re: What makes the Iron Bowl so contentious?

I think a lot of the vitriol is exacerbated by two equally clueless and obnoxious groups of fans (one from each side). One is the large number of obnoxious dumb redneck sidewalk Alabama fans who try to minimize Auburn's football program and by extension the school. I have much respect for Auburn as a very solid academic institution that excels in some very important fields and is solid in most everything else. The rubes in our fanbase that don't respect Auburn as an institution are clueless.

On the Auburn side the second group are the self righteous, arrogant and clueless zealots most of whom are Auburn grads who think the way that TiM does. They're equally annoying just in a different way. The ones that honestly think half a point difference in ACT score makes Auburn Harvard compared to Alabama being a trade school. The "Tuscaloosa is one big dangerous sh##hole" types that spew tired self righteous, outdated, clueless propaganda based on a couple of trips only on campus years ago without exploring the huge upper income part of town north of the river. It's the kind of absurd idea that doesn't even acknowledge the obvious strong programs Alabama does have (law, accounting, business,social work,communications, forensics, public relations, nursing, etc....very solid graduate programs across the board too) To give a football anology, it's the same mindset that tries (with a straight face) to argue that Alabama only has 3 legitimate national titles in football while having the gall to call US delusional.

Well, you are kinda right.

However, I'm quite familiar with north tuscaloosa and the north river yacht club in fact. Spent many a thanksgiving at a relatives house that sits right on the golf course growing up. You are correct that I have not been to tuscaloosa in a decade and doubt I will ever be there again.

Being an Arkansas fan none if what you explained applies. Which is why I ask in this thread.

We don't have an in-state rival. Or really a main rival at all. Our sorta rivals have bigger rivalries instate and out.

I hope there's a bunch if great responses that will help me understand the landscape in Alabama better.

So I've heard. Most of my time spent there was in the 90s, so I'm sure it is much different now.

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You obviously have not been to Fayetteville. Because of its distance to most of the other schools in the SEC, its one of the least-attended road trips. However, Fayetteville is arguably one of the nicer cities in the conference. Downtown Fayetteville in my opinion is second only to Athens. You really should get there. I was shocked myself.

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I actually have been to Fayetteville for an Alabama-Arkansas game. It is a great college town. It does not exude "southerness" at all.

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Those numbers are adjusted for population, bud.

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I wasn't arguing the statistics. I was arguing that bigger places tend to have more crime, even in relation to their size. Also, older cities like Tuscaloosa which are actual cities separate from the University tend to have more crime.

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Here are the SEC schools ranked for average mid-career salary for graduates with Bachelor Degrees according to payscale.com:

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Well, Alabama has a lot of kids who major in Education, Social Work, Mass Media, etc. Those careers don't pay as well as Engineering. That doesn't make them less important.

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When I graduated from Alabama I had no desire to stay in Tuscaloosa. I'd strongly consider living there now though if I didn't really enjoy living in the Mobile area as much as I do.

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Tuscaloosa has been transformed in the last 10 years. Downtown is a vibrant place with a big time music venue, nice new large hotel, tons of new eateries, lofts, etc. I hate that a lot of my old hangouts are gone (The Booth specifically), but everything is light year nicer and more hip and cool than it was 15 years ago. It's really turned into a place I'd be totally content and happy living.

My dad lives there now in the Towns of North River. Really nice new and rapidly growing neighborhood near the Northriver Publix area. He has some assistant football coaches as neighbors. Nice new area.

While I disagree on your assessment on the two schools, and certainly of the two college towns, I do think you touched on a subject that I think UA could address.

While UA does enroll good students with high ACT scores (25%+ had a ACT score of 32 or higher), UA enrolls just as many with low performing students (25% with 21 or lower on ACT). Meanwhile, Auburn does not enroll as many high performing students, but their low-end performing students average around 23 or lower on the ACT. The admission standards are better at AU, making it harder for students to get in and allowing them to get better low-end performing students. I think going forward, it would be wise for UA to increase their admission standards and do a better job of focusing on recruiting in-state students.

As for your perception on Tuscaloosa, I do no agree whatsoever. While Tuscaloosa does suffer from a fairly high crime, most of the crime however, are more prone in the larger black neighborhoods. As you enter out of downtown and head south, you will hit what is known as "southside". Although the downtown area is separated from the area, it is still within the same district, giving it the highest crime rate area in Tuscaloosa, though the crimes take part outside of downtown. The other low-end spots for high crime rate reside on the neighborhoods near Skyland and the early parts of McFardland. As you progress through McFarland, the low the crime rate goes down.

Tuscaloosa has revamped the downtown in the last 5 years, along with addressing UA/downtown Tuscaloosa corridor improvements. The music scene is good, but not great, lake Tuscaloosa is fun, the nightlife is fun, and the craft brewery scene has grown. There are some major projects going on right now, but here's one of the better ones I like




Again, I do agree on some of your points, but I've lived in T-Town for a while now and it's changed the much since the tornado and I love it here. There are some certain changes that I would like, for example, a continuous flow of traffic on McFarland, but it's a fun city.

All of this downtown and almost all of it 5 years old or newer. They are also developing a ton of new stuff down by the river a few blocks down from downtown.

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This is typical of the average Bama bowl appearance as well. The gumps show up with one white shirt and a 5 dollar bill and dont change either one of them.

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Yea, the 40,000 folks shelling out $2K to go to New Orleans over New Years and CFB playoff games are only showing up with $5 and a white shirt.

Makes sense.