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Needless fan cruelty

Thestral

Thestral

Vice Admiral
Admiral
So, college football in the south is nutso, yeah?

It's usually not downright evil though. Apparently a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide decided to poison the oak trees at Toomer's Corner on the Auburn campus - with a regulated herbicide at a concentration many times strong enough to kill the trees. Those trees have been standing and part of Auburn tradition for 130+ years. Sports madness is one thing, but this just seems truly despicable.
 
I really hope the rest of the Alabama fans disown this guy for this. College football rivalries usually just amount to a lot of good-natured ribbing and bragging rights, but this goes *way* over the line. I heard on the radio this morning that the FBI is now involved with the investigation.

What's worse is that the poison he used is very persistent, and actually moves through the soil, so it may be very difficult to clean up the area. It's not just the oak trees that are threatened, but every plant in the area.
 
Looks like they're arrested someone, and there will be a press conference in an hour.
 
Yeah, "Al from Dadeville" has been arrested. A 62 year old, facing first-degree criminal mischief and up to 10 years in jail.
 
I bet he smelled of whiskey and was wearing a hounds-tooth cap screaming "Bear Bryant is Alive." I lived in Alabama for 5 years and dated a couple of Bama fans, so it's okay for me to say this. ;)
 
Guy's a loser from Texas who must've grabbed onto Alabama because he needed to feel like a winner somehow. If he thought he was taking up for Coach Bryant because of a Cam Newton jersey being put on his statue or for the (totally unproven) stories about Auburn students rolling the trees when he died, he needs to ask himself what Bryant would think about this kind of jackass behavior. Classless.

I hope this little escapade not only lands him in jail for the maximum sentence but that his paying for the clean up--replacing the trees, excavating the soil, tearing up and repairing the road needed to do all that--wrecks him financially for the rest of his miserable life. He may see himself as a fan, but he doesn't understand the rivalry and has no respect for it either. Bastards like this take the fun out of it.
 
This is so fucking disgusting.

As a member of a three-generation Auburn family, this is a horrible attack against our traditions. My grandfather--who is in his mid-90s--remembers those trees. And I know how it sounds considering there are "bigger" things going on in this world, but these kind of symbolic things hurt too.

This is just about up there with someone taking a rifle and shooting our eagle out of the sky while the crowd watches.

(And if anyone ever, EVER pulls a sick stunt like that--EVER even THINKS about taking an innocent creature's life that way, over a FOOTBALL RIVALRY...don't even get me started.)

I want to know if anyone else was involved in this. If anyone knowingly supplied him the herbicide, knowing what he was going to do, I want them taken for every penny they're worth, too.

A good old Alabama-style "chain gang" might not be a bad idea either. Make the bastard dig up all that soil, dig up the road, and repave it all by himself, for all I care. But wait on doing the road part until it's 100 degrees outside.

I wonder if they'll have to move the Iron Bowl because of this. Both for the safety of our school, and of BOTH schools' fans, I'd feel better if they put it back in Birmingham for a good couple of years.

Sorry...I am just really, really, REALLY pissed off. I just found out about it a few hours ago, and it's upsetting.
 
You know, for as much attention as this has been getting - can you imagine how much greater the outcry would have been if they weren't trees? At least some of the response has been "meh, that sucks, but they're just trees" - which is ridiculous of course. But imagine if it had been Smokey, or Uga, or Bevo, or Colorado's Buffalo, etc. etc.

Have there been any worse "pranks" in college sports that anyone can think of?

Nerys Ghemor said:
...I'd feel better if they put it back in Birmingham for a good couple of years.
Click to expand...

It should be in Birmingham anyway, IMO. Like the Red River Shootout is in a (technically) neutral site.
 
Kestrel said:
You know, for as much attention as this has been getting - can you imagine how much greater the outcry would have been if they weren't trees? At least some of the response has been "meh, that sucks, but they're just trees" - which is ridiculous of course. But imagine if it had been Smokey, or Uga, or Bevo, or Colorado's Buffalo, etc. etc.
Click to expand...

And that would be horrible. If anybody ever harmed Nova or Spirit (our eagles), I would be sick. Same thing if anyone did anything to Uga, or any other animal.

This is a different kind of sick, with the trees. Their longevity means several generations enjoyed the same trees. My grandfather was a young man before World War II and remembers these trees.
 
I have the same reaction to this guy as I did when that drunk driver killed Nick Adenhart (Angels pitcher). In both cases, the offender should be dragged in front of a packed stadium crowd - Angel Stadium in the earlier case, Jordan-Hare now - and made to beg for mercy.
 
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Kestrel said:
You know, for as much attention as this has been getting - can you imagine how much greater the outcry would have been if they weren't trees? At least some of the response has been "meh, that sucks, but they're just trees" - which is ridiculous of course. But imagine if it had been Smokey, or Uga, or Bevo, or Colorado's Buffalo, etc. etc.
Click to expand...

I'm sure the outrage would be much higher if that were the case.

The thing that gets me is that this wasn't even some immature, raging hormone, drunken college kid doing this. It was a 62 year old guy with some obsession with Alabama football. I'm just glad he didn't mow down a bunch of fans or something much worse.

Plus way to out yourself on a radio show, dumbass.
 
He'd left a bunch of voice mails taunting an AU professor as well. If I'm ever putting together a criminal organization, this guy's not getting an invite to the team.

Referencing the Tide for Toomer's site Nerys Ghemor mentioned, as of now they've raised over $27,000 dollars to help out. That's the true spirit of the rivalry.
 
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