After Hours at a Buc-ee’s in Athens: The Refuge for an Emotionally Strained Team

The Crimson Tide’s flight plans back to Tuscaloosa after its win at Vanderbilt were canceled — but it was a blessing in disguise.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Oh, the ebb and flow of a basketball season.

The Alabama Crimson Tide has dealt with a situation that no other team in college basketball has had this season. Just days after former player Darius Miles was charged with capital murder in the death of Jamea Jonae Harris, the Crimson Tide had to play an SEC road game at Vanderbilt — and won.

The team was scheduled to fly home after the game, but because of severe fog, the flight was canceled and the team had to go home the old fashioned way — the bus. Brandon Miller is from the middle Tennessee area. He offered his childhood home as a place to stay if necessary. The group of 50+ soon decided against it.

What probably seemed like an inconvenience soon turned into a golden team building opportunity when the team needed it most.

“I got on the [bus] microphone and told them what the scenario was,” head coach Nate Oats said. “Brandon shot me a text from the back of the bus and said ‘Sleepover at the Miller house.’ I said, ‘All 50 of us?’ He said it’d be about as tight as it is on this bus. We got a second bus.”

Into the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Alabama made its way down I-65 — until stopping in Athens, Ala. to meet a second bus in order to spread out. 

The meeting spot? The new Buc-ee’s.

“It was the first time I’ve been in one,” Oats said. “Lots of stuff in there. It’s not a normal gas station. I mean shoot it’s like a grocery store. I didn’t buy too much of it. Our players walked out with big bags of food, though.”

For Oats, it was just pickles and almonds at the cash register.

“I’ll go to Buc-ee’s sometime in the summer,” Oats said. “I've got to get the beef jerky, the brisket. It was like 2 a.m. — I don’t even know if they had everything out at 2 a.m.”

On my way back from the Music City, I also stopped at the highly-efficient, borderline amazing convenient store. But it’s not just a convenient store — it’s much more. There’s freshly-made food, candies, apparel and everything in between all in the middle of nowhere Alabama.

And even though it was after 2 a.m., players and coaches both were making plenty of purchases for the ride home.

Athletic director Greg Byrne, who was with the team for its Nashville trip, was behind the master plan to meet the second bus at Buc-ee’s.

“I’m under the understanding [that] Greg Byrne is a big Buc-ee’s fan,” Oats said. “I’m sure he was happy that we did the bus change over at Buc-ee’s.”

Apparently, there’s a section in the Texas-based store with velvet paintings. 

Oats didn’t even have time to make his way there.

“I didn’t even make it over to that section,” Oats said. “That thing was so big. I walked in — everything to the right looked like food. […] I’m not gonna buy my art from Buc-ee’s I don’t think.”

With last weekend’s terrifying situation happening at home in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide’s two consecutive games on the road couldn’t have come at a better time.

“We’re trying to make this as normal of a situation as you possibly can,” Oats said. “To be honest, the two road trips back-to-back […] is not the worst thing to happen. You get on the road, spend some time together, healing together, talking through it. I think it’s actually a good situation.”

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