TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Attention Wal-Mart shoppers. There is tension in the Tuscaloosa sportswear department.
"Excuse me," a woman said to a sales associate Wednesday afternoon as she sifted through the endless round racks of Alabama Crimson Tide-branded apparel. She said her name was Mary from Montgomery and she was in town to visit her grandson before fall classes wrapped up and, well, "I was hoping to buy him one of those Coach DeBoer Black Hoodies of Death. Do y'all have any?"
They do not. Neither does Dick's. Or Academy. Or the Alabama bookstore. Or even the place down at the strip mall behind the Asian buffet, a boutique named Bama Fever.