Auburn Football o/t (long)

[eggzz]

A client of mine that lives in Alabama sent me this, thought some of you might enjoy reading it. Supposedly this was posted by a Maryland Terrapins fan that went to the Auburn/Georgia game this past Saturday. I've never been to a college football game, but this sounds like the place to be if you had to choose...

Imagine you have been married to the same woman for more than 30 years, you love her more than anything - nothing could ever change that. You have shared many of your best memories with her and would never leave her under
any circumstances. Then you spend a day with a woman who in some ways is more beautiful than your wife...you may never see her again...but you won't forget her for a while either.

Maryland is my wife...Auburn is " the other woman ".

If you all love college sports - and I assume you do - you really need to see a game there. I have been lucky to see a lot of places, I have not seen a lot of places like that. It's an amazing scene in every respect. Granted,
I was there for # 3 vs. # 5...Auburn was 9-0 so it was bound to be good.

Some highlights:

I arrived at night with the stadium lit up like a Christmas tree. It sits dead in the middle of campus. A shrine...literally their church - only services are held on Saturday. Made me say....hmmmm...this is promising.

Gameday scene -
tailgating in every available space...and not like some field full of RV's - though they had that too. But literally people grilling and drinking in every available spot for as far as the eye could see. I lost count of the
number of bands and stages and this was at 9 AM.

The Fans -
I knew I was in a " red state " from all the Suburbans with W stickers but the truth of it is, this part of Alabama is an orange state. Every man woman and child is in the same shade of orange. Not unusual I know ...but THIS was...they are nice, friendly , and polite - to GEORGIA FANS. Nobody
called anyone in Black and Red @#%$ or *sshole..nobody told them they sucked nobody told them *uck you. These people are your friends, you don't know it yet because you haven't met them - but when you do - you have met a friend. you want a beer ? some bar- B - Q ? grab some. Let's talk for a
while....war eagle...let's have a good game. I saw this at tailgate after tailgate. Stragglers who wander by are offered anything that's available -
didn't matter what color they were wearing. This is the oldest rivalry in the South - they call it Brother vs. Brother and they mean it. Now there are certainly cliche's about downhome country sensibilities - but these
folks embodied the best part of the notion of southern hospitality. Though many did admit it's a tad LESS civil for the Iron Bowl.

Tiger Walk :
Impossible to describe. Im - possible. A human welcome mat for the team. The team walks through several blocks to Jordan - Hare through a sea of people. I asked somebody how many folks were there and was told they could never come up with an accurate head count but that they were certain it was " well in excess of 25,000 people. " That looked a little light to me...I would have bought 40 grand. 2 hours before kick the streets in all directions were completely - and I mean COMPLETELY jammed. It was like a religious experience. If you can be in the middle of this - and I was lucky enough to get to walk through it - and not be overwhelmed , you are dead my friend. ( I just went Larry King on your asses- sorry )I was honestly in awe.

Gametime :
The eagle circles as 87,521 people ( less the UGA fans ) cheer Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar EAGLE HEY!!! The eagle pounces on some meat product and the hair on the back of your neck stands up...then if you are still unimpressed you get an F 16 flyover and were off and running. Auburn dominates, the band plays, the fans hoot and holler louder than anywhere I have ever been ( and go Spinal tap and take it to volume 11 when UGa tries to audible ) 24 - 6 and it's time for more food and drink...but before that...

Toomer's corner :

everyone converges on the intersection of college st and whatever the other road is and they toilet paper every tree in sight. By the time it's over, it looks like a blizzard has rolled through Alabama. There are no riots, no police, no cars set on fire. There are families from grandparents to
infants chucking rolls of toilet paper all over the place. Again, i just shake my head at a loss...and maybe a little jealous.

It's a special place, the best scene I have ever seen for college football. I have ZERO doubt " our " TEAM could someday be as good. As fans though, perhaps we should aspire to be as classy as those I was hosted by. The type
of hostile, vile garbage we are subjected to on the road and are certainly guilty of at home is just embarrassing when you see how they do it elsewhere. Not preaching here - just some thoughts of one VERY proud Terrapin after seeing the light Auburn style.

[wporter]

awesome post. i go to auburn and go to all of the games including this past AU - GA game. this was written by scott van pelt of ESPN. the atmosphere on gameday here is unreal, and anyone that has never been to a big college football game definitely should go! War Eagle!
wporter

[eggzz]

I should have known this was not written by an "average joe" but rather a professional. Either way, its a good read.

So what do you think of your school's chances on running the table, pretty good no? I hope we don't have another BCS controversy, but it sure looks like it is going to shape up that way. It all hinges on Auburn winning out I would say. USC and OK, I don't think they have too much in front of them scarewise, and OK sure has shown vulnerability.

Good luck.

[mmbt0ne]

I always loved going to Auburn games when my friends went there. I would leave here Friday night, party there, then wake up and head over to the tailgating spot about half a mile away from the stadium that they had to rope off 2 days in advance. The people there were always nice, and, even though I never really cared who won or lost, I always felt sorry for the great fans there when the Tigers would lose (especially the Ole Miss game last year, that was brutal).

Of course, it's a lot easier to not root against a team when you got to tear your goalposts down after beating them earlier in the year.

[wporter]

[ QUOTE ]

So what do you think of your school's chances on running the table, pretty good no? I hope we don't have another BCS controversy, but it sure looks like it is going to shape up that way.


[/ QUOTE ]
i think we have a great shot at running the table now that we beat georgia. we have to play alabama (6-4, auburn should win), and probably tennessee in the SEC championship game (beat them badly at tenn earlier in the year). im not saying were perfect and cant slip up, because it could definitely happen and it worries me, but i feel fairly confident we will pull it off. and i think if a team from the SEC goes undefeated and wins its conf championship, it will play in the NC game.