Kicking off the season

"Waaaaarrrrrr Eagle, Hey!"

We got new seats this year . . . definitely higher than last year!

Enjoying a treat

Our little cheeleader

It is hard to believe that it is that time of year again . . . another Auburn football season is official upon us! The Wilder family ventured out Saturday night to watch the Tigers take on Louisiana Tech. Hooray for a victory!! Neil and I decided to take Margie Grace to the game with us and she did much better than we expected. However, she breezed through the bag of goodies and distractions/toys I brought by half time. And, frankly, by that time Neil and I had also had enough of sitting in the heat and trying to entertain a 2-year-old. So, we packed it up and headed for the house, listening to the rest of the game on the radio. Margie Grace seemed to really enjoy herself. We watched the Spirit the eagle fly, cheered with the cheerleaders, danced to the band, sang War Eagle several times, enjoyed a frozen lemonade and beaned the lady in front of us in the back of the head with a shaker exactly three times. All in all a great start to the season!

War Eagle, Hey!

On the eve of another Auburn football game, I thought I'd post these pictures of Margie Grace from last week's AU vs. LSU pep rally. She had a great time (and had a great view from her Poppy's shoulders!) but seemed to get a little overwhelmed at the size of the crowd and all the incessant cheering. We stood near the band and she really enjoyed watching Uncle John play his drum. She even got to play it herself when the pep rally was over. War Eagle!

My Brief Brush with "Fame"

For posterity's sake, I thought I'd put this picture on the blog, although I e-mailed it around last week to most everyone who reads this anyway. This past Friday, on the eve of the AU vs. LSU football game, my colleagues at work and I ran into ESPN Gameday's Lee Corso at AU's new Student Center. ESPN was broadcasting the game and had set up their headquarters in an office suite on campus. Corso was in the hallway talking on his cell phone and when we all emerged from the stairwell and turned a corner, my friend Kevin immediately spotted him. Corso's not really a big deal to me -- sure he's on TV and all but so is Rich Thomas the local weather guy -- so I kept walking. Not my male colleagues. They thought we'd run into Elvis back from the grave! And so they hatched a plan to pull a little stalkerazzi move so they could get their picture made with him (these are grown adult men -- wow, football is a powerful thing!). Deciding it would be worth it to wait for the right opportunity, they loitered around the corner in earshot of the man. Once he was off the phone, Kevin "casually" approached him about taking a picture. Corso was very cordial and accomodating and agreed right away. I snapped a picture of the guys and then decided since I'd gone to the effort to wait, I'd have one taken as well. So there you have it -- my most recent brush with "fame."

Pictured from left: Matt Laney, me, Corso, Brock Parker and Kevin Fichtner

(You can't tell very well from the picture but Corso actually had on an orange and blue tie!)

A Family Divided

When it comes to college football -- or college anything for that matter -- us Wilders are Auburn through and through. However, among extended family the allegiances are not that straightforward. Neil's brother graduated from Mississippi State and Neil attended one year of school there before transferring to Auburn (he claims to only bleed orange and blue, though). So the AU vs. MSU football game each fall brings about a nice opportunity for a little family rivalry. This past Saturday we ventured over to Starkville, Miss., for the game and met Tim, Sue and Neil's dad [who was sporting a MSU shirt and an Auburn ballcap -- he told me his heart belonged to Auburn but I could swear I heard him say the same thing to Sue about MSU:) ]. Neil, Margie Grace and I were dressed head to toe in Auburn orange and blue. Tim and Sue proudly wore their maroon and white. Like I mentioned earlier, Mr. Wilder wore both. Here are a couple of pictures illustrating our divided family. Although Tim successfully got Margie Grace to utter the words "Go Dogs" a couple of times Saturday night, Neil and I spent the entire ride home practicing "War Eagle" with her! The game was pathetic but we still had fun.