The Tennessee Game

The first away game is always a lot of fun for the Auburn Band. You get to watch the rookies' faces light up as our eight charter buses and two Budget trucks fly through red lights while traffic is stopped by our wonderful State Trooper escort. Its also fun to see the Auburn Family out and about in a hostile town. Seeing the good orange in Gatlinburg on Friday night was a rarity unless they were with the band, but it was a good treat nonetheless. Going into Knoxville on Saturday was a lot different than what we had expected, their fans were well behaved, much like what I expect it is like for visiting bands to drive into Auburn on a gameday. It was interesting to watch Trooper Taylor on the field saturday before the game. He had what I assume to be his son with him as they walked around the Tennessee warm-ups hugging the guys he recruited to Tennessee but then waving his towel at the Auburn section that had already filled up and walking back over to our players getting them pumped up. I thought that the energy that he brings to them team would falter, but it has not. After the final Wes Byrum field goal, the Kickoff team ran out of the huddle jumping up and down pumping up the probably 1,000 auburn fans in the lower level of Neyland Stadium something I did not expect out of my Tigers in a Hostile enviroment. It was also a lot of fun after the game to see a huddle of white jerseys around Eddie Gran and watch him hug and talk to all of the players he recruited to auburn, after all he was here for 11 years. The best moment of the night for me, however was when Gene Chizik, halfway to the locker room, noticed his players weren't with him; did an about-face and jumped on a bench with both arms raised high in the air, one of the biggest public shows of emotion we've seen out of our staunch head coach yet. After seeing all of this in Knoxville, I think its safe to assume that no matter the outcome, the rest of this season is going to be a lot of fun.