Weagle, weagle...

College football is finally here.

I have been fighting the excitement for some reason (likely, that I just didn't want to get caught up in the "crowd"... a weird complex I developed in high school). Or maybe I thought I was above such nonsense, the only one who recognized that it's just a game. But, much like the swine flu sweeping the nation, the college football spirit is highly contagious, and I have, at last, been infected. This weekend the Eagle will soar, the Tide will roll, and all the other teams in the SEC will do their things...

Now I'm wishing I were clever enough to keep that last sentence going... the Dawgs will... growl? the Gators will... chomp? That's why I didn't continue in the first place.

I'm in Tuscaloosa doing an internship that I'm quite happy with, dating a guy that I'm very in love with (read: I'm happy here, promise), but Auburn is where my heart of hearts is during football season. My family and many of my friends goad me incessantly about "seeing the light" and "finally being in God's country," always hoping that I'll, supposedly, come to my senses or catch Bama fever. Now hear this: not gonna happen. Tomorrow's game is a small one as far as school rivalries go, but my heart aches when I think about missing it. I can picture it. I can feel it.

The RVs arrived Wednesday, Auburn flags flying high. The tailgaters are sitting around their camps, clad from head to toe in burnt orange and navy. Smoke swirls into the sky from smokers and grills dotted throughout campus. From every building on campus, a banner billows and declares, "Beat LA Tech!" or something far wittier. Students, all wearing their favorite worn Auburn t-shirts, walk with a spring in their step and find it difficult not to stare longingly at a stadium that come tomorrow will be roaring and filled to the brim with rabid Auburn fans from near and far.

Tomorrow one of the many proud eagles will glide around the edges of a twilit stadium, and Auburn and LA Tech fans alike will be goose-bumped. Pre-game videos will remind every ear in the stadium what it means to be an Auburn Tiger: Pride. Honor. Honesty. Human Touch. Tradition. And because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I believe in Auburn and love it. Students will chant interchangeably, "Bodda getta, bodda getta..." and "Weagle, weagle..." Aubie will create a ruckous doing hilarious, adorable Aubie things because that's what Aubies do. The band will march out, only after the drum major runs and leaps dramatically across the field, and spell out AUBURN TIGERS to the tune of the fight song: War Eagle, fly down the field! Ever to conquer, never to yield! War Eagle, fearless and true; fight on, you orange and blue!... And then. Oh, and then. The best part. Through clouds of fog, to a crowd gone berserk, a host of Auburn Tigers will run onto the field with their new (able) coach.

I have to stop there because I can barely stand it.

War Eagle.

War Eagle.