Nothing changed the Auburn fanbase more than 1982, 2010, and 2023.
1982 set the course and made Auburn the Auburn we all came to love.
2010 and 2013 turned too many of our fans into Bammers - instant gratification seekers settling for all or nothing. It poisoned the core just a sure as Spike 80DF did the trees. It's never been the same since.
The Auburn I love was built way before 1982.
-- Walking across campus on gamedays in 1970 I thought my grandfather and dad knew everybody. People were friendly, they'd stop and talk at tailgates along the way, I'd throw footballs with other kids. It was like a huge family reunion. Smoke and the smells of burgers, sausages, ribs grilling. That's what I fell in love with. We were one.
-- I loved sitting by the car and listening to Gusty Yearout and Gary Sanders called games. I lived in Opelika at the time. Grandaddy would drive down on Friday night or Saturday morning. We'd drive over with a portable grill in the trunk, a cooler full of cokes and hot dogs or burgers. Card table, some lawn chairs and we were set. Even if we didn't have tickets, we'd sit outside and listen to Gusty Yearout and Gary Sanders call the game on the radio. You could hear it everywhere because everybody else not in the stadium was doing the same thing.
-- Shug Jordan. A man's man, but a gentleman at the same time. Not like that booze-swilling rube across the state. When I was five or six I wrote him a letter. He could have ignored it buthe sent me back an autographed photo and a handwritten note.
-- Sullivan to Beasley, Terry Henley, Dave Beck, Bill Langner, Bob Newton, Thomas Gossom, James Owens. I remember being crushed in 1971 when we went into the Iron Bowl undefeated (and so were they). Dreaming of a national title and a Sugar Bowl bid. Those guys pounded us like 31-7 or something. Demoralizing. Close game until the fourth quarter, like a one-score game, and then some turnovers and bad luck let them pour it on. Then 72 came.
Yeah, 82 changed things and, for a time, buried the evil empire. Since 82, Auburn is something like 19 and 20 vs Bama. It doesn't feel like that, I guess, because we're on a three-game losing streak and if this season turns out to be a loss it will be the first time we've lost more than three in a row to them since 82. During that span we've had six and four game winning streaks over them, even as Saban piled up national titles. It's a much more even rivalry than any of their unwashed mass is willing to admit.
Yeah, Dye gave us hope in football again and he leveled the playing field to the point it's remained fairly level for the last 40 years. But Auburn was really a lot more than football for me. Quite honestly? A lot of the nostalgic things I loved are gone now. I know I promised not to keep beating this drum, but the Auburn I grew up loving would never have hired a greasy charlatan like Hugh Freeze. And that's a big part of my problem.
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