OPINION — I remember the blue haze of dissolving paper shakers when Auburn beat Alabama in the first time ever game in Jordan-Hare, the prayer at Jordan-Hare, the fire at the sports arena, beating Florida in the fog and many other glorious times in our football arena.
But now the powers that be known as the Auburn Athletic Department are now acting like the past TV show “Father Knows Best” with their “we know how to fix what ain’t broke philosophy.”
It wasn’t too long ago that we enjoyed seeing champions in our midst but now we’ve seen our big rivals win eight national championships in the last few years as we sit here in mediocrity.
And we remember winning a national championship in 2010 and coming within 13 seconds of winning another one three years later. I remember winning the Iron Bowl 20 out of the last 43 games. Punt Bama Punt and the Kick Six.
All of that has now changed: We let our coach who beat Bama six times in a row leave, a coach who won all 11 games go and the coach who got us into the Rose Bowl National Championship game go to hire coaches who have batted close to 0.500 or less for the last few seasons.
And when many of your faithful fans were screaming their heads off in the North End Zone you decided to stab them in the back by kicking them out to build luxury seating that those middle income fans can’t afford.
We used to enjoy hearing our wonderful Auburn Marching Band play in the stadium between plays and timeouts but now hear mostly loud rap music and endless ads and news of all the other sports on campus while the football game seems to play second fiddle. Not long ago a fan could run to the restroom at timeouts for a quick pit stop but now the athletic director has decided to sell beer in the stadium which means fans tend to clog the restrooms from before kickoff until the final bell.
But I didn’t even talk about the fact that our athletic department stood by like a pillar of salt as the SEC and the NCAA ruined college football and Auburn’s contingent with NIL, the transfer portal and the loss of our traditional rivals like Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss and the moving of the Georgia game from the next to last game to the middle of October.
Also did I mention that water bottles now cost over $7? And was Fritz Siler ever compensated for his design of the interlocking AU logo?
Going to cheer our beloved Tigers used to be a wonderful experience but the brilliant Auburn Athletic Department has decided to destroy all of that by making many stupid decisions.
Did they not see the Bud Lite debacle and the recent Cracker Barrel disaster?
Haynes Parker
War Eagle
Letter to the editor | The demise of Jordan-Hare
