Yesterday, I enjoyed great quantities of free food. Some may call me a traitor, or scoff at me taking food from the hand of the "enemy", but when have you ever known me to turn down free food?
The Judge and his wife invited us to tailgate with them before the Auburn vs. Arkansas game, and we readily accepted the opportunity to set foot on campus for the first time since we've been here. The free food was also a draw.
We drove the 1.5 miles to the mall and took a FREE SHUTTLE to the stadium. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Auburn gets its fans to the stadium for FREE from about 10 different locations around town. If that's not taking care of your fan base, I don't know what is. (When we went to an Alabama game earlier this year, we had to pay $10 each to ride a charter bus to the game from the Tuscaloosa mall, but the buses weren't there after the game, so we had to walk the 3 miles back to the mall--it was good exercise, but a waste of $20). FREE RIDES TO AUBURN GAMES. I was almost turned into an Auburn fan right there.
When we got to the tailgate, there was a lot of good food, and there were a lot of people. A 4-year-old came up and kept talking to me. Vera Elizabeth. I have a feeling that this won't be the last time we talk. She was funny, talking and drinking her Sprite. She eventually made herself at home, sharing my camp chair with me. We were amused.
And while we were there, Texas beat Oklahoma. The neighboring tailgate had their DirectTV set up and let us come watch. So, will Alabama be #1 in the polls next week?
And finally, Vera Elizabeth's dad, who is the judge's wife's brother, gave us two tickets to the game. One of the tickets was up in the nosebleed section. The other was in the "Scholarship" section, which come with what else? Free food. We found two seats up in the upper deck, but when we got hungry, Eli sent me down to the Scholarship section to claim our food. It was amazing. They didn't care how you loaded up your plates! I got two hot dogs, nachos, 2 cookies, 2 bags of chips, 2 sodas, and 2 cups of ice--all in one trip! We ate well. Then, in the middle of the third quarter, we moved down to some scholarship seats where the wind wasn't blowing, and I found out that each scholarship ticket gives you THREE trips to the food. Amazing! So, I went back for some drinks and snacks. And when we left, with 7 minutes remaining in the game, I hadn't used up all my trips to the buffet, so I went one more time to grab some drinks to bring home. I should have grabbed some chips, too. Anyway, it was pretty awesome.
What else was awesome? The live eagle mascot, Nova, flying around the stadium before the games was pretty awesome.
Anyway, my first Auburn football experience was unbeatable (though Auburn isn't). We hopped on the bus and rode back to the mall. And we were home by 7:30. No traffic, no nothing. I wish the University of Alabama could learn a thing or two about game day transportation.
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