If possible, throw team affiliations out of the window for a brief moment. Videos like this make sports and family nothing short of awesome. Don Buckhannan resembled any of us Christmas morning. Happy to be around loved ones and thrilled to receive any sort of gift with some inkling of thought. That was until his son, Daniel, handed him a Bear Bryant-looking hat. Ecstatic as he was to receive the hat, the true joy comes once he looks inside.
A resident of Oxford, Alabama, and of course diehard Crimson Tide fan, his reaction to finding two tickets to January 7’s national title game between Alabama and Notre Dame was priceless. Hell, I’d cry too if someone bought me tickets that were valued at $979 on Christmas afternoon.
Kudos to Daniel for making his pop’s year – better yet decade – and double kudos for managing to get it all on camera. Also, if anyone out there is thinking of surprising me like this with Cowboys/Redskins tickets* to FedEx Field this Sunday and/or courtside Heat tickets (or any NBA game for that matter), I’d be forever indebted to you.
Still, this is about Don, Dan and quite possibly the best Christmas gift of 2012. Roll damn Tide.
* – Somehow, someway, I stumbled upon tickets. Look at God.