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We all have those moments. The
ones when we're watching a triple overtime unfold, or we're hitting
the last-second jumper ourselves - the ones that stay with us the
rest of our lives. They remind us of why we're passionate
about sports - why everything from the Tallahassee Little League
Championships to the Super Bowl can get us excited. Some
of us here at Outsports, and some of our readers, have put together
our lists of our Top Moments In Sports. We hope some of these
lists remind you of "where you were when..." and that they
inspire you to create your own list. Whether you have 3, 5,
10, or any number of favorite sports moments, e-mail
them to us and we'll post them here.
Lee,
Atlanta
Alabama at Auburn, Dec. 2, 1989
It was a long time coming. Auburn University sits on the eastern plains of
Alabama. It's not a big city, it's a little bit remote, and for most
of the early years, didn't have a huge football stadium like some schools. We
were forced to play many games on the road or on "neutral" sites. As we
expanded our stadium in the 60's, 70's and 80's, we put pressure on our biggest
rivals to play home and home series. Our oldest rival, Georgia, was
the first to come. (Auburn and Georgia played the first football game in
the South, in 1892 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, which was also the birthplace of
the legend of "War Eagle", but that's another story). Georgia Tech held
out, but finally came in the 70's. Tennessee finally came in 1980. As
David Housel (our current AD) said, all of our rivals had said NO for
the longest time. Of course, our biggest rival was Alabama. Alabama
didn't say NO; they said NEVER. It was just their haughty way of looking down on
us. Bear Bryant had referred to us as "that cow college". Especially after
we beat him. Bama insisted our game with them stay in Birmingham's Legion
Field, a supposedly "neutral" site (even though they played 4 or 5 games
there a year). In the mid-80's, Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn was expanded
to its current 85,000 capacity. Bigger than Legion Field. The time
had come to move our home game with Alabama TO Auburn.
Pat Dye has a mixed legacy at Auburn. Under him, we won 3 S.E.C. titles,
but when he resigned in 1992, he left us on NCAA probation due to his
"lack of institutional control over the program". But Pat Dye will always be
revered by Auburn fans, because he stood up to Alabama and made them
play in Auburn. There were contract disputes, threats to end the series
completely, and plenty of name-calling by fans on both sides, but finally, it was a
done deal, and on December 2nd, 1989, Alabama would play AT Auburn.
Early in that 1989 season, Auburn struggled. We lost to Tennessee.
The 3rd weekend in October we lost again, to Florida State. The same weekend,
undefeated Alabama rolled over Tennessee. Reality started to set in
with Auburn people. What if. What if after all these years, we finally get
Alabama AT Auburn, and they beat us. The ultimate Auburn joke. Game
day came.... 10 & 0 Alabama (ranked #2) at 8 & 2 Auburn. Tide AT Tigers.
Alabama AT Auburn. It still sounded funny even to us.
I admit it, I was a chicken. I lived in Chicago at the time, and had
gone home that year for the Florida-Auburn game, and when we scored a
touchdown on the last play of that game to eek out a 10-7 win, there was a
huge celebration, but also a feeling of doom. We were going to lose to
Alabama. I lacked the guts to watch it in person. Just couldn't take it. I sat
alone in my apartment in downtown Chicago that day and watched on TV
and paced and drank rum and Diet Dr. Pepper and cried and in the end,
celebrated by calling everyone I knew, and then watching the tape over and over
(which I still do from time to time).
The partisan Auburn crowd was in a frenzy and on its feet for most of
the
game. Every play was crucial.. Auburn took the opening drive for a
touchdown, but the Tide came back and led 10-7 by halftime. Auburn controlled the 2nd half and exploded out to a 27-10 4th quarter lead.
Bama cut it to 27-20 late in the game, but when Auburn kicked a field goal
with minutes left, the victory was on ice. 30-20 was the final. College
football is just a game played by college boys, but on that day, those
boys in Orange and Blue had karma and magic in them. It was important that
we won that game, but the real victory was the fact of where the game was
played. All we ever wanted with Alabama over the years was equality.
We finally had it.
It took Alabama 5 visits to Auburn before they finally beat us on our
home in 1999. They continued to play their home game with us in Birmingham.
However, on Nov. 18th of this year, Auburn will visit Tuscaloosa for
the first time in 52 years (we're 2 and 0 there all time, by the way). The
Alabama fans are talking big and boasting in their usual way. What they
don't realize is that this is what Auburn wanted all along. A home and
home series. If we never see Legion Field again in our lives, it will be OK
with us. We relish playing the game in Tuscaloser. :) All we ever wanted
with them was equality.
War Damn Eagle!
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