Onward Christian War Eagles

Tiger Flight


Today at 6 P.M. is the SEC championship game with #3 Auburn facing #15 Tennessee for the second time this year. Am I nervous? Yes. Should I be? I hope not. Auburn should already be ranked #2 or #3 in the country but, because the non-conference schedule was not as strong as #1 USC's or #2 Oklahoma's, Auburn is ranked lower. However, when you take into account that Auburn has dominated more games, played more top 10 teams in the country, and has had the least points scored on them than any team.... The fact is the computers would have them ranked higher if they were an SEC team in a larger city like say Knoxville, Gainsville, Athens, or Baton Rouge, etc.
So, why did I title this entry Onward Christian War Eagles? I just wanted to point out that the Auburn team is one of class. The kind of team that few have seen in recent years, a Christian team.

I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield,
I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield
I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield
I keep on bringin' souls to Jesus
By the service that I give
By the service that I give
I've got a helmet on my head, in my hand a sword and shield
I've got a helmet on my head, in my hand a sword and shield
I've got a helmet on my head, in my hand a sword and shield
I keep on bringin' souls to Jesus
By the service that I give
You gotta walk right, talk right, sing right, pray right, on the battlefield.
You gotta walk right, talk right, sing right, pray right, on the battlefield.
You gotta walk right, talk right, sing right, pray right, on the battlefield.
I keep on bringin' souls to Jesus
By the service that I give
I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield.

In that song, Auburn team chaplain Chette Williams says, is the story of Auburn football, 2004.
He takes a medallion from his desk that shows a Roman soldier on one side and a scripture on the other.
He points out the clip on the soldier's side.
"Whenever they were in hostile territory and they saw the enemy coming, they would all hook together," Williams says. "A soldier had to be certain of the person beside him, that he was going to fight.
Even if that person got hurt or wounded, the guy hooked up to him had to carry him through."

Clinching moment :
On the night before Auburn clinched the Southeastern Conference West Division championship at Ole Miss, Williams talked to players about "hooking together." That has become a rallying cry for Auburn's football team. And a song came to define a football team.

Defensive end Kyle Derozan, who sang the song "Hard Fighting Soldiers" in his church, introduced it to his teammates at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting. Early in the season, they began to sing it at their Friday night meetings before games. After they beat Ole Miss, they sang it in the locker room.

The public got to see it when locker room footage was shown on coach Tommy Tuberville's weekly television show.
"It's amazing," running backs coach Eddie Gran says. "You get in that locker room and you hook up with each other.
"You have your arms around the guy next to you. It doesn't matter if he's black, white, red or yellow. You sing that song, and you have 140 of us doing that. It's something you'll never forget."
Auburn players plan to "hook together" one more time Saturday.

More of the excellent Huntsville Times article at Al.com.

Auburn is a team of class. The young men are good natured. They help others when they see that help is needed, and without judgement. I wish that more teams would be like them in being a good role model for kids and adults as well. The kids always enjoy it when one of Auburn's eagles fly across the stadium.