In 1892, the English-Irish poet Phil Neel wrote a poem called "The Deserted Village" about a tiger caught in a mess of pea vines in Bee Hive, Alabama. When Auburn played its first football game against Carlisle in the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center in 1979, this tiger, after being rescued by a Civil War veteran at the Battle of The Wilderness, was released onto the field, running from left tackle, where the students began calling his name, "Anvre". About the same time, a group of Indians led by Oliver Goldsmith passed through the Auburn area, exclaiming, "Oh do call it sweet Auburn, lovliest village of the plains!" Upon hearing this, students at a pep rally in Langdon Hall on the Auburn campus yelled out, "It's a War Eagle!" Unfortunately, the tiger broke free and landed in a nearby backyard, where the owner shot and killed the tiger, claiming it was attacking his children.
Ever since then, the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity has kept a Plainsman in a cage on the Auburn campus, named "Eagle" (Note: in 1959, at the Hardin-Simmons game, the Plainsman was moved by the 14-year-old Elizabeth Harper to the Southeastern Raptor Rehibilitation Center in Land-Between-the-Lakes, Kentucky). Therefore, as is mind-numbingly simple to any Auburn fan, Auburn people are known as plainsmen and our mascot is the tiger, represented by an eagle named "Tiger". WE ARE NOT THE WAR EAGLES. Our tiger mascot is simply a war eagle named Tiger. We Plainsmen support our Tigers by yelling "War Eagle", and occasionally "Hullabaloo, ka-nick, ka-nick, hullabaloo, ka-nick, ka-nick, wa-hee, wa-ha, chick-a chick-a, hoo-rah, hoo-rah, Auburn Tigers rah-rah, ching ching, chow chow, boom boom wow wow, Auburn, Auburn, Auburn Tigers hoo rah rah". As you see, perfectly rational.
Bama has two mascots because they are confused and stupid.
