Share your Auburn Trip Story

First time back a computer. We had a terrific trip, the loss notwithstanding.

My experiences to date with $ec fans had been of the lsu, ark, miss st, fla, & bama varieties. So I was braced for more of the same. But the Auburn fans completely stunned us -- they are absolute class acts!!! We received nothing less than 100% CLASS and RESPECT from every Tiger fan we encountered, before during and after the game.

The Auburn fanbase is a credit to their state and to the entire sport of college football.

Oh yeah --

And the eagle thing is pretty freakin cool too.

The best thing I found in Auburn: $6 for a 32 oz. Redneck (Long Island) Iced Tea at the Santa Fe Steakhouse.. Let's just say that I had a good time! :)

Anybody know if Southern Miss. has an eagle that flies over their stadium before a game? Their mascot REALLY is a golden eagle.
I wonder when Auburn started the thing with the eagle?

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Originally Posted by DONW

Anybody know if Southern Miss. has an eagle that flies over their stadium before a game? Their mascot REALLY is a golden eagle.
I wonder when Auburn started the thing with the eagle?

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DONW - Auburn's actual mascot is Nova, a six year old golden eagle. The eagle that flew Saturday was named Spirit, a bald eagle. He occasionally stands in for Nova for the pre-game flight.

Both birds are housed by the Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center, which is part of the vet school. The flights started in 2000, and Tiger (our previous golden eagle mascot) flew at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

This explains it in a nutshell; see this link for a little more detail:

http://www.auburn.edu/administration...andfigures.htm

Hope this helps explain things.

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Originally Posted by aubldr

DONW - Auburn's actual mascot is Nova, a six year old golden eagle. The eagle that flew Saturday was named Spirit, a bald eagle. He occasionally stands in for Nova for the pre-game flight.

Both birds are housed by the Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center, which is part of the vet school. The flights started in 2000, and Tiger (our previous golden eagle mascot) flew at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

This explains it in a nutshell; see this link for a little more detail:

http://www.auburn.edu/administration...andfigures.htm

Hope this helps explain things.

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Thanks for the info. I wish we had a VET school at Tech. Tech has the best agriculture and animal husbandry school and raises quarter horses, cows and even has a dairy. But, guess where they put the vet school. You guessed it, didn't you, in the middle of the swamps in south La. I guess they treat a lot of alligators and nutria down there. The vet that takes care of our mascot is a Tech grad, but he had to go to LSU for his vet degree. He has a LSU La. license plate on the back of his truck with another LSU plate on the front. I bet you don't have a problem with your alumni supporting Alabama, do you?

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Originally Posted by Guisslapp

Friday
4:30 pm - pop the cork on one my favorite Belgium ales with a member of BBB
6:00 pm - go to Brick Store in Decatur for more beers and angus sliders with bacon and home-made pimento cheese11:00 pm - pick up another member of BBB from airport
12:30 pm - more beers and food prep for tailgating
3:00 am - bedtime

Saturday
7:00 am - get up and get ready
8:00 am - drive from Atlanta to Auburn
9:00 am (now in CST) - raise Tech flag pole at tailgate site, open first beer
11:30 am - after several beers, cuss at hardwood chrcoal for an hour until it finally catches
4:00 pm - after half a dozen more beers, exchange pleasantries with Porter and Smith families
5:00 pm - split bottle of bourbon into 4 cups, add a little coke, and start walk to stadium
5:30 pm - get a "Welcome to Auburn" from TV personality (non-leading guy on West Wing and other shows) waiting in line to go into stadium
6:00 - 9:30 pm - experience the range of emotions you get from watching Tech play football
11:00 pm - down a bottle of water and can of Red Bull, drive back to Altanta
2:00 am (Eastern time) - sleep

Sunday - realize that you have a sunburn

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edited a tad

Commence drive from Hotlanta 12 Noon. Arrive Hooters Newnan, GA 1:30 P.M. - indulge in liquid lunch and Hooters food while we watch Navy-Ohio St and get scared about next week.

Arrive Auburn shortly thereafter. Parking is great; traffic control to the game feels like the Japanese are running it. Auburn fans are gracious. OMG - they have MULTIPLE CLEAN bathrooms set up for fans so that we lose our beer in comfort on the way to the stadium! Meet several clusters of our fans en route to the stadium. Several GO DOGS! - no one threatens to beat us up - or even give us dirty looks.

Arrive at stadium. Continuing the "built and run by Japan" theme, Auburn has GREETERS welcoming us as if we are entering church as visitors - even though some of us loudly cheer GO DAWGS! upon entering. First visit to J-H, sitting on 50 yard line behind Tech bench, a bit of shock and awe involved - makes Tigger Stadium and their fans look second class. Meet Rust's mom, Cuthbert's family and several other Tech fans sitting next to us (SHOUT OUT!). Auburn band marches out on to field using the wall right on front of us. War Eagle circles the stadium and does his thing. The "falconeer" (there's another technical name for it since it's not a falcon but it escapes me right now) brings him in front of us on his arm close up - pretty darn cool.

Game good for 2.5 quarters - lots of high fives, GO DAWGS going around. The guys in orange surrounding us are really cool about it. 3d Q - 96 yard TD hits - crap, I need some REAL refreshment now - CRAP again, friend next to me (Georgia guy who has been yelling for TECH since early second Q) got depressed from 96 yard TD and killed the majority of my previously well-preserved flask of Jim Beam in one friggin' drink. Orange-shirted guy feels my pain and fortifies my Coke.

Stay for awhile longer - we start to get shoved around. See true freshmen come in and get the majority of the touches. Start to head out with 3 minutes to go. One guy screams "war eagle" in my face, but for 80,000 orange fans, one drunk coed ain't bad. Cross busy road (in the middle of the block) by Ag Building - orange flags on vehicles actually stop and allow us to pass. Reach vehicle after forced marched initiated by Wife, who wants to "use a real bathroom".

Arrive vehicle. We speed out of the stadium vicinity - apparently, the Japanese are still running things, because we are on I-85 within 10 minutes of putting the key in the ignition (DISCLAIMER - we have a Designated Driver). Home to the Blue Ridge foothills 1 a.m. EST.

Not incredibly happy with the score. HOWEVER - When I went, I had no idea what to expect. Afterwards, I have decided that these guys - of any other in the SEC (and I have been to many Arkansas, Ole Piss, BR-Community College, etc games) are our role model for game day experience and fan behavior. They set the bar for the SEC - bar none. Not envy - just respect for what they have accomplished in regards to the game day experience and treatment of visiting fans. What a well-oiled machine in regards to the stadium, tailgating, traffic,and anything else within 10 miles on game day.

I'm a member of SECTalk.com (a site almost identical to this, just about SEC sports). One of our members posted a link to this thread. I'm very flattered and glad to hear that the overwhelming majority of you Tech fans had a great time wile in Auburn. I have much respect for the Bulldogs, your guys gave my Tigers a hell of a game and fought their hearts out for 4 quarters. Coach Dooley is doing an outstanding job building your program up. Good luck the rest of the way through the season.

I will echo most of the sentiments already posted. I had a great time. ALL of the sober Auburn fans were extremely nice. Almost all of the drunks were nice too!
Beautiful town and campus. Nice folks.

My only complaint had nothing to do with Auburn fans. I drove 7 hours and my seat was by the only corndog within a 100 miles. Dude was wearing a TECH hat and an lsu jersey:shocked2: and apparently got his ticket from the administration. Sooner and our boys almost busted a gut laughing when they saw who my seat-mate was. None of them offered to trade seats with me. We all were cordial though.:)

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Originally Posted by skilldawg

I will echo most of the sentiments already posted. I had a great time. ALL of the sober Auburn fans were extremely nice. Almost all of the drunks were nice too!
Beautiful town and campus. Nice folks.

My only complaint had nothing to do with Auburn fans. I drove 7 hours and my seat was by the only corndog within a 100 miles. Dude was wearing a TECH hat and an lsu jersey:shocked2: and apparently got his ticket from the administration. Sooner and our boys almost busted a gut laughing when they saw who my seat-mate was. None of them offered to trade seats with me. We all were cordial though.:)

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What an idiot? Where was he from?

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Originally Posted by skilldawg

I will echo most of the sentiments already posted. I had a great time. ALL of the sober Auburn fans were extremely nice. Almost all of the drunks were nice too!
Beautiful town and campus. Nice folks.

My only complaint had nothing to do with Auburn fans. I drove 7 hours and my seat was by the only corndog within a 100 miles. Dude was wearing a TECH hat and an lsu jersey:shocked2: and apparently got his ticket from the administration. Sooner and our boys almost busted a gut laughing when they saw who my seat-mate was. None of them offered to trade seats with me. We all were cordial though.:)

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Wow, you drove all the way to Auburn and had to sit next to a corndog. That's priceless. I'm sorry bro, I LMAO when I read that. Sometimes life isn't fair.

I only registered to tell y'all thank you. I hope nothing but the best for y'all in the future and I hope if any of you ever come back to Auburn you receive the warmest of welcomes. Dooley is a wonderful coach and should lead you to a bright future. I will root for La Tech in every game here on out(except vs. AU). I have the utmost respect for your program and fans.

Auburn fans are awesome. There were college guys thanking us for coming and wishing us a safe trip back home. Singing "Livin' On a Prayer" was cool, too. I hope I can attend another game at Jordan-Hare sometime. Really nice, clean place.

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Originally Posted by DONW

What an idiot? Where was he from?

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No idea where he was from. He was proud of his little purple jersey though. He said that he wore the same get up to Ole Miss and they were not near as nice to him as the Auburn fans were.:rolleyes: