Auburn Game

I think i need to expound on the Auburn game we went to on September 22nd. We were told that there wouldn't be as many people to the game since Auburn was playing New Mexico State. So let me preface by saying that the staduim holds 85,000 and they normally have about 20,000 people hanging around in the parking lot and streets partying and listening to the game.

We were told that it wouldn't be a sell out and that we should expect so many people in the streets...however, the city streets are closed to traffic three hours before the game to avoid anyone getting hurt. So we decided to leave our house after the soccer games at 11:00 AM and tailgate with our friends. We wanted to get the full experience. We arrived in Auburn, AL at about 12:30 PM and the traffic was similar to what you might experience going to a BYU game...very heavy.

We found our way to where they had set up camp (at 6:00 AM) and parked where they had saved a spot. They had a generator and TV setup to watch football. To get to the parking spot we had to squeeze down a road lined with cars. Barely enough room for our car. (keep in mind that this was 12:30 PM for a 6:30 PM kickoff.

We partied, ate food and enjoyed watching some football and cheering against all those teams that Auburn didn't like. The boys really liked playing football, eating food and hanging out with all these cool football fanatics!!! at 5:00 PM we started walking to the game -- about one mile away. The walk was amidst more people than I have ever seen attending a game. Thousands and thousands of people. We rounded a corner and like a mountain peak rising over the horizon, the Jordan Hare Stadium rose above the other school buildings. It was huge! The capacity doesn't seem much more than BYU's, but the stadium was much bigger than BYU's.

We found our way through the crowds of people and went through security and entered at the 50 yard line...mid level. (did I mention the stadium was big??) We found our seats, which were on the 35 yard line and sat to watch the pre-game festivities. The pre-game show was awesome. They have a high-resolution TV screen that is bigger than a house that broadcasts all kinds of entertainment. Then after the band had played and right before the team entered the field they did a great pre-game tradition. They let loose the eagle. Every game they let a golden eagle loose that circles the stadium and then swoops down on a mouse that is on the field (held by the trainer). While the eagle circles, the entire stadium states and holds, "warrrrrrrrrrrr" when the eagle pounces, "EAGLE!" That is the battle cry. Yes, Tigers and Eagles don't make sense, but the scene is amazing.

It was a sellout and everyone was wearing orange and there were people everywhere. No, there weren't as many people on the street as other games, but there were still people all over watching or listening to the game. We left at the end of the 3rd quarter to beat the traffic because we were told it takes an hour to get away from the city.

We were glad we had the opportunity to go to the game...the experience was wild and we did have a lot of fun. Look at the pictures (to be posted this evening) and hopefully it will show you a little of what we experienced. Truly SEC football is serious stuff!!!