Newly-minted Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin gets it.
In referring to the Alabama Crimson Tide as the “team up north”, he showed off his Tiger stripes by following the motto “you can’t hate what you don’t care about.”
That line uttered in the Roll Tide-War Eagle ESPN documentary chronicling the Yellowhammer state’s greatest contribution to the sports world is the motto many Auburn football fans when it comes to the rowdy neighbors north in Tuscaloosa.
Beyond just Harvey Updyke, whose excessive amount of “Bama in him” caused him to destroy the trees at Toomer’s Corner (yes, a grown man said that), there are Alabama fans not worth paying mind to.
Charles Barkley said as much with his shot at SEC fans that included an Alabama Crimson Tide anecdote:
"“When I’m in Alabama, I got friends who are like, ‘We on CBS this week. Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson hate us.’ I got Alabama fans saying, ‘Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson hate us.’ I’m like, ‘Why do you all think that?’“I said, ‘They don’t give a (expletive) who wins. I know both of those guys. They don’t give a (expletive) about Alabama-Auburn football. They are here to do their job.“But fans hear what they want to (expletive) hear. It’s that plain and simple.”"
The passion SEC fans have for their teams has been proven in a big way during the pandemic, with ticket prices surging to obscene prices to even get your foot in the door. Even so, stadiums were as packed as they could be…and as loud as they could be.
But Alabama fans were still able to cause a stir and storm the streets of the “Druid City” by celebrating their national championship victory in spite of COVID-19 warnings.
Of course, this isn’t taking away from a historic season on the field for the Tide. 42-13 Iron Bowl victory was far from the highlight of their season, with a run to the National Championship that included an SEC title game victory over Florida, a Rose Bowl blowout of Notre Dame, and a lopsided final test against the Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes in the CFP Championship.
Either way, Harsin isn’t letting the reigning champions–and their historic 2021 recruiting class–get to him.
He won’t even say their name.