VOD: Alabama fan is camping out for 103 hours to be first in line for 'Fan Day'

The annual Alabama Fan Day will take place Sunday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Fans will get an early glimpse at the 2014 Crimson Tide by watching a team practice, and then they’ll get the chance to collect autographs from players and coaches.

One fan is very excited for the festivities.

Thanks to Busted Coverage, we get to meet 32-year-old Bobby Hunter, an Alabama fan who began to camp out for Fan Day at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning – a full 103 hours before practice begins on Sunday. For real.

Hunter told Busted Coverage that he’s using vacation time from work to camp out and that he’ll sleep in the tailgating chair for all four nights to maintain his first spot in line.

He also has a well-crafted sign depicting the extent of his fandom.

@BDN04 Roll Tide http://ift.tt/1nSHVkv

— Ryan Patterson (@Ryno4au) July 31, 2014

The bottom apparently reads: “To all Bama fans: If you want to go to heaven and walk the streets of gold, just remember the password, ‘Roll Tide Roll.’”

If that doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, I don’t know what will.

Busted Coverage also has a 10-minute audio interview with Hunter, where he further explains his passion for Alabama football and what he loves about Fan Day.

Roll Tide!

For more Alabama news, visit TideSports.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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VCU unveils fresh jerseys to glowing reviews

VCU returns seven of its top nine players from last year's 26-win NCAA tournament team, but the Rams will still sport a new look next season.

They unveiled three slick new jerseys on Thursday: Home whites trimmed in gold, road blacks trimmed in grey and an alternate grey uniform trimmed in white and gold.

Almost everything about VCU's new look is well-conceived, from the clean lines, to the slightly revamped logo, to the color scheme. Maybe the only flaw is the lack of gold trim on the black road jerseys, a departure from the school's typical color scheme.

If VCU's jerseys look a tad familiar, that's because they're lacking in originality a bit. Atlantic 10 foe Dayton revealed a new look a few weeks ago with a strikingly similar jersey.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Arizona State hangs family picture in lockers for inspiration (Photo)

Arizona State has found a different way to inspire its players this year — by using their family members.

The Sun Devil equipment Twitter account tweeted out a picture of lockers with pictures of family members in them and asked the question, “Who inspired you?”

Who inspired you? Who got you here? #family #sundevilbrotherhood #inspiration http://ift.tt/1xKXRpR

— SunDevilEquipment (@SunDevilEquip) July 31, 2014

This is a pretty good idea. Not only does it keep the theme of family — the theme coach Todd Graham has stressed during his time in Tempe — in the forefront, it also makes sure each player keeps things in perspective.

For more Arizona State news, visit ASUDevils.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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Michael Sam's former roommate at Missouri says he's changed

Eric Waters, a former TE at Missouri, said he thinks former Missouri DE Michael Sam, the 2013 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, has changed.

Waters and Sam were roommates at Missouri. In February, Sam publicly announced he was gay and was drafted in the seventh round of the NFL draft by the St. Louis Rams. Waters was undrafted and is currently at training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers. If Sam plays in a game for the Rams he'll be the first openly gay player to play in the NFL.

“He is a nice guy, but I will say the truth: A little bit of him has changed,” Waters told the Pittsburgh Tribune. “It is really not my situation to speculate at this point, but he is not the same Michael Sam anymore.”

How does Waters think Sam has changed?

“Just the way he acts and carries himself,”Waters said. “I was watching the NFL Network the other day and I think it was Marshall Faulk who said that he keeps referring to himself in the third person as Michael Sam this, Michael Sam that. That's not the same guy we knew back when we were living together. He is not the same fun-loving, joking guy that really didn't care about stuff like publicity.”

Waters added that he and Sam don't communicate currently. After Sam made his announcement, Waters made this series of tweets before saying he meant no disrespect to anyone, nor was he angry at all with Missouri, which he said had treated him well.

Sam told his teammates before the season that he was gay and according to many at the school, the entire team embraced him. His sexuality wasn't a story throughout Missouri's 12-2 season. After the season, Missouri was given the SEC Sportsmanship Award.

Waters had eight catches in 2013 and 14 throughout his career.

After Sam was drafted, plans to film a reality show were announced. However, they were scuttled shortly after they were made public.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Real Madrid play American football in training with Xabi Alonso at quarterback

Real Madrid will play Manchester United at Michigan Stadium on Saturday in front of an expected crowd of 109,000. So to prepare for this event (and perhaps to confuse Man United), Real decided to try their hand at playing American football — without the pads — during a training session at Eastern University.

Xabi Alonso threw touchdown passes under pressure like Brett Favre and Sergio Ramos avoided tackles like Barry Sanders, while Cristiano Ronaldo presumably chatted up invisible cheerleaders on the sidelines.

So if Real Madrid set up for a free kick against Man United with an offensive line and Xabi barking out audibles, you'll know why.

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Brooks Peck is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter! Follow @BrooksDT

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Ohio State LB Joshua Perry shows off 30-pound weight gain in 2.5 years (Photo)

When Ohio State LB Josh Perry came to campus in January 2012, he weighed 222 pounds. Now, some 30 months later, he's 253 pounds, and most of that weight gain is muscle.

Need proof? Here are some pretty cool side-by-side progress pictures that Perry posted to Instagram on Thursday. If you follow college football closely, you hear a lot about how much weight players gain by entering an FBS strength and conditioning program. But you rarely get to see progress pictures like this.

Gotta love what testosterone, food, hard work and a good strength program will do for you. That's impressive, and a much more convincing transformation than any fake side-by-side comparison on an infomercial.

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(H/T Cleveland.com)

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Michael Vick wants to play until he's 40

Whenever Michael Vick's career ends, it'll be one of the more fascinating and remarkable ones in NFL history. (Note we did not say "impressive" or "admirable.") And if Vick has his way, that career won't end for quite some time.

Vick seems like he's been around forever, but he's "only" 34, a year younger than Drew Brees and two years younger than Tom Brady. He's now the presumptive backup to Geno Smith on the Jets, which doesn't necessarily portend a spectacular third act to one's career. But Vick on Thursday said he hopes and expects to play until he's 40.

“You never envision yourself being in this role (when you’re younger),” Vick told the New York Daily News. “But as you grow older, you start to (realize) it’s inevitable. You know it’s going to happen. At the same time, I just try to keep myself in shape and keep trying to be the best that I can be, because you never know what can happen.”

Vick is in that peculiar veteran-backup role: he's supposed to mentor and guide Smith (which, by all indications, he's done without incident), but at the same time you know he really REALLY wouldn't mind if something happened to Smith. That's the balancing act that Vick, or any backup QB, has to pull off.

In Vick's corner: head coach Rex Ryan. “He’s got to be the youngest 34-year-old there is,” Ryan said. “God touched him. He’s got so much natural ability. It’s amazing." Vick, Ryan says, still has "a bazooka for an arm,” and is one heck of a second option.

Sure, there are plenty of people who will never forgive Vick for his dog-fighting exploits, even after 18 months in a federal prison. But all he has to do is win, and Jets fans, at least, will be all in on Vick ... for however long he's around.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Facebook or on Twitter.

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