re: What makes the Iron Bowl so contentious?

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So let me get this straight - you think Fayetteville, Arkansas oozes "southern charm" more than Tuscaloosa, Alabama? Really?

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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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Shocker, those are 4 of the 5 largest cities in the state as well. Tuscaloosa has crime like other cities of 90K+ have crime.

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Those numbers are adjusted for population, bud. For every 100,000 people there are nearly 520 violent crimes committed each year in Tuscaloosa. Also for every 100,000 people, there are 241 violent crimes committed in Auburn each year.

You are twice as likely to be involved in a violent crime in Tuscaloosa than you are in Auburn. It has nothing to do with population and everything to do with crime.

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All in all, good luck with helping your kid pick their college. But if you aren't going to let them go to Alabama for the reasons you have mentioned so far then that is a pretty ignorant way to mentor them.

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My kids are free to choose whichever university they desire to attend. They are more than welcome to choose Alabama. My hope is that they will attend UGA. If it were up to me and they did not choose UGA, I'd prefer they choose Auburn over Alabama simply because I think it would be a better experience for them. But it will be their decision.

There are far more reasons for me to feel that way that the ones already mentioned.

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

$102,000: Vanderbilt
$98,300: Texas A&M
$89,800: Auburn
$86,300: Florida
$85,600: LSU
$83,600: Georgia
$81,900: Missouri
$80,700: Arkansas
$79,600: Tennessee
$79,200: Mississippi State
$78,700: Kentucky
$76,900: Alabama
$73,100: South Carolina
$71,400: Ole Miss

I could go on with more evidence. But everything I study points to Auburn offering a better experience and better potential.

Obviously both are great schools. It's just in my opinion Auburn is a better school if you reside in the state of Alabama.