Before I attended the LSU game at Alabama this past Saturday, I expected the same hostile environment I experienced at Auburn this past year. Auburn fans are, as a group, the most combative and rudest people I’ve ever met, but I was surprised when the fans at Alabama turned out to be the exact opposite. They were very friendly and easy to talk to, and Alabama’s campus was a haven for celebrating the game of football. From the time I arrived at their campus for tailgating until I left after the game, Alabama fans were the most polite opponents I have ever encountered. Tailgating with Alabama fans was like a different flavor of LSU tailgating. Sure, the Tiger Athletic Foundation and other tailgating organizations were there, but they made up a small minority across the entire campus covered in red tents. Despite being outnumbered, the tailgating experience was just as friendly as if I was at an LSU home game. During the game my dad and I were seated with a small pocket of LSU fans surrounded by a sea of red sweat-shirts. Throughout the game’s many controversial calls and surprise rulings by the referees, the Alabama fans still maintained a friendly demeanor toward us. We were talking to the Alabama fans in front of us and were surprised when we could agree on the referees’ bad calls. Even when LSU pulled ahead and won in the final minutes of the game, the Alabama fans would still shake our hands saying, “Good game.” I’ve never seen this kind of hospitality in so many people at a football game before. I was treated almost as if we all went to the same school. My experience with Auburn fans, however, was remarkably different. At a time when the biggest controversy was vulgar language coming from the student section, Auburn fans proved to be worse. In addition to the usual combative nature of a rival team’s fans, Auburn fans at the LSU home game earlier this year were rude and unsportsmanlike. When LSU won the game with one second left, Auburn fans in the upper east deck began throwing trash at the field in protest. Nachos, chips and beer alike all rained down upon the LSU fans below them. This past year, my dad and I went to the away game against Auburn and witnessed almost the same level of arrogance. Auburn won that game, but I still saw objects being thrown by Auburn fans as LSU repeatedly charged for the endzone. With Auburn, rude and unsportsmanlike behavior does not end with the fans. The Auburn band would always play while our own Tiger Band was playing. Even after the game, when the Tiger Band played the Alma Mater, Auburn started up their fight song trying to drown them out. For those of you unfamiliar with marching band etiquette, this display put on by the Auburn band is an insult to our Tiger Band. It is considered an insult for a band to play during the other team’s Alma Mater after a game, but shame doesn’t stop Auburn. What is the cause of this difference between the hospitality of Alabama fans and the hostility of Auburn fans? It can’t be a result of their cultural upbringing. Auburn and Alabama are both in the same state, and both colleges are public universities. Alabama, founded in 1831, and Auburn, founded in 1856, both have more than 150 years of rich Southern history. The similarities between Alabama and Auburn continue. According to Collegetoolkit.com, ethnically, the student bodies at both colleges are overwhelmingly white and both colleges accept more than 70 percent of their applicants. According to each university’s Web site, Alabama costs $5,478 for instate tuition and $15,494 for out-of-state tuition, while Auburn charges $5,786 for in-state tuition and $16,286 for out-of-state tuition. Auburn costs more to attend, but the difference is only $300 for in-state and $800 for out-of-state tuition. Additionally, the cost of tuition at Alabama and Auburn both fall below the national average, according to a 2006 USA Today survey covering 75 of the country’s “flagship universities.” I do not understand how the cultures of Alabama and Auburn can be so different. They have so much in common, yet one college is home to the most polite fans I’ve ever met and the other produces the most arrogant and unsportsmanlike fans I’ve ever seen. Auburn fans really need to clean up their act. I know this is football, but their behavior is over the line. As for Alabama fans, I can only compliment their exemplary Southern hospitality, and I hope every Alabama fan gets a chance to read this column before their match with Auburn eight days from now. What LSU fans need to ask themselves is this: Do we act like Alabama fans or like Auburn fans?
—Contact Michael Schouest at [email protected]