The NYT’s Frugal Traveler column rolled into Tuscaloosa, Alabama this past week, and ohohohoho boy did they have some fun at the Bryant Museum.

Sketching out a map on a piece of poster board, he directed me first to the Waysider (1512 Greensboro Avenue, 205-345-8239), a hidden-away diner where I feasted on ham, eggs, grits and tiny, bouncy biscuits ($11.36 with tip), and then, of course, to the Paul W. Bryant Museum (300 Bryant Drive, 866-772-2327, www.bryant.ua.edu; entry $2), a temple to the legendary Bama coach better known as Bear Bryant. With its litany of sports stats, a replica of the coach’s office and utter lack of historical context, it reminded me of the Joseph Stalin Museum, in Gori, Georgia (the country, that is).

Wait, wait. The Joseph Stalin Museum has sports stats? GLORIOUS 1933: IRONMAN STALIN KILLS 600,000 UKRAINIANS, 2,000 UNASSISTED WITH PISTOL AT LUBYANKA PRISON!!! We’ll be sure to look for that the next time we’re in Gori, along with the photos of Stalin pulling down a nice header for a deciding goal against the Whites in the soccer game ultimately deciding the Russian Revolution.

Matt Gross–whoever that is–says the museum “lacks historical context,” which is surprising considering the whole thing is in chronological order, sits in the middle of the University of Alabama’s campus where Bryant coached, and is a few beer can’s tosses away from Bryant-Denny stadium where Alabama plays.

In all fairness, the whole comparison may have been sparked by the Golden Flake ads both did during their time as leaders of large, fanatical organizations. After all, this one…

…does look a lot like the one in the Stalin Museum…


Eat them or die, tovarech.

HT: Seth.