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Astronaut plays Alabama fight song from space

Posted at 7:34 PM, Jan 07, 2013
and last updated 2013-01-07 19:57:52-05

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Everyone is talking about the BCS Championship game – even the astronauts in space.

The International Space Station is abuzz with excitement about the game between Alabama and Notre Dame.  NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, who is the current commander of the station, is a Notre Dame alumnus.  There’s been quite a bit of friendly banter in the last week between Ford and the ground team at the Payload Operations Center in Huntsville, Ala. Ford works with the team in Alabama to perform science experiments.

In the past few days, Ford had a surprise for the Huntsville team.  He pulled up a special song from his iTunes library.  In the spirit of good sportsmanship, he played the Alabama Crimson Tide’s fight song.

“Alabama is a very worthy opponent,” Ford said. “Here’s a little music to their tribute.”  He then played ‘Yea Alabama’.

“Even though I’m going to find myself rooting for the Irish on Monday night, those guys on that football team the Crimson Tide should be very proud of themselves,” Ford added. “They’ve had a fantastic season worked very hard to get there and makes us all proud of all of those institutions actually that we have across the United States that put so much into their programs whether it’s their academics or their athletic programs.”

Ford played Notre Dame’s fight song on Monday.  He and his fellow crewmates will be watching the game from more than 200 miles up in space.