AUBURN, Ala. — Every college football fan base has its rituals, superstitions and passionate rivalries. In Alabama, “Roll Tides” and “War Eagles” get tossed around as substitutes for, as one Auburn student recently noted, “hello,” “good-bye,” “you’re welcome,” and “thank you”… and “get well,” and “see you soon,” and “have a nice day,” and every word in between.
Mississippi State has their cowbells. Michigan has their “GO BLUE” banner. Ohio State “dots the i.” West Virginia sings ““Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
Auburn fans are famous for rolling Toomer’s Corner after victories, but its another tradition down on the Plains that Chat Sports says stands out above all the rest: their class.
The sports news aggregator recently released a ranking of college football’s classiest fan bases, and Auburn came out on top.
Chat Sports offered as supporting evidence for their ranking a quote from a University of Oregon beat reporter that was written after Auburn beat the Ducks in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game.
Anyone who’s been to Autzen Stadium knows that Oregon fans get can a little on the… well… let’s just say on the rowdy side. So most Ducks fans aren’t used to being treated so well by opposing fans, but the BCS National Championship environment was something else indeed. It had to be extremely refreshing for many Oregon fans to attend a game in which the two teams’ fans weren’t there to hate on the other team, but to only cheer for their own… Even in victory, Auburn fans were gracious. When the time for taunting had clearly arrived, Auburn faithfuls only cheered for the Tigers, leaving Oregon fans to mourn without adding insult to injury.
Auburn students and alumni will likely point to their class as the result of living out the Auburn Creed, which calls for “clean sports” that develop “a sound mind” and “a sound body” and “a spirit that is not afraid.”
The Tigers have had a rough year on the field in 2015, but their fan base continues to make their home state proud in other ways.
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