Alabama fans use Hurricane Katrina to mock LSU

Nick Birdsong

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Alabama fans use Hurricane Katrina to mock LSU image

These Alabama fans are the worst. 

Rivalries are what make college football great, and few have been more meaningful, as far as the national championship picture is concerned, than Alabama-LSU in recent years. The two juggernauts, led by two of the biggest personas in the game in coaches Nick Saban and Les Miles, inhabit the toughest division in (un)arguably the fiercest conference in all the land. It's almost always a dogfight and full of future pros.

MORE: 10 things to look for in Game of the Century II | 'Bama-LSU has huge implications

Naturally, the tension between the rabid fan bases leading into Saturday night's showdown between the Tigers, ranked No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, and the No. 2 Crimson Tide is thick as thieves.

On Friday afternoon, my homeboy Travon posted a tweet of what appears to be some young Alabama fans using Hurricane Katrina to take a shot at LSU on the eve of Game of the Century II, and it set me off. 

I doubt the photo has been doctored, and I couldn't care less how old the photo is. In that case, I'm ready for all the typical responses. 

UPDATE, 10:06 p.m. ET: The university released a statement, acknowledging the banner's existence, and decrying its message. 

No, I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill. To suggest so means you, at some level, think it's mildly acceptable to make mockery of the 1,833 folks who lost their lives, and the thousands more who lost their lives as they knew it, for the sake of a joke. 

MORE: Hurricane Katrina devastation: Superdome, Saints, New Orleans 

No, I don't care whether these folks aren't representative of all Alabama fans. That's obvious. They're outliers. That doesn't change the fact that these people, who possibly have been accepted into one of the South's finest institutions of higher learning, located in a city that's no stranger to natural disaster, would do such a thing.

To make matters worse, this doesn't appear to be the act of an individual. There are five people in this photo. It's hard to imagine that, prior to this sign being draped from a building, no one stood up and said, "Maybe we're taking things too far and being insensitive jerks." But alas, here we are. 

Alabama's roster includes 11 players who graduated from Louisiana high schools — all of whom were almost undoubtedly affected by Katrina. I wonder whether they saw this sign made by their supporters. 

And lastly, no, I don't care that there might be LSU fans who are equally as stupid. Spare me your examples. Your momma may not have told you this, but two wrongs have never made a right. Hopefully, someone took the time to pull these gentlemen, and I use that term extremely loosely, aside and informed them of the error of their ways. 

I'll holler at y'all Saturday.

Nick Birdsong