THE Game

It is difficult to articulate this experience without getting incredibly sentimental and gushy. That's not an apology or disclaimer, just an observation. ;-)

From the first "War Eagle" at take-off, to the last "bodagetta" as we touched down back home- Auburn showed up.

In numbers, and in spirit. The atmosphere was orange, and it was electric.

I am pretty confident that Oregon felt it, too. Now, I'm not saying our fans were perfect...

But, on the whole the air was saturated with support for the team, love for Auburn University, love for football, and love for each other.  Call me a cheeseball, but we were ALL IN.
 

From the thousands and thousands who showed up for Tiger Walk...

waiting hours just to welcome the buses and show the players their support...

to the stadium that had to be close to 70% orange and blue. (I'm sure even those furthest removed from the situation have heard about the record breaking ticket demands.)

It was generations...

 

new families that started at the loveliest village on the plains... 

 old friends and roommates from your Auburn days that you wish you saw more often...

and of course, some dedicated fans.

And the game... were those of you at home ever able to relax? I don't think anyone there has any fingernails left to speak of.

And then the confetti came down...

and the guy next to you passed out nice cigars to people who were strangers to him 4 hours ago...

you soak in the moment with the Auburn family...

hug your spouse... all while hugging the ADPi who graduated in 1998, whom you've never met, who has tears running down her face. 

Alumni are stopping to tell you how many years they've waited for this moment... young parents are already thinking about how they'll retell it to their kids. It was the pinnacle of the Auburn Experience.

And we sure were glad when that scoreboard was final. ;-)

I'll end this post with the exact same words I would have ended on had we lost...

It's ALWAYS great to be an Auburn Tiger, WAR EAGLE!!!

Linton & Janice- THANK YOU SO MUCH for this experience and trip, we will all remember it for a lifetime!

More on the rest of the trip and time with my parents soon! I thought THE game deserved it's own post. Also, I didn't bring my big camera, so some of the image quality isn't what it could be. That being said, the CoolPix did not let me down!