Auburn’s famed “Section 111” will be returning to Plainsman Park this season but things will be different under new coach Butch Thompson.
Although it became the official student section of Auburn in 2000, Coach Thompson is the first coach to fully accept the section. Most coaches in the past have not approved of the heckling nature of the section but Coach Thompson has been clear that he wants his team to have a home field advantage.
Other SEC schools have similar groups, such as Missouri, LSU, Texas A&M, and Alabama. It has become a part of the game at the college level and Auburn is very willing to join the trend.
In the past, the section has been a source of controversy, as some of the more traditional fans do not enjoy seeing the heckling students catch on.
“We’ve had some letters from smaller schools or parents that say it is unsportsmanlike,” said Josh Deas one of the leaders of Section 111,” but opposing players have said ‘you guys were amazing and we enjoy playing against Auburn”.
Section 111 takes pride in being a rowdy group during the game but always back it up with being very respectful. The section usually picks one player to target fot the whole game but once the game is over they take to twitter and make a point to wish that player good luck with the rest of the season and thank him for being a good sport.
On February 11th the Baseball team will be holding a ‘Fan Day” in which the Baseball program will have a meet and greet with the players and coaches as well as a tour of the baseball facility. This experience is meant to give the fans an inside look at the Baseball program here in Auburn.
The Section leaders hope to hold an student Instructional session during the event in which they can review the “10 Commandments of Heckling”. These “Commandments” include “Thou Shalt Not Use Profanity”, “Thou Shalt be Friendly”, and most importantly “ Thou Shalt Love Baseball”.
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