rivalries

This blog is based in the midwest, where some of the best sports rivalries are football's Green Bay/Chicago rivalry and the Green Bay/Minnesota rivalry.....and probably baseball's Chicago Cubs/St. Louis Cardinals rivalry, as mentioned in the blog about Albert Pujols a few days back.

However, it could be argued that in those rivalries, there is a sense of respect for the opponent.  In college football Southeast Conference (SEC), the rivalries go far beyond.

Whenever SEC football's Auburn Tigers team wins a big game, fans celebrate by throwing toilet paper into the oak trees at Toomer's Corner.  This is a long standing tradition.

the toilet papered tree after an Auburn football victory

Recently it was noted that the health of the trees is not doing so well.  During a call in radio show, an apparent Alabama Crimson Tide football fan claimed to have poisoned the 130-year old trees with something called Spike 80DF.  The trees are likely to not survive the poisoning, and yes, the man has been arrested.

In college football, the biggest rivalry is the Alabama/Auburn rivalry because of the close proximity (2 hours), and that each team has won a national title recently.  Alabama won theirs in 2010, while Auburn just won their's in January.

Alabama football coach Nick Saban is due to receive a statue in his honor prior to the start of this year's intrasquad spring football game on April 17.  It is likely this statue will be an ongoing target of retribution over the poisoning of the Toomer Oaks at Auburn.

get well car at the base of the Toomer Oaks