iron bowl

NASHVILLE – Part of the lure of Thanksgiving with JFA was the opportunity to watch the Iron Bowl together. The Iron Bowl, for those who are not steeped in SEC football tradition, is the hotly contested annual game between dread intrastate rivals Auburn University and the University of Alabama.

As you may recall, JFA and I attended an Auburn home game this year. It’s his alma mater and he is a tremendous football fan. We had a blast. The experience definitely increased my interest in Auburn football. (Read as:  Now I pay slight attention to Auburn football, as opposed to my previous level of attention, which was non-existent.)

So as we prepared for the day of the Iron Bowl, JFA set some context: The two teams are bitter rivals … so bitter that they refused to play each other for 40 years, until the State Legislature threatened to withhold funding to both schools. Now on game day, the state of Alabama pretty much shuts down. Everyone watches the game and chooses a side. And this year, the stakes are supremely high: the winner will go on to the conference championship.

For me, watching the Iron Bowl was really an excuse to wear my Auburn shirt and drink beer and watch JFA recite all kinds of Auburn cheers. Trust me, there are a lot of them, and he knows them all. Most involve some sort of insult to the University of Alabama.  

Auburn went into the game as the underdog, and scored first. They kept pace with the Crimson Tide throughout the game, which was really dramatic and suspenseful! JFA even brought out the Magic Shaker which we employed throughout the game to cheer on the Tigers. JFA confessed in the second half that he didn’t expect the game to be this competitive. Auburn had exceeded his expectations.

I won’t be able to do justice to the heart-stopping finish – but the game was tied at what seemed to be the end of regulation play. Alabama negotiated for one second (00:01) to be put back on the clock. They failed in their field goal attempt, which Auburn caught and returned 109 yards for a touchdown to WIN THE GAME.

We were jumping up and down in front of the television, screaming our heads off. We couldn’t believe it. There was joy in Nashville, in Auburn, and all points in between.

JFA started getting texts from all over the United States as friends, colleagues and fellow alums wrote to say, “Can you believe it?”

No one can believe it. Even 24 hours later, we can’t stop asking, “Can you believe it?” All over the media today (old and new), people are recounting their disbelief in the amazing end to an amazing game. And as you can see here and here, we definitely were not the only people jumping up and down in front of the television. {Warning: links depict screaming, profanity and scenes of joy and heartbreak.}