ROUSES_SeptOct2019_Magazine

5 REASONS ALABAMA VS. AUBURN IS THE GREATEST RIVALRY IN COLLEGE FOOTBALl by creg stephenson Unless you’re a resident of one particular state, you’re going to resent this . I know you are. I can already tell.

Probably because you’ve heard it before from various radio pundits and televised talking heads. But what’s one more time among friends? The Alabama-Auburn football rivalry is the greatest in college football. There, I said it. The question is, do you believe it? Well, allow me to convince you, with a technique we in the sports-writing game like to refer to as a “list.” Below are five reasons the Alabama-Auburn football rivalry is the greatest in college sports. (If you’re from the state of Alabama, you probably don’t need convincing. I invite you to read this article anyway, all the while nodding along knowingly):

photo: Advance Publications

summer, as is the case with their brethren in Georgia. They don’t have the NBA as a winter distraction the way they do in Orlando, or the NHL to re-channel their sports fan energy like in Nashville. Alabama does have a handful of minor-league baseball teams, and Birmingham has a lower-level soccer club team that is growing in popularity. But those are merely nice off-season diversions, a good way to enjoy some cheap entertainment in the outdoors, not anything to be taken all that seriously. No, in Alabama it’s college football — and specifically Alabama vs. Auburn — 12 months and 365 days a year. The Iron Bowl rivalry is often compared to a religion, only many people in the state take it much more seriously than that. And that’s because it’s usually the only game in town. Sure, the other colleges in the state — South Alabama, Troy and UAB among them — have their following, but most of them also have an allegiance to either Auburn or Alabama. The football coach at the University of Alabama is the most- recognized person in the state, whether that’s Bear Bryant, Nick Saban or Mike Shula. He’s typically more powerful than the governor, more influential than any civic or religious leader. Auburn’s coach is a distant second, but he’s still second. And on occasion, as in the case of Pat Dye or Tommy Tuberville, he’s able to flip that dynamic for a while.

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THERE ARE NO MAJOR PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS IN ALABAMA

The old joke that there are three seasons in Alabama — football season, spring football season and recruiting season — isn’t really that far from the truth. Think of the other great rivalries in college sports: Ohio State vs. Michigan, Georgia vs. Florida, Texas vs. Oklahoma, even North Carolina vs. Duke basketball — all those states have professional sports teams within their borders. The college rivalries might or might not be the biggest thing going in their particular city or region, but they still have to compete for spectators, media attention and televi- sion eyeballs with the professional sports teams. It’s even different from many states in the South. Fans in Alabama don’t have the Saints to salve their wounds on Sunday if their college team loses on Saturday, the way their counterparts in Louisiana do. They don’t have the Braves to keep their minds occupied during the

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SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 2019