The Yankee & I moved to Alabama a few years ago, and love it here. But it was interesting!
Most Southerners love football, SEC football in particular. Growing up in Louisiana, there was only one SEC school in the state; so, by default, everyone qualified as an LSU fan, even if they went to another non-SEC college in LA. (The same thing applies in pro football – everyone’s a Saints fan, it’s mandatory.)
When we first came here, we heard lots of “Welcome to Alabama!” greetings, followed by 2 questions: 1) had we found a Church to belong to yet?, and 2) Auburn or Alabama fan? A choice must be made!!!
They’re quite serious about this; Saturdays in the fall are complete seas of either Crimson/White or Blue/Orange jerseys. Mixed marriages are defined as couples who can’t get the other person to ‘convert’, and are generally frowned-upon.
One other thing about Alabama: don’t come here if you are not a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama”. You will see both see the phrase and hear the song everywhere. When my stepdaughter was here, we were in the checkout line at a busy store. “Sweet Home Alabama” started playing as a ringtone. Now that wasn’t unusual, but what amazed her was that about 10 people in the lines started checking their phones to see if theirs was the one ringing! This ringtone is probably the only one that won’t get you a dirty look if it goes off at the library or in Church.
Sorry, got to go, it’s game day, and I have to dress the dog in her Bama jersey, and put on my jersey and Bear Bryant hat – gotta run!
One Response
The berserkbelle got it backwards. Folks always asked about the team choice before they asked the church choice. The best part of the competitiveness is that both sides have a priority of team, conference division and conference. Rooting for the team without violence towards the opponents.