re: Fayetteville vs Tuscaloosa vs Athens

I've wondered what the city would be like had the capital never moved to Montgomery.

I'll agree there are some less than appealing areas, but there are also some great areas of Tuscaloosa. You'll be hard pressed to find a campus as beautiful as Alabama's, and The Strip and downtown areas are great as well.

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I see Auburn, Oxford, and Starkville as definite college towns. Auburn has definitely gotten bigger over the recent years.

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Fayetteville proper is very much like you describe. Traffic on North College from August to May is murder. But in the summertime, the place is like Shangri-La. The real population explosion was taking place up the I-540 corridor to Rogers and Bentonville. That's the Wal-Mart influence. Vendors and hangers-on were coming to be close to Deep Pockets. That has leveled off some with the economic downturn.

For all that growth in the NWA area, Fayetteville has still retained much of its identity. Of course, many of us lament the shift in culture on Dickson Street. I miss my hippies and skate punks. But on the flip side, I do like that there are some nice dining choices and places to get a drink and be entertained.

The best things Fayetteville has going for it are lots of gorgeous coeds, beautiful landscape with the mountains and the trees turning this time of year, and the still-thriving local restaurant scene. Fayetteville has fought off the Applebees and Outback Steakhouse invasions fairly well. Oh, those restaurants are there - mostly in the Springdale area, but those of us who love Fayetteville can still get Big-Uns or Ribs at Hermans and a Derek's Special at Hugo's. Or we can have spaghetti and fried chicken at Venetian. Or Catfish Tchopatoulas or Eggplant Napoleon at Cafe Rue Orleans.

I miss Maxine. Maxine's is still there but it will never be the same without that crusty old broad sitting there drinking iced coffee and telling us, "Last call for alcohol. Drink up and get the HELLLLLL out!" And George's beer garden will never be the same now that the Cate Brothers don't play anymore. Ahhhhh Fayettville.

I have not set foot in Tuscaloosa so I can't comment. But I DID spend a week in Athens and I think that's a really cool college town. Loved the stuff around the square, and campus is beautiful.

As for the 'tard who tinks Knoxville is a good place, well...that's just your provincialism showing through. Knecksville is nothing more than a dirty mountain semi-city with a great big stadium in the middle of it. I've spent more time than I ever want to spend in that dump of a place, and I hope God makes sure I never have to go back. Not only is it a shitty town, but the people - especially those associated with the university - are horrible. I unfortunately worked in the U of Tenn system for a time, and thank God every day that I was delivered from that piece of trash place.

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The campuses of LSU and UGA are just as beautiful, if not more so, than Bama's. I've been to Tuscaloosa several times and was never overly impressed by the campus or the city. Even though it's not in the SEC, UVA's campus in Charlottesville is probably the nicest I've ever been to.

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Alabama is modeled after UVA. I can't argue against Georgia. It looks like a great campus. However, I lived in Baton Rouge for a while, and I can't see how anyone would say LSU's campus is more impressive than Alabama.

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Downtown Tuscaloosa sucks.

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That all depends on whay you're comparing it to. Its a large college town. Plus, the city has started to really focus its efforts on rebuilding the downtown area. Give an opinion on it within the next five years. There are tons of projects ongoing in that part of Tuscaloosa.

Fayetteville 25 year ago was like Oxford now, if Oxford had 3 other similarly sized towns up the road from it.

Even when I started college in 1996, Fayetteville had a population of 45k people. Now its close to 80k, but in the same timeframe, Springdale (which is attached, unfortunately, at the northern end) has grown from 28k people to about 70k people. Literally. No lie. No exaggeration. And Rogers and Bentonville have grown from 25k and 15k to around 50k and 40k. Thats a huge amount of growth for a small metro area over 15 years.

Some of the growth has been positive, some of it has hurt. It still feels like small towns, even though its a metro of close to half a million people now.

I can account for homerism, but for the life of me can't understand how anyone not from Louisiana would rate BR>Fayetteville. Its beyond me.

I think Athens is comparable, but Athens is more of an exurb and wealthier than Fayetteville. Fayetteville still feels more real, and like a place to get back to nature. Town ends abruptly at the edge of the Boston Mountain range, and anywhere downtown, you can see unspoiled mountains rolling off into the distance. Hope it never gets ruined (californicated) like much of west Austin.

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Maybe it is, but it ain't near half as pretty

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well look up most beautiful campus lists and you will see that Bama is on most of them. LSU however is not.