We Love Our Tigers

It's Monday again! There's nothing like looking through pictures and reflecting on a fabulous weekend. This weekend's plans were of no surprise. Everyone who knows us knew this was THE football game of the year! Clemson vs. Auburn, Battle of the Tigers, a.k.a. Battle of the Linengers. Since they are in different conferences, this was the first time these two teams have played in regular season since the '70s, and it was a little special to have our Alma Matters face off in our first year of marriage. Friday night we drove into Auburn and headed to Nifer's, a typical pregame tradition. Corn nuggets, fried pickles, burgers and tots! Danny's cousin, Lauren, who lives in NYC was with us and got especially excited for southern sweet potato fries. It was fun to catch up with her and show her one of our "Auburn places."

The next morning we were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of ESPN Gameday. Lauren took us in the production trailer, as well as the talent trailer. It was very cool to see the producers and staff in action in front of a huge wall of TVs, with everyone chirping commands to someone on the set through their headsets. We got to see Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, and Danny's favorite, Erin Andrews, up close! I was excited to see Corso put on the Auburn helmet to predict our win, and I got to check off a box on my "wishlist" as Danny snapped my picture with Aubie, Auburn's lovable mascot. It couldn't have been a more exciting start to our day; we can't express how much we appreciate Lauren and all the VIP treatment we received!

We hiked back up to our tailgate and enjoyed hanging out with friends that came in town from Atlanta and Charlotte, while eating and watching other games on tv. We were lucky to set up our RV near one of my dear Italy girls, Ashley, so I was glad to pop over at their hoppin' tailgate and see old friends from college as well.

The game was so fun! We were blessed (again by Lauren) with fantastic seats just twelve rows from the field. After the first two quarters I thought Auburn was going to get creamed, but thankfully they stepped it up in the second half to make for a much more competitive game. It was an unfortunate loss in overtime for Clemson, but Danny truly handled it well and was a great sport. On the way home he saw that our teams are picked for the 2012 Season Opener at the Georgia Dome, which is definitely something to look forward to!