For the LOVE of Auburn

A few months ago, after the Padres baseball season ended,  I did a blog about the Padres, and why they are my team.  You can read that story here.

Since tomorrow will be the end of the season for the  2010 Auburn Tigers football team - I wanted to do a similar story about my love for Auburn.  Like the Padres, the love runs deeper than just game day.

My dad graduated from Auburn in 1968.

He was the first person in his family to graduate from college.  In fact, my grandparents, pictured here, grew up in the depression era, and they didn't finish high school.  They had to quit school and work to keep food on the table. 

I was born a couple years after graduation and I had this "little tiger" shirt from the Alumni Association.

When I was too old to wear it, I played with it and put it on my dolls. 

I am sure my brother had one too when he came along, (well, a blue one anyway)

We didn't take a lot of vacations or have extra money for trips when I was growing up.  But I do remember a couple weekend trips to Auburn.  It was an amazing place to visit.  So big compared to our little high school. My dad would show us around and talk about things that were the same and things that had changed.  Dad would tell stories about "The Barn"  (that was what they called the building where the basketball team played)   it was no longer used for basketball games, and later burned. 

There are other things that true Auburn fans need no explaination of. 

And they don't always have to do with the football team.

Here are a few examples:

Jim Fyffe

Tiger Walk

Punt Bama Punt

The Plains

Samford Hall

Toomer's Corner

"The Flush"

The World's Best Lemonade

Gutherie's

In 1990, Mike got accepted to Auburn as part of the Navy's NECP program.  We moved there in early summer 1991 and lived there for a little over three years.  Mike graduated in June 1994 and went to OCS.  I stayed there until he finished OCS in October.  If I could move anywhere tomorrow, my first choice would be back to Auburn.  We loved everything about living there.  And we created our own Auburn memories while we lived there.  We stood in line for over an hour on the last night before the Sani-Freeze closed down.  It was too cold to eat ice cream, but we did it anyway....to show our love for Auburn Tradition.

We were also present in 1993 when Alabama came to Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn to play football for only the second time in the history of the IRON BOWL. 

Our student ticket price:  $4.00 each

Memories of the come-back win - PRICELESS!

So tomorrow I will be watching the National Championship game in full orange and blue as the Auburn Tigers take on the Ducks of Oregon for the title.  I will be too nervous to sit,

and will be screaming at the TV like someone there can hear me.  

But regardless of the outcome of the game: 

It's great to be an Auburn Tiger!