Be True to Your School

If you know me, you know I always am.

And this year will forever go down in Auburn history as AUSOME. :) 

We are the 2011 NCAA Football Champions. 

I have the best parents in the world, and they made it possible for me to be there with the Auburn family to celebrate the win!

My uncle Marvin, cousin Trip, aunt Beverly, uncle John, aunt Lisa, Mom, Dad
The game was in Phoenix, and we all met up when we got there at the Biltmore to have dinner.  We laughed until we cried (as always) and (I think I did more than anyone else there) enjoyed a delicious dinner at a beautiful restaurant.

Beautiful Bev holding her tickets!

The next day we met up for lunch at a bar in old town Scottsdale where alot of Auburn folks had gathered.  Afterwards, Trip and I posed for a picture with former AU player, Karlos Dansby.



Then we headed out to the stadium to tailgate and complete our mission: to obtain actual tickets to the game.



What? You may ask?  No tickets?  That's right, because they were $4000 a piece before we left!  So we decided to take our chances and buy from scalpers (which is legal there) when we arrived at the stadium. 

Samuel, Daniel, Rachel, Kathy
We met up with the Rives family, who I have known my whole life.  They live in Birmingham, AL, and Kathy and Mom were college roomates and still are the best of friends.  We have many memories of childhood trips to Panama City beach, FL!!

Mom and Kathy

Back to the ticket story---My uncle and dad tried HARD to get us tickets---but long story short, they NEVER fell below $2500 even after kick off!!!  crazy!  And, after all that, they even closed the ticket offices.  Lights out--closed the windows in our faces.
The problem was that there were 10-15,000 AU fans there without tickets because the stadium was so small.  (only 63,000 and our home stadium alone holds 90,000+)
So we watched the game with a ton of AU fans!  So exciting!  We were outside in this huge arena right outside the stadium.

A huge screen showing the game

There was a nice hotel also next to the stadium where a bunch of fans were watching.  So, we made our way over there.  (side note--for those of you tuned in to college football---Cam Newton's dad sat about 20 feet away from me.  He was very low profile, but yes, he was there.) :)
Funny story--a guy sitting in front of us told us he bought a ticket to this game a month or so beforehand for $700.  (Sounds crazy, right?)  Well, when he got to Phoenix, he was able to sell it for $3000!!  So that's why he was able to watch the game with us in the hotel.
madness.   



It was an uneventful game for a while, but in the 4th quarter, it got very tense.  We ended up being tied up with Oregon right at the end.  It all came down to this guy, Wes Byrum, our kicker.  If he could make this field goal, we'd win the game.  And that would be it. 



Trip trying to console my mom as we were all on pins and needles...

The kick was good!!!!!!  The place erupted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made everyone stop for a pic

...But then I thought we needed to show some emotion in this shot!

The man of the night YEAR!  Cam Newton, Heisman trophy winner and QB who led us all the way to the title.  Such a great and upstanding young man.  There's a lot of hearsay swirling around out there, but none of it has been proven, and none of it has been done by him.  See you in the NFL, Cam!



Trip and I celebrating in the middle of the dance floor!  I really didn't whip out my large camera very much during the weekend just cause it was not an easy "travel companion".  After we celebrated a little we headed back out to Scottsdale for a LATE night steak dinner.  Boy was it good, but boy was it WAY later than I ever stay up!

I also got to squeeze in a lunch visit with my sweet sis in law, Allison.  I can't believe we didn't get a picture!  shoot!



In the airport on our way home looking a little weary but bringing home the W.I.N. which made it all worth it!

It was the trip (and game) of a lifetime.  I am so proud of my school and so proud of my team.  It was such a fun time.  I loved shouting, "War Eagle" to all the Auburn fans we'd see in the airports and in our hotel, cabs, plane, etc.  So fun to be surrounded with the AU family when you don't live near it.

As for now, I am (as my friend, Chuck, said) basking in the glory of a National Championship.  Ah yes, for 11 more months.

Oh, and friends, please do not say, "Go War Eagles".  You can say, "Go Tigers".  We are not the Eagles.  We are the Tigers.  It's a battle cry, like "Sic 'Em" or "Roll Tide".  If you want to know the story behind it, ask me some time and I'll tell you.  :)