Roll Tide (or Roll Tide Roll) is the rallying cry for the Alabama Crimson Tide athletic teams. The trademark to the phrase is claimed by the University of Alabama, with licensing and marketing by The Collegiate Licensing Company.

History

The origins of 'Roll Tide' are unclear. From 1892 to 1906, commentators popularized the 'Thin Red Line' nickname for the university team, later replaced by 'Crimson Tide'. The university fight song originally contained the line "Roll to vic-try", later replaced with the phrase roll tide. Dr. Dorothy Worden-Chambers attributes 'roll tide' as a "cultural keyword... emblematic of the culture of the [University of Alabama]." The CSS Alabama was a very successful Commerce Raider during the Civil War. Many songs were written about it, but one of the more popular songs was Roll, Alabama, Roll - which was a popular English sea chanty. It seems that this might have been the inspiration for the Crimson Tide's rallying cry.

In popular culture

Music