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This whole "#FreeUAB" thing isn't just about football.

Oh no. If it was just football, folks would think a #FreeUAB sign was just another place to cop free Blazers football tickets.

No. FreeUAB is bigger than that.

FreeUAB is a Braveheart cry of Freedom from those who swear UAB has been treated like a Highland stepchild by the noblemen at the University of Alabama. Oh, there are those who insist it's a serious call for actual separation from the UA System Board of Trustees, a demand for the same sort of independence Scotland sought for so long from imperial Britain.

But crying Freedom is different from having it. Braveheart William Wallace lost his head in the end, and so did Mel Gibson, in a way. Even Scotland this year thought better of independence, and chose to hang with the Brits.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but UAB independence from the University of Alabama System is not going to happen. It would take an act of God to force such an act of the Legislature.

(David Magee)

Let's face it. Alabama would pass a holiday honoring Barack Obama before it would let the UA system splinter.

But it is still easy to see why UAB feels scorned. UAB pumps cash and cachet into the Alabama system, generating more revenue than Tuscaloosa or Huntsville. And still it is told to know its place.

But what makes UAB supporters want to paint their faces blue is the belief, down in the depths of their souls, that trustees try to protect the University in Tuscaloosa more than they ever try to help UAB or UAH.

It's just not cool for a parent to love one kid more than the rest.

UAB has had to fight the trustees and scrap for every step it took as it evolved from a medical school to a legitimate campus for undergrads and medical students alike.

Faculty and students and alums say building dorms and expanding non-medical academic programs to meet the student demands have from the start been met with resistance and roadblocks. It is maddening these days because the trustees themselves were the ones who issued a directive for UAB to grow its undergraduate side.

Those supporters point to one UAB effort after another thwarted by trustees. UAB wanted a law school? LOL. UA already has one.

UAB wanted a new business school building? We'll have to think about that, because UA already has one.

The thing is, if UAB wants something Tuscaloosa already has, the cry is "duplication." If the University in Tuscaloosa wants something Birmingham has - like, say a nursing school - well why not?

So yeah. This is about much more than football.

But this is also Alabama. And in Alabama, football grabs attention. So if Alabama gets waterfalls in its weight room and UAB gets ankle-breaking holes in its practice field - and the threat of losing its football team - it's a pretty good way of saying the field is not level.

What gets lost is how much UAB has to be proud of on its own. What gets lost is how much UAB has done to make the trustees proud, too.

Think about it. Outside of Redstone Arsenal UAB is the biggest employer in Alabama. It is a place that puts Birmingham to work, that heals its sick and reshapes its skyline. It draws visitors and brains to the city and state and gives a reason (off the field) for the whole state to cheer. The UAB medical school may have fallen out of the top 20 lately, but it is still a perennial power.

I understand why UAB boosters clamor for a board of trustees with "more equitable" representation. That would go a long way to make people feel better, especially since very few members of this self-appointing board have ever (John McMahon being the possible exception) aggressively supported UAB.

But that doesn't mean UAB or the University of Alabama System would be better off if the two parted ways.

#FreeUAB may be a heckuva hashtag and a battle cry.

But #RespectUAB is better. UAB has earned that.