January 07

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Auburn, Rose Bowl and the Best Part of Worldly Pleasures

Posted by on January 7, 2014 in General | Leave a comment

bcsgameday

As most know by now, Auburn suffered a heartbreaking loss to Florida State university in a truly epic battle on the football field for the national championship.

I’ll be honest here. I was rooting hard for Auburn, and I wanted them to win it all.

See, I’m a Razorback myself, and well, our team really stank this year. Arkansas won their first 3 games out of the gate. Things were looking promising! Go ‘head on my hogs! Then, of course, they floundered terribly and lost every game the remainder of the season. It was embarrassing, but I still love them. (Next year guys.)

Well, when it came to the Rose Bowl, since Auburn was the only SEC dog in the race, I was practically obligated to pull for them.

But it was more than a sporting obligation. In the beginning of the season, Auburn, like Arkansas was not ranked in any of the top 25 polls. In fact, Arkansas was mentioned in the footnotes once or twice and received a few votes, but Auburn was not on anyone’s radar. They were nobody to watch.

Think about it. Auburn, under the – and I’ll say it – spectacular coaching and leadership of Coach Gus Malzahn (who came out of Arkansas I may add), put together a winning football season that folks in the plains down there will be talking about for years to come.

Last nights game was epic. It was better than a “good game” and you have to congratulate FSU on the win. In a way, they paid homage to Auburn by pulling a Auburn-type win in the last 13 seconds of the game. As for Auburn, you have to congratulate them as well, if not more so. What a season, and my heart goes out to the staff, players and the fans who had a long flight home to ‘Bama. It’s always a long way home when you lose, which brings me to the point at hand.

What a tremendous experience! Even though “we” didn’t win the national championship, I hope the staff, players and fans will treasure the memories of just being there at the Rose Bowl, playing for the title! I mean, not every team out there gets to do that folks!

The entire season, watching Auburn come out of nowhere to not only challenge the big dog, but to become the big dog in college football, and then to watch all of these young guys participate in the biggest event of the year, well, it made me feel good. The Auburn loss to FSU was not in vain, and I hope that everyone else who had “WarEagle!” on their tongues all season will come to know what I was reminded of. Even in the midst of disappointment, in view of a loss, what a blessing to even get to be there for the experience and to learn amid the disappointment that one of the best parts of worldly pleasures, like college football, is the anticipation. FSU is in high cotton right now, but Spring is just around the corner, and it won’t be too long before all teams are back at it, practicing and anticipating the upcoming season.

If the Lord wills, there’s always next year guys. Even for my beloved Arkansas Razorbacks. Especially for them.