This past week has been one of the lowest points for college football in the state of Alabama.
Harvey Almorn Updyke, 62, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief after he called in to The Paul Finebaum Show as “Al from Dadeville” and proudly confessed to poisoning Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner 130 year old oak trees.
After hearing the audio clip of Al, I asked myself what would drive somebody to have so much hate and anger over a college football rivalry that they would risk serving time behind bars in a federal prison.
The scary part is that Updyke does not stand alone when it comes to lunatic crazed fans of the Alabama-Auburn rivalry.
What he did was a terrible act of destruction and he deserves to be locked up behind bars for a long time. However, that is no excuse for Auburn fans to send death threats to his family members that had nothing to do with the incident. Updyke’s family has since moved out of their home in Dadeville, fearing for their lives.
It is absolutely pathetic that 18-year-old high school recruits Brent Calloway and Cyrus Kouandjio received threats via Facebook from Auburn fans when they decommitted from Auburn and signed with Alabama.
The Tuscaloosa police have recently set up security cameras that overlook the statues by The Walk of Champions, in fear of retaliation that has been guaranteed by many Auburn fans on message boards.
There is no denying or getting around the fact that Updyke has some serious mental issues and probably a few screws loose.
I just wish I could honestly say that many more fools just like Updyke do not exist, but that would be a flat out lie.