30 bucket list items college football fans need to experience

10. War Eagle Flight, Auburn

This isn’t the first time Auburn makes the list and it won’t be the last. If one schedules his or her college football bucket list trip to the loveliest village on the plains just right, all three can be achieved in a single weekend.

Fans across the country know that “War Eagle” is the battle cry in Auburn, and there are several theories as to its origins. The most popular, and far-fetched, myth is a wounded eagle rescued from a Civil War battlefield, brought home to Auburn. As legend has it, the eagle escaped during an 1892 football game against Georgia, then circled the field before falling to its death after Auburn won.

Other stories include a 1913 pep rally, a 1914 football game against the Carlisle Indians, and Native American lore. Whatever the true origin, before every home game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, the team’s live golden eagle mascot, War Eagle VII, also known as Nova, flies free through the air around the stadium before landing on the field.

It’s a truly majestic experience for a college football fan – one that puts goosebumps on arms and makes the hair stand up on the backs of necks.

The program of raising live eagle mascots and training them to perform before games and at other events (War Eagle, VI, Tiger, saw action in the 2002 Winter Olympics), is part of a larger picture. The university’s role is to “promote wildlife conservation as a part of the education initiatives of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Southeastern Raptor Center,” according to the school’s official description.