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Hey guys, I'm a college football fan and I've always heard about how big college football is in the South. I live in Iowa and college football is pretty popular here (Iowa and Iowa State are the two big teams around here), but it is definitely not as huge as it is in the South. I was hoping you guys could tell me about how big college football is down there and if it really is a big part of the culture. Does EVERYBODY have a favorite team? Do you see a lot of people wearing clothes supporting their favorite team? Is it the kind of place where everybody watches the game on Saturday? Do people know what's going on with the team and know the names of the coach/players? How big are the rivalries? Any comments, stories and examples would be appreciated. And it doesn't have to be limited to Alabama, I'm interested in the South in general. I'd just like to have an insight into how big a deal college football is down there. Thank you!!
Yes, there are very heated rivalries. It has gotten so bad, an Alabama fan poisoned the Toomer Oaks in Auburn after they lost to them a couple of years ago, nearly contaminating the water table and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Last year a woman shot and killed one of her friends because "she wasn't upset enough" that Bama lost to AU. That's how lunatic some are.
Yes, everyone wears their colors, tags on cars, stickers, and even flags....I see people driving around with flags when its NOT football season.
Yes, pretty much everyone I know is watching football on Saturdays in the fall if they are not at the game. We usually have gatherings for the better games.
If you want a good insight into what its like, try to catch "Roll Tide, War Eagle" on ESPN sometime. That will give you a look into the passion here over college athletics.
It's a huge deal. It occupies the conversation literally 365 days a year. The spring practice game draws upwards of 80,000 people. You know, a glorified scrimmage. It doesn't matter if it's October or May, you'll find a football article in the paper for Auburn and Alabama. There are a few who don't care about the sport, but most people pick a side and live with it. It's how you get invited to all the football watching parties, you know.
You should road trip it down here. Come to Auburn for a game. Get here about 5-6 hours early. Walk around the massive tailgate scene, introduce yourself, and say you wanted to experience a game down south. Trust me. They'll take you under their wing, plying you with food and drink.
It's not that big a deal. Auburn fans like the two above will try to tell you that a couple of fringe events define the whole state and that it's like Hatfields and McCoy's down here but there are crazy lunatics in every state. The thing is there are no pro teams down here to dilute the numbers of fans across different teams or occupy the sports talk. The Roll Tide War Eagle program concentrates on the hype to make an entertainment program watchable. It doesn't define us. A while ago I watched an Alabama fan ask Chris Davis to take a picture with him. But that won't make any headlines.
It is a very popular topic that among a small state when it comes to population. But there are similar situations between rival fan bases in many other places across the country.
You can come here and have a friendly chat with most people and you won't be stopped at the border and forced to choose a fan base before you enter or whatever crazy notion the rest of the country would have you believe about the state. It just so happens the spot light is on us because of all the winning going on down here.
It's not that big a deal. Auburn fans like the two above will try to tell you that a couple of fringe events define the whole state and that it's like Hatfields and McCoy's down here but there are crazy lunatics in every state. The thing is there are no pro teams down here to dilute the numbers of fans across different teams or occupy the sports talk. The Roll Tide War Eagle program concentrates on the hype to make an entertainment program watchable. It doesn't define us. A while ago I watched an Alabama fan ask Chris Davis to take a picture with him. But that won't make any headlines.
It is a very popular topic that among a small state when it comes to population. But there are similar situations between rival fan bases in many other places across the country.
You can come here and have a friendly chat with most people and you won't be stopped at the border and forced to choose a fan base before you enter or whatever crazy notion the rest of the country would have you believe about the state. It just so happens the spot light is on us because of all the winning going on down here.
Roll Tide.
Tourian smokes crack. He is a raving lunatic. He doesn't know what he is saying. It's early, so I'm guessing there's no morning coffee coursing through his system. That's the only explanation for his detachment from reality.
And, by the way, I didn't say it was this simmering blood feud. But the Updykes of the world sure keep it interesting to say the least. And when I have friends from other football-happy places such as Ohio or Michigan come here and say, "Jeez, guys, this is insane," I'm guessing that I'm pretty accurate.
To Auburn fans who aren't used to being on the big stage and who's biggest game of the year is the Iron Bowl it is a big deal. That's why they focus on other things like fringe off the bell curve events so that they can have something else to complain about and talk down about Alabama fans when things don't go their way. This year they won the Iron Bowl but lost the BCS and Alabama fans aren't sad or down in the dumps or concerned and that frightens the Aubies - so they name call and start talking about some trees that no one cares about. Because throwing TP in a tree and then blasting it out with hoses is oh so eco friendly to them. Updyke did his time and they have something else to throw toilet paper on and the rest of the world has moved on. But they can't because they are truly obsessed and have very little else to hold dear in their lives.
To Auburn fans who aren't used to being on the big stage and who's biggest game of the year is the Iron Bowl it is a big deal. That's why they focus on other things like fringe off the bell curve events so that they can have something else to complain about and talk down about Alabama fans when things don't go their way. This year they won the Iron Bowl but lost the BCS and Alabama fans aren't sad or down in the dumps or concerned and that frightens the Aubies - so they name call and start talking about some trees that no one cares about. Because throwing TP in a tree and then blasting it out with hoses is oh so economy friendly to them. Updyke did his time and they have something else to throw toilet paper on and the rest of the world has moved on. But they can't because they are truly obsessed and have very little else to hold dear in their lives.
This is coming from a bunch of stump-neck, gap-toothed, knuckle-dragging, polyester-wearing, stoop-gait, slack-jawed, biscuit-eating, cousin-kissing, book-burning, trailer-dwelling, backwoods lackwits who invest 100% of their self-esteem in what a bunch of 18-22 year-olds do on a football field. Alabama fans love to talk about their glorious program, but then they have to gin up a bunch of fraudulent national titles to supplement the ones they won legitimately. Whenever I see that "Got 15" shirt, I have to chuckle to myself at how badly they need to lie to themselves, because football is the only thing they have in their otherwise empty and pathetic lives. They're like the drunk uncle at the family reunions who are desperate to talk about themselves, spinning yarn after yarn while everyone else ignores them.
When Auburn played the Ducks for the national championship, what did the Mullet Nation go out and do? They all bought Oregon paraphernalia in desperation and put it on their cars. And when Auburn won, they revered a sidewalk alumni who took a bunch of herbicide and poisoned majestic centuries-old oak trees on Auburn's campus because they couldn't handle getting beat. They send death threats to kickers who miss field goals and taunt losing teams at the end of games with "we just beat the hell out of you," even if it's Tennessee-Chattanooga–then congratulate themselves on their class. Look online for any article on Auburn University, whether it's for the architecture school or for its graduates heading up companies such as Apple, and you're sure to find some lackwit chiming in with some stupid Cow College comment. Because everything in their lives revolves around football. They just can't imagine anything else.
No, no. The Alabama fans are pretty much recognized as the most godawful rabble of toothless, inbred illiterates ever collected in one place, mainly consisting of people who have never darkened a college campus except to spend the family's monthly WIC allowance to watch the Tide beat up on Colorado State . It's so manifestly true that they actually were recently recognized in one column as the Dumbest Fanbase in America (The Ten Dumbest Fan Bases in America: #1 The Alabama Crimson Tide : Outkick The Coverage). In fact, it's no coincidence that every third mugshot taken in the state of Alabama has the miscreant proudly wearing his Crimson Tide apparel, because in every meth lab in every single dingy corner of the state, there's a monument to the old dead cheating drunk.
Even now, as they sacrifice goats in front of the idol to their current head coach, they can't comprehend the fact that Lord Saban, the Supreme Head Coach Of All Time, only has a 6-6 record against their all-time rivals, 4-3 while he's reigned at the crapstone. And two of those victories were against Auburn teams that had colossally bad seasons. No, since the Bahr died thirty years ago, Auburn has had the upper hand against Alabama with an 18-14 record, despite the Tide cheating in such a monumentally flagrant manner that the NCAA came within a whisker of giving the program the death penalty. Even now, you can feel the panic creeping into their poor hearts as Saban feels the need to monkey with the NCAA rules committee to stop an offense he could not last November.
In fact, Tourian actually proved my point for me. For I did not diss Alabama in my post at all. Instead, I only addressed the game day atmosphere at Auburn. But, as a typical Bama fan obsessed with Auburn, he had to turn it into a polemic against us. Just give up, T. You're not going to win here.
So, OP, I wrote that in fun. But do you get an idea how it goes now?
OP. I didn't bother reading all that, I hope you don't either. I did pick up on the Alabama fans rooting for Oregon though. I'm sure a quick Internet search won't turn up shirts with Aubie wearing a leprechaun outfit. Oh no.
An out kick the coverage poll? How cute. Those polls are for entertainment value only. No one takes them seriously. Everybody hates us because they want to be us. 15 National titles with more to come. You can see the jealousy and hatred and envy oosing out of the post above. They can talk about iron bowl victories but Alabama talks about nation championships.
OP. I didn't bother reading all that, I hope you don't either. I did pick up on the Alabama fans rooting for Oregon though. I'm sure a quick Internet search won't turn up shirts with Aubie wearing a leprechaun outfit. Oh no.
An out kick the coverage poll? How cute. Those polls are for entertainment value only. No one takes them seriously. Everybody hates us because they want to be us. 15 National titles with more to come. You can see the jealousy and hatred and envy oosing out of the post above. They can talk about iron bowl victories but Alabama talks about nation championships.
It is just that simple really.
"I didn't bother reading all that" is another way of saying, "I'm out of bullets."
These two guys answered the OP's questions regarding colllege football in the south indirectly by engaging in Auburn-Bama trash talk. It is intense trash talking all the time.
I lived in Huntsville for awhile and it didn't seem that bad there , maybe because of all the transplants there plus Uni of Alabama-Huntsville prescene which has a decent national reputation but no football team.
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