re: SEC old timers, any thoughts on Shug Jordan?

My dad was born in 1947, so basically his life began as the rivalry renewed. He always talks about, outside of a couple of big upsets for Bama, the "rivalry" wasn't really intense until the 80s, mostly because Bama held a big advantagein the series and accrued more acclaim. It meant a great deal, and there were lots of jokes back and forth, but no real vitriolic sentiment for the most part during Shug's years.

Wrong or right, he attributes it to the respect people had for both Coach Bryant and Coach Jordan. It was hard to hate a rival to any real degree when you admired the hell out of their coach.

Coach Jordan was an amazing American among many others of WWII service. Coach Bryant is known for saying, "Shug has more courage in his little finger than I've got in my entire body." That was likely true compared to most all of us, even today. And, at least for my own dad, that is a large part of what made the rivalry more civil and respectable during his time compared to trashy idiots poisoning trees and calling Pawl today.