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A HOUSE DIVIDED
Published November 26, 2009
Friday will mark that time of year again when people gather in mass, yell, scream and, every now and again, riot.
Nope, it is not the nation’s biggest shopping day, it’s the Iron Bowl.
Many people will argue that it is the most-heated rivalry in college football.
There’s an old saying that on the day people are born in Alabama, before the doctor says if it is a boy or a girl, the baby is dubbed an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan and, to many, yes, it is that important.
Each school is rooted deep in traditions, but the best illustration is probably in the Albertville living room of the Ginger and Randy Fletcher family.
On one side you have Randy, father and Alabama fan, and Jake, a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who cherish their beloved Crimson Tide.
On the other side, there is Ginger, mother and Auburn graduate, and Brody, another Auburn graduate, who think nothing goes better together than orange and blue.
The family pretty much agrees that Randy is probably the most passionate about football.
“I probably am,” Randy said. “It’s very important to me.”
Randy described watching a football game with him as being “very intense.”
“I kind of get into it, I played a little football and I can tell when a mistake was made, so it can be very intense.”
Ginger shares the same assessment, for the most part.
“This is my take on the Alabama-Auburn game,” Ginger said. “As long as Alabama is winning, my husband does pretty good.
“He watches a lot of it out in the garage and my son says he gets crazy with the game. If Alabama wins, he takes us all out to eat, but if Alabama loses, he pretty much goes to bed.”
Some diehard Alabama fans might wonder how an Alabama fan and an Auburn fan end up marrying one another and living under the same roof.
“I met her at a party,” Randy said. “At that time, I didn’t know she was an Auburn fan. It wasn’t until later on, after we started dating, that I found out she was an Auburn graduate,” he said.
Ginger had originally attended Auburn to get away from her sister, who went to Alabama.
“I didn’t want to go where she went,” she said. “So, I went to Auburn, not knowing she would get into vet school. And, where would she come? Auburn.
“And, I just looked at my parents and said, ‘Surely you don’t want us to live together.’ Which, they didn’t make us do that, thank goodness.”
Over the years, the couple has had many Alabama Auburn memories, but there’s one that sticks out in both of their minds.
It was the 1985 Iron Bowl.
“One year, we were at one of my wife’s friends’ house. They had an Iron Bowl party,” Randy said. “There were probably 20 to 25 people there and it was the year Van Tiffin kicked the field goal to beat them (Auburn).
“It looked like Auburn had it in the bag. I mean, it looked like the game was over with. So, they came through the house – it was about a 50/50 Alabama and Auburn – and my wife and a couple of her friends came through the house doing this ‘funky chicken,’ or ‘funky War Eagle,’ I guess.
“And then Alabama puts together a little drive and Van Tiffin kicks that field goal and it totally reversed.
“I’ve never seen anything 180 as quick as that did,” he said.
The Iron Bowl kicks off at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Auburn.
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