Is This the Golden Age of Alabama Athletics?

The video above, entitled "Alabama Crimson Tide - The Golden Age," has been circulating around the internet since it was published three days ago by Benjamin Smith (@RTRtheChief), collecting over 13,000 views at the time this story was written. It primarily focuses on the football program under Coach Saban, but also sprinkles in the other sports that have won national championships in the last year - softball, gymnastics, and women's golf.

Whether or not the claim of "golden age" is accurate, the topic appears to be worth discussing when you look at the big picture. While the dominant football run garners a strong majority of the attention from fans, take a look at the accomplishments of the athletic department as a whole.

As the video shows, Alabama currently holds four national championships with the football and gymnastics teams currently boasting two straight titles, but the success spreads well beyond those two teams. Alabama finds itself ranked in the top five of five different Spring sports. Here's a list of the accomplishments just this 2013 calendar year:

• The two-time defending champion gymnastics is ranked #4 and pushing for a three-peat.
• The defending-champion softball team started the season 16-0 and currently sits atop the polls again.
• The defending-champion women's golf team is ranked #2 in the nation and won the Lady Puerto Rico Classic earlier this month.
• Men's golf, last year's NCAA runner-up, also won the Puerto Rico Classic this month and ranks #5 nationally.
• The women's tennis team is 8-1 this year and ranked #5.

That list doesn't include a men's basketball team that sits second in the Southeastern Conference and a men's tennis team that ranks #31 with a 9-3 record.

That's a résumé that can compete with any college or university in the nation. It's evident by the Capital One Cup Standings that were formed two years ago. They rank athletic departments based on where each sport finishes its season and basically do what they're intended - rank athletic strength. The biggest argument against the standings is that it gives more value to quantity over quality because programs with more programs have a chance to earn points while other schools aren't competing. Even without many of the Olympic sports, Alabama has shown up on the list regularly and has even held the top spot in both men's and women's at some point over past year.

Sure, you might not be able to put The University of Alabama's athletic department among the four or five elite programs in the country, but the school certainly seems to be gaining a lot of ground. Can you remember a stretch where Tuscaloosa was home to so many top-ranked programs? Maybe we should be appreciating this period as the golden age of Alabama athletics.