Rasslin' With Them Angels

Let me make one thing perfectly clear:

I carry an unhealthy disdain of the University of Alabama...every single thing about that crimpsun-and-white wasteland of a campus and the legions of bubbas who have never even set foot on the aforementioned area of real estate.

Some have asked me, “Why get so riled up about something as trivial as football?” The simple answer? It’s not just football. It’s a job, a vocation, an M.O. Whenever a person is either born or moves into the Yellowhammer state, said job is assigned. You pick a side, not because you want to, but because it is foreordained. You are either orange-and-blue or red-and-white. It cannot be both ways. It cannot be “Well, I cheer for Auburn until they play Alabama.” It just cannot. We are Auburn, they are Alabama. With that assignment, comes a specific personality and job description. It is what it is.

Alabama fans are not insufferably arrogant, delusional, and mistakenly prideful because they want to be…nay, they just are. Auburn fans are not eaten up with an inferiority complex because we want to be, but because we are. It is our job as followers of The Creed to loathe all things crimson, and it is their job to act like, no matter how different reality may seem, those poor little aubies who come to beg at the table of the mighty Tahd are just a forlorn little brother who only wants to be like him.

My personal frame of reference comes from many personal experiences, starting all the way in elementary school. To be clear, most people included were born in 1986-7, the middle of Auburn and Pat Dye’s four year streak. We were barely in kindergarten in 1992, but for the sake of maintaining a seeming objectivity, we’ll include it. So, most of my Tide-loving peers knew little if any of the “tradition” that was constantly wagged in my face and others, namely my PIC, Neal. Yes, the Auburn fans were few, but even then, we acted as our job required. The years Alabama won, school on Monday was insufferable. Taunts came from every direction. Jokes were made, laughs were had, as if Auburn had never won a game…ever. The years the Tigers won, Neal and I would walk into school wearing the same proud Auburn grin we always carried around, saying little to nothing about the game, while our peer group from the West carefully explained away what should’ve happened the Saturday before; the mistakes that were made, the calls that were missed, and almost always, the excuses of why “Little Brother” had managed to be blessed with a win. It is the way it is.

I use the phrase “it is what it is” as partial truth and partial jab. The reference obviously comes from 2007 when newly hired part-time-coach and full time savior Nick Saban suspended receiver DJ Hall for the Louisiana-Monroe game, only to be on the brink of losing and “un-suspend” him. (They still lost, by the way). The partial truth comes from the fact that this is the way it will always be. While this particular action speaks rather profoundly to the Tahd’s ultimate corporate personality, I’ll leave it be for now. Auburn and Alabama fans alike will always be the way they are. Years from now, some child, born in the mid-90s, will claim “12 national championships” in the face of an Auburn friend, when really, he doesn’t even know that half of those championships are worth nothing more than some homer sportswriter’s word. That same Auburn fan will turn around to his friend, looking for some kind of affirmation from his friends that yell “ARR TEE ARR WOOOO!” because that is simply the way it is.

Despite the facts that since some long-deceased coach passed Auburn holds a decisive five-game lead, Alabama fans will continue to claim we are their “little brother.” Even though they’ve had almost as many scandals as they have head coaches since the early 90s, they will still feel like they are one of the most respected programs in the country. And though they will still feel like they have a right to win every game and every player they have will be at least All-SEC just because they are tha Unibuhsitee of Alahbumma by GAWD, they will still only be a moderately successful program by national standards.

Twenty years ago this year, a very large wrench was thrown into that personality, though. Most, if not all, Alabama fans swore that Jordan-Hare Stadium would never see the game played on its field. After years of haggling, the moment finally arrived. In what was undoubtedly the biggest Tiger Walk in history, the air that day has been described by many as nothing short of “electric.” As you probably know, the Tigers defeated the previously undefeated Tide, and suddenly, things began to look a lot more even. This event, possibly the biggest and most significant event in Auburn sports history, speaks tremendously to what I’m describing in this post. Alabama, the juggernaut of the 70s, finds it utterly beneath them to come to “that cow college.” To this day, most Turd fans will heartily deny that Auburn is even their biggest rival. Don’t blame them, though. It’s simply who they are. They will always be arrogant, dismissive, and high-and-mighty no matter how good or bad they are. It’s not a crime, it’s just their job.



We might not win on Friday. Hell, we probably won’t. But I will never stop pouring the most burnt orange and the navy-est blue liquid you’ve ever seen when I’m cut. I will never stop getting chills when the first drawn-out intro comes from the beginning of “War Eagle.” I will never stop bending my shaker into an L from effort put into cheering. I will never stop getting misty-eyed when my alma mater is played. I will never cease to be in awe when Spirit or Nova circles the stadium. I will not stop standing for those things listed in the Creed I love. Why? Because I believe in what Auburn is. I believe in those things, and by God, I love Auburn University with everything in me.

So if we win, I will have never been more proud. If we lose, I will never stop being proud of being an Auburn Tiger. Auburn is not and will never be simply about one person, player or coach. We will never worship a coach like some people do. The men that are lucky enough to wear the AU on their helmet stand for something more. They represent a people, not all consumed with simply winning and championships. They are concerned with those things, but they are about being better people for having experienced what Auburn University is. They are better people for wearing the orange and blue. They are a part of something bigger.

Why?

Because it is our job.

“I ain’t smart enough to tell you how I feel about ya. I mean…it’s family, every one of you…you know it. Sure I’d like to be 11-0, ya know, but lemme tell you somethin’. I wouldn’t swap this year for any year that I’ve been at Auburn. I wouldn’t swap it, men. I wouldn’t swap because I’ve watched you struggle and I’ve watched you rassle’ with them angels…and I’ve watched you grow up and become men. I’ve watched you become men.”

-Patrick Fain Dye, December 2, 1989 :: Auburn 30, Alabama 20

Weagle weagle WAR DAMN EAGLE, kick the ever-loving crap out of the tooth in their houndstooth skull BIG BLUE.

War Damn Eagle.