XIX. RTR. February 14, 2020

>driving Lyft

>pick up Asian FSU student

>May be Hmong; said she was from Minnesota

>I say I am from South Alabama

>she says “I don’t get the football thing you guys have.”

>”What football thing?”

>”That whole Alabama versus Auburn thing. I have friends from high school that went to Alabama and Auburn. They didn’t even care about football. I know they didn’t know the rules. But now…now they’re CRAZY.”

>”It do be like that sometimes,” I say.

>”Yeah, but no. Like, after the game, my Auburn friend sent me a meme making fun of Alabama, and I thought it was funny so I sent it to my Alabama friend, and she got mad. I mean, she got, like REALLY mad. I’ve never seen her mad like that in my life.”

>I recite my bona fides, announce myself as Crimson

>I say it’s like a religion up there

>babies are usually baptized into the Tide or the Tigers

>allegiance is everything

>the game has ended marriages

>she says “Yeah, my dad’s like that for the Gators. He loves that place. I told him I’d go to UF if he gave me the car. But he wouldn’t give me the car, so…”

>does war chant

>fin