Birmingham is a sports town. That may seem an exaggeration coming from a place with no professional football, baseball (only minor league), or basketball team, but take a quick sampling of local talk-radio chatter or office water cooler topics and chances are, it’s sports that are on the agenda. From the college ranks to the high school level, area residents love to take in a good game. And as any Alabamian can tell you, no game compares to the storied football rivalry between the state’s two largest universities, Auburn University and the University of Alabama, otherwise known as the Iron Bowl (see Close-Up). Don’t be surprised if, upon your arrival in Birmingham, you are confronted with three very important words, “Auburn or Alabama?” Neither school is in Birmingham but that doesn’t make a lick of difference: From September to January (and again during spring training), Alabama and Auburn football dominates sports in town.
In fact many sports fans in the city blame the undying loyalty of Auburn and Alabama’s respective supporters for the failure of the various professional football teams that the city has hosted over the years. Yet at the same time, there also exists in Birmingham a respect and admiration for the amateur athlete that is rare in the era of free agency and multi-million-dollar contracts. High school sports are followed with an intensity and enthusiasm that many colleges would envy while college football is elevated to near religious status.
Although Auburn and Alabama football dominate the headlines of the sports pages of the Birmingham News, sports coverage on local television, and call-in sports radio, Birmingham actually has college teams of its own. The University of Alabama at Birmingham, located on Birmingham’s Southside (better known as UAB), plays an exciting brand of basketball and has made a number of memorable runs in the NCAA tournament. UAB also has an up-and-coming football team, and a nationally ranked men’s soccer team. Even Birmingham-Southern College, a small but excellent liberal arts school, now has a football team as well. Just south of downtown is Samford University where the Bulldogs football team, competing at the Football Championship Sub-division of the NCAA’s Division I, are coached by former Heisman Trophy winner and star Auburn quarterback, Pat Sullivan. And of course, the Birmingham Barons minor league baseball organization maintains a rich tradition that can be traced all the way back to the 1880s. Many of the game’s greatest players, most notably Birmingham native Willie Mays and even basketball legend Michael Jordan, have worn the Barons’ uniform.
Overview
Birmingham has had difficulty maintaining a professional sports franchise, however, the city has been remarkably successful at hosting a number of yearly professional sporting events such as the Champions Tour’s Regions Charity Classic and NASCAR’s Amp Energy 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway. In addition to these annual events, Birmingham has also hosted top draws like the PGA and Champions Tour, FIFA men’s and women’s World Cup qualifiers, Davis Cup tennis, IndyCar Series races at the Barber Motorsports, US Men’s Olympic Marathon Championship, Olympic soccer, and other events that reflect the varied tastes of Birmingham’s sports palette and enthusiasm towards sports of all kinds.