The Cole recruiting battle

By Katie Cole (Contact) | Dadeville Record

Published Wednesday, February 10, 2010

My 18-year-old sister has a big decision to make – Auburn or Alabama.

I’m sure many people would wonder how there could ever be a choice between these two schools. An allegiance to one is basically a commitment to hating – or at least really disliking – the other school for four years or even longer.

My family is split down the middle when it comes to Alabama’s biggest rivalry. My mom and I both attended ‘Bama while my dad went to Auburn, where my brother is now in school.

Now, I come from a different sort of family. We never get too riled up about football, except for Brooks, who, after transferring to Auburn from Wofford College where he played soccer, began a slow transformation into the rabid, sometimes sulky fan I was all too familiar with in college.

There’s generally very little inter-family competition, but I realized this week that could all change.

If she attends my alma mater, I don’t think it will upset the status quo too much. To be honest, I don’t even keep up with which teams we play week to week so Mom would probably be happy to have a real fan on her side.

But if she moves to the Plains, there could be trouble. My dad and my brother are uber-competitive and Shelby has been known to feed off that energy during soccer games, rafting trips or simple family dinners.

If she chooses Auburn, I may be forced to actually watch the games each week just to keep the egos in check.

I typically treat the games as social hour or nap time, so the stakes are pretty high for me.

Print Editor Dale Liesch’s advice? We should just kill her so as not to disrupt the delicate balance in the Cole household.

I think that’s a little extreme, but I have upped my recruiting efforts. After all, she can be just as happy wearing crimson and white as orange and blue. Right?

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Katie Cole is a staff writer for The Dadeville Record.