SEC Debate: What is your favorite SEC gameday tradition?
By Kevin Duffey
Published:
Traditions are what help make college football the best sport in the world. Take that, futbol.
There’s no better fun than getting together with all your buddies, drinking some brews and watching college football. It’s the most fun you can have with your boots on…well, second best.
Tradition comes in many shapes and sizes in the SEC, and it’s tough picking just one. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to pick just one. But we’re going to give it our best shot.
What is your favorite SEC gameday tradition?
Jon Cooper (@JonSDS): War Eagle, Auburn
Is there anything better than spending gameday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, watching the Eagle fly onto the field? You want something that will get you high and give you chills? Forget drugs. Go watch Auburn’s War Eagle. It’s beautiful; it’s majestic; and it gets you stoked for college football Saturdays. Coming in a close second would be the Power T at Tennessee. When the Pride of the Southland breaks and Tennessee’s team runs through the tunnel…chills.
Christopher Smith (@CSmithSDS): Toomer’s Corner, Auburn
Is there anything more Southern than “let’s meet at Toomer’s drug store over yonder and roll them big ol’ oak trees!” Seeing those giant, iconic oak branches streaming with white tissue paper, surrounded by reveling Auburn fans at one of the busiest intersections on campus after a win, is one of the greatest, most fitting and unique traditions in college football. Add to that the fact that the school has more or less resurrected the site after Harvey Updyke unfortunately poisoned and killed off the original oaks, and Toomer’s Corner gets the sentimental vote as well. The school had the foresight to grow saplings from the original trees in case anything like this happened. They’re now planted nearby. Toomer’s Corner also got new larger oaks on Valentine’s Day. It’s a symbol of the conference’s competitive hatred (Updyke), but also how good people from more than one institution can find common ground (the aftermath) and how in the South, something that seems lunatic, redneck and weird is acceptable and downright cool.
Ethan Levine (@EthanLevineSDS): The Call to the Post, Kentucky
By now you may be aware that I am the resident Kentucky graduate on the SDS staff. No, Kentucky is not the SEC’s proudest football tradition, far from it actually. But there’s nothing that gets me fired up on a Saturday more than the “Call to the Post” at the start of a Kentucky football game. It’s the same call to the post played at the Kentucky Derby when, go figure, horses are literally called to the post. The Derby is one of Kentucky’s greatest traditions, and relating a grand piece of that event to UK athletics is something special in the Bluegrass. The call may only take about 10 seconds, but it is not just an announcement that kickoff is near. It’s a call to Kentucky faithful that this is the Bluegrass, our home, and this afternoon is about our boys in blue defending that home. It’s something specific to the commonwealth that rallies fans together more than you’d think. Is this the best tradition in the SEC? No. But it’s my favorite.
Brad Crawford (@BCrawfordSDS): War Eagle, Auburn
Having seen several of the SEC’s 14 pre-game rituals live from a stadium seat, I’d have to say Auburn’s War Eagle swooping to midfield rises above all. But it doesn’t strike an emotional cord quite like an F-16 flyover during Military Appreciation Weekend across the south. The twin engines on one of those birds can be heard from over a mile away and they’re past you in an instant. I’ve sat in the upper deck of several venues in the SEC for pregame flyovers and it’s by far the most exhilarating experience at a sporting event.
Brett Weisband (@WeisbandSDS): Midnight Yell, Texas A&M
It’s new to the SEC, and it’s definitely weird. But the uniqueness of the Aggies’ tradition is what makes it so cool. The fact that students are willing to give up their Friday night — I know I would have thought I had better things to do had my alma mater tried to start this — shows just how important the tradition is to Texas A&M. The culture, with elected Yell Leaders and the willingness to gather at road games to do Yell Practice, is one of a kind in college football.
A graduate of the University of Florida and founder of Saturday Down South, Kevin is a college football enthusiast.
