Toomer’s Corner is alive and well in Auburn, Alabama as the 2016 Football Season kicks off.
For the first time in three years the Auburn Oaks will be rolled with toilet paper to celebrate the victories of a team the community loves. While the streets near Samford Lawn may look like Christmas in September, there are a few precautions that need to be taken to survive the celebratory rolling of Auburn’s beautiful oaks.
1. Wear a helmet.
I cannot stress the importance of protecting your head from the likes of toilet paper rolls flying at you from all angles. A typical toilet paper roll weighs just over a half of a pound. Combine that weight with the speed it gains while flying over the trees to land perfectly upon your head results in a feeling similar to being sucker-punched in the face. It won’t happen once, it will happen at least twice. It’s the most magically painful feeling an Auburn fan can experience; All in a day’s work.
2. Beware of the Excited Toe-Crushing Monster.
Throwing toilet paper on trees around here is no joke, as sarcastic as it may sound. People rush the intersection of College Street and Magnolia as if it’s Black Friday. Your toes may be important to you, but they are not important to anyone else. Auburn University Alumni Amanda Amat summed the scene up in one word, “Overwhelming.” Few things come between an Auburn fan and Toomer’s Corner. Your toes are simply a pebble on the road. Have no fear, the Excited Toe-Crushing Monster is most likely one of your best friends.
3. Embrace the chaos.
As you stand among 1,000 of your closest friends watching a poetic scene of pure, white toilet paper dashing across the skyline like shooting stars, you’ll have approximately 1 centimeter of personal space. You’ll be dodging toilet-paper bullets and doing high-knees to protect your precious toes with people you’ve never met before, and you will bond the same way girls bond in the middle of Skybar’s bathroom. Let it happen, do not dare to pull out your phone unless you enjoy shattering it. Take part in the human touch that Auburn men and women believe in (not that you’ll really have a choice in the middle of the South’s Time Square).
The tradition flowing through Auburn University is the bread and butter that creates the cohesive unity among the Auburn family.
Hannah Barnett, senior in physical activity and health, said rolling Toomer’s Corner is something special.
“The best Auburn experience there is, nothing like it at all,” Barnett said.
Rolling the Auburn Oaks is a monumental activity that no Auburn student may graduate without experiencing. Stand there in awe of the toilet paper flying towards your head while you ignore the throbbing pain in your left pinky toe. The Auburn community is rolling the oaks again, and nothing will stop them.
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