It's that time of year!

This is such a hot topic this time of year. You may or may not know what a big Auburn fanatic I am. I am interested in stirring things up a bit and looking at our Alabamian football culture from an outsiders perspective.

Generally there are 3 types of fans. You have your Alabama fan, your Auburn fan and those that say they will pull for each team when they are not playing each other but when it comes to the Iron Bowl they choose Alabama or Auburn. As we all know both sides have their obsessive fanatics with an en-grained hatred for the other team. Those are the folks I want to talk about.

Why is it that people take things so personally and actually get offended when someone is trash talking about the team you pull for? I am guilty of getting on the defense when I hear trash talking about Auburn- but why is it that way?

Fanatic- this is someone who displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions. A lot of times people who don't understand will question your fanaticism. You hear this question all the time "Well did you graduate from Ala/Aub?" If the answer is 'yes' it's like that person gets a pass for being such a fanatic. What if your answer is no? It's almost as if you don't have the right to be a fan at all. Okay, what about this one- "Are you playing for the team on Saturday?". Most obviously the answer is 'no'. So the question is why are you so die hard for your team?

Why it is so instilled in us to be so much for one side or the other. What makes you the fanatic that you are?