T GAMBLE: Oh, for the old days of really mourning losses

Being a die-hard Auburn fan, the recent Georgia-Auburn game was not one I choose to remember. Of course, Georgia fans found great delight in the convincing victory, while any thoughts I may have had about a great season came unceremoniously apart before the half was over. In days and years gone by, this result might have ruined my week, maybe even month. But now, having been COVID-19 battle-hardened and having seen more than one football season blow up in my face, I am less inclined to see these games as life or death. But, alas, it was not always that way.

I remember when Auburn was playing their last home game under Coach Pat Dye. I was in my 20s. We staged a late rally, down 14-10, and drove the length of the field needing a touchdown to win the game. There were only 19 seconds on the clock, and we had no timeouts. We were on the Georgia 1 1/2-yard line. We handed off to our tailback who fumbled but fell on the ball at the half-yard line. We scrambled to get back lined up as the clock went from 10 to 9 to … We made it, but the Georgia players were not yet lined up and one of them kicked the ball from its placement so our center did not have the ball, and Georgia coach Ray Goff was on the sideline, on his hands and knees waving both hands down frantically like he was fanning a bonfire to signal the players to stay down so the snap could not occur.

Surely the refs would stop play and not allow such shenanigans. Right? Surely we would lose the game, and I would ride home with a group of exuberant Bulldogs with a towel over my head all the way back to Dawson.

But back then, folks took such losses much harder. In my hometown, Mr. Billy Woodall owned the Dairy Queen and the local radio station, WDWD. He was the ultimate Bulldog. He went to every football game for God knows how many consecutive games, but he also went to every other sporting event involving the Dawgs, from tennis to baseball to basketball, just everything. When he went to a Bulldog football game, if the Dawgs lost, he would go back to his motel room, change into his pajamas, and go to bed, even if the game ended at 4 p.m. And he was well past his 20s when he did so. But I sympathize with him. Tough losses just make you want to curl up and hide your head under the pillow.

But it’s just not Georgia and Auburn folks who take it hard. Harvey Updyke, a former state trooper, could not take it when Cam Newton led Auburn back from a three-touchdown deficit and beat Alabama, of all things, in Tuscaloosa. So Harvey rode all the way to Auburn and poisoned the famous oak trees where fans roll them with toilet paper when Auburn wins. Harvey said he just had too much ‘Bama in him and couldn’t take it.

I guess that’s better than poisoning Auburn’s coach, although after the Georgia game, I think some Auburn fans might be in favor of it. The judge said a few other things and sentenced Harvey to a little jail time, a big fine and restitution. Harvey avoided paying most of it by dying. But before death, he named his son Bear Bryant Updyke and another child Crimson Tide Updyke. Just think, I could have named the Hurricane boy War Eagle Gamble. If only I had been thinking.

Hopefully Auburn will get back on the winning track, as I can’t stay in pajamas all winter, even during COVID-19. And ‘Bama has no oaks to poison.