a day in the life of the Todds: The Final Season in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum

To say our good-byes in high Auburn spirits, Dad, Daniel, and I spent last Saturday evening (February 27th) at the AU vs. LSU basketball game. It was the final Saturday game ever played in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. Both Dad and Daniel had never been to an Auburn basketball game before. Since I am the seasoned vet with having attended 2 basketball games my sophomore year of college (one against Alabama and the other against Kentucky, both of which we lost), I felt like it was my alumni duty to be there as history unfolded: both for Dad and Daniel and for Auburn.

We left our house around 2:30 in the afternoon headed for the best sandwich place EVER, Momma G's. Apparently there is more than one location now in Auburn, but we ate at the original. Y'know the ol' dumpy one right across from Lowder Hall (my home away from home...Lowder Hall not Momma G's). It felt like another lifetime when I use to stand at the corner of Donahue and Magnolia waiting for the light to change in order to cross the street headed to class. It was weird standing there with Dad and Daniel with no backpack, but I still had on my Wallabies. :) Daniel had never been to Momma G's before, but I think he liked it once we were able to sit down with our food. I could really go for a Momma's Love right now with some of Momma's Nachos. mmmm. just to taste all of those calories.

After stuffing our faces, we drove around for 10 minutes trying to decide where to actually park. With the new construction of the Auburn Arena and Village dorms, there is no more C parking! Where in the world do all of the students park now? I am SOOOOO thankful that I got out of there before parking became worse than it already was. We finally ended up parking about 5 rows from where we had initially parked for Momma G's. At least we tried looking for a closer spot.

We made it to our seats with 10 minutes to spare before tip-off. Supposedly we had seats in the lower level, but there was nothing lower about being the 5th row from the top! Thankfully, I was able to keep my seat for the entire game, because it might have been disasterous with no railing!

view from our seats

The atmosphere at a basketball game versus a football game is infinitely different. Auburn tries to bring some of the same excitements into the basketball game as football games. For example, 2 videos played: one before the players came out and another right before tip-off. The pep band, cheerleaders, and Tiger Paws are there to provide entertainment and spirit. I must admit that the LSU fans showed more spirit than the Auburn fans. In fact, if they hadn't have been there, then the Auburn fans would have fallen asleep due to the lack of excitement.

pregame

The Tigers played an outstanding game never trailing the LS-Who Tigers once in the game. They were spot on with their 3's. What an amazing memory to have of Beard-Eaves. I have so many memories of being there over the past 8 years. My favorite B-E memory still is my college graduation. There's nothing that can top that!