the Eagle flight was pretty kick butt-- however...

[T-Man]

I loved the eagle flight. Give me chills.. Some fantastic traditions at their school for sure.

I couldn't find anyone on campus to give me the reason for the War Eagle, though. Everyone told me they didn't know the meaning - just that it was tradition and they went with it.

Kind of funny.. you'd think they'd want to know the meaning if they're screaming it all over the place.

A young teacher at my school ran track on scholarship there..she explained it to me like this.... Tiger is the mascot and "War eagle" is the battle cry..... Kind of like Confederates in the civil war and rebel yell was their battle cry... I hope this helps..

On a side note that eagle that flew around the stadium was beautiful thing, still have chills..

Also the "stunned look" on the fans of 80000, was also a BEAUTIFUL THING...  Great Road Trip! 

[AU_Tiger_2000]

I loved the eagle flight. Give me chills.. Some fantastic traditions at their school for sure.

I couldn't find anyone on campus to give me the reason for the War Eagle, though. Everyone told me they didn't know the meaning - just that it was tradition and they went with it.

Kind of funny.. you'd think they'd want to know the meaning if they're screaming it all over the place.

There are two "theories" on how we ended up with a War Eagle rallying cry.

1. A confederate soldier on a civil war battlefield found a young eaglet on the ground.  He took the eagle and raised it and referred to it as the war eagle.  He later attended Auburn University (Alabama Polytechnic Institute at the time) and at the first ever intercollegiate football game in the south (Auburn vs Georgia) his eagle got away from the ex soldier and circled the stadium to cries of War Eagle.

2. A local tribe of Creek Indians was led by a man named War Eagle.  He was befriended by the students who made him an unofficial "mascot" and used his name as a rallying cry.

Congrats on the win.

[jmbull]

I managed to ask one of the older auburn fans what the war eagle was for and he said it was about a soldier in the civil and when he came back wounded, he came with a wounded eagle on his soldier, hence the term war eagle. now why they use it for the school, i have no idea. About the flying around the stadium, it got me so hyped up, just imagine if we had a real bull for our home games.

[BigShoop]

I talked to Bigshoop after the game and he was very upset that they did not use the right "gold"en eagle ;D

HAHAHAHAHA, you're an a-hole.

[Boomer]

Speaking of, there are 4 or 5 pictures of the whole War Eagle eagle thing in MikeG's gallery.

and I took a bnch more of that bird but it is really tough to take a picture of a bird.

much harder than you might think.

and just forget about getting one to smile

At Louisville they just ask the bird to show its teeth! ;D

[alau255]

One of my friends who goes to Auburn told me to make sure to ask as many AU fans about the war eagle story and I would hear something different from everyone.  Sure enough I asked about 10 people and not one was the same.

[puc86]

Thanks, It was nice meeting you in Auburn as well ;D

I talked to Bigshoop after the game and he was very upset that they did not use the right "gold"en eagle ;D

HAHAHAHAHA, you're an a-hole.