re: Most HATED rivalry?

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I don't get people trying to pin how shitty the state is on the state university. Every state university you guys are talking about are very good to great, and are generally pleasant places to be that are open minded, free thinking and nicest parts of those states for students to be in. And every state with an SEC school is kind of backwards and shitty in many ways. That just makes the universities and their respective locals that much better, relatively speaking.

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Incredibly well stated.

Tuscaloosa and Auburn are general oasis' in the overall landscape of Alabama. Same for Oxford in Mississippi (though the coast is nice). Athens, Atlanta, and Savannah are the only places I'd ever tell someone from out of state to visit. NW Arkansas/Fayetteville is wonderful. I could go on.

We should do a better job tipping our collective hats to each other in the scholastic/athletics arms race we've all been in for the last 15 years.

Go visit a majority of Big10/Big XII schools, and outside of places like Austin, Norman, Columbus, Ann Arbor, and Happy Valley, the drop-off is staggeringly large to what we've become accustomed to.