Auburn Men's Golf Coach Mike Griffin Leaving Coaching

Coach recruited Will and I've been around him several times over the past year. Coach, you will be missed. Good luck on your new job!

Auburn Men's Golf Coach Mike Griffin Leaving Coaching - AUBURN OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE: "Mike Griffin, who has served as the Auburn men's golf coach for the previous 25 seasons is stepping down from his coaching responsibilities and will remain with the program as the director of golf. A four-time Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, Griffin led the program to an SEC title in 2002 and eight SEC runner-up finishes, 16 NCAA Championship appearances and 19 NCAA Regional appearances.

'I have been here a long time and after looking at things through experienced eyes, I decided this is what was best for me and my family and for Auburn golf and the young people here,' Griffin said. 'When I was brought here, my purpose was to get a golf course, practice facility and team home built, and those have been completed.

'We've been very competitive, winning several tournament and individual titles, including SEC and Regional team and individual titles, and an NCAA individual title. The only thing we've not accomplished was winning a team title, however, what makes it better was having the opportunity to host an NCAA Championship.'"

Auburn's new coach?

Gene Chizik from the (I can't even find it on a map and my GPS never heard of it) Iowa State may be our new coach. His record as a head coach ? 5 & 19. His conference record last year as a head coach ? 0 - 8. Wow. I'm hopeful that this is speculation, but The Birmingham News is reporting, from a story they picked up from Iowa TV station KCCI.

Speaking of Auburn Quarterbacks

Leading Washington to a 14-11 win over Cleveland, Campbell completed 14 of 23 passing attempts for a total of 164 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown. Campbell is the only starting quarterback in the NFL without an interception this season. Going back to last season, he and the Redskins have gone 332 passing attempts without a pick, setting an NFL record.

Poll Results - Auburn Game

I assume that the four that didn't make it live in Texas...

Auburn won

Toomer's Corner got rolled when Auburn beat Ole Miss 17-3.

New Poll - Auburn Game

It's located just over there on the right of the screen. I will try to publish a new one occasionally. Once the results are tallied, I will publish them in a new blog post. I'm bringing in a whole new level of audience participation to Does the fun ever start? Thanks for your support!

Pregame waiting

The crowd goes wild.

One again on the field...

Pat Dye Field is an awesome place to be on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Tailgating in Auburn...

The fire feels good. It's got everybody hip-mo-tized.

Auburn vs Florida 2007

A few words from Coach

Coach Tommy Tuberville of Auburn talks about the 2007 Season on 07/18/2007 at Atlanta Auburn Club's Annual Scholarship Evening & Silent Auction

Birthday Cake at the Iron Bowl

At the Iron Bowl, there were 11 family members and five of them are Alabama fans and the other 6 are all Auburn fans. My birthday was the Tuesday after the game, so this is the perfect birthday cake for the occasion. In case you don't live in Alabama ... Auburn won for the fifth consecutive time.

Iron Bowl Satuday

This game has been made irrelevant for Auburn's chances to go the SEC Championship, but it should be a good game. Both teams lost this weekend, but at least Alabama put on a good show their loss to LSU. Auburn looked awful against Georgia, certainly not like the number 6 team in the country.

We have tickets and we're going to see the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa with family. There are 10 of us going, so it should be a hoot. It will cause us to miss the Ohio State vs Michigan game that should be fantastic.

Legend of War Eagle

A lotal reader asked me recently about where War Eagle came from. He wanted to know why the Auburn Tigers use it as their war cry. I couldn't answer and according to my sources, I'm not alone. This from the Auburn Tigers website.

Whenever Auburn people gather, the battle cry "Warrrrrrr Eagle!" is almost certain to be heard. Although little is actually known about how the battle cry originated, it has been a part of Auburn's spirit for more than 100 years. Since the first War Eagle, there have been five other birds throughout Auburn's history which have served as the school's symbol and kept alive the legendary battle cry.

• Read about Tiger at AuburnTigers.com
• Read How Auburn's battle cry became 'War Eagle' — maybe at AL.com
• Read about War Eagle at Wikipedia

At Wikipedia, I learned why the eagle we saw at the Auburn Arkansas game was introduced as Nova, rather that Tiger (two different birds). At AL.com, I learned that explanation given by Auburn may be the most popular legend, but there are others...

Here are the lyrics to WAR EAGLE (FIGHT SONG)

War...Eagle, fly down the field, Ever to conquer, never to yield.
War...Eagle fearless and true. Fight on, you orange and blue.
Go! Go! Go!
On to vic'try, strike up the band,
Give 'em hell, give 'em hell.
Stand up and yell, Hey! War...Eagle, win for Auburn,
Power of Dixie Land!

Busy Weekend

Thursday: Work until 2:00PM. Go to airport. Fly to Atlanta. Dinner with Amy. Watching Lost (it's Tivo'd, don't ruin it for us).
Friday: Job interviews at 10:00, 12:00 and 12:30. Lunch at some point. Drive to Auburn, AL.
Saturday: Watch Auburn beat the Razorbacks of Arkansas. Tailgate with family and friends.
Sunday: Brunch with Family. Head back to Atlanta. Anniversary dinner with my lovely wife.
Monday: Fly to Austin. Take care if ticket.

Iron Bowl 2005

If you're in Austin, come watch the game with the Auburn Alumni at the sports bar inside Showplace Lanes Austin. The game starts at 2:30. We went to see Auburn whoop Georgia there last week and were among 40 Auburn fans. It was awesome. Today should be every bit as exciting.

Games I'm trying to watch right now...

• LSU Tigers vs Auburn Tigers
• Chicago White Sox vs Houston Astros
• Toby vs Sabrina

The teams I am supporting are bolded.

Fourth Anniversary Weekend

Amy and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary a little early this year. We were able to take advantage of some great deals.

Friday night, we went to a going away Happy Hour at Nuevo Leon for two of Amy's co-workers who are leaving. We left the festivities early to go out to dinner with our friends, Chad and Amanda (she is one of the people leaving Amy's company). We enjoyed visiting with them on the rooftop of Whole Foods.

Instead of going home, we checked into the Hampton Inn Round Rock, approximately 1 mile from our house. You might be wondering why we would choose to stay so close to home... it was free! Several members of Amy's family had stayed in the same hotel back in February, so we had earned two nights' lodging.

Saturday, we slept in until 7:00 and enjoyed a free continental breakfast. Then we did some shopping around town before having lunch at Central Market and going back to the hotel for a nap.

That evening, we got all gussied up and went to dinner at Hill Country Pasta House. A friend had given us a coupon for a free entree, so even with a bottle of wine, two entrees, and a dessert (free because our waiter found out what we were celebrating), we only spent $50 !(and that included a ten dollar tip). The food was delicious, and we had great service from Hank - the same guy who waited on us the only other time we went to that restaurant. He even remembered us!

Following dinner, we drove downtown, parked for free at St. David's Episcopal Church, and enjoyed an amazing concert by Will Taylor & Strings Attached featuring several talented artists - Abra Moore, Suzi Stern, Libby Kirkpatrick, Tucker Livingston, Kacy Crowley, Barbara K, and Patrice Pike. It was a CD release concert benefitting CASA of Travis County. Oh, and did I mention it was free? We were on the guest list!

Sunday morning, we slept REALLY late (8:00) and had our free breakfast again. Then we just lounged around watching a movie until check-out time. After we got home, we watched the Auburn game, which we had recorded from Saturday. Auburn stomped all over Steve Spurrier's South Carolina team. The Gamecocks played embarassingly bad football, but we'll take the win just the same. War Eagle! Sitting around watching TV was exhausting, so we took a long nap...had to drum up enough energy to work on this blog post.

Auburn's Season Opener

I have to work today, but after that I get to watch the Auburn Tigers season opener. Amy has a family connection to both the Auburn Tigers and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Her former brother-in-law played for Auburn as a linebacker from 1982 through 1986. He played with Bo Jackson. Amy's cousin is a red shirt freshman on Auburn's roster as a tight end. Back in the day, her stepmother's brother-in-law was a cheerleader for Georgia Tech.

It should be a great game. War Eagle!

Four Auburn Players Taken In First Round Of NFL Draft

The Auburn football program made history during the first day of the 2005 National Football League Draft Saturday as four Tigers were drafted in the first round, becoming the first school in Southeastern Conference history to have four first round draft picks in the same year. Running backs Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams were taken by the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the second and fifth overall picks, while cornerback Carlos Rogers and quarterback Jason Campbell were both taken by the Washington Redskins with the ninth and 25th overall selections.