The Lovliest Village On The Plains

I'm not exactly sure of her motivation. Really. I'm not.

I mean, I know she's grown up in our home where life stops down whenever the Auburn Tigers play football on television. I guess habits learned in your formative years growing up in Alabama stay with you even 12 years and 680 miles away. Of course, for every AU gridiron victory my children are treated to banana splits but I really think it was more than that.

It's more than banana splits, though. The bottom line is that she's grafted into a love for the football team. Maybe God's just providing for me even though He didn't bless me with sons. Next best thing: A daughter passionate about YOUR team. No matter how she got it. I'll take it.

And for her birthday gift this year, she asked for a trip to the game. She twisted my arm. Hard. Eventually, I gave in. By "eventually," I mean roughly 6 seconds. 5 of those were trying to think about who to call for the ticket hook-up.

We arrived on GameDay an found a new AU tradition: No parking. In the decade since I've attended a game they apparently decided to put educational buildings where there used to be game parking. What's going on at my football factory alma mater? Eventually we found a place.

I decided to give her the full-blown experience and take part in all the things you'd show someone who wanted the full-blown experience. We started with the trip to J & M Bookstore for t-shirts and such. The hugely popular store even gives out stickers that read, "I survived gameday at J&M." It's a pretty big deal and we even had a chance encounter with legendary AU coach Pat Dye who was signing books in the store.

Then it was a walk to Mama Goldberg's Deli. A traditional landmark with good food and I ran into several fraternity brothers: Jenks (my "big brother'), Owens and Jep. We caught up on as many guys as we could think of and even called Hollywood when they found out I had his number. Apparently, traditional landmarks have their price as the owner sold the place for a hefty price with two commas...it was my last visit, I guess.

Next stop: Tiger Walk. I overheard a Washington State fan (our Pac-10 opponent this weekend) on his cell phone, "Dude, you're NOT going to believe this! Their fans are lined up for about 12 blocks, shoulder to shoulder about 15 people deep on two sides...and I think all they're gonna do is watch the team walk to the stadium." That is all that's done by about 20,000 folks cheering the boys on, but they're led by cheerleaders, band folks, and of course, Aubie:



Then we visited with one of my best friends from AU, Tim. We got to see his wife and kids and it was a fantastic half hour. We've got to do a better job of keeping in touch. We tailgated with them...in the real way that only Southeastern Conference folks do it. Kelsey was impressed.

Then, it was in to the stadium:



The War Eagle flew to midfield 10 minutes before kickoff and Kelsey got to experience 87,515 folks cheering their team on with real, live passion and intensity. She told me she was impressed by how noisy folks got.

The folks got antsy when the visitors went ahead 7-6 early, but it didn't last long as Auburn jumped to a 19-7 halftime lead. Bring on the band (but I didn't get a photo of the fireworks over the stadium a few seconds later--my wife's the family photographer, so cut me some slack, okay?):



Then Auburn put the game away and wound up winning by 26 points. As you can tell, we were pretty happy about all this:



And, to end the day, in the most bizarre tradition in college sports, we participated in the ritual rolling of Toomer's Corner with toilet paper. I can't explain it, nor do I try, but it's what happens, man:



And a drive home with a tired, but happy kid. She got her birthday present.

But is it bad that I feel like maybe I got more out of the present than she did? Watching her enjoy all this made it quite an enjoyable day for myself.