Give Me Five
Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 11:31PM The State of Alabama stood still today as we always do for the Auburn/Alabama game, a yearly state-wide holiday, carnival, festival. And it was a good day because Auburn won 22 - 15 and for the fifth year straight, the first time that has happened since (I think) the 1950's. Adding insult to injury for Alabama, Auburn won again in Tuscaloosa where Alabama has never won a home game against Auburn.
If you aren't from Alabama, you probably won't get it. You may think why, in God's name, is this important or come on, it's just a football game, not life and death.
It isn't life and death, as a general rule, and that's what is good about football or any game. For awhile one can get lost in the game and forget that death, illness, pain hovers over life like the atmosphere. Games let us forget and have fun.
And, as games go, the Auburn-Alabama thing is a game, an in-state college football rivalry and a whole lot more. Some claim that it is the most intense college rivalry in the country. I don't know, but I would not doubt it. I'm a believer because I have lived it since the age of 3. In a way I witnessed it even prior to the age of 3 because my father was already a gigantic fan of Bear Bryant, U of A legendary coach (now dead, though you have to keep reminding Alabama people), prior to my birth and prior to our move from Georgia to Alabama when I was 3 . Some 15 years later, to my father's horror, I went to Auburn. To my horror, about 15 years later, my nephew went to Alabama. Sadly, my father did not live to see that happen because it would have made him very happy.
These things happen in families down here, and it's much more than minor split loyalties for Alabamians. It's presents larger obstacles than figuring out how to have a good Thanksgiving less than a week after the game when someone won and someone lost. Least you think us to be a shallow group of people, I will share with you why this rivalry means so much.
It's all about pride, attitudes one carries for life and retention or loss of beloved family traditions. There's even a political element in the mix. Historically Alabama is where professionals sent their children. Auburn is where farmers sent their children. It was a class thing. Alabama was snotty; Auburn was a cow college. People sent their children to Alabama to become lawyers and politicians; People sent their children to Auburn to become farmers, veterinarians, engineers. Alabama groomed the ruling class; Auburn shaped the working class. From infancy one is indoctrinated into one camp or the other. Families declare for their children where their loyalties will lie (kind of like infant Baptism), but, alas, kids sometimes do not follow through with Confirmation, and the next thing you know, you are part of a mixed family.
Some mixed families handle it better than others. Mine handles it well because we love each other more than football. Nothing like the brothers who got into it after the Auburn-Alabama game some years back and one ended up killing the other. Yes, really. The definition of mixed marriage in Alabama is not black-white marriages. It means Auburn-Alabama marriages, those difficult unions where all kind of deals are struck in order to cope with those emotionally charged days of late November. And children born of those marriages are no doubt more confused than children born of polar religions.
So the Auburn or Alabama graduate experiences a sadness to see someone he or she loves break loyalty to all the values he or she holds dear - the traditions, belief systems, life approaches - and go to the other school. It's like losing a loved one on some level forever; the rivalry is more bitter, but the tongue is more cautious.
And the politics surrounding Auburn-Alabama are pretty complicated, too. To begin to understand why this is more than a football rivalry, go to Wikipedia to see the entry entitled Iron Bowl.
The schools first squared off in Birmingham in 1893. Then they got in a disagreement and suspended the competition in 1907. I have read different issues as the source of conflict - from tickets to expenses paid to players to the home location of officials for the game. Whatever the case, Auburn and Alabama did not play again until 1948 after the state legislature even got involved. They resumed play in Birmingham, the largest city in Alabama, because the stadium there could hold the largest number of fans. Birmingham was traditionally a production center for iron and steel, it's skyline adorned by a statue of Vulcan, so the game held there became known as the Iron Bowl.
From the Auburn perspective, this arrangement presented a problem because Birmingham had always been a more pro-Alabama city (my home, Montgomery, pro-Auburn), and Alabama played about half of its home games there every year. So it was something of a home game for Alabama every year depite the alternating designation of "home" team for ticket distribution purposes.
After a tremendous amount of political wrangling, a deal was finally struck to bring the game to the respective campuses beginning in 1989, though Alabama continued to bow to Birmingham for another five years or so for tourism purposes (evidence that Alabama was tight with Birmingham). Each school had expanded its facilities in anticipation of such an event, and the time had arrived.
The first time the game was played in Auburn (referred to as "The First Time Ever Game") was, no doubt, one of the most memorable days of my life. It was played on December 2, 1989, and Auburn, with its 10 - 2 season beat the previously undefeated Alabama by a score of 30 - 20. The game was ours, and as we filed out of the stadium headed to Toomer's Corner to celebrate I'll never forget the "It's Great To Be An Auburn Tiger" chant. I wonder how far it could be heard.
In this state one can lose every game of the season and feel like it was a successful season if the in-state rival was defeated. And miraculous things do happen in these games. This is why, no matter what record either brings to the game, we always say, "You never can tell with Auburn and Alabama..." Because that is true. The game is about spirit, will and desire to win, even against all odds. Anything is possible (check out the Punt, Bama, Punt game - Google it & you'll see). And we all need a little bit of that in our lives. We all need to feel part of some community larger than ourselves whose spirit can change things.
Have you seen the commercial of people on vacation who spot another group of Auburn fans, and in another, a guy in an airport spots another Auburn person? They walk up to each other and say "War Eagle" and it's like finding family out there. It really rings true.
So whether you understand or not, we will continue getting all worked up down here in Alabama at the end of November, and those of us who are not insane will function in mixed families, and, all in all, have a great deal of fun.
It is astounding to think that this is the second group of Alabama seniors who never knew what it felt like to beat Auburn. If it wasn't Alabama I would feel sorry for them.
My 10 year old nephew, Joseph (unfortunately being raised as an Alabama fan), was five when Alabama last won; my nine year old niece, Claudia, was four; and my seven year old nephew, Robert, was two. I wonder if they remember.
On the other hand my goddaughter, Catherine Claire (Catie Claire), born November 4, is being raised right. She has a little mobil of Aubie, Auburn's Tiger mascot, that circles overhead, and lots of cute Auburn outfits (I'm a Little Tiger, etc...). Her grandmother from Atlanta doesn't understand why Catie Claire's mother got the mobil since the orange and blue doesn't match the colors of the baby room. She doesn't get it. But Catie Claire will.
