on his tower, which was about 15 feet high, and soon Coach Bryant flicked it with his thumb, the chain clattering against the side of the ladder’s rail. When it did, a noticeable pall swept over the busy practice and not a player, manager or assistant coach didn't know The Old Man was coming down.

Lordy, everybody on the field tightened up and, yeah, I still remember all of that stuff.

So as I wait out the morning until the TV sets spring to life and the bands start to play, allow me to share what it's like as "the boys of fall" get ready to run through the ramp and onto the field with a chorus of 100,000 screaming voices offering a deafening crescendo.

There is a two-minute video floating around on YouTube that must have been shot 35 or 40 years ago. On it the ever-famous Alabama coach, who died Jan. 23, 1983, is standing at a blackboard talking to his incoming freshmen and it starts out with that gravelly voice saying simply, "Here's why you can win.

"If you'll do the little things, give a little something extra, you can do it. Let's just suppose that the maximum ability of a player is 100 percent. Now let's say that here I am, based on that 100 scale, with 75 percent ability," Coach Bryant said, drawing a simple "75" on the chalkboard.

"Now over here," he moved a little to his right, "is the guy you're gonna' play against and he's a 85." the coach explained, scratching out the number maybe two feet down on the blackboard. "Now it takes everyone … but this is for you. You're a 75.

“On Saturday, by virtue of the fact you have paid the price, learned those lessons, and done the little things, you play a little over your head. Yeah, you're a 75 but this day you are an 85 player … because we expect that,” Coach Bryant said as he chalked an 85 on the kid’s side of the blackboard, right next to that earlier 75.

Then he looked towards the other end of that blackboard. "Now over here is the 85 man who is playing against you. And let's suppose he doesn't play like he should," Coach said, chalking a 10 right underneath the opponent's 85. Then The Old Man drew a line, allowing his players to do the imaginary math. "Maybe has a 75 day. This could happen. It don't always,” he growled, “but it could.”

"Here's a guy who hasn't paid the price like you have,” he tapped the opponent’s number with his nub of chalk. “Maybe he didn't learn the lessons in practice. He's not as dedicated as you are, and he doesn't play as well as he's supposed to play. Well, instead of an 85 player he comes in at 75.

"He falls off but you don't. That's what I'm trying to get across to you. You can beat him. If we do that as a team, eleven at a time," Coach paused, "then four years from now you'll be walking out of here as a national champion. And I'll tell you this, I expect nothing less."

Oh, the video is just splendid and, for me, it rekindled that delicious awe and wonder that I have held for Saturday’s games for, Lord have mercy, now half a century. College football, quite simply, is the greatest game on this earth. At least it is for me.

Elsewhere this week sports apparel giant Nike introduced some new uniforms the Alabama team will wear during this year's Mississippi State game. The new uniform numbers, instead of bright white, are done in a hounds-tooth pattern, much like Coach Bryant's famous hat, and the bottom line is obvious - Nike will sell millions of replicas to the Crimson Tide's faithful.

Well, I don't have a lot of respect for all the greedy carnival stuff but I'll always tingle when I watch a video of Coach Bryant or one of LSU's Charlie McClendon, Auburn's Shug Jordan, my beloved Johnny Majors or so on.

I was there and, brother, it wakes up the echoes. Today is "game day." This is the "Alpha Saturday," and even my dogs had a little more spring in their step in the early-morning air, the cool breeze inviting a little longer walk on this Labor Day weekend.

What set Coach Bryant and Alabama apart were 323 victories. His Crimson Tide teams won six national championships and 13 Southeastern Conference titles. There hasn't been another like “PWB” since.

"I have always tried to teach my players to be fighters,” Coach Bryant once said. “When I say that, I don't mean put up your dukes and get in a fistfight over something. I'm talking about facing adversity in your life. There is not a person alive who isn't going to have some awfully bad days in their lives.

"I tell my players that what I mean by fighting is when your house burns down, and your wife runs off with the drummer, and you've lost your job, and all the odds are against you. What are you going to do? Most people just lay down and quit. Well, I want my people to fight back."

Bear Bryant expected nothing less, most especially on this day, the first Saturday of the season.

It’s like he also once told us, “If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit - you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards."

royexum@aol.com