{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Can I Transfer?","description":"On this week's Keepin' It Real, Cam recalls a time when he was very much out of his element and was slightly afraid for his life. ----- About midway through the fourth quarter of Alabama\u2019s loss to Vanderbilt, my son, who is a student at the University, sent me a text. It read, \u201cCan I transfer?\u201d I laughed. As a Tulane student we were fond of saying that on Saturdays in the fall, the New Orleans Superdome hosted a cocktail party for students to mix and mingle in the stands. Occasionally we would look up and notice that a football game was going on in front of us, but we never let it distract us. Then one weekend I visited friends in Tuscaloosa. Saturday morning, I asked about plans for the night. \u201cIt depends,\u201d was the answer. \u201cOn what?\u201d I asked. \u201cWhether we win or lose tonight.\u201d \u201cYou mean the football game?\u201d \u201cOf course!\u201d they said. \u201cWell,\u201d I suggested, \u201clet\u2019s assume we\u2019re going to lose and make some fun plans anyway. That\u2019s the way we do it at Tulane. And if we win, it\u2019s a wonderful surprise.\u201d There was quiet look of incomprehension. Of disbelief. \u201cI recognize your words,\u201d their faces showed, \u201cbut I don\u2019t understand what you\u2019re saying.\u201d I realized that I stood in a dangerous culture unfamiliar to me, and I\u2019d best button my lip unless I said something that might bring me harm. Like standing with uncivilized tribe in the Amazon jungle where you don\u2019t know the rules and a foolish move may cost you your life. My son\u2019s text brought that memory back. Monday, I spoke with a friend who was in Nashville during the Vanderbilt game. He watched from a balcony on Broadway as the goal posts made their way down the street. The students were very well heeled. Lifting the goals posts over the cars and apologizing if their impromptu parade was inconveniencing drivers. Very kind. Very nice. Bear Bryant\u2019s advice on what to do when you\u2019re in the endzone \u2013 act like you\u2019ve been there before \u2013 was lost on them. By-standers watched in delight and awe, like spotting Halley\u2019s comet, returning after making its long loop around the sun. It was a lifetime event. He said even the police were in on it, blocking traffic and making way. I have a friend who\u2019s quit smoking except for the second half of Alabama games. He watches through the window, one cigarette after the other. Another who only watches alone in his small home office where he can\u2019t be disturbed, and no one can be offended by his cursing. I have some who make everyone stand up and change places when something goes wrong on the field. As if new seats in the room will bring better luck. Saturday I\u2019ll be watching the Alabama Tennessee game with my father, my two brothers, my son and some nephews at a work weekend at my father\u2019s camp in Clark County. I am a Tide fan, after all. But there will be no strange hocus pocus from us. Just my lucky Bama hat, my favorite Bama shirt, and my lucky Bama sock \u2013 just one sock. I tried wearing them both again during the Vanderbilt game. It\u2019s my fault they lost. I\u2019m sorry. I took the bad one off and burned it. Roll Tide, ya\u2019ll. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"