Well let’s just say what most people think about the University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa branch. Its football pursuits justify its identity with an uneducated backward white population and a symbolic link to the Lost Cause they hold so dear. Football has stalled UAT’s transformation into a modern university with intellectual, aesthetic or humanistic concerns. UAT fans overestimate the “esteem” of being the last college football factory.

Also UAT’s misplaced priorities (gold-plated football fluff over economic substance) harm the state’s growth and development as the Crimson Tide football team is outlet for the lunatic fringe (Paul Finebaum, Jay Barker, Harvey Updyke, John Phillips, Brian Downing, the Sugar Bowl “lady” et al) and a venue for them to be recognized. The holy crusade of UAT football also acts as an impediment to social or economic progress. It is well known that when a university simply reflects the attitudes of its football fans..... It is no longer a university in the true meaning of the word.

History has shown that UAT fans defend the indefensible, deny the undeniable and are thus driven by extreme emotion into delusions and reckless actions. The abovementioned misfits are the predictable by-product of UAT football. The NCAA would actually do UAT a favor by handing down a 'Death Penalty' for its football team. It will be only then that its faculty, alumni and students will appreciate the scholarship and learning that mark a university with intellectual fiber and integrity. Indeed until that time “roll tide” is the mortifying apology for those without individual self-respect or dignity. And so it is…