The Auburn football team's win over Alabama last Saturday "means big business" for area bookstores, according to Sara Falligant of the OPELIKA-AUBURN NEWS. J&M Bookstore Owner & CEO Trey Johnston said that fans "purchased 2,500 score shirts by the time his store closed Saturday night." On Sunday, the store "sold 2,000 more." The store had all of the artwork for the shirts "approved before the game, in addition to securing licensing agreements" with Auburn and the Collegiate Licensing Co. Johnston said, "All you’ve got to do is put the score." While J&M had white score shirts available yesterday, the store "had sold out of a navy shirt featuring an elephant on a platter." J&M staffer Andrew Thim said that the design "would be back in stock" today or tomorrow, "along with new 'Kick, Bama, Kick' and 'One second' designs." The Auburn Univ. Bookstore also "still had score shirts with a 'Going to the SEC Championship' theme available" yesterday. The bookstore "expects to have a new design" in today that reads, "Hey Bama, got a second? Better be careful what you wish for." Alumni Hall in Opelika’s Tiger Town also "expects a shipment of score shirts to arrive" today after receiving its first shipment Sunday. Store Manager Morgan Pilate said, "We sold completely out" (OPELIKA-AUBURN NEWS, 12/3).
GO FOR TWO: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes Auburn radio announcer Rod Bramblett had "perhaps the biggest" moments of his career "at the end of the Tigers' last two games" against Georgia and Alabama. Bramblett called the winning touchdown against Georgia that was scored on a deflected 73-yard pass and proclaimed it "a miracle at Jordan-Hare." In describing Auburn CB Chris Davis' game-winning touchdown against Alabama, Bramblett "invoked the almighty’s name to describe a moment that, for its ramifications, was more meaningful than miracle." Bramblett yesterday said, "These are my top two calls. I’ve had some exciting ones and dramatic finishes, but nothing like the miracle of a couple of weeks ago and the unbelievable play the other night." Sandomir notes Bramblett "does not embrace the title of a homer," but he is "not ambivalent about which team he wants to win." Bramblett: "The Auburn IMG Sports Network pays me to call games for Auburn. Fans are listening for the Auburn slant. They want to know that the whole broadcast crew is living and dying with the school” (N.Y. TIMES, 12/3).
