Jackson: AU, UA and niceness
A few days after the Alabama/Penn State game a friend sent me a piece from PennLive.com, an online newspaper from, you guessed it, Pennsylvania. It was a commentary on the writer’s recent visit to Tuscaloosa to witness the Crimson Tide put a bad beating on the Nittany Lions. It was titled: “Southern hospitality is no joke at Alabama.”
A Yankee writing about “how pleasant everyone was and what a great thing they have going here.”
And we weren’t just being nice because we won. “Not all fans are gracious with success,” the writer noted, singling out supporters of the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Yankees and his own alma mater Ohio State to make his point.
But seldom, he went on, had he seen “people associated with any team project as much grace and love of the game of college football” as Alabama fans. Why? Because “they’re good people” he concluded.
Sure he saw some rowdies, but they were rare. Instead there were partisans who offered “smiles and good cheer as a matter of course,” and “everywhere, (he heard) ‘pleases,’ and ‘thank yous’ and ‘excuse mes’ (spoken) with that voice like butter.”
His conclusion, ” ‘Bama gets it right” and next year, when the Tide goes north for the rematch, “it would be good to do right by them.”
This praise had hardly sunk in when, a few days after Auburn’s Tigers whipped a fine South Carolina team, a friend from Columbia sent me an article from the campus newspaper, The Daily Gamecock, that announced “Auburn hospitality sets standard.”
Yessir, another of our state universities was called out for being NICE.
Auburn folks welcomed their opponents, shook their hands, thanked them for visiting. “And some even apologized just in case someone else was mean to you.” Only no one was. As for the old put-down so loved by South Carolinians that Auburn is just Clemson without the lake, the writer would have none of it. “The place was pristine with class. It had character. And the people had character. They even recycle.”
Now let’s pause a moment folks.
Auburn and Alabama are surely not the most polite fans in the South. I have been to many a JSU game and can say that our supporters are just as nice as any.
But that’s not the point.
The point is that twice within the last few months, outside observers have noted our niceness—niceness associated with football.
Which is not necessarily a nice sport.
Witness the recent Auburn/Georgia game, an always-emotional contest made more-so by a week of Auburn-bashing by FoxSport and ESPN over the Cam Newton allegations. It was a game marred on both sides by sloppy play, cheap shots, late hits, chop blocks until, at the end tempers flared, a punch was thrown, the Georgia bench emptied, more punches and two Auburn players were ejected.
Niceness, it seemed, was a thing of the past.
Of course the past wasn’t so nice either.
Folks with long memories can recall the 1961 incident where an Alabama player put an elbow in the face of a Georgia Tech player who was pulling up after a fair catch signal. The Tech player was hurt so badly that he reportedly never played football again. A couple of years later, when UA played Tech in Atlanta, Alabama Coach “Bear” Bryant, who the press had accused of teaching players to play dirty, wore a helmet on the field to protect him from what Tech fans were throwing.
Some say that Georgia Tech withdrew from the SEC because the Alabama player was not suspended.
Good old days indeed.
Then there was 1986, when Georgia visited then-No. 6 Auburn, whipped them, and after the game the Auburn grounds crew turned hoses on celebrating Bulldog fans.
This year, after losing, Georgia fans reportedly set fire to toilet paper that festooned the oak at Toomer’s Corner. The Fire Department was called. The tree’s condition is being monitored.
Now folks, I am not going to make excuses for this sort of behavior, either by players or fans. But I have been a football player and I am football fan. I know from both perspectives how emotions can get the better of you. My senior year in high school old mild-mannered me was involved in a brawl that cleared both benches. Before order was restored daddies and big brothers (and at least one mama) came out of the stands and onto the field—and not to break things up.
Like I say, I know.
Tomorrow an Auburn team that feels it can’t get any respect will meet an Alabama team that can salvage a disappointing season by winning the big one.
Will it be a hard-fought game?
Of course.
Will fans get rowdy?
Probably.
Will there be niceness?
I sure hope so.
(P.S. At the end of my senior season my team was awarded the Sportsmanship Trophy by the Pine Belt Conference. Wasn’t that nice?)
Harvey H. (“Hardy”) Jackson is Eminent Scholar in History at Jacksonville State University. He can be reached at [email protected].
