The HQ was pleased to tag along with TBH's alumni club for the first post A-Day meeting of the faithful. The Auburn Club has a lot of these alumni groups. The Atlanta metropolitan area has 30,000 alums just waiting to hear just how much every other alum in the area hates Alabama.
But you gotta give the Atlanta Auburn Club special extra credit for bringing in one of those freeway banners as a backdrop. It's an excuse to meet fellow Auburners, bid on some really cool auction items, and get your picture taken ((and get autographs with)) anyone who shows up...
This time it happens to be new basketball coach Tony Barbee and not-so-new head football coach Gene Chizik... ((pictured, thanks to me))
Each one of you who is a big football fan for your Alma mater/school closest to where you live knows the idiosyncrasies of the program. FSU has the war chant, the flaming spear, and the appaloosa. Arkansas has their pig-based chants. Florida has that stupid chomp. But with Auburn, it's a greeting of varying degrees...
It's either "War Eagle" or "War Damn Eagle." It depends on whether or not there's a normal conversation or some emphasis that's needed within the conversation as to which applies.
The first version is something that can substitute for a "hello." And when your football coach greets you that way, you return the favor louder. There's a receiving line ((where yours truly left the Chiz hanging a little bit before greeting him)) and a lot of picture-taking.
But Coach Barbee ((pronounced like the blond doll, and the HQ is waiting for the first actual "Barbee Doll"- which better be a bobblehead)) got in the first dig for the evening- relaying a story from a recruiting visit.
He was visiting a high school in the Atlanta area with his new job title chasing after a rising senior. Barbee said that when the principal of the high school realized Anthony Grant wanted to talk to this particular kid and that Barbee wanted to as well- guess who was asked to leave. The principal is an Auburn grad...
The HQ does have some constructive criticism for Barbee, though...
It's "AW-burn," first syllable, not "Aw-BURN..."
TBH held her own introducing the emcee for the evening- a local sports-talk radio alum. She even threw her other-half under a few buses, which was pretty funny.
The emcee introduced the caretaker of Nova, the eagle of record on campus, every athletic letterman in attendance, and opened the runway for Chizik.
The coach went for fifteen minutes rallying the troops...
His first two acts were to make sure the crowd knew his better half was the one in charge and that he had an issue with Barbee already. Someone got his press conference in a new arena while someone else got a press conference in a really small building. But there were plenty of things that impressed Chizik.
"A-Day was a phenomenal day," Chizik admitted. "We had 63-thousand people there, and 23 of the 26 players from the All-Decade Team." He said that quite impressed with what the school was able to do for that Saturday.
"Our goal," he continued, "is championships and graduating players. That, and to bring the Auburn family together." He knew he was facing a tall order when he took the job on the Plains.
"We've got to get them to a Game Day," he said. "When they leave, we want them to have a whole different view of the Auburn family."
Chizik concluded with the same points he'll make all across the southeast over the Spring: "Our future is really, really bright. We'll keep recruiting hard in Alabama and Georgia and ask, 'Who is the best athlete?' "
He did knock out a nice stat before he left: Of the 119 D1 schools, only 7 kept their staffs in tact. Auburn was one of those seven. Chizik has the foundation now, but what he does as he builds the house will be the most important acts he has over the next few seasons...
And since the HQ is done talking about our ABC's, time for another version of the alphabet and its importance to other folks...at the 3:00 mark or so...
Which kinda applies to college football all year long until National Signing Day...
((HT: Columbia/Tri-Star Pictures))
((and, yes, it's always NSFW))
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