Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John. Crown. 2004.

Reviewed by David Van Kleeck, Staff

Thank goodness college football season is just around the corner! Maybe you have to have been raised in the South, like me, to understand that sentiment. It’s a land of passions. Sweet tea, BBQ, Baptist churches, tailgating, and college football.

Warren St. John’s book gives the reader a wide ranging insight into some of these passions. For an entire season he joined the legions of University of Alabama fans that travel by RV to all home and away Tide games. He knows where of he speaks and he knows how to put it down on paper. Growing up a Bama fan in Birmingham, where Bear Bryant was and still is considered a god; he later went to Columbia University and now writes for the New York Times. With just the right blend of storytelling and analysis, he shows us what it’s like inside the hearts and minds of many typical Southeastern Conference football fans.

The whole RV subculture that surrounds college football is a fantastic bit of the American way of life. In Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer St. John skillfully illuminates the Crimson Tide version of it. Sure, some of these folks are rednecks. Sure, some of them seem to have plenty of disposable income. Enough in fact, to afford RVs that are nicer than my house; maybe yours too! And, no doubt, some of them have a psychological condition that a team of doctors couldn’t decode, but it sure is fun to read about them.

If you’re a college football fan, you’ll feel right at home with this book. If you aren’t, then you’ll get a delightful glimpse into the wonderful world these folks live in.

Spoiler alert: The title comes from a cheer Alabama fans chant near the end of games when they’re winning - great fun!

Here’s a link to St. John’s Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer website: http://www.rammerjammeryellowhammer.com/