My wife and I are both from Alabama. You may not know, but in Alabama there is a hard and fast societal rule (if not a law) that you must have a clear alliance for either the University of Alabama OR Auburn University. People naively try and pretend they are for both teams, but that is impossible. It is like someone trying to be both a Muslim AND a Christian; like Anakin Skywalker trying to be a Jedi AND on the Dark Side, or a politician trying to be both a Democrat AND a Republican. It won't work. You can't reconcile the two parts. You will likely die trying.
Tina grew up in Tuscaloosa and is a lifelong fan of the Crimson Tide. I moved to Birmingham at the impressionable age of 9. Just weeks after moving to town in 1975, I cheered my heart out for the Tigers to beat Alabama and have been an Auburn fan ever since. We both LOVE good college football and would rather watch a good game (regardless of who is playing) that do just about anything else on those lovely Saturdays in the Fall.
It has been said, you can’t help who you fall in love with. This is so true. Well, with these required athletic associations throughout the state, it is inevitable that some mixing would happen over the years. You may be aware of this, but my Tina and I are in one of these “mixed marriages”. It is something we felt we could handle, and in the past 12½ years we have not once let it come between us. We might disagree on our favorite team, but we have plenty of common enemies in teams Alabama and Auburn both hate to keep us united! What we did not consider was how much it would effect our children.
Like that couple who marry with one being Christian and the other being Jewish, we idealistically thought it would work it self out when it came to out kids. We said things like. “We will let them decide when they are old enough” even though we were dressing them in orange/blue or crimson/white baby clothes just days after we got them. The we said things like “Eli can be for Auburn and Naomi can be for Alabama” which works great for Tina because Naomi is focused and determined to be just like her mother in every way, but Eli changes every time the wind blows. One day Alabama, the next day Auburn. One day LSU, the next day Clemson (we do not know…). One day UCF, the next day back to Florida.
Well yesterday my son brought me a picture he made me to cheer me up after a long day at work. (I love that he knows I needed cheering up!) He is a politician. He included all the things he thought I needed from him. He drew a tiger. He put the AU and AUBURN on it, even drawing himself (or is that me) cheering for Auburn! He even through in Z88.3.com as an extra bonus, but then I looked at the top of the page to see that he wrote Nick Saban at the top of the page. I know he knows that Nick is the coach for Alabama, but in his haste and excitement to draw me this picture he got lost in the details swirling around in his 6 year old head from both parents influence and there it was. It was like a kick in the head. We have been pushing him too hard. A 6 year old does not need that kind of pressure, but we had put him in that AU/UA pressure cooker without even knowing what we had done.
So from now on there is a new rule. Eli can be a fan of any team he wants. He can choose. No pressure at all. It is all up to him… as long it is not Tennessee. That is a deal breaker. J
*I also included Naomi's picture from that same day... much less to worry about there. :)
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