Let me state categorically that my dislike of the Bama fan base is deep and well-founded. I did not like Bear Bryant and do not particularly like the Little Nicktator either. 

Having said the above, the way Alabama plays and conducts itself is worthy of a little appreciation. They play with discipline and toughness, and they seem to be fairly solid citizens. I want to hate them. I do hate their fans. Somehow though a reptilian part of my brain that I am unable to control is pulling for them tonight.

Why the dislike towards Alabama fans Albert? I've been to several away stadiums and I have to say that as a whole they were pretty cordial hosts when I went.

The worst experience I've had with bama fans involved a couple of drunks that acted like they had just beat Goliath. I can't remember the year. The game was here in nashville and I memory serves me correctly the bottom fell out of the sky the second half...

I for one am pulling for Bama tonight. I live with ND fans on both sides of me and am about tired of hearing how great they think they are.

Bama - home of Harvey Updyke who thinks its appropriate to poison trees to get back at your rival for something that never happened; home of the fan who sexually assaulted a passed out LSU fan, in a restaurant, after the BCS Championship game last year; home of the player who kicked a Vandy player during a game and got away it (same player also hit his girlfriend and the girl's father said she probably deserved it)

ND - home of the apparent sexaul assault cover-up noted in other posts below; object of the unnatural love-fest from ESPN and Granny Holtz when they have struggled so (3 overtimes to defeat Pitt?  a dubious call to defeat Stanford? etc.)

cmontgomery, you must be young.  alabama fans love Vandy, primarily because we are responsible for many of thier SEC titles.  For MANY years the turds played one more SEC game than the other schools and Vandy was ALWAYS the extra game.  However, dont be fooled, a turd is a turd and always will be

Go Notre Dame.

I am not a 'Bama "hater" I just don't particularly like them and have never liked them.  I pretty much can't stand any of the oterh SEC schools, other than LSU due to the time I lived in Louisiana. 

Other than Vandy and to a much lesser extent LSU, screw each and every last one of them.

I briefly was in the "cheering for the SEC" mindset a few years ago, but the more I think about it the more absurd it seems, especially being a Vandy fan where we have been the redheaded stepchild of the SEC for so long. 

To h3ll with them all.

74dore, I'll take that. I'm 29 and my earliest VU football memories are the jermaine Johnson days. I'm certain we went to games prior to that. It never followed as closely as the last 15 years.

I'll have to look that up, any reasoning behind them playing the extra game?

*excuse the typos... iPhone reply

cmontgomery wrote: 74dore, I'll take that. I'm 29 and my earliest VU football memories are the jermaine Johnson days. I'm certain we went to games prior to that. It never followed as closely as the last 15 years.

I'll have to look that up, any reasoning behind them playing the extra game?

*excuse the typos... iPhone reply

In addition to Seadog's litany, I remember walking home from a bama game as a 12 year old in my Vandy tee shirt after some SOV Bammer blowout. A bus load of Bammers came by and the morons inside spit and poured beer on me and my Vandy shirt. I have suffered from a healthy Bama hatred ever since.  Were my character less steely, it might have led to a lifetime of sessions with an analyst or habitual criminality

YES^^^^^^, except I have just as much disdain for LSU than the rest of 'em. Then again, I lump ND into my little ball of hate also. Therefore, I am hoping for a scoreless tie with both teams being put on SMU type probation.

---------------------------------------------
--- UtahVandy wrote:

Go Notre Dame.

I am not a 'Bama "hater" I just don't particularly like them and have never liked them.  I pretty much can't stand any of the oterh SEC schools, other than LSU due to the time I lived in Louisiana. 

Other than Vandy and to a much lesser extent LSU, screw each and every last one of them.

I briefly was in the "cheering for the SEC" mindset a few years ago, but the more I think about it the more absurd it seems, especially being a Vandy fan where we have been the redheaded stepchild of the SEC for so long. 

To h3ll with them all.

---------------------------------------------

Roll Tide

I've encountered both good and bad fans from most all SEC schools. For me, I'd have to do 2 rankings, one for the good and one for the bad. Even then, it's not easy. I went to Knoxville in 2005 when we won and had no problems whatsoever. I then went again in 2011, and they were the most obnoxious group I'd ever encountered. I went to Starkville a few years ago and had a great time and very much enjoyed the State people sitting around us. This year, the Fail State people were totally obnoxious. Kentucky fans, I think, might be in a class by themselves, however, both football and basketball. They cheered several years ago at the football game when they injured one of our players. Their basketball fans -- well, I'm sure you've all encountered those low-lifes.

With respect to Bama, I have several friends who are big fans of theirs and they are great people. It's mostly the faceless ones who are so obnoxious. The same is true for ND fans (I must admit I don't personally know any of them, just the on-line ones.)

So, for me, it just comes down to SEC versus everyone else and, despite the large numbers of horrendous SEC fans, I'm still pulling for our conference because, to most people in other parts of the country, WE are a part of the SEC and that's how they view us (although most of them realize we are very much unlike the rest of the SEC.)

[One caveat: I always pull for UT to lose, no matter what ... their fans are a disgrace to our fine state, with just a very few exceptions (some of which post on vandymania)]

So, bottom line, I'll be pulling for Bama, but only at a 5 on the Root Scale of 1 to 10.

As hard as it is, I will be rooting for Bama.  Notre Dame is the team I dislike the most of any.  Plus my wife is a Bama fan.  Her grandfather attended Bama in the 1920s and her dad went to Bama for a couple of years, went to the Navy in WW2, and came back to graduate from Auburn.

Roll Tide for me. They are my 2nd favorite team, I grew up there and have always liked them, even thought that is not a popular opinion in here. On the other hand, besides UT, ND is my least favorite team in the world.

I've encountered way to many Alabama fans with a superiority complex (and this was before Saban got there). This for some reason bothers me more than abusive fans. I hate the fanbase and therefore want the team to lose. Another National Championship would make it unbearable.

Everyone feel free to cheer for whoever you want, but don't kid yourself into thinking one of these two teams' fanbases has a monopoly on smugness.

Two of the most unbearable fanbases in the history of sports.

maybe you should go to neyland stadium dressed in vu gear,you might change your mind then.i love vu first and foremost but after that i root for the tide. ROLL TIDE!!

I like to think the SEC title streak in general has--helped--lead to an uptick in recruiting at Vandy. I'm by no means taking away from CJF and the phenomenal job he's done.
The dominance of the SEC in general has given him a key point in the recruiting pitch. "Play in the best school in the best conference in the country."
That's why--barring an appearance by Tennessee--I'll always root for the SEC to continue its streak. Doesn't hurt that my grandpa was a Bama fan.

My dad, a Notre Dame alum, passed away early in the season. Last time the Irish won it all, he was out of the country and couldn't see it. I don't really believe in the supernatural but this season has just this odd feeling.

This is bigger than football for me. Go Irish. Win one for the Chris...(er?)

I did not attend Vandy, but have been an avid (my wife would say rabid) fan as long as I can remember.  At age 55, that remembering is becoming a greater challenge than it used to be.

While I was probably born a Vandy fan, my fate was unconditionally sealed in 1969 as a 12-year-old Vandy football season ticket holder.  Sitting (I'm sure I was doing very little sitting) in the north endzone on wooden bleachers, I witnessed Vanderbilt beat ALABAMA.  Since then, nothing has been impossible, though, it has seemed impossible at times.

I am a 'Dore for life.

On the other hand (or hand-in-hand), my three favorite teams are Vanderbilt, whoever is playing UT, and (as a family tradition) Notre Dame.  The feelings for the top two are much stronger than the feeling for the third, but, after the third, it is more of whoever-gives-me- the-warm-and-fuzzy-feeling-while-I'm-watching-the- game.  Most of the time that warm-and-fuzzy-feeling is dependent on how the outcome will impact my 'Dores.

Anyway, I'll be rooting hard for the Irish.  And, nothing is impossible.