Chasing Gavin Grey's Ghost (LSU thread)

[The Six]

As long as the beer is cold and the pizza is hot...and Auburn beats Alabama in football once every four years Gus is safe.

FTFY

[Snaggletiger]

Those things no longer matter to the people who control Auburn. 

And that's why I can't do it any more. 

If I'm Captain America out on a ledge, if I'm Braveheart leading a rag tag group into battle or if I'm just some wacko baying at the moon it no longer matters.  It's where I am.

When did anyone ever care?  Besides me, it's on our sign out front.  


Serious questions for you naysayers.  What do you mean when you say things have changed at the core? Specifics.  All the same traditions are still in place.  Tiger Walk.  The eagle flying.  The band still enters the stadium and does pregame exactly the same way they always have.  Toomer's still serves lemonade.  We still roll the hell out of Toomer's Corner after every victory.  The list goes on.  What part of that has changed?  Pretty much nothing.    

Yes, tailgating has been pushed away from campus as the construction has grown. Sucks!  But, I don't see people moping around on Saturdays.  They've long since adjusted and staked out their spots.  GH, you pretty much party with the fam and a bunch of great Auburn people a couple of blocks from the stadium. What part of that is a problem?  

Is it the money?  I'll grant you that tickets have steadily increased in price and the administration is using everything to generate income.  And if you're going to get season tickets, you're going to pay out the ass.  It's expensive if you choose to attend a lot of games.  But news flash, running an athletic program in this league is damned expensive too.  Refer to the article I posted about Auburn's revenue.  Generated $152 million dollars and their profit margin was what, 8%? Everyone gets pissed when we're not competitive, but you have to replace Sewell Hall with a state of the art facility.  You have to have that flashy new, football only facility they're building to impress recruits.  You've got to replace the antiquated Beard Eaves with the bad ass gym we have now.  Think Bruce would be here without it?  You have to keep on improving or you get left behind.  That's the world of SEC football we live in.  And if we become Vanderbilt, everyone will bitch and moan that our administration is run by a bunch of tight assed idiots not willing to spend the money to be competitive in this league.  

I've been lucky.  My Pops is one who continues to go in on a scholly with one of his friends.  He's too old to go so he only does it so his kids can go to the games. But even with tickets, I've found myself more and more, opting to hang out at a tailgate in the shade, watching it on a wide screen with a cooler of cool ones, rather than sweat my ass off in the stadium in early September. That's fine with me because it's all about spending an Auburn football Saturday among "family".  And when Pops doesn't get them anymore, I'm still heading to the Planes as often as I can. 

  I just don't understand what all you think has changed so much.  Yes, it's newer and flashier.  More bells and whistles.  But it's still the same traditions and still the same Auburn people, whether you're in Auburn, watching in a bar with friends or having some peeps over to grill and watch the game.           

[The Six]

I feel like the Joker talking to Batman. "Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be."

Snags, I hear ya, pal. I really do. And I'm glad you can still find the pocket of joy. But everything you mentioned - Tiger Walk, Toomers rolling, etc. - all of that is now seems so corporatized, organized, manufactured. Coming up, those things were organic. There's nothing organic about the gameday experience now.

Moreover, the PTB, brother, they don't care about you or those things. They care about one damn thing - $$$$$$. Maybe they always did but I tend to believe from my experiences that the $$$$$$s were not the primary motivation for the people who built Auburn into Auburn.

Look, nothing but love for you on this side. And I'm still gonna look up the box score and highlights even though I pretty well know the outcome. It'd be different if all I was told to expect was the same 7-8 win scrappy team Auburn always ways. But I'm told we're right there with fGeorgia, Alabama, etc. And the fact is, we're not. We like to act like we are, but we aren't. And we shouldn't be.

So, what I want is for a coach and an admin to just be straight about it and stop telling me the 2006 Taurus SUX 6000 is an Audi R8.

[GH2001]

   

Yes, tailgating has been pushed away from campus as the construction has grown. Sucks!  But, I don't see people moping around on Saturdays.  They've long since adjusted and staked out their spots.  GH, you pretty much party with the fam and a bunch of great Auburn people a couple of blocks from the stadium. What part of that is a problem? 

        

Ill address this part specifically since its a microcosm of it all...

Yes, we have been setting up there for the past 4-5 years. Here is the rub (no not rub one out).

In fact a couple of rubs -

1. that's the 4th place we've had to move to the last decade, the walls are closing in and you can feel it. Every place we've been since the early 2000s we've had to move as a direct result of campus change - all the previous spots are now either off limits or premium (pay lots by the university, built a cool new facility bro, or the "tailgate guys", or something else commercialized)

2. You aren't there on Friday to see what a fight it is to get it. It's ugly. And it's political between fans. Its like children fighting - all over a spot on Saturday....at least 2 of us, sometimes 3-4 have to take time off work to go up there Friday, and sit there and rope it off, and not leave til someone relieves us. You turn your back for one second or walk off your own spot to go take a piss and soime vandal is there trying to get it. Its become way too cutthroat....enough that we had to call cops over the Friday before UGA last year because of threats from our own fans. Sorry, that's not fun nor is it worth it. 

3. Now our spot is gone. Its been bulldozed in the offseason and another commercial construction project is taking place in its place.....so we have no idea the spot will be going fwd....not that I will be involved anymore most likely. But its sad nonetheless. 

[GH2001]

I feel like the Joker talking to Batman. "Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be."

Snags, I hear ya, pal. I really do. And I'm glad you can still find the pocket of joy. But everything you mentioned - Tiger Walk, Toomers rolling, etc. - all of that is now seems so corporatized, organized, manufactured. Coming up, those things were organic. There's nothing organic about the gameday experience now.

Moreover, the PTB, brother, they don't care about you or those things. They care about one damn thing - $$$$$$. Maybe they always did but I tend to believe from my experiences that the $$$$$$s were not the primary motivation for the people who built Auburn into Auburn.

Look, nothing but love for you on this side. And I'm still gonna look up the box score and highlights even though I pretty well know the outcome. It'd be different if all I was told to expect was the same 7-8 win scrappy team Auburn always ways. But I'm told we're right there with fGeorgia, Alabama, etc. And the fact is, we're not. We like to act like we are, but we aren't. And we shouldn't be.

So, what I want is for a coach and an admin to just be straight about it and stop telling me the 2006 Taurus SUX 6000 is an Audi R8.

You don't talk about my Taurus that way! I am a DIVISION MANAGER! people are SCARED OF ME!

[Snaggletiger]

[Snaggletiger]

Ill address this part specifically since its a microcosm of it all...

Yes, we have been setting up there for the past 4-5 years. Here is the rub (no not rub one out).

In fact a couple of rubs -

1. that's the 4th place we've had to move to the last decade, the walls are closing in and you can feel it. Every place we've been since the early 2000s we've had to move as a direct result of campus change - all the previous spots are now either off limits or premium (pay lots by the university, built a cool new facility bro, or the "tailgate guys", or something else commercialized)

2. You aren't there on Friday to see what a fight it is to get it. It's ugly. And it's political between fans. Its like children fighting - all over a spot on Saturday....at least 2 of us, sometimes 3-4 have to take time off work to go up there Friday, and sit there and rope it off, and not leave til someone relieves us. You turn your back for one second or walk off your own spot to go take a piss and soime vandal is there trying to get it. Its become way too cutthroat....enough that we had to call cops over the Friday before UGA last year because of threats from our own fans. Sorry, that's not fun nor is it worth it.

3. Now our spot is gone. Its been bulldozed in the offseason and another commercial construction project is taking place in its place.....so we have no idea the spot will be going fwd....not that I will be involved anymore most likely. But its sad nonetheless.

It was a shitty spot anyway.  I never liked it.

[GH2001]

It was a shitty spot anyway.  I never liked it.

you don't talk ABOUT MY SPOT THAT WAY! 

[Snaggletiger]

you don't talk ABOUT MY SPOT THAT WAY!

I'll bulldoze your sister.

[GH2001]

I'll bulldoze your sister.

I can do 18 pushups in 7 mins. People are SCARED OF ME! And my Dodge Stratus. 

[Snaggletiger]

I can do 18 pushups in 7 mins. People are SCARED OF ME! And my Dodge Stratus.

You do not talk to me like that!! I work too hard to deal with this stuff!! I work too hard!! I’m a Division Manager in charge of 49 people!!

[Kaos]

When did anyone ever care?  Besides me, it's on our sign out front. 

The moose shoulda told ya.

I can't give you specifics.  I wish I could.  I guess I'm just a liberal.  It's a FEEL.  It FEELS different.  Everything about it feels different.  It's like they took all the things we used to like to do -- sliding down the hills, bringing food, throwing a ball in the grass near the tailgate, seeing the players before and after the games and said "Hey, what if we ORGANIZED that shit?  Wouldn't that make it better!"   And it sucked the colorful life out of it, replacing it with bland conformity.  

Look, it's not just Auburn.  It's a lot of things.  Take baseball.  

When I was a kid, we organized baseball games in my back yard.   The fencepost was first base, the old basketball goal was second, the pine tree was third and home plate was the stump.  We played nearly every day out there.  I eventually played little league, pony league, high school and a little in JC.  But even then, all the way up until I was a junior or senior in high school we'd still have those cutthroat baseball games in the backyard.  Might be only four or five of us, sometimes it was 20.  Depends on who showed up.  

When was the last time you saw that?  We corporatized it.  My nephew travels all over the country with his daughter on a travel softball team.  She's nine.  Every weekend is pack up, drive for hours, play a tournament, drive back.  I know he thinks he's doing what he thinks is best for his kid, but in my opinion that's HORSESHIT.  A nine-year old should be crawling through the woods finding shit, damming a creek, riding bikes, building a tree fort, playing baseball/football/basketball in the yard with her friends.  

Auburn is just a massive reflection of things going on everywhere.  Things I hate and things I really never thought Auburn would be.  We talk about "family" but are we REALLY?  I haven't seen a lot of indication of that in the last several years.  

[GH2001]

You do not talk to me like that!! I work too hard to deal with this stuff!! I work too hard!! I’m a Division Manager in charge of 49 people!!

ok, maybe that makes 2 of us that think that is one of Will Ferell's funnier but underrated skits. 

[Snaggletiger]

ok, maybe that makes 2 of us that think that is one of Will Ferell's funnier but underrated skits.

No doubt.  The silverware clanking on the plates during the periods of silence is classic.  You're just waiting on the next person to talk so it can erupt.

[GH2001]

No doubt.  The silverware clanking on the plates during the periods of silence is classic.  You're just waiting on the next person to talk so it can erupt.

Turns out I had taken Jeff Peabodys keys....we had quite a long laugh afterwards. 

[GH2001]

The moose shoulda told ya.

I can't give you specifics.  I wish I could.  I guess I'm just a liberal.  It's a FEEL.  It FEELS different.  Everything about it feels different.  It's like they took all the things we used to like to do -- sliding down the hills, bringing food, throwing a ball in the grass near the tailgate, seeing the players before and after the games and said "Hey, what if we ORGANIZED that shit?  Wouldn't that make it better!"  And it sucked the colorful life out of it, replacing it with bland conformity. 

Look, it's not just Auburn.  It's a lot of things.  Take baseball. 

When I was a kid, we organized baseball games in my back yard.  The fencepost was first base, the old basketball goal was second, the pine tree was third and home plate was the stump.  We played nearly every day out there.  I eventually played little league, pony league, high school and a little in JC.  But even then, all the way up until I was a junior or senior in high school we'd still have those cutthroat baseball games in the backyard.  Might be only four or five of us, sometimes it was 20.  Depends on who showed up. 

When was the last time you saw that?  We corporatized it.  My nephew travels all over the country with his daughter on a travel softball team.  She's nine.  Every weekend is pack up, drive for hours, play a tournament, drive back.  I know he thinks he's doing what he thinks is best for his kid, but in my opinion that's HORSESHIT.  A nine-year old should be crawling through the woods finding shit, damming a creek, riding bikes, building a tree fort, playing baseball/football/basketball in the yard with her friends. 

Auburn is just a massive reflection of things going on everywhere.  Things I hate and things I really never thought Auburn would be.  We talk about "family" but are we REALLY?  I haven't seen a lot of indication of that in the last several years. 

Were Bama Light now....seriously....some of our own act as bad. Go up on a Friday and try to grab a spot to tailgate on and you'll see it. Its disgusts me.

Yeah, I miss the organic fun. I try to get mine to do it now....bikes, walking through the creek, throwing a ball, watching Andy....yeah I know.....cool story gramps.

The travel ball thing......I can't understand...its bewildering in fact.

[Kaos]

Were Bama Light now....seriously....some of our own act as bad. Go up on a Friday and try to grab a spot to tailgate on and you'll see it. Its disgusts me.

Yeah, I miss the organic fun. I try to get mine to do it now....bikes, walking through the creek, throwing a ball, watching Andy....yeah I know.....cool story gramps.

The travel ball thing......I can't understand...its bewildering in fact.

I get it if you're 16 or 17, look like a MLB prospect, want to test your skills against similar talent and see if you've got what it takes for college or the minors.  Would probably have helped me if I'd known I wasn't worth a shit.  I would have made different choices.  

But nine?  Driving from Alabama to Texas for a weekend tournament?  And then to North Carolina the next weekend?  In the MIDDLE OF THE WORST PANDEMIC IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!! THE ONE WHERE YOU HAVE A 0.000000001% CHANCE OF DYING AND A 0.000000000000000000001% CHANCE OF HAVING THE SNIFFLES LONGER THAN THREE DAYS!!!!!! OH MAAAHHHH GAWDDDDDDDDDDDD. 

[The Six]

Auburn Football modern history as Star Wars Trilogies

Shug-Dye era - The Original Trilogy (Episodes 4-6 for you kids).
- Classic perfection, comes out of nowhere, builds a loyal fanbase and sets the traditions we all know and love.

Bowden-Tubs - The Prequel Trilogy (Episodes 1-3)
- Ton of hype at the start into a dark period before coming out on the other side dominant up until the very end when it all goes to seed.

Chizik-Gus - The Disney Trilogy (Episodes 7-9)
- Starts off with the biggest of bangs, makes us all nostalgic for the "original" years but then gets derailed by corporate modernism and outside forces who say they love Auburn tradition but basically make a mockery of it at a high price. In this scenario the only bright spot is Bruce Pearl as The Mandalorian.

[AUJarhead]

In this scenario the only bright spot is Bruce Pearl as The Mandalorian.

Yes. Was just thinking that as I read your post. 

[GH2001]

Auburn Football modern history as Star Wars Trilogies

Shug-Dye era - The Original Trilogy (Episodes 4-6 for you kids).
- Classic perfection, comes out of nowhere, builds a loyal fanbase and sets the traditions we all know and love.

Bowden-Tubs - The Prequel Trilogy (Episodes 1-3)
- Ton of hype at the start into a dark period before coming out on the other side dominant up until the very end when it all goes to seed.

Chizik-Gus - The Disney Trilogy (Episodes 7-9)
- Starts off with the biggest of bangs, makes us all nostalgic for the "original" years but then gets derailed by corporate modernism and outside forces who say they love Auburn tradition but basically make a mockery of it at a high price. In this scenario the only bright spot is Bruce Pearl as The Mandalorian.

damn. Spot on.