The Trail Of a Tiger: My Early Years at Auburn

My time at Auburn was spent doing one of three things: engineering school, sleeping, or at an Auburn sporting event. 

The first of the three is the real world reason I went to Auburn, which begot the second item I did a lot.  The third was of my passion for Auburn and its athletes. 

I knew I did not have the athletic ability, but I wanted to make sure I supported those who did have the God-given talent to compete.  And its much, much more than just a young kid wishing he could play sports for his university.  The first sport that got me going was Auburn football. 

I had been going to every home game but two (one cause of a high school band competition, by the way, Auburn lost 16-13 to Miss. State, and the other cause I had to take the ACT, which Auburn won against LSU 31-7) since 1995.  I have watched many players go through Jordan-Hare and go on to their professional careers, whether it be football or another calling in life. 

In my freshman year, I mainly went to the football, basketball (men's and women's), and baseball games.  My freshman year I got in women's basketball games for free cause of a friend I had in ROTC.  He would take me in as a guest and I sat right behind Auburn's bench.

My sophomore year I lived with a member of the men's tennis team, and that is where it I got hooked on everything.  I met many athletes across the board in every sport Auburn had to offer.  It became more of a personal thing to me cause I actually knew people competing in these events.

I started to go to tennis matches, volleyball matches, swim meets, etc.  You name the sport, I have been to it at least once (yes even a golf tournament at Robert Trent Jones and a Equestrian bout.) 

It was not just because I was bored all the time (though I did have a lot of free time), it was because I wanted to show support for not only my school but my friends as well.  And the response each and every time from them was just amazing.  "Hey, thanks for coming," "Sorry we couldn't win today," "Come out next time," was the normal responses I received from my friends. 

And on top of everything else, being in classes with the athletes and helping them out was another experience I could not replace with anything else. 

I stay in contact with a couple of football players now in their professional careers that I met in class as well as the other athletes who are now working full-time back in their home country or here in the United States. 

And dear reader, if you think this is bad now, it gets worse very quickly because of one friend, who one fateful day, gave me a call to see if I could co-host his radio show...