(12-12-2014 06:08 PM)galojah Wrote: South Alabama is being put under the UOA system? What?
Just kidding --- I couldn't ever play that joke on anyone.
The state tried to jack with USA back in the 80's. There were protests and outrage from the entire community, backed up by the entire Gulf Coast political delegation.
Mobile and Baldwin don't always get along. But they all know that if Central/North Alabama gets their hands on something, they'll ignore them. People in Mobile don't trust Montgomery with anything. And that's a cultural thing, not a political one. Longstanding and deep arguments exist between Mobile and the rest of the state. Roll Tide/War Eagle? Sure. But that would evaporate immediately if they went after South. Even the Bammers down there understand that UAT hasn't done squat for Mobile.
Also, Mobile, due to distance and awful transport links (historically to Auburn and currently to Tuscaloosa), really aren't likely to follow the Tide or Auburn with the same intensity. People down there are perfectly capable of supporting the Tide while refusing to follow Paul Bryant Jr blindly. There are probably less than 1000 season ticket holders of both schools in metro Mobile. That's it. UAT is basically local to Birmingham. Auburn is pretty close too. From Mobile, you really can't do it in a day. You certainly can't do a night game.
The environment where what happened to UAB was allowed to be enabled was assisted in its creation by Birmingham's dysfunctional political environment, where the suburbs and the Birmingham back stab and undercut each other at just about every opportunity, to the detriment of the whole region.
In short, if the state tried that, they'd be run out of town...likely by people wearing Red A shirts and houndstooth hats.