Tuscaloosa is NOTHING like Auburn. The town is all buildings and houses and people. There's not a lot of open space. There is hardly any free parking. Unless you aren't within walking distance of the stadium. These things are all VERY different from Auburn. In Auburn, there are open fields, tons of free parking, and most of it is within walking distance. With that said, the traffic getting into Tuscaloosa actually wasn't bad at all, we got right in and found a parking lot to park in for a $20 price tag.
Tailgating. One of my FAVORITE parts about football at Auburn. People camp out for their tailgate spots the night before. You got canopies and TVs set up EVERYWHERE. People invite you into their area simply because when you're Auburn, you're family. Regardless of which side of campus you're on, you're going to see tailgating. It will either be in the back of a pick up truck, under a canopy, out in the sun, or wherever you can find a place to set your rear end and enjoy a beer. Walking through T-Town, we passed a row of apartments that all had a tent set up outside their doors, another apartment complex had one big tent out in their parking lot, and a few strays had canopies set up, but it was NOTHING like the tailgate experience at Auburn. Mind you, this may not be 100% accurate being that I only saw the west side of the stadium, and a tiny bit of the north side. Maybe all the tailgaters were South and east, but it still couldn't be compared to the experience in Auburn.
Game Time Comparisons
Bryant Denny has a million gates. Hello! For all the money they spend sectioning off all those gates and walkways for people when they get inside the gates, they could save that and LOWER the concession prices. I was thankful to go into a gate, and be directed right to my section, since I had never been before, but still. I could have just as easily followed signs for my section number and been just fine. $4.50 is how much I paid for a bottle of Dasani water at Bryant-Denny. Last weekend in Jordan-Hare, the same bottle of water cost me $2.00. It's water folks, NOT GOLD. There are also more food options in Jordan-Hare, like CHIK-FIL-A. Yes please! My poor hubby wanted the BBQ nachos last night, and they RAN out. He was so disappointed.
I told Jon I wanted to be in the stadium a good bit early, so I could see what their pre-game pep rally was like. I'm waiting...waiting,,,waiting some more. Truth is, Alabama's pre-game festivities SUCK compared to Auburn's. There aren't really any cheers to pep anyone up. Their band has always been good, and they come out and do a few things, but nothing really spectacular. It doesn't really help the fans get PUMPED for some FOOTBALL. I'm used to Auburn's legit pep rally before the game. We have cheers, we War Eagle, we have the Eagle flight, and we have an amazing band performance that really gets everyone excited. I appreciate those things about Auburn, and I love for new people to come and experience it. It's something that as an Auburn fan, I am REALLY proud of.
The fight song. ::laughing:: When I was younger, and even back then knew EVERY single word to the Auburn fight song, I remember my daddy joking that most of the Bama fans don't know the words to their fight song. When I started to get older, I would ask people, "Hey do you know all the words to the Alabama fight song?" 98% of the time the answer was "well some of them" (meaning Yay Alabama and Roll Tide Roll Tide) or "No". I figured I was asking the wrong people. However, after being surrounded by 100,000 bammers this weekend, it is evident that very FEW of them know the whole thing. When it's played, you hear the beginning, a couple of key words in the middle, and that is all. When you're in Auburn, it's an irruption with CLEAR words echoed throughout the stadium for the entire song.Of course, "Go, Go, Go" "Give em Hell, Give em Hell" and "Hey" are louder than the rest, but it's WORDS you hear, not fans just humming the song. Not everyone knows the words, but more people know them than those that don't. So, I've taken it upon myself to help out the Bama nation. I've included the words to the fight song here. If you're a true fan, please learn the words.
Yea Alabama
Yea, Alabama! Drown 'em Tide!
Every 'Bama man's behind you,
Hit your stride.
Go teach the Bulldogs to behave,
Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave.
And if a man starts to weaken,
That's a shame!
For Bama's pluck and grit have
Writ her name in Crimson flame.
Fight on, fight on, fight on men!
Remember the Rose Bowl, we'll win then.
Go, roll to victory,
Hit your stride,
You're Dixie's football pride,
Crimson Tide, Roll Tide, Roll Tide!!
Every 'Bama man's behind you,
Hit your stride.
Go teach the Bulldogs to behave,
Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave.
And if a man starts to weaken,
That's a shame!
For Bama's pluck and grit have
Writ her name in Crimson flame.
Fight on, fight on, fight on men!
Remember the Rose Bowl, we'll win then.
Go, roll to victory,
Hit your stride,
You're Dixie's football pride,
Crimson Tide, Roll Tide, Roll Tide!!
Cheers. Auburn has A LOT of them. They have cheers that I've been doing since I was a kid. Most of those were done even before I was born. They've added new little things with the band as the years have gone by, but there are tons of cheers. The whole fan base knows most of them. They participate in them. It's different at Bryant-Denny. Seems like the student section does the cheers, and the rest of the stadium just kind of sits there. Minus the "Roll Tide" for EVERY single 1st down..(I thought my ears were going to start bleeding..orange and blue of course) the entire stadium was in unison with that. In comparison to Jordan-Hare, it's quiet in Bryant-Denny...really quiet. There were a few times, when the defense needed to stop a 3rd down play, that it got pretty loud, but even at it's loudest, it was NOTHING compared to Jordan-Hare. I found this especially odd, given the shape of the stadium, and the fact that it holds several thousand more people. (By the way, my husband, the bama fan, completely agreed with me about this. He's been to MANY Auburn games in Jordan-Hare.) I was thankful for the Southern Miss band, as they played several of the same songs that Auburn's band plays. It made me feel like I was home for a few mins.
Traffic. It was better than I expected getting out of T-Town. An hour after the game, we got to the interstate super fast. But goodness, the interstate was so backed up. We found a little shortcut, that helped us bypass some of the blockage. Before my next statement, it should be known that my husband also made the same observation that I did last night. Bama fans CANNOT DRIVE! Holy freaking cow. I have NEVER in my life seen SO many LEFT LANE riders. Not a single one of them would move OUT of the left lane. I'm like what the crap? Is their some weird Bama fan rule that you can't drive in the right lane even if you are going UNDER the speed limit by 15 mph. Most stressful drive of my LIFE. I was so thankful to be home last night after that drive.
I was trying to take it all in without being biased to my team. I wanted to see what Tuscaloosa was all about. I'm an Auburn girl, and I have no desire to experience the Tuscaloosa "game-day" again. It wasn't really anything to brag about. I love Auburn. I love our tailgating, our cheers, our down home attitude, our family, our spirit, and most importantly our fans. Auburn is my home. Not that I ever questioned it, but being in Tuscaloosa just validated everything I've every known. I knew Auburn was special when I was a kid. As I got older, I understood it more and more. I will FOREVER be thankful to my parents for choosing Auburn and raising my sister and me to love it just as much as they do.
Time for my antibiotic and therapy. I need a cleanse from all the crimson and "Row Tides" according to my Momma. HAHA love her!
War Eagle y'all!
Iron bowl 2011 in Auburn (clearly I've lost weight since then)
Bama vs Southern Miss 2014 in Tuscaloosa
