Taking a Rivalry Too Far...

[Titanxman04]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6129272

Sick. There are lines to be drawn, but even with Dayton, I wouldn't dream of destroying their traditions that make the school...whatever the hell they may be.

Fact is, even though I cannot stand Cam Newton and wanted auburn to lose, I am severely disappointed someone would do such a thing.

[Strange Brew]

Best retaliation:

Plant. Bigger. Trees

and dedicate them to the memory of what your opponent did there.

[Juice]

An article from Clay Travis, he really knows the SEC

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/16/alabama-auburn-rivalry-reaches-new-low-tree-poisoning/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

One person on twitter compared it to losing a family member.

[Blueblob4life]

I'm mortified by the actions of the horrid fan(s). I mean really, that's just ridiculous to take fandom to an extremely inappropriate and inexcusable level. What are we teaching the kids these days, that it's OK to cross those lines?

Titan said it best, I may despise everything UDump related, but even I wouldn't go so far as to destroy one of their traditions that's been around for more than a century.

God help us all if some asshat decided to deface or destroy our beautiful statue outside Cintas............

[DC Muskie]

There are lines to be drawn, but even with Dayton, I wouldn't dream of destroying their traditions that make the school...whatever the hell they may be.

You understand that UC is our rival right?

But I agree, this is taking it waaaay waaaay too far.

Pathetic really.

[Drew's Crew]

This is incredibly stupid and pathetic, but I can't help but laugh when I read this story. 130 yr old Oaks are pretty sweet I am sure, but really what I find funny is that someone would actually do this. What the hell is wrong with people!

Also, does anything encapsulate SEC football better than an anonymous caller taking responsibility for murdering Auburn's trees and signing off with "Roll Damn Tide".

So sad, pathetic, and a little pathetically funny at the same time.

[Drew's Crew]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6129272

Sick. There are lines to be drawn, but even with Dayton, I wouldn't dream of destroying their traditions that make the school...whatever the hell they may be.



As much as I agree, a tree is not a tradition.

[Titanxman04]

This is incredibly stupid and pathetic, but I can't help but laugh when I read this story. 130 yr old Oaks are pretty sweet I am sure, but really what I find funny is that someone would actually do this. What the hell is wrong with people!

Also, does anything encapsulate SEC football better than an anonymous caller taking responsibility for murdering Auburn's trees and signing off with "Roll Damn Tide".

So sad, pathetic, and a little pathetically funny at the same time.

Very pathetic.

Speaking of which, you still need to get some milk. I hate you.

[Titanxman04]

As much as I agree, a tree is not a tradition.

Their trees were. They go there after every big win and toilet paper them. There's a huge gathering and all of the student body goes out there to celebrate under the trees as they deface them. It's the harmless tradition of doing that, and thats why the guy killed them. how is that not a tradition?

Thats like destroying Dana's (Heaven forbid). Sure, the bar is not a tradition in and of itself. But people use it to demonstrate a tradition (getting trashed within walking distance before and after Xavier games). Now, you can easily make the argument that Dana's does not equate, but the general point is there.

[Drew's Crew]

You understand that UC is our rival right?

But I agree, this is taking it waaaay waaaay too far.

Pathetic really.

Totally agree. I actually don't care really at all about Dayton basketball.

I like to see them lose, but not any part of me hates them like I do my team's rivals in other sports. I dislike UC pretty greatly, but couldn't care less about Dayton.

That being said, I still love kicking their a$$ every year.

[Drew's Crew]

Their trees were. They go there after every big win and toilet paper them. There's a huge gathering and all of the student body goes out there to celebrate under the trees as they deface them. It's the harmless tradition of doing that, and thats why the guy killed them. how is that not a tradition?

Thats like destroying Dana's (Heaven forbid). Sure, the bar is not a tradition in and of itself. But people use it to demonstrate a tradition (getting trashed within walking distance before and after Xavier games). Now, you can easily make the argument that Dana's does not equate, but the general point is there.

I understand the point, but it is still a tree. Plant another Oak Tree and do the same thing next year.

It's a tree. You can plant new ones.

[BBC 08]

SEC fans are a sick bunch. I can't put into words how crazy these people are.

[Drew's Crew]

Yeah, I agree. That is almost why I am struggling to get really upset over this.

If anything, this entire story just shows how stupidly obsessed with their programs they are. They take it so far, it just becomes unbearably obnoxious at times.

[xudash]

I understand the point, but it is still a tree. Plant another Oak Tree and do the same thing next year.

It's a tree. You can plant new ones.

You do understand that you simply can't replant a tree of that magnitude, right?

I assume you saw at least one picture of one of those oaks.

100 year oaks of that variety are irreplaceable. Simply planting a relatively young one at 15 to 20 feet tall isn't going to cut it.

[Kahns Krazy]

Drews Crew is being a tard in this thread.

The guy responsible is not right. He should be institutionalized.

Once you think things like this are a good idea, you are many steps closer to poisoning the water supply than anyone in the general population should be.

[coasterville95]

Wow, people say fans of SEC schools are insanely crazy about their football, but this, just wow.

At some point, I think people lose sight of the fact that, when we get right down to it, we are talking about a game. We are talking about students at one school that are interested in playing a sport, playing a group of students at another school, who are likewise interested in that sport. Everything else is secondary, the fact that these schools (even ours) attracts large numbers of people to watch these games, (any buy tickets, and logo items, and souvenirs, and so forth) is actually amazing. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's fair to say we are all part of it.

For the vast majority of us, sure we are passionate, sure we gather around message boards, and sports bars, and man caves and spew undying fanatical love for OUR school, and virtiolic hatred for certain other schools. But for most of us that's all in good fun.

This douche took things to a whole new level. I mean there have been stunts for quite some time such as kidnapping (or stealing) the mascot costume and hoding it ransom. Messing up halftime shows, some of the ones where the students, band, or fans create patterns with flip cards in the stands are legendary. There are mascot fights on the floor (see Bearcat breaking the Musketeer's flag, or the various attempts to get the Hawk to stop flapping)

But, as the old saying goes, "It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt" I think even our most over the top zealous UC haters would never dream of taking a midnight ride to UC and defacing/destroying the Oscar Robertson statue, or more appropriately their new bearcat statue. Our most over the top UD haters would never go to UD and deface destroy, well, what do they have of significange to deface or destroy.

I've heard of demoralizing yorur enemy in the heat of battle, but to essentially destroy the rally point for a team fanbase is beyond the pale. This bites on two levels, one the whole tree-hugger level, you just can't replace a 130 yer old giant Oak. Those are majestic trees, and the whole p*ssing off an entire fanbase. I sure hope Alabama doesn't have an easy target for some equally fanatical Auburn lunatic to go after.

That's just crazy.

[STL_XUfan]

And here is the winner that did it:

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=72967

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/harvey-updyke.jpg

[smileyy]

I think people underestimate how much trees are valued in terms of property value. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see the trees valued at over $100k each, before sentimental value comes into play.

If he's guilty, he'll be facing some serious criminal and civil penalties.

[Drew's Crew]

Drews Crew is being a tard in this thread.

The guy responsible is not right. He should be institutionalized.

Once you think things like this are a good idea, you are many steps closer to poisoning the water supply than anyone in the general population should be.

Never once did I say he was right. I actually said he was sad and pathetic.

I understand that what he did is terrible to many. I get it, I am just saying I personally can't get upset over it. Dash made a good point, and I was probably being a little too flippant about the monetary and sentimental value.

Still though, all I was trying to say was as bad as it is to some, I just can't get too worked up over it.

I can't stand SEC football. I think many of their fans are obnoxious, insane and pretentious. Did they deserve this to happen? ABSOLUTELY NOT. To some, I am sure it is absolutely heartbreaking and terrible.

Just doesn't really get me too worked up I guess. Sorry for not being enough of a Treemanitarian.

[X Communicator]

It appears to be the work of a lone gunman.

[BBC 08]

It appears to be the work of a lone gunman.

But there has to be another shooter! This is just the fall guy. My guess is that it's Drew's Crew. How else do you explain his flippant attitude?

[ATL Muskie]

The last time I heard people this upset about dead wood was when John Holmes died.

[BBC 08]

The last time I heard people this upset about dead wood was when John Holmes died.

Wanna rep you ATL but the man is holding me down. Can someone help a brotha out?

[D-West & PO-Z]

Wanna rep you ATL but the man is holding me down. Can someone help a brotha out?

Ha, I liked it too, I got him.

[Kahns Krazy]

Never once did I say he was right. I actually said he was sad and pathetic.

I understand that what he did is terrible to many. I get it, I am just saying I personally can't get upset over it. Dash made a good point, and I was probably being a little too flippant about the monetary and sentimental value.

Still though, all I was trying to say was as bad as it is to some, I just can't get too worked up over it.

I can't stand SEC football. I think many of their fans are obnoxious, insane and pretentious. Did they deserve this to happen? ABSOLUTELY NOT. To some, I am sure it is absolutely heartbreaking and terrible.

Just doesn't really get me too worked up I guess. Sorry for not being enough of a Treemanitarian.


To me, it's that the object involved are not replaceable. Even if someone destroyed the statue in front of Cintas, we could make a new one just like it.

A 130 year old tree is cool. Destroying it is not. Destroying it for a total douchebag reason is even less cool. I don't care if it's Mike Brown's tree. Destroying something that can't be replaced simply because someone else enjoys it is among the most selfish acts possible.

[coasterville95]

And the comments that the guy may have gone overboard with the tree posion, to the extent that "it may get into the water supply" If true, we are talking about a lot more than some fanbases sentimental tree, we are talking about the health and safety of the entire city.

If that assertion is found to be true - the penalities just went up severely. Try terrorism and a trip to Gitmo level serious.

[Drew's Crew]

To me, it's that the object involved are not replaceable. Even if someone destroyed the statue in front of Cintas, we could make a new one just like it.

A 130 year old tree is cool. Destroying it is not. Destroying it for a total douchebag reason is even less cool. I don't care if it's Mike Brown's tree. Destroying something that can't be replaced simply because someone else enjoys it is among the most selfish acts possible.

Yeah from that perspective, I can see how some would be getting upset over it.

And I would agree that destroying something that has that much sentimental value to others is not cool.

I am sure you would be hard-pressed to find many people other than this chucklehead that thinks it is cool.

[X-band '01]

The article said that this guy also called a radio show in Birmingham bragging about using the herbicide on the trees - did this guy not know that calls like that can be traced?

[Drew's Crew]

The article said that this guy also called a radio show in Birmingham bragging about using the herbicide on the trees - did this guy not know that calls like that can be traced?

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I am still baffled at how totally clueless some people can be.

[DC Muskie]

I got a tree for Arbor Day when I was in the 4th grade. I planted it in my front yard, right in front of hedges we had. My parents were convinced the tree wouldn't last, so they didn't want to to dig up the yard to plant it somewhere else.

The tree grew to be a little straggling thing. Think of the Christmas Tree from Charlie Brown. This little awkward tree growing almost like a weed really in the front yard. In between hedges.

It survived the first year to my family's amazement.

It survived a second year. And another, and another. When I was getting my confirmation, I got my picture taken with the tree, at the time about knee high. The tree in four years had become a nice family story.

A few years later my family started to build a house in the country and we had to move into an apartment to save money. The tree would move into a bucket filled with dirt out to the country house while we built it. Workers on the house would bring things to hang on the tree and the story was told about how the tree survived.

Once the house was built, we planted the tree in the front yard. But then we had to move it, because we had to have some more work done with underground pipes.

The tree still survived.

Finally we figured out a place in the back yard for a permanent spot for the tree. It sill hadn't grown that much, almost waist high, still looking ragged. Since we were still doing work around the 5 acre lot, yard work hadn't been kept up. So my mom called a lawn service. They brought out big riding mowers and tractors. I came home one day from high school to learn that one of the guys had run over my tree. How he could see that it wasn't a tree, I have no idea. I was very upset. My entire family was very upset. The guy in charge of the company came out a few days later and brought another tree and to apologize. I explained as nice as I could as a 17 year old, it wasn't about having "a tree" it was about having "that tree."

I know it sounds corny, and probably a little gay, but I don't care, I still miss that tree. I still plan when I own my own place with a yard to plant a tree like the one I got on Arbor Day in 1986. If God blesses me with children, I will plant a tree with them in their 4th grade year of school on Arbor Day.

So in a way, I am very upset at the fact some hilljack decided to kill these iconic trees. Trees can be special things, and have special meanings to people. Obviously this hilljack knew that, and used a metaphorical tractor to kill them.

And I hope he goes to jail.

[XUglow]

Possilbe movie names for this event...

Silence of the Limbs
Deforest Gump
Forest Stump
No Country for Old Trees
There Will Be Sap

[XUglow]

The guy probably would have never been caught if he hadn't called in to a popular sports talk radio show, told everyone he did it, and told everyone where he lived. Not exactly the brightest bulb on the planet.

Auburn sent the soil to Mississippi State for testing. That's kind of funny when you think about it.

[coasterville95]

Well, that would allow them to say the results were verified by an impartial third party.

I hear you with the school Arbor Day tree giveaway - I have one of my own in the back y eard.

Calling a sports talk show - wow, how dumb can you get, and to use a traceable number, not like a payphone or those disposable cell phones you always hear so much about on CSI. Didn't someone say once that a large percentage of criminals are caught because they needed to boast they just couldn't keep their big mouth shut. In this case, he needed to make sure everybody knew, very publicly. After all had the tree(s) died in however long that would of taken, it might have gone down as "the old tree finally gave in to natural causes". Sure the Auburn fanbase would have been saddened, but not with the demoralizing shock and awe.

[TPH2011]

Other possible movie names

Pearl Arbor
Raiders of the Lost Bark

[bobbiemcgee]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6129272

Sick. There are lines to be drawn, but even with Dayton, I wouldn't dream of destroying their traditions that make the school...whatever the hell they may be.

Fact is, even though I cannot stand Cam Newton and wanted auburn to lose, I am severely disappointed someone would do such a thing.

You could destroy those organisms that are causing the horrible smell @ UDump.

[bobbiemcgee]

porn title;

Death of a Woody

[Fireball]

The article said that this guy also called a radio show in Birmingham bragging about using the herbicide on the trees - did this guy not know that calls like that can be traced?

I'm guessing if you're stupid enough to poison a 130-year-old tree just to spite your school rival and call a local radio show to brag about it, you're probably too stupid to realize that call can be traced.

It's like an episode of "America's Dumbest Criminals".

[Woodburn]

I got a tree for Arbor Day when I was in the 4th grade. I planted it in my front yard, right in front of hedges we had. My parents were convinced the tree wouldn't last, so they didn't want to to dig up the yard to plant it somewhere else.

The tree grew to be a little straggling thing. Think of the Christmas Tree from Charlie Brown. This little awkward tree growing almost like a weed really in the front yard. In between hedges.

It survived the first year to my family's amazement.

It survived a second year. And another, and another. When I was getting my confirmation, I got my picture taken with the tree, at the time about knee high. The tree in four years had become a nice family story.

A few years later my family started to build a house in the country and we had to move into an apartment to save money. The tree would move into a bucket filled with dirt out to the country house while we built it. Workers on the house would bring things to hang on the tree and the story was told about how the tree survived.

Once the house was built, we planted the tree in the front yard. But then we had to move it, because we had to have some more work done with underground pipes.

The tree still survived.

Finally we figured out a place in the back yard for a permanent spot for the tree. It sill hadn't grown that much, almost waist high, still looking ragged. Since we were still doing work around the 5 acre lot, yard work hadn't been kept up. So my mom called a lawn service. They brought out big riding mowers and tractors. I came home one day from high school to learn that one of the guys had run over my tree. How he could see that it wasn't a tree, I have no idea. I was very upset. My entire family was very upset. The guy in charge of the company came out a few days later and brought another tree and to apologize. I explained as nice as I could as a 17 year old, it wasn't about having "a tree" it was about having "that tree."

I know it sounds corny, and probably a little gay, but I don't care, I still miss that tree. I still plan when I own my own place with a yard to plant a tree like the one I got on Arbor Day in 1986. If God blesses me with children, I will plant a tree with them in their 4th grade year of school on Arbor Day.

So in a way, I am very upset at the fact some hilljack decided to kill these iconic trees. Trees can be special things, and have special meanings to people. Obviously this hilljack knew that, and used a metaphorical tractor to kill them.

And I hope he goes to jail.

Mad respect DC. I tried to rep you but couldn't. I hope someone fills the void.

[SixFig]

So in a way, I am very upset at the fact some hilljack decided to kill these iconic trees. Trees can be special things, and have special meanings to people. Obviously this hilljack knew that, and used a metaphorical tractor to kill them.

And I hope he goes to jail.

Tree hugging hippie!

http://www.adhurl.com/uploads/Barbara_Klunder_Tree_Hugger_261_314-thumb.jpg

Just kidding

[xubrew]

supposedly, his reason for doing it was that he saw a video from 1983 where they were rolling the trees with toilet paper after bear bryant had died. that was 28 years ago if it even happened, and it's been pretty much agreed upon by everyone that it didn't.

sec football fans are passionate, but pretty much everyone is condemning this guy. you may recall a few years ago where an oklahoma fan tried to castrate a texas fan. that doesn't mean that people as a whole are crazy. people act on their own. it means that particular individual was crazy. same with the tree...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296466,00.html

the herbicide that he used is essentially round up, but for trees and not weeds. people need a liscense to even obtain it, which is another reason he's going to be in so much trouble. he clearly knew what he was doing. considering that the trees will die, and that it is possible for other vegitation in the area to be effected, it is at least tens of thousands of dollars in damages. probably more. this guy is in big trouble, as he should be.

...and what is just a tree to some people is very sentimental to others. those trees were as old as the campus itself, and they kind of serve as a gateway to the school. it is something that anyone who has ever gone to auburn knows and identifies with. i really don't know what, if anything, at xavier really compares, but in a way that's all the more reason those trees were so unique. it's not just a football thing. think of all the people you know that went to xavier that aren't basketball fans, but still loved the experience of being a part of xavier. those trees were a landmark for the university, the WHOLE university. not just its football team. i live in alabama (unfortunately). there are people who went to auburn that don't even care about football, but are still very upset over what happened to those trees. dc kind of touched on it in his post, but they really can't just be replaced. the statue of liberty isn't just a statue. sure we could make another one just like it, but it's not THE statue from the 1880s. these trees were even older than that, and although they weren't quite a symbol of national pride like the statue of liberty, they were definitely a symbol of local pride and identity.

i really do feel sorry for auburn. what this guy did was not a prank. it was a crime. he will go to jail, and he deserves it.