Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Warning: This post contains the “d word”

So consider yourselves warned.

I first noticed this during the Alabama-Auburn gymnastics meet on Friday night in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum: When the Auburn chearleaders do the “Boddagetta” cheer, they appear to have forgotten one of the words.

For the last three years—ever since I arrived at the Opelika-Auburn News in July of 2004—that cheer has been exactly the same. Its last line goes like this: “Weagle, Weagle, War Damn Eagle, Kick ‘em in the Butt, Big Blue.“

And yet, suddenly, there’s a change. On Friday—and again at Saturday’s A-Day game and again at Sunday’s WNIT game—the last line of the chant was “Weagle, Weagle, Waaaaarrrr Eagle, Kick ‘em in the Butt, Big Blue.“

Are we as a society so hypersensitive that we can’t abide even the mildest profanity in a 30-year-old cheer? Does the Auburn fight song no longer ask Auburn’s teams to “give ‘em hell, give ‘em hell, stand up and yell?“

Actually, don’t answer that. I’m not sure I want to know the answer.

Look, I’m all for a kinder, gentler, more family-friendly athletics experience. But we’re talking about a word that wouldn’t offend my grandmother, much less the average Auburn fan. It is—full disclosure—a word I use all the time, so maybe I’m especially bothered.

(Plus, now that I think of it, “Boddagetta” still asks Auburn to kick the other team in the butt. Isn’t that a lot worse?)