A GUMP4HEISMAN.COM SPECIAL REPORT
Thursday, October 17, 2007
Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
It’s a small-to-mid-size town, depending on your definition of "small," that features a thriving University life nestled in the middle of a laid-back southern town not unlike those you’d find in Georgia or North Carolina. And every Saturday, as is the case at any big-time football university, life-as-usual in this quaint West Alabama town is halted. Because, after all, the Crimson Tide is about to take center stage.
Every home-game Saturday in the fall, hundreds of thousands of people from all across the state and the Southeast flock to town to see the Crimson Tide and their 12 National Championships go to battle on the gridiron each week.
One of the biggest games every year is the annual “3rd Saturday in October,” the legendary rivalry between The University of Tennessee and The University of Alabama – the two most successful, tradition-rich programs in the long, proud history of southern football.
And so, for most fans, the Tennessee-Alabama game is seen as one of college football’s most storied rivalries.
But for many Tuscaloosa restaurateurs, it’s like biennial Christmas.
Because every two years, UT’s arrival marks one of the biggest business weekends of the year for the Tuscaloosa restaurant and food industry.
The reason?
When the Vols visit Tuscaloosa, they bring their 300-plus pound football coach with them. And the economic ramifications are enormous.
Bigger than Phillip Fulmer’s waistline?
“I wouldn’t go that far,” said local restaurant owner Phillip Weaver. “But in 2005 Buffalo Phil’s did $16,700 on Fulmer's take-out orders alone. And that was Friday, before they lost the game. After the loss, the word is Tuscaloosa’s Hagendaas sales spiked 800%.”
Well, it seems Phillip Fulmer supporters are coming out of the woodworks these days. 
