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30-20, I believe it was. The score did not matter at the time. Nothing mattered....we had upset Bama on OUR turf. That was all that mattered. Running and yelling we stopped at Hartz Chicken. We ripped a couple of rolls of TP from the restrooms and continued towards Toomer's Corner. I'd been there before, but this time I was really into it. Once there I saw students I knew and those I had never seen. I saw plenty of old timers whom I also didn't know. Didn't matter, we were in unison.
Once there we were, jumping, huggin, and yes....throwing toilet paper at a tree.....how crazy was that? When you break it down, it was pretty stupid. Fans, toilet paper, oak trees. WTF??
Since graduation and my time away from Auburn, I always knew they were there after each meaningful Auburn moment. And each time, I remembered that night of the "First Time Ever". I may not have been there, but I could relate......I knew what was happening at "Toomer's" and it felt good to know they were under the same trees I had been under.
Yep, it's just a tree or pair of trees. What's the big deal? Well.....I won't try to fool you.....it's a big #badword#ing deal......at least it was that night and it's a bigger deal now. That night in 1989 it was not a big deal....just a participation in a wonderful celebration. 20+ years removed it has become a big deal....a part of my Auburn upbringing. I am a "transfer".....I was an UGA fan before coming to Auburn. I don't have the lineage of many Auburn men and women but I clearly remember standing at Toomer's drug store, sipping lemonade, a green high school grad and declaring to my parents that THIS was where I wanted to go to college. Little did I know how much I would grow to love, and now miss that University and that Town.
I know the tradition of rolling Toomer's will somehow go on and that they are, in fact, just trees. The spirit felt that night (1989) will go on again and again and again and again and again (ref. Coach Dye's locker room speach about the 'Angels'). But when "rolling Toomers" does continue, and it will, I can't help but know that it won't be the same trees....the ones I took for granted in 1989.
#badword# you Mr. Updyke.........Whatever we may say and try to say to get over this...for me, it will never be the same. #badword# you........it hurts.....are you happy now? For me, you have done what you wanted to do and now, sadly, I will never forget your name. I hope and pray no one from Auburn will ever try to do to your university what you have done to mine. As much as I want to defeat the University of Alabama in all their endeavors I hope it never comes to this. I don't know your University's traditions and quirky devotions....I don't care to. But I'd never try to destroy them, I am too wrapped up in mine.
We can all say that the spirit lives on......and it does....but no Auburn man or woman, given the choice, would want to have to sit and watch the slow demise of those oaks. As stupid as it may seem to outsiders, those oaks mean alot to Auburn. Mr. Updyke, you did what you set out to do....deep down, no matter how we try to spin it, you hurt us....real bad, real #badword#ing bad, for that........you are a credit to whomever you represented when you did this. It's sad that little, pitiful men like you can forge themselves into history as much as Lawyer Tillman, Bo Jackson, Bill Newton, Shug, David Langner, Pay Dye, Bo Peep, etc...etc...etc....
But you did, you bastard.....you #badword#ing bastard.......I'll never forget you and what you did. Are you happy now? It hurts, but you did nothing to turn us away. I can only hope you have made Auburn stronger and I think you have. The Auburn spirit has not died because of this....we are far from dead and Wayne willing Auburn people wont do to your university what you did to mine.
WAR DAMN EAGLE....with all apologies to Mr. Tee-Tee pants Scarbinsky and others who don't like to hear.....WAR DAMN EAGLE.
Love,
Remus
PS: #badword# you, Mr. Updyke.
