# Iron Bowl **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010 "2006-11-19T05:29:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/21 "2006-11-22T01:57:21Z")
Whoops. I got either the wrong film competition or the wrong prize. Let’s try “Iron Bowl” sounds like a contender for the Oscar for “Best Foreign Film.” Feh. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/22 "2006-11-22T04:42:00Z")
By **Doctor jackson** :_“If your sister ain’t good enough for you to marry, why should I believe she’s good enough fer me?”_ Damn, man: Don’t you know nothin’? That’s just like a Tech guy; don’t know nothin’. You don’t marry your sister, dufus! You _practice_ on your sister so you’ll know what you’re doing when you marry your cousin! Some folks is purely dumb asses. Hey **swampbear** , I didn’t know you are one of them Dull Dawgs. Surely whipped our fanny this year didn’t ya? That’s all right, see ya’ in Athens next year. Then we’ll probably be the underdog and playing on the favored team’s home field. Seems like that’s a sure recipe for winning in the Georgia/Auburn rivalry. Speaking of Auburn/Georgia, they haven’t proved much. Been playing for 110 years and there is less than 20 points difference in the team’s total scores. Each team has a winning record on the other’s field. The favored team has lost 7 of the last 11 games. Weird series. Thanks for posting the primer, **whole bean**. I don’t care what the rest of ‘em are saying about ya’, you’re an OK dude… ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/23 "2006-11-22T18:04:49Z")
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars] Thanks for posting the primer, **whole bean**. I don’t care what the rest of ‘em are saying about ya’, you’re an OK dude.. [/QUOTE] You’re welcome, and thanks . . . .wait, the rest of who? saying what? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/24 "2006-11-22T18:29:06Z")
War Eagle, Bubba! Do you even care what becomes of Flipper? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/25 "2006-11-22T18:39:49Z")
**Swampbear** - Nope, not an alum - just a lifelong fan. Where I went to college (Mercer U. in Macon) we didn’t have a football team, so I didn’t even have to swap alliances. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/26 "2006-11-22T18:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=Doctor Jackson] **Swampbear** - Nope, not an alum - just a lifelong fan. Where I went to college (Mercer U. in Macon) we didn’t have a football team, so I didn’t even have to swap alliances. [/QUOTE] I gotcha. I went to undergrad at LaGrange College. We didn’t have a football team either. However, this year, LC started playing (I think) Division III football. **JCoM** I went to UGA for grad school because they said come here and we’ll pay for it. Since they paid for it, I figure that makes me a DAWG. Or a grad 'ho. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/27 "2006-11-22T19:03:19Z")
This is the only football game I ever watch, and I watch it just to see Auburn lose, so it has not been fun to watch lately. Eleanor, UA alum ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/28 "2006-11-22T20:40:37Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] [sportswriters](http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=2662188) , people [/QUOTE] His whole argument is that because they are in the same state, it’s a better rivalry? Wow, that’s the weakest argument I’ve ever heard. It’s a great rivalry, to be sure. Just not the best in college sports. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/29 "2006-11-22T20:48:09Z")
Well thank god Eleanor showed up. I was starting to feel lonely as a Tide fan. We’ll comfort each other. I was at lunch with three friends the other day and they kept referring to the Auburn game. I finally clicked and said “oooohh. that’s what you guys call the Alabama game. So I’m surrounded by Tigers? This must be what my quarterback feels like.” And it was so. Given my split ancestry, we’ll be eagerly tuning in to the Egg Bowl tomorrow, cheering for Mississippi State. Man, I just can’t get a break. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/30 "2006-11-22T21:09:57Z")
[QUOTE=Fugazi] His whole argument is that because they are in the same state, it’s a better rivalry? Wow, that’s the weakest argument I’ve ever heard. It’s a great rivalry, to be sure. Just not the best in college sports. [/QUOTE] It’s one component that goes into a great rivalry, but it can’t be the only one. For instance, Cal - Stanford and USC - UCLA are even closer geographically than Auburn - bama, so there’s the same work-with-your-rival factor. But Californians don’t take college football anywhere near as seriously as Alabamians do. Why do they call it the “Iron Bowl”, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/31 "2006-11-22T21:15:46Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] It’s one component that goes into a great rivalry, but it can’t be the only one. For instance, Cal - Stanford and USC - UCLA are even closer geographically than Auburn - bama, so there’s the same work-with-your-rival factor. But Californians don’t take college football anywhere near as seriously as Alabamians do. Why do they call it the “Iron Bowl”, anyway? [/QUOTE] from Post #15 > [@](#): > > named after the stadium in Birmingham, Alabama (Legion Field – Birmingham was at one time like it’s namesake in England, a steel town) where the game was once played ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/32 "2006-11-22T21:25:57Z")
[QUOTE=Fugazi] not the best in college sports. [/QUOTE] Simply not quantifiable, that’s why I said, “by many” and not “by most,” or “by all.” As for reasons why I think it’s the best, well the competitors, for one. Bama has almost as many national titles as UM and OSU combined and was coached by the greatest college football coach of all time. Auburn is the underdog even when it’s favored. The game is played in a state that lives college football. Allegiance to one side or the other is mandatory. You may think that year in and year out the whole country stops what they’re doing for the Michigan/Ohio State game, but they don’t. This year it happened to matter. That’s not always the case. So you can take your professional wrestlers and your poor sport player tackling coaches and your disgustingly cold weather and you can keep 'em. Give me the the epic battle of the Plainsmen and the Tide any day. ::walks off singing:: War Eagle fly down the field. Ever to conquer, never to yield . . . :walks off singing:: ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/33 "2006-11-23T04:26:07Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] \Eleanor, UA alum [/QUOTE] Wasting a really cool user name on a Bammer grad…such a shame. 😉 Re: “Iron Bowl”. To expand a little on **whole bean** ’s comments… From 1948 through 1988 the game was played at Birmingham’s Legion Field. Some referred to Birmingham as “The Pittsburgh of the South” in those days, due to the extensive iron and steel industry there. I happened to be watching the television the first time the term Iron Bowl was used. Sometime in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s, Auburn’s coach Shug Jordan was doing his weekly television show the week before the Alabama game. Auburn had had a good season and the TV moderator asked Coach Jordan what bowl game he thought Auburn would be going to. The coach replied: “The only bowl we are concerned with right now is the Iron Bowl.” The term stuck, and it’s still in popular use today. (End of history lesson.) ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/34 "2006-11-23T04:53:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Goddamn, that was GOOD! Had to break out my bottle of Maker’s Mark and have a little toast to celebrate. > > WAR EAGLE! Just wanted to stick my head in and say hello to my friend **John**! Glad things went your way, Dude! I’m drinking a bottle of Bitburger in your honor. Q ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/35 "2006-11-23T05:09:02Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem] Just wanted to stick my head in and say hello to my friend **John**! [/QUOTE] Damn, it’s good to see you! Where you been hidin’, Quasi? I haven’t seen you around much for the past year or two. Did you find a new, enticing lady or is there a more mundane reason for your disappearance? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/36 "2006-11-23T05:32:21Z")
**John** , if you’ll do a search on my name you’ll find I went a bit meshuggener a while back, but I have “recovered” and am avoiding relapse every chance I get. It’s good to see you too, buddy. As far as “the ladies”, well I just haven’t met the right one yet, but I’m working on it. Let’s hope it happens before I start doing the involuntary, messy stuff! 😛 E-mail my ass, Mang! Q ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/37 "2006-11-23T06:05:26Z")
Ooooh! That felt so GOOD! Sorry to be late to your party, John, but I’ve been shcelebrating. KnowhutImean? So here’s your FIVE! And one more thumb to touch! Yip! Yip! Yip! WAR EAGLE! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010/38 "2006-11-24T07:02:40Z")
Well, **Zoe** , there you are at last. Sounds like you had a great celebration. I was up your way two weeks ago and went to the Titans/Ravens game. Talk about COLD! I generally have a policy not to go north of the Tallapoosa River after November 1st, but I thought I could sneak up and back “just this once”. No such luck, and the policy is now firmly back in place. War Eagle right back at ya’! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iron-bowl/381010.md?page=1)