re: What makes the Iron Bowl so contentious?

Fair enough. I think the campus and downtown area of Tuscaloosa is just as nice as Athens, and the areas of both outside of those are pretty comparable in their blandness. Neither really scream southern charm to me, but that's just me.

Majority of Tuscaloosa's violent crime is isolated to certain areas of town and rarely impact the campus area. I lived there for several years and never had it impact me, nor never witnessed any firsthand.