On Monday, the Auburn Tigers inherited the mantle of “national champions” from the Alabama Crimson Tide. Today, thanks to a contract between Dr. Pepper and Walmart dictating the accompanying Coaches’ Trophy be displayed at several Walmart locations across the the state before coming to Auburn, many Auburn fans are afraid they’ll also inherit an unwanted stereotype.
“I hope we’re not that damn cheap,” said James Whitman, 72, when told of the trophy’s scheduled stop this Sunday at the Auburn Walmart. Today the trophy will be on display at a Montgomery-area store (for a complete schedule, go here). Whitman, who attended Auburn in the ’50s and who had just returned from a whirlwind trip to see the Tigers play for the national championship (due to Birmingham weather conditions, he made it to the game with only an hour to spare), was one of thousands who braved freezing temperatures outside Auburn’s athletic complex to welcome the team home from Arizona Tuesday night. “That just cheapens the deal,” he said. “I hope we’re better than that.”
Last year, Alabama fans were widely ridiculed by blogs and websites* such as Deadspin and PeopleOfWalmart.com (“Alabama, you win the national championship and take it to Walmart. You are making this easier than Colt McCoy did.”) for standing in line for hours at Walmart stores to pose for photos (in full hounds tooth regalia) with the crystal football in front of a pyramid of Dr. Pepper Fridge-Packs. The arrangement was eventually revealed to be contractual, involving only the decisions of Dr. Pepper (the trophy’s sponsor) and Walmart, not the University of Alabama. The perception, however, remains the opposite: that Alabama’s athletics department was simply pandering to its fan base.
The same will likely hold true in Auburn’s case, despite the fact that the university won’t even take possession of the trophy until after the tour; managers at the Auburn Walmart say they expect a thousand Auburn fans to come to see the trophy.
When asked if he would be one of them, Whitman was emphatic.
“No… no…hell, no,” he said, lighting a cigar. “I’d be the first one out there with a picket sign.”
And he might not be alone. An aptly-named Facebook group “Keep Auburn’s BCS Trophy out of Walmart” was started Tuesday, the day after Auburn won the BCS Championship, to protest the events. It currently has 60 “likes.”
“The real crime here is that the world at large believes it’s a southern thing, and that Walmart is our idea of culture or something,” said Auburn Elvis, an Auburn fan (and Elvis impersonator) who routinely travels to Auburn sporting events from his home in Chattanooga to cheer on the Tigers as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and who had considered protesting the display. “And since no non-SEC team has won since Dr. Pepper’s been paying for the trophy… we’re the one’s who look like hicks. Had Oregon won, it’d be displayed at one of their Walmarts whether they wanted to or not.”
The issue has been on the mind of some Auburn fans since before the Tigers even had a trophy to display.
Last week TWER published an open letter to Auburn administrators written by Jim Magruder, an Auburn alum (and father of TWER contributor John Magruder), that read in part:
I need to know that our University – upon earning a prestigious honor such as a national championship in football – would never stoop so low as to display the trophy at a Walmart store – or a truck stop, a Burger King, a Greyhound bus station, an outhouse, etc. Please PLEASE tell me that the state’s premier University would only display said trophy in the most appropriate and dignified way – not in front of piles of second-tier soft drinks, motor oil, and diapers. PLEASE tell me it will never ever happen.
Magruder went so far as to suggest that Auburn not only attempt to opt out of the arrangement, but dare Dr. Pepper to sue the university if the soft-drink company refused a payoff to compensate it for lost advertising.
Glenda Vandegraf would probably second that motion; when informed of the Walmart tour while waiting for the team Tuesday night, her mouth dropped open.
“Really? That’s awful, like, really, that’s just awful,” said Vandegraf, a sophomore at Auburn majoring in elementary education. “It’s just like, ‘let’s be trashy.'”
Her friend, Chris Edwards, an Auburn senior majoring in economics, felt the same way, responding “Can we please not?”
Both Vandgraf and Edwards said their problem with the arrangement has nothing to do with Walmart per se (“I mean, I go there to buy things,” says Vandegraf.), just with the idea of Walmart as a proper venue for the $30,000 trophy.
“If you put it in the middle of the stadium and have Nova there, heck yeah, I’d be there,” Vandegraf said.
Would they be there at Walmart? She and Edwards both slowly shook their heads.
“I might be there only because Sunday is when I buy groceries,” Edwards said.
Not everyone gathered Tuesday night had a problem with the display.
“Well, why not?” asked Mike Glisson, who played for Auburn in the late ’80s and who currently serves as offensive line coach for the Auburn High School football team. “Why not let the fans get up to the trophy, or players or whatever. That’s great. That’s what it’s about. There’s a lot of people who have gone to school for Auburn and it’s a big thing for them.”
Auburn alum Heath Truitt, the owner of local bar and music club The Independent, understands the sentiment, but either out of personal taste or fear of a what-goes-around-round ribbing from across the state, summed up what seems to be the consensus fan opinion on the matter thus:
“Couldn’t it at least be at Target?”
* Including this one.
Auburn photo by Cliff Welch.
UPDATE: Another Facebook group (“Show Auburn’s BCS Trophy Respect”) has started in response to the Coaches’ Trophy tour; this one encourages Auburn fans to adhere to a dress code (“Sundresses for the ladies are strongly suggested. Men should not wear jorts or wife-beaters. If you have bad teeth, smile only with your lips. Have your hair brushed or keep your hat on”) and seeks volunteers to serve as bouncers “to prohibit any Bama fans, Georgia fans, people dress inappropriately and others deemed as unfit to stand next to the Trophy.”
…
* Former Auburn cheerleader competing in new season of ‘Survivor’
* Three-hour delay turns flight to Phoenix into Auburn pep rally
* ‘Cammy Koozie’s’ fund family’s trip to Glendale
* An interview with Auburn YouTube sensation Chris Lowe
* Former Auburn football kills elephant with just a bow and arrow
* TWER interviews Paul Finebaum about Bo Jackson’s Heisman campaign
* Crowd shots from the 1973 Auburn-Florida game
* The Secret History of an Underground Iron Bowl
* Auburn alumna in Philippines will watch BCSCG in style
* VIDEO: What if the airport heckler got a do over?
Well, I am not an elitist. America was supposed to be the antithesis of the ariostocratic British notion of class. If you think Walmart is beneath you, then I suppose you also think people who shop there or work there are beneath you. And then I have to wonder why. Is it your money? Your education? Is it who your daddy was?
Anyway, the upside at Walmart is easy access to most people. There is plenty of parking and the Walmarts are located near population centers.
Price of having corporate sponsorship of the game..
Time to pay the devil his due…
TigerEyez13, I think Walmart is beneath the honor of that Trophy. Most people use public restrooms, so by your logic, it’d be OK to display the trophy there as well.
Montgomery has dozens of better venues that Dr. Pepper could have used. Using big-box retail outlets for this kind of thing is disgraceful.
The BCS National Championship trophy will be on display at Academy Sports and Outdoors, Lee Branch, Hwy. 280, 10 miles south of Birmingham, Saturday, January 15, 6-8 p.m.
At least we have an option besides Walmart.
As much as we complain about the arrogance of Alabama fans and their elitist attitudes, you’d think we would take every opportunity to do the opposite. But ever since there were rumblings about a possible national championship and people remembered the Dr. Pepper/WalMart connection, I’ve seen nothing but “Send it to Target! Auburn is better than WalMart!” No, actually, it’s not. No one is. I was born at EAMC, lived in Auburn and Opelika for most of my life, and I work at the O-A News. But I also worked at WalMart. I have a college degree and took a job paying barely above minimum wage because I had a car payment to make. That job was frustrating but not beneath me. Making an honest day’s living isn’t beneath anyone. The store manager at the Auburn WalMart, Mike Davis, is an Auburn man. He is one of the youngest store managers in WalMart history (he’s in his late 20s) and coming back from Arizona to manage the Auburn store was his dream job within the company. He’s getting his MBA at Auburn. He is thrilled that his store gets the opportunity to showcase such a prestigious trophy that his team won in such an incredible season. Before you write off the trophy tour as something to ignore or protest or ridicule because “We’re better than that,” think about what you’re saying. WalMart has an unfortunate stigma, but it will also provide an opportunity for fans to get closer to the Coaches’ Trophy than we would otherwise. We can get a picture that we can keep forever. You all do what you want to. I’m not above going to WalMart to see it.
But most of all, don’t be Bammers. They’re the ones who think they’re better than other people.
SMR {sigh} You miss the point. This isn’t a “we’re better than Walmart” thing. It’s a “this achievement is better than Walmart” thing. It isn’t about people, it’s about venues. There’s a time and a place for everything. Walmart is NOT the place for this.
{sigh} But it IS about the people. The people are what supposedly make the venue so unsavory. Luckily, we can all either choose to go or not to go. I want to see the trophy so I’ll go. Simple as that.
My point is that we don’t need to act like we’re better than something. That’s another fanbase’s MO. The national championship was an tremendous achievement and that beautiful trophy is the ultimate prize in college football. But if it was won for the Auburn Family, shouldn’t the Auburn family be allowed a convenient place to see it? Do I wish things were logistically different? Yes. Do I wish it wasn’t going to be at WalMart? Kind of. But mostly because of the nightmare it will create in the store. I’m just thankful I can have my picture taken with it. I think it’s cool.
Nope, sorry. I have no problem with people being at a Walmart… just as long as the trophy’s not there too. Think about it – every day Auburn fans go to Walmart, but you don’t read TWER articles about folks railing against that. So what’s the difference here? Oh yeah THE TROPHY. Move the trophy somewhere suitable, and I have no objections to Auburn fans visiting Walmart.
Also, convenience is not a justification. Any location could be called convenient if it’s close to you (an in convenient if it’s not). The issue here is suitability, not convenience.
Go see the trophy at Academy Sports instead.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/01/auburns_national_championship.html
Let’s boycott the Wal-Mart showing!
This is why a store is an inappropriate, but why WalMart is especially inappropriate. It has nothing to do with the customers or employees of the company. It is because we should be celebrating the players. WalMart exists purely to fulfill the basic necessities of life with maximum convenience and standardization. If there is anything that this trophy ought not represent, it is absolute uniformity of the American populace as enforced by a corporate behemoth’s ability to buy and move product in overwhelming bulk at lowest-common denominator prices.
So personally, I am mortified that one of the most important periods of growth and most intense periods of effort in a young man’s life is considered only just good enough to sell soft drinks to the populace at large. It is frankly humiliating that this symbol of our players’ victory – personal victory bought with blood, sweat, and broken necks – is being put on the same level as the rest of the mere merchandise. That our players are no better than the freaking Chic-Fil-A cows.
I won’t have the opportunity to see the trophy and I’m disappointed I won’t have the chance to refuse to go.
Aubiece is right. Fret all we want. Won’t change anything. I’d rather the trophy didn’t go to retail stores. And I’d rather we didn’t have Under Armour logos on the uniforms or Tostitos plastered all over anything related to the BCS title game or corporate names attached to bowl games and halftime shows and timeouts and pregames shows and on and on. But I’ll bet Jay Jacobs and his fellow SEC ADs aren’t complaining about the corporate money pouring in from the bowls and TV networks.
I say everyone should dress as trashy as they possibly can and pose with the trophy. Just poke fun of the whole thing. Pretend that it is “redneck day” back at high school on homecoming week.
I know why everyone is fretting … it’s because we let Bama fans HAVE IT last year about the trophy being at Wal-Mart. How could we have known back then that we’d all be in the same predicament just one year later?!? Ha! I say it fretting over where Auburn’s Coaches’ Trophy should or shouldn’t be displayed is a great problem to have!
I wish the University had the foresight we did and worked something else out with Dr. Pepper with more desirable locations: hotel convention centers, the Auburn Arena, etc.
There is obviously nothing we can do about it now. I don’t think I will be making it to Wal Mart to see the trophy. There are definitely some better places it could be displayed. It could have gone to a certain sports store in the Auburn area, one that is advertised across the stadium. I have spoken to people who made it to the game and Academy was their first stop off the plane from Arizona.
I know Dr. Pepper is contractually obligated to put it in Wal Mart but it would have been nice to put it somewhere that is a part of the Auburn Family!
While I don’t enjoy shopping at walmart because I prefer smaller, locally owned grocery stores, I do occasionally go to walmart for things those small stores don’t have.
I have encountered many people in both walmart (and all other stores I patronize – including target) who were different than me, less fortunate than me, less attractive than me (many wearing auburn gear!) but I have never looked down on those people, never thought I was too good too be shopping with less pretty, less clean, or less educated human beings.
Shame on y’all. Thinking you’re too classy for walmart. I can tell by your comments that you are most definitely NOT.
Getting some real gems by way of Deadspin and P.O.W. and other submitted pics……I guess folks did not get the dress code memo.
So much for the “No Sidewalk Fans” claim……….. oh well….
First, as an Alabama graduate, I can assure you that the farm-based land grant institution in Lee County is not the state’s premier University. That distinction belongs to the University that produces more doctors (not vets!), businessmen, lawyers, and politicians that keep this state moving forward. Second, despite their objections, Auburn people have always been considered the backwards, white trash redneck college in the state. That’s ALWAYS been the perception of the University that worships an Eagle (though mascot is a tiger) and rolls toilet paper on trees outside the “local yokel” drug store. Seriously, you guys complain about Wal-Mart when you vandalize your own campus.
Third, and finally, congratulations on your first National Title since the Eisenhower era. It will be great if you’re allowed to retain it after brokering a deal with the devil and compromising your principles in your Creed (Lol). Auburn still and will always be Bama’s little brother. The Iron Bowl did not begin in 1982. Bama’s record in the series is tainted by 2 loser coaches (Shula and Curry) and probation. If you rednecks want to discount a qtr century of dominance, I’m discounting 7 years of Curry and Shula post-Bear. Lol, see how that works! Still Little Brother! Mooooooo!
wah to the stumpers