It’s a cool Thursday night at the Auburn Soccer Complex, every bit of breeze a relief for the fans in the stands after this long summer. The fans stomp their feet on the bleachers. They blow into the giveaway vuvuzelas.
Their cheers for each goal ring out over the intramural fields, where the frat boys play next door, and carry out over the Plains. A hint of fall is back in the air for Auburn University, classes are back and so is the traffic bringing the city back to life from summer slumber and, yes, that means football is back soon too. But soccer is back too.
And volleyball is back. And the tennis teams and the golf teams are gearing up for fall schedules and cross country is ready to run. Then it’ll be time for basketball, then gymnastics, and all the rest.
The Auburn faithful will follow every step, because Auburn fans love more about Auburn than Auburn football, and that has been proven time and again. But here’s a quick challenge for the Auburn fan at the start of the new schoolyear: Challenge yourself to roll Toomer’s at least one time this schoolyear for a win for a sport other than football. Keep those rolls rolling for football, of course, but if you’ve never rolled Toomer’s for another sport, here’s your nudge.
Around here, football is our most royal sport, but fans are missing out if they haven’t been there for a team of less popular sports looking for a fan, filling a seat that wouldn’t otherwise be filled. Be part of a build. Learn the player.