From Alabama's tornado wreckage, some perspective and hope
The very instant Alabama superfan/super-knucklehead Harvey Updyke (allegedly) dumped Spike-80DF onto the ground surrounding the 130-year old oak trees at Toomer's Corner on the Auburn campus, the Alabama-Auburn rivalry had reached unprecedented heights. When Auburn later confirmed its trees had been poisoned and were dying, Tuscaloosa police stood guard over Bear Bryant's statue outside Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium in case any Auburn fans tried to retaliate.
Yes, folks, the Alabama-Auburn rivalry had hit an all-time low.
But the rivalry changed, perhaps forever, on April 27. In a sad, horrific twist, more than 60 tornadoes ripped through the state, killing nearly 250 people. More than 40 of the victims lived in Tuscaloosa.
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It took a natural disaster, including the worst tornado in the state's history, but finally the hatred between some fans of the rival schools was put into some much-needed serious perspective.
"With what's happened the last two-to-three months with the trees, the tornadoes, things of that nature ... people are reaching out to help," Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. "That's big. The bottom line is the Auburn-Alabama rivalry is a great rivalry, a huge rivalry, and as I've said before the actions of a small, small percentage of people are not indicative of what the rivalry is all about.
"I would say that the people that weren't involved in the rivalry -- meaning other than coaches and players -- if they treated each other and had the respect for each other like the way the coaches and players do on the field, that would be a good thing."
Alabama coach Nick Saban said he had never witnessed such devastation as caused by the tornadoes that nearly hit the Crimson Tide's campus.
"I don't think you can get the full impact by watching on TV," Saban said. "You get the physical impact of the destruction, but you don't get the personal pain of meeting the people who lost their homes and lost all their belongings and people who lost loved ones and made calls to tell people ... it's very, very difficult to see people that lost their businesses.
"The personal pain is not apparent when you're right there witnessing it."
Chizik said he's noticed that people have put aside their rooting interests to bond together for a common goal: help each other help the state rebuild.
"It's not about an Alabama or an Auburn thing," Chizik said. "It's a state that's been devastated. As I've said repeatedly, this is real life. This is real life stuff. This is not about a game. This is real life stuff that happened to real people in the state of Alabama.
"So it doesn't matter what colors you wear, it doesn't matter who you root for. The goal is to get the state of Alabama back to where it was before the tornadoes came through. "Whether you're 'Alabama,' whether you're 'Auburn,' it's the state of Alabama and we all have to pull together to recover and it's going to take a long time."
It's been more than six weeks since the devastation struck. The rebuilding process continues. Each day there is a little bit more progress and each day brings the state closer to Sept. 3, the opener for both Auburn and Alabama. Only 12 more Saturdays before Auburn hosts Utah State and Alabama hosts Kent State.
"Football is an outlet for so many people in our state," Chizik said. "Every Sunday, when a lot of people in our state wake up their day gets made by whether Auburn wins or Alabama wins. I think that is a commercial for the passion and what football means in our state.
"With so much tragedy and devastation that has gone on, I think people probably are really looking forward to a little bit of relief and a little bit getting away from the reality of the devastation when football starts. I can definitely see that being something that people are looking forward to -- not that they don't every year -- but maybe a little bit more so [this fall]."
Saban and his wife, Terry, donated $50,000 to tornado victims in nearby Holt, Ala. Both schools have donated heavy amounts of time and resources in the statewide recovery effort.
"I've tried to promote a sense of reality and priority in all this -- in that we realize and really appreciate the support we have and the passion people have for Alabama sports and Alabama football," Saban said. "But at the same time, regardless of your school or your passion or whatever, there's the entertainment of sports and the importance of it to so many people but we don't want to underestimate the importance of that and the effect it has on so many things.
"But we like to keep things in perspective. This is not about that. This is about people, regardless of what team you root for."
Those words will never mean so much as on Nov. 26, when Alabama visits Auburn in what should be one of the Iron Bowl's most emotional games in the series' illustrious history.
