There are no professional teams in the state of Alabama and there are only two teams, separated by only 160 miles, that matter. Fans are forced to choose sides at birth– Alabama or Auburn.
And both teams have fans who want nothing more than to ruin the other team’s season.
Radio host Paul Finebaum said he has been covering college football for more than 30 years and has never seen a rivalry so intense.
“Some males here believe their manhood is determined by how well their team performs,” he said.
The recent success of both programs has pushed the hatred between the two fan bases to another level. This is the fourth consecutive year the Iron Bowl has had national championship implications. In 2008 and 2009, Alabama was 11-0 heading into the game.
2009, Alabama needed a late fourth-quarter touchdown to put away Auburn. Last season, Auburn was on a historic run to the national championship game. But the Tigers needed a second-half comeback to defeat Alabama for a berth in the S.E.C. championship game.
Rachel Baribeau, a who covers the S.E.C. for Fox Sports and Scout.com, said one of the teams can be having a terrible season and still knock off its opponent in the Iron Bowl, salvaging the year.
“When you have two teams like this, success in one breeds jealously and bitterness in the other,” Baribeau said. “People don’t speak at the holidays over this rivalry, people have been written out of wills because this rivalry. There is always the fringe lunatic fan base. Every school has them. They just don’t want to admit it.”
There are, of course, other storied rivalries: Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, Michigan vs. Ohio State, and even Miami vs. Florida State, but they all have to share a stage with professional sports teams and other big-name college programs in their state.
Izzy Gould, the Alabama beat writer for The Mobile Press-Register, said that he’s been around a lot of rivalries, but “nothing compares to Alabama-Auburn,” and that there is no playing both sides in this competition.
“As a journalist, I’m even labeled as an Alabama mouthpiece simply for covering the Crimson Tide,” Gould said. “Few care to see if you’re objective, or how you truly present stories. If you cover Alabama they call you a Bammer, and if you cover Auburn call you a Barner. Forget the fact I am a Florida alumnus.”
Total Members: