I was nine years old in 1973.  Still, the score 24-23 lingers.   Even at such a tender age, the pain and disappointment resonated.  

 A year later, 13-11.  Wounds barely healed re-opened in earnest.  

Three short years saw similar heartbreaking results in the vein of 21-18...like a reocurring nightmare whose outcome is preordained.  

 True, there was 1988's 28-10 Tide victory over Notre Dame, though admittedly this wasn't one of the fighing Irish's better teams.  

Fast-forward to the night of January 7th, 2013.  Fate had saw fit to reacquaint the two most storied programs in college football history on its grandest stage.  The thirty-seven day build up to the event saw woefully outdated stereotypes emerge, such as 'Golden Domers vs. Mobile Homers' and 'Catholics vs. Cousins'.

I was quickly reminded of the aura surrounding those earlier contests between the two gridiron behemoths, three decades previous, wherein fans of SEC schools and the southern U.S. as a whole endured similar ridicule.  Sad but not at all unexpected in this day of widespread mean-spirted behavior.  

 As for the game itself, well, let's just say a busload of exorcists were responsible for the ultimate in spirit eradication.  Talented, relentless spectre assassains decked out in crimson and white and baring the names Saban, Smart, McCarron, Jones, Lacy, Lester, Dix, Norwood, Cooper, Yeldon, Sinsuri.  

Sixty minutes later, the healing of decades-old scar tissue was almost instantaneous, the internal balm applied to the tune of 42-14.  

Dynasty? I'd say yes.  A dynasty that has yet to peak, as least as long as the man named Saban leads the charge.  

Needless to say, the Crimson Tide's 15th national title was the sweetest by far. 

Roll Tide.