From The Ground Up

The Auburn Family was hit with some very sad news on Wednesday. It was announced that the beautiful 130 year oak trees on Toomer's Corner were poisoned with a very lethal dose of herbicide by a jealous 62 year old man claiming to be an Alabama fan. "Al", as he referred to himself, poisoned the trees after Auburn made a huge comeback and beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl. The Auburn/Alabama rivalry is a fierce one but this takes the rivalry to a whole new level!! For all my friends and family not familiar with the trees at Toomer's Corner-- one of Auburn's most cherished traditions is rolling the great big oak trees with toilet paper after an Auburn victory. I have so many awesome memories of rolling those trees and it's absolutely heart-breaking that the trees are likely not going to survive.

The little story below was posted by someone on Facebook. I loved it and thought it really showed the TRUE Auburn Spirit.

And The Whos Kept On Singing

"And the toilet paper, the trunk, the branches and leaves, I'll bring it all down with poisoned disease. Their mouths will hang open a minute or two, all the fans down in Auburn will all cry BOO-HOO! That's a noise," grinned "Al" from Dadeville, "That I simply must hear!" So he paused. And the Grinch called "Al" put a hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the Plains. It started in low. Then it started to grow... But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY! He stared down at Auburn! "Al" popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise! Every Tiger down in Auburn, the tall and the small, were still celebrating without any trees at all! He HADN'T stopped the Auburn Spirit from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same! And the Grinch called "Al" stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so? It came without paper or shakers or trees, it came without all these things indeed. And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore. Then "Al" the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Auburn's spirit" he thought, "means a bit more!" And what happened then...? Well...in Auburn they say that "Al" the Grinch's small heart hopefully grew three sizes that day, after of course, they locked him away!"