Ironing it out

We try to reserve the sports blogs for Patrick's space, even though there are a few sports fans among us at the Chanticleer.

However, this week is a big one sports-wise in Alabama with the Iron Bowl on Saturday. Couple that with the fact that I have absolutely no idea what else to write about this week, and you got yourself a sports blog, courtesy of me.

You're welcome.

The Iron Bowl is a funny thing to me. It's not a one-week-a-year rivalry. You almost can't go anywhere on any given day in the year without hearing somebody talking about the Tide or Tigers.

Every time you get on the road to drive in Alabama, you see at least 20 cars sharing the road with you that advertise their drivers' allengience.

And there's no in between allowed. You are either an Alabama fan, or you are an Auburn fan. Never mind the fact of the disproportiate amount of those fans who not only never attended that school, but has no family who had either.

What's that? They have schools at Alabama and Auburn? Not just football teams?

I digress.

So, what is my take on the Iron Bowl? Where do I stand, War Eagle or Roll Tide?

Well, I've lived in Alabama pretty much my entire life. I've actually lived in Calhoun County for that matter.

Naturally, when you grow up in Alabama, you have to be a fan of one or the other. You don't even have to like football or sports.

"So who are you for?" as someone asked me recently.

"Neither," I says.

"I'm a Falcons fan."

After a few seconds of silence, I explained to him that the Atlanta Falcons are a professional football team (not a very good one, I know, but I'm a fan nonetheless). To save the poor guy's head from spinning, I changed the subject.

See, not only are football fans in the state of Alabama so generally blind to the notion of professional sports, they don't know of many teams outside of the SEC at all.

It's okay to be a casual sports fan. It's even better than okay if you are a tried-and-true, die hard fan of your team. In fact, as a die hard fan of my teams, I almost expect that from fellow sports fans. If there's one thing I hate in sports fandom, it's a fairweather fan (I'm looking at you, "Red Sox Nation").

My dad raised me to be an Atlanta sports fan because that's where he's from. My fondest childhood memory was when I was 9 and Sid Bream slid safely into home in the 1992 NLCS to send the Braves to the World Series. My dad picked me up and swung me around, huge smiles across both of our faces.

He is also an Auburn fan. That didn't rub off on me.

I grew so disenchanted with the tired Alabama/Auburn rivalry before I hit middle school, that I still to this day am not a fan of either. Maybe if I went to one of the schools, I would be.

Still, when people across the country or on ESPN ask the question of what the biggest college football rivalry is, I laugh.

There's really no comparison. The Iron Bowl matters. More than it should, probably.

And nobody, whether they or a fan of Auburn or Alabama or not, who has lived in this state long enough can deny that.