A Life or Death Situation: How Far Would Your Rivalry Go?

Every now and then we hear something that makes us stop and think. Every now and then we hear about things that make us realize how thankful we are. But how often do we hear things that make us think how far we would go to help a rival?

Every team has a rival no matter how good or bad that rival might be. Alabama's rival is Auburn (or Tennessee or LSU depending on whom you ask), Nebraska's rival is Colorado, and Auburn's rival is Georgia (or Alabama.)

Rivalries are said to run deep. They have caused fights. They have caused divorces. They have even caused murders.

So how far would you go to help a rival fan if it was a life or death situation? Would you even help them at all?

Over the last week or so, I have seen fans from every community come and support Gray Ghost and his grandson Josiah as he was losing his battle to cancer. People from every community came and showed Gray their support and made sure he knew they were there for him in this time of need.

Suddenly, it didn't matter that Gray is a Georgia fan and I'm a 'Bama fan. It didn't matter that during football season, we beat them. Nothing compared to what was going on in his personal life.

I was struck again today while at work by another rival fan that realized that rivals only ran so deep.

Working at Bama Fever, I see a lot of Auburn fans refuse to come in and I hear a lot of snide comments as Tennessee and LSU fans pass by the store. I'm not however, used to the heart warming story I heard today at work.

A woman came in and asked if we had any pacifiers. When I took her over I also mentioned that we had some new baby clothes in and this was when she told me that this was actually for a sixth grader that was a huge 'Bama fan being treated for cancer.

She said she had gone in the Auburn store but they didn't have one because she was an Auburn fan and was just going to mess with her. But through all this, the little girl might just transform her.

Apparently, Nick Saban and John Parker called her (she thought talking to Nick Saban was a lot cooler and blew JP off), people have sent her messages, and she is still graduating from sixth grade this upcoming Thursday.

This was her teacher in Bama Fever just buying her Alabama stuff because it was what the little girl wanted.

So, how deep do rivalries really go? If a person from your rival needed your help would you do it?

Bama fans, I'm asking you to keep one of our fellow fans in your prayers. And I even encourage you to go to her page and read her story.

And, if you can get past your rivalry, I ask fans from other teams to do the same.

For other articles on GrayGhost and his grandson or other articles on this topic, check out the links  below.

I let B/R creatures know one of their own needs our help here.

Zander shows his support after the death of Gray's grandson here.

Check out Blaine's article dealing with Relay For Life here.