I Am Auburn

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

This is long but I thought now might be a good time to post it. It inspires me, hope it does you.

I Am Auburn (Annonymous)

I am Auburn. I am the 30 year old year old couple coming back to campus for the first time with both little ones in tow. One wears her first blue and orange cheerleader outfit: the other wears #34 even though he's too young to understand why.

I am the 50 year old lady who hoped no one saw tears in her eyes when the eagle circled the field. I was too choked with even to say "War Eagle." For a moment I felt foolish and then I didn't care. God knows I love this place.

I am the 60 year old man meeting his freshman grand-daughter who is now the 3rd generation of AU students in our family. Despite my age, I'd strap it on Saturday and hit someone if it weren't for my blasted arthritis.

I am Auburnand I I have always believed I was different.. You can see it when you look in the stands. My orange is not the same as Tennessee and my blue is not that of Florida. But the differences go much deeper than my colors. Read my creed. What other school even has one? I genuinely believe in these things.

To be a real Auburn man or woman speaks of character, not of geography. We are all welcome to walk thru my gates, not just the wealthy or the elite.Alabama and Georgia may have their nations, but we have always been family. Make no mistake, we loathe defeat, but even in defeat, we would rather be an Auburn Tiger than anything else..

We are family and you, our players, are the sons of Heisman, the sons of of Jordan and Dye. You come from a long line of brothers whose legions include names like Tidwell, Dooley, Frederickson, Sullivan, Beasley, Burkett, Sidle, Owens, Nix, Phillips, jackson and Rocker to name a few. it is a great heritage. So on every Saturday in Auburn. when the warmups are over and the prayers and amens spoken, when you hear the my thunder growing in the stands above you, when you stand in the tunnel and the smoke begins to form, listen for my voice when you run on the field. behind this the frenzy of the shakers and deafening roar, I will be telling you something in a whisper you may miss. I will be telling you that you are my sons and I am proud of you for the way you wear the burnt orange and navy blue. I am telling you that you are my sons and I lofe you.

Auburn is so much more than a city or school or a team or a degree. it is something that, once you have experience it, will live inside of you forever and become a part of what makes you up and who you are. It is driving into town on a game day. You may have come from hundreds of miles away and as you get closer and closer to the cithy limits, you feel it rising inside you. Other cars on the highway proudly display their orange and blue flags or magnets or car tags, and you honk and wave at them because, for that one day, you are all on the same team.

It is the smell in the air and the ritualistic act of tailgating--catching up on old friends, making new ones, and

invitations to perfect strangers to try their ribs or watch their satellite TV showing all of the day's important match-ups all of which are secondary to to the one that will occur in the great cathredral of Jordn-Hare later that day.

It is Tiger Walk, where you might see 300 pound men overcome with emotion and weeping with pride, because you have come there to cheer them on. As they walk by, you might exchange a a glance with one or two of them and you can see it in their eyes. It is going to be theri day.

It is the students who remind you of the days when you were walking in their shoes and Auburn was your home as it is their's now. But then you realize , in many ways, it is still and always will be HOME.

It is that lump that rises in your throat when tha band plays the alma mater and the eagle soars over your head.

Sometimes it is walking around on a "foreign" and hostoile campus. You are easily identified (Auburn people always are) and the enemy jeers and shouts things at you to mask their feelings of intimidation. But just then you happen to upon a friend you have never met before. You know they are your friend by the colors they wear or the shaker in their hand. You exchange a "War Eagle" and a confident grin because he/she knows what you know.

It is when your heart leaps with every touchdown, field goal, sack, and interception, because those are our boys. And win or lose they will always have our undying support. After all, it is those boys that you are really there for, not a coach or a logo or a trustee or an AD or a President. It is the complete amd utter exhileration of walking away victorious over a worthy opponent, that feeling of pride and accomplishment as if it were your own feet that had crossed the goalline scoring the last TD, that feeling of screaming "War Eagle" and hugging complete strangers.

Sometimes it is the shear agony of defeat as the last seconds click off the clock and you realize that all hope of a victory is gone. You feel like crying but realize that life has it's disappointments as well happy times. It makes us stronger as a family.

And then there is the ultimate high of defeating your most hated foe across the state. No words can describe what it is like until you experience it.

It is knowing that year after year, no matter how things change in our hectic lives, you can always come back to the Plains, the place where you came from, your home..

It will probably look a little different and there will be new names on the backs of the jerseys, but deep down, no matter what, it is still the same. You still love it as much as you always have because Auburn is as much a part of you as your arms and legs and the the orange and blue blood that runs thru your veins.

And finally, it is the feeling you have right now as you read these words.....the anticipation inside you, because you know it's almost time. It is about to start all over again, but then it really never goes away does it? War Damn Eagle!!!

I am Proud Tiger and it's great to be an Auburn Tiger.

[AU alum 2]

Thank you.

[tigerfan1234 0]

Auburn is most definitely a special place. With so many bad things going on in the world and with so many uncertainties in my own life, when I return to Auburn, I am home again.

[Aubie16 1]

thanks.

I got teary eyed reading it. Of course, I also had tears in my eyes as Tiger was making his last flight. I guess you can just call me Dick Vermeil!

[WarTim 3,457]

Thanks PT. Very timely.

WDE ! ! !

Tim

Thanks PT. Very timely.

WDE ! ! !

Tim

[SKCAUB 0]

I am one of the poor ones on this site who did not get to go to my beloved Auburn. But this year I have been a Tiger fan for exactly 50 years. And I know all of those things you mentioned...and have since I was 7 years old.

WAR EAGLE!!! BEAT BAMAR!!!

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

I am one of the poor ones on this site who did not get to go to my beloved Auburn. But this year I have been a Tiger fan for exactly 50 years. And I know all of those things you mentioned...and have since I was 7 years old.

WAR EAGLE!!! BEAT BAMAR!!!

You don't have to go to Auburn or be a grad to appreciate it and be a member of the family. The only strict requirement is that you know where it is

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

thanks.

I got teary eyed reading it. Of course, I also had tears in my eyes as Tiger was making his last flight. I guess you can just call me Dick Vermeil!

Yeah, me too!!

[AUMom 1]

Proud Tiger,

I don't know how you did it, but you wrote everything I have ever felt about Auburn

for 53 years. I joke (not really) about going to Auburn as returning to Mecca for me.

I believe in The Creed, and I believe in everything you wrote, thank you, from the bottom of my

heart. I was at the Ga. game also, and my daughter and I both cried when Tiger soared

for her final flight. WAR EAGLE!

[WarEagle_57 0]

Even though I've seen that before, I still got choked up reading it, I always do, esp this time of year. I was trying my best not to cry during Tiger's flight Saturday.

[sogaaufan 27]

I am one of the poor ones on this site who did not get to go to my beloved Auburn. But this year I have been a Tiger fan for exactly 50 years. And I know all of those things you mentioned...and have since I was 7 years old.

WAR EAGLE!!! BEAT BAMAR!!!

You don't have to go to Auburn or be a grad to appreciate it and be a member of the family. The only strict requirement is that you know where it is

...and that you know the fight song

[autigeremt 6,661]

Hey....make this post even more special. Add your own "I am Auburn"

I am the 34 year old S.C. native who was led to the Plains as a child by the sight of "Over The Top" on T.V. Growning up in a Tiger home of the grandchild (Clemson) it became evident where my heart was leaning throughout Middle and High School. I even got my dad to drive us down to watch Auburn play Miss. State in the late 80's so I could see Auburn live for the first time. The hook was set, and the Auburn Spirit caught me like a fisherman lands a Marlin on the open sea. And in 1989, with a blue and orange shaker in my hand, I watched the Tigers beat Alabama for the first time in JHS. After that, there was no doubt where I wanted to be! After serving my country, the roadmap for success led me back to where my dreams had been forever roused.....Auburn. Now, after years of hard work and many, many experiences along the way, I find myself back home......not in Easley, S.C., but on the Plains of AUburn, Alabama. War Damn Eagle!

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Hey....make this post even more special. Add your own "I am Auburn"

Great idea. I enjoyed yours. I might just add, and it will shock a lot of people here, that I grew up a bama fan 50 miles from tuscalooser. No one in my steel mill family had ever gone to college and I have no real idea why I liked bama but in high school. I used to go down on weekends for frat parties. My Dad died when I was 8 and when time came for my H.S. education i just assumed I would go work in the mills like so many others in my family did. But my Mom had saved up a little money so I could go to college if I worked some to help. She said I should go to the college day thing at school and look at catalogs. I always wanted to be a Navy pilot, so I looked at the bama catalog and told my Mom I wanted to go to bama and take AE. She said AE was a good choice but Auburn had one too and said I had spent enough time partying at bama. So one Sunday afternoon, she and my step-father packed my stuff in the car, drove down to Auburn, and dropped me in Mag Hall. It was the first time I had ever been to Auburn.

I continued to go visit friends at bama on weekends and just thought of things as a friendly rivalry. I even pulled for bama when they weren't playing Auburn (I warned you earlier you would be shocked). Then I started writing sports for The Plainsman. I hung around the coaches and players like I was part of things. Then I begin to see some things that I would have never believed. I won't elaborate anymore because many of you have "heard" it before. But I truly saw the dark side of bama and it was UGLY. I saw the extremes they would go to to win. Soon I began to hate them with a passion that continues to this day. Let me hasten to add that, in spite of my sparring here, I don't hate bama people. My oldest daughter is a bama grad. One of my very best friends is a former captain of bama's FB team under Bryant (we have shared a lot of things you wouldn't believe). But I do hate anything that smacks of a bama athletic team.

Sorry, but some wounds are so deep they never heal. So lets return to some happier stories.