Why Our Opponent Sucks: Auburn Edition

[615dawg]

<span><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f7TxIMAwc1k&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425" allowScriptAccess="never" ></embed></span>
<br style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cowbells.</span> Imagine if you will. Your team has defeated a conference rival 10 straight years, by an average of over three touchdowns. Four of the last eight years, your conference rival has not scored a touchdown on you. You are regularly competing for conference championships, your conference rival is just trying not to finish last place. You go on the road and need a late touchdown to pull off a 24-20 victory in a season where your conference rival makes a bowl game. What do you do?

If you are Auburn and your conference rival is Mississippi State, the answer is simple. You ***** about cowbells.

Yep, Shug Jordan, whose '74 team went on to finish second in the SEC, could not bare that his vastly superior team needed a late score to knock off lowly Mississippi State, so he made a huge deal out of the cowbells. IHe made such a big deal that during the offseason, the SEC banned cowbells, and has resulted in 25 years of failed enforcement, on-field penalties, having to hide cowbells upon entering the stadium and ridicule from opposing fans on how every home game we win its because of cowbells.

It all started with Shug Jordan and Auburn, 25 years ago.

<span style="font-weight: bold;">Your fans are wannabe Alabama fans.</span> Look, I have no real beef with Auburn except for the cowbells, but Auburn fans are slowly becoming as obnoxious as Alabama fans. Case in point:

1. You tried to run off a coach a year removed from going 13 and freaking 0 in the SEC. How many times has this been done? Three? Tommy Tuberville will probably go down as one of the top 10 coaches in SEC history and you tried to run him off with booster-funded flights and threats with no real backbone.

2. When you finally had a losing season (and an excuse for running him off), you hired Gene Chizik. Chizik had more head coaching experience than say a Sly Croom, but he was 5-19 at Iowa State. There were dozens of better candidates out there, and at the time, Colonial Bank existed, so you had the resources. Hey, we've screwed up a coaching hire, too Hope it works out for you, but one win over Louisiana Tech and the talk is whether Auburn will win 9 games or Auburn will win 10 games. 6 months ago, you were greeting your athletic director at the airport, booing him for the hire.

3. The majority of Auburn fans do not feel that we are a threat, even though we have basically fielded the same team for the last two years. We beat you on the road two years ago, and just because you're the 3 in 3-2 doesn't make you any less part of the ****-fest that happened last September. I do not think there are two closer-matched teams in the SEC. Auburn has an advantage because its at Auburn, but if this game was in Starkville, we'd have the advantage. Predictions of 45-0, 31-0 and the take based on the fact that in three games, no one has scored on Auburn on September 12 are very crimson. Very crimson indeed.

<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who the 17 are you?</span> Look, someone trained a 17ing eagle to circle the stadium and dive down and get a fish at the 50-yard line. There is nothing more 17ing awesome in� the SEC.

But you are the Tigers. and then there is the Plainsmen thing. I get it, you needed a two word battle cry because Alabama had one (inferiority complex), but why War Eagle. It makes no sense. But I'll watch the eagle circle the stadium Saturday and think how awesome it is until my wife and everyone around me says "Why is an eagle circling the stadium, I though Auburn was the Tigers."

Why Our Opponent Sucks is a weekly feature. If you have ideas/comments for Vanderbilt - send me a PM.

 

[615dawg]

<span><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f7TxIMAwc1k&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425" allowScriptAccess="never" ></embed></span>
<br style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cowbells.</span> Imagine if you will. Your team has defeated a conference rival 10 straight years, by an average of over three touchdowns. Four of the last eight years, your conference rival has not scored a touchdown on you. You are regularly competing for conference championships, your conference rival is just trying not to finish last place. You go on the road and need a late touchdown to pull off a 24-20 victory in a season where your conference rival makes a bowl game. What do you do?

If you are Auburn and your conference rival is Mississippi State, the answer is simple. You ***** about cowbells.

Yep, Shug Jordan, whose '74 team went on to finish second in the SEC, could not bare that his vastly superior team needed a late score to knock off lowly Mississippi State, so he made a huge deal out of the cowbells. IHe made such a big deal that during the offseason, the SEC banned cowbells, and has resulted in 25 years of failed enforcement, on-field penalties, having to hide cowbells upon entering the stadium and ridicule from opposing fans on how every home game we win its because of cowbells.

It all started with Shug Jordan and Auburn, 25 years ago.

<span style="font-weight: bold;">Your fans are wannabe Alabama fans.</span> Look, I have no real beef with Auburn except for the cowbells, but Auburn fans are slowly becoming as obnoxious as Alabama fans. Case in point:

1. You tried to run off a coach a year removed from going 13 and freaking 0 in the SEC. How many times has this been done? Three? Tommy Tuberville will probably go down as one of the top 10 coaches in SEC history and you tried to run him off with booster-funded flights and threats with no real backbone.

2. When you finally had a losing season (and an excuse for running him off), you hired Gene Chizik. Chizik had more head coaching experience than say a Sly Croom, but he was 5-19 at Iowa State. There were dozens of better candidates out there, and at the time, Colonial Bank existed, so you had the resources. Hey, we've screwed up a coaching hire, too Hope it works out for you, but one win over Louisiana Tech and the talk is whether Auburn will win 9 games or Auburn will win 10 games. 6 months ago, you were greeting your athletic director at the airport, booing him for the hire.

3. The majority of Auburn fans do not feel that we are a threat, even though we have basically fielded the same team for the last two years. We beat you on the road two years ago, and just because you're the 3 in 3-2 doesn't make you any less part of the ****-fest that happened last September. I do not think there are two closer-matched teams in the SEC. Auburn has an advantage because its at Auburn, but if this game was in Starkville, we'd have the advantage. Predictions of 45-0, 31-0 and the take based on the fact that in three games, no one has scored on Auburn on September 12 are very crimson. Very crimson indeed.

<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who the 17 are you?</span> Look, someone trained a 17ing eagle to circle the stadium and dive down and get a fish at the 50-yard line. There is nothing more 17ing awesome in� the SEC.

But you are the Tigers. and then there is the Plainsmen thing. I get it, you needed a two word battle cry because Alabama had one (inferiority complex), but why War Eagle. It makes no sense. But I'll watch the eagle circle the stadium Saturday and think how awesome it is until my wife and everyone around me says "Why is an eagle circling the stadium, I though Auburn was the Tigers."

Why Our Opponent Sucks is a weekly feature. If you have ideas/comments for Vanderbilt - send me a PM.

 

[JohnDawg]

nm</p>

 

[coursesuper]

he did everything but tell Jay Jacobs to 17 off.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Ok, I have degrees from both places and a job at Auburn. I am an Auburn fan most of the time, but not this week, and everyone here knows it. But the whole War Eagle thing is tired and played out. It takes about two seconds to understand it. So, for anyone with a 24 or higher on the Reading portion of the ACT, I present to you.....the Legend(s) of War Eagle. I personally prefer the last version.

<h3>"War Eagle" is Auburn's battle cry (not a mascot or nickname)</h3>The most popular story about the battle cry dates back to the first time Auburn met Georgia on the football field in 1892 and centers around a spectator who was a veteran of the Civil War. In the stands with him that day was an eagle the old soldier had found on a battlefield during the war. He had kept it as a pet for almost 30 years. According to witnesses, the eagle suddenly broke free and began majestically circling the playing field. As the eagle soared, Auburn began a steady march toward the Georgia end zone for a thrilling victory. Elated at their team's play and taking the bird's presence as an omen of success, Auburn students and fans began to yell "War Eagle" to spur on their team. At the game's end, the eagle took a sudden dive, crashed into the ground, and died. But the battle cry "War Eagle" lived on to become a symbol of the proud Auburn spirit.

The 1914 contest with the Carlisle Indians provides another story. The toughest player on the Indians' team was a tackle named Bald Eagle. Trying to tire the big man, Auburn began to run play after play at his position. Without even huddling, the Auburn quarterback would yell "Bald Eagle," letting the rest of the team know that the play would be run at the imposing defensive man. Spectators, however, thought the quarterback was saying "War Eagle," and in unison, they began to chant the resounding cry.

There is another story surrounding the 1914 Carlisle game. Each time the Indians had scored during the season, fans and the Carlisle players yelled, "War Eagle." But on this particular afternoon, it was Auburn's own Lucy Hairston who adopted the battle cry as he danced across the goal line for the only touchdown of the game.

Another version of the War Eagle story comes from Indian lore. Legend says "War Eagle" was the name given to the large golden eagle by the Plains Indians because the eagle furnished feathers for use in their war bonnets.

The rarest version of the origin of the "War Eagle" cry grew from a 1913 pep rally at Langdon Hall where students had gathered the day before the Georgia football game. Cheerleader Gus Graydon told the crowd, "If we are going to win this game, we'll have to get out there and fight, because this means war." During the frenzy, another student, E. T. Enslen, dressed in his military uniform, noticed something had dropped from his hat. Bending down, he saw it was the metal emblem of an eagle that had been loosened while he cheered. Someone asked him what he had found, and Enslen loudly replied, "It's a War Eagle!" History was made as the new cry echoed throughout the stadium the next day as Auburn battled Georgia.

 

[jackobee]

Charley McClendon at LSU was right in there with Shug. I think we beat LSU 7 to 6 for the first time in a millineum in Jackson that year.

How ironic that someone that plays in "Deaf Valley" would complain about fans in a 35,000 seat stadium ringing cowbells?

 

[Shmuley]

nm

 

[Porkchop.sixpack]

So, for anyone with a 24 or higher on the Reading portion of the ACT

Or the desire to read an essay.

 

[gtowndawg]

told me Bear Bryant had them outlawed in 1975 after we beat Bama that year. I didn't have the heart to tell him he was senile.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

 

[Maroon Eagle]

[No message]

 

[dawgnautique]

Really, if it takes a combination of about 6 different stories to come up the reason why your school has adopted something--what is the truth? Sounds like a buddy of mine who will consistently make stupid decisions and then five years later will have come up with some seriously stupid story/reasoning for why he made such a stupid choice to begin with. We don't have fifteen different tales about why we shake a cowbell.....there is pretty much just one story....a cow wandered onto the field while we were playing and doing pretty well so we adopted it....until Auburn and others tried to put an end to it that is.

So what is the rationale of the plainsmen? Is that what they were called before the tigers?....like we were called the maroons? Just asking so I can be prepared for the yearly questioning I get from my wife and friends on Auburn's inability to pick a mascot.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

From Auburn's athletic site:

The nickname "Tigers" comes from a line in Oliver Goldsmith's poem, "The Deserted Village," published in May 1770, "where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey..."</p>

The term "Plainsmen" comes from a line in that same Goldsmith poem, "Sweet Auburn, loveliest (sic) village of the plain..." Since Auburn athletes were, in the early days, men from the Plains, it was only natural for newspaper headline writers to shorten that to "Plainsmen."</p>

 

[patdog]

It's a term some newspaper writers used to use a long time ago, but I don't think anybody really calls them that at all any more. As for the Tigers/War Eagle thing it literally does take about 2 seconds to understand unless you're just intentionally ignoring the facts.

1. Auburn's nickname is the Tigers. Period.
2. Their battle cry is "War Eagle." Period.

How hard was that?

 

[GloryDawg]

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Is the bird trained not to poop while flying?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span> I think that is important if you are eating a hotdog or popcorn.</p>

 

[woozman]

<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal">Is the bird trained not to poop while flying? I think that is important if you are eating a hotdog or popcorn.</p>

I was invited to an AU/LSU game a few years back by a friend of mine who was doing consulting work for a developer in Auburn who had given him a few spare tickets. I ended up sitting next to said developer (who was an AU booster) about 30 rows up on the 50 yard line. He told me that the first thing that the eagle does once free from the cage is take a huge dump and that they used to (but not anymore) purposely release it directly above the visitor's section.

 

[BCash]

1. You tried to run off a coach a year removed from going 13 and freaking 0 in the SEC. How many times has this been done? Three? Tommy Tuberville will probably go down as one of the top 10 coaches in SEC history and you tried to run him off with booster-funded flights and threats with no real backbone.

It was actually the year before they went 13-0 that they tried to have him ousted with the secret Bobby Petrino meetings.

 

[BCash]

"10 tickets for thirty years."

 

[Todd4State]

told me Bear Bryant had them outlawed in 1975 after we beat Bama that year. I didn't have the heart to tell him he was senile.

told me it was Steve Spurrier. I laughed in their face.

I think the REAL truth is....it was LT.

 

[cmoore.sixpack]

Still looks like if you want to damn Scream WAR EAGLE the whole 17ing game then make it your damn Mascot. Sounds like a complex to me!!!

 

[markymark.sixpack]

so it's easy to understand, yet no one knows the truth about how it originated?

Ohhhhh......wait, no.

 

[Rabid]

so it's easy to understand, yet no one knows the truth about how it originated?

Ohhhhh......wait, no.

Nobody knows anything. Basically ....

 

[codeDawg]

Asdf

 

[Thick]

how "War Eagle" came about. It annoys and scares me when they turn it loose. It should be banned, and confiscated at the gates/turnstiles.

 

[Stansfield]

The real way it went is the old racist probably starved the old eagle half to death and then finally let it go at the game. The old eagle soared around looking for something to eat until it finally crashed to the ground dying of exhaustion and starvation. The old 40 year old starving exhausted bird probably looked more like a malnourished buzzard then a majestic eagle. It doesn't surprise me though that some old slave owner kept an eagle as a pet for thirty years anyways.

The other stories make me hate auburn fans now more then I ever have before. Thank you for restoring my hatred for them.

Oh and edited to add: What I love about Mississippi State is that we ring cowbells. A 17ing cow wandered onto the field and had a cowbell on its neck. It didn't fight in the revolutionary war. It didn't majestically soar around the field eating glorious grass. It didn't bellow out a magnificent moo that reverberated throughout the stands and inspire a march down the field from our team. It was just a fat dumb animal with a cowbell on its neck that wandered on the field and we ring cowbells because of that. God I love Mississippi State and its fans.

 

[Pimp Doggy]

Excellent.