Another Year, Another Iron Bowl

Somehow, without my permission, my life has begun to revolve around the "Iron Bowl."

For those of you unfamiliar with Alabama's premier sporting event, here's a little taste of the article which appeared in Sports Illustrated this week.

(and for those of you too lazy to read the whole article, here's a few descriptive passages):

"the cliché about football being a way of life isn't a cliché in Alabama."

"Many couples in what is known throughout the state as 'mixed marriages' won't speak on game day, because one spouse is an Auburn fan and the other roots for Alabama. "

And Finally, from Sports-Talk Radio Host Paul Finebaum: "It's like the relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians. They essentially live on the same piece of land, and in a way they wage war 365 days a year. It never stops, no matter who tries to intervene or referee."

But I digress. As I was saying, somehow, some way, my life has begun to revolve around the Iron Bowl. My first month here, I got thrown into co-hosting an hour-long live special previewing the game. Since then, I've been to Auburn nearly every week of football season to interview coaches and players. Oddly enough, I've never been to a game, which you would think would make it hard to get caught up in the SEC Football hype. It doesn't. 90-year-old women will come up to me at WalMart in July and ask me if I think Auburn can beat Alabama this year.

I still find the whole experience bizarre, and I come from the part of the country with the Michigan/Ohio State game, recently voted the greatest college football rivalry in the country. Here's the difference. If you're not a football fan, it's possible to ignore the UM/OSU game. Sure, 112,118 people packed Michigan Stadium Saturday, but I doubt my mom even knew it was going on this weekend, and she lives only 55 minutes away from Ann Arbor.

You can't live in Alabama (or parts of Georgia) without knowing the most intimate details surrounding the "Iron Bowl." Honestly, it's a little freaky.

Anyway, tonight was the big game. I missed most of the first half, since I was at the hockey game (see below). Considering the fact that both Auburn and Alabama have had lackluster seasons, it was a damn good game. Cory got to go, he helped shoot video of the game for the station. He was trying to decide whether or not to go, and I told him "one of us should experience an Iron Bowl sometime. I'm always in the studio, so that leaves you."

The game ended 2 1/2 hours ago. Cory just called about 15 minutes ago to tell me that they just got out of traffic and were headed back. He could have walked to Columbus in that amount of time (Ok, not really, but you get the idea). I hope he had a good time!