The wonders and rigors of SEC football are laid bare in Christie Leigh Mueller's new book "Gridiron Belles: A guide to Saturdays in Dixie."
Though the book has been published for less than a month, Mueller is already busy gathering information for a second edition on her SEC tailgating tour this fall.
Mueller will be sponsoring a tailgate at Auburn twice during her tour, once Sept. 10 for the Mississippi State game and again for the Iron Bowl.
"I'm looking forward to the Iron Bowl," Mueller said. "It's been a good year back and forth building each other up. I think both of those schools have really contributed to the other in very positive ways, so I'm really excited to see both of those teams play."
Mueller said the best part of the game will be seeing how fans interact with each other after the collaboration that has gone on between the two schools this year, such as tornado relief.
"I'm really ready to be a part of the crowd and see how the crowd interacts this year versus last year when it was more of a spiteful rivalry," Mueller said.
Mueller has been to Auburn many times while gathering the material for her book, and on her trips she gleaned information from Auburn students and alumni such as Kelly Haywood.
"Tailgating is a great opportunity to spend time with people you don't see as much during the winter, summer or spring," Haywood said. "I think Christie's book is great in that it shows other women that there are others out there who have similar interests."
Amy Wilkinson, a representative of Swoozie's, the company sponsoring Mueller's tour, said she thinks the upcoming tailgate at Auburn will be a great opportunity to get more information about Auburn's gameday and tailgating traditions.
"I think a lot of the new information will come from these tailgates that we go to along the way this season," Wilkinson said. "We're just looking forward to meeting the fans, seeing their tailgates and kind of creating that information as we go."
Although Mueller is holding her own tailgate during Saturday's game, she will also be looking for anything interesting during her stay in Auburn to highlight in her book.
"I'll be doing a lot of walking around and checking out other people's tailgates," Mueller said. "We'll have our own tailgate set up, but I'll also be kind of jumping around to visit with the people who have contacted me and met me and wanted me to stop by their tailgate to see how they do things."
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