About 160 miles from the hallowed ground of Bryant-Denney Stadium, home of University of Alabama football, sits the intersection of College and Magnolia in Auburn, Alabama.

Here, at this place, sits the epitome of vandalism and littering, but, to the fans of the Auburn Tigers, the intersection is holy ground. This crossroads is the home of Toomer’s Oaks.

The two oak trees at Toomer’s have been in the ground for more than 130 years in the Alabama town and they guard the northeast corner of Auburn’s campus. In the 1890s, it is said that students would wait by the oaks at the corner for word via telegraph of Auburn road wins, and, when the news came in that the Tigers had won, would throw the ticker tape on the trees to celebrate.

Then, in the 1960s and early 70s, the real tradition developed. Students started throwing toilet paper and rolling the sacred oaks after big football wins. When the Tigers beat the hated and undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide in the fall of 1972, the tradition was solidified.

Since then, Toomer’s Corner worked itself into the psyche of all who attend Auburn. It not only became the place to celebrate big football victories, but also it’s where nervous young men would take their anxious dates for the first time and fathers would yearn to bring their sons to the corner someday to relive all the great memories.

When Cam Newton and Auburn came back to beat rival Alabama in the 2010 Iron Bowl, the nickname that has developed for the annual game between the two schools, a furious Alabama fan invaded Toomer’s Corner and laced the ground with a poison that would kill the trees.

After Harvey Updyke, Jr., the perpetuator, called into a radio show to brag about his deed, he was sentenced to three years in jail for the crime. But, the damage had already been done. The University’s Horticulture scientists worked to save the trees, but nothing could be done. It was eventually determined that the trees, who have stood through ups and downs in this country for the last 130 years, would die, a slow, drawn out death.

On April 20, the oaks had their final rolling after Auburn’s spring football game.

It will be several years before the school can plant replacement trees because the destruction of the soil. In the meantime, the tradition will have to forge its own, new path ahead.

There is a particular romanticism that comes with college football that has developed over the decades of playing the game. Saturdays in autumn are some of the best days to be an American. The marching bands, the crazy student sections and the over-priced food make the experience of our second past time one of a kind.

It’s not only the games themselves that celebrate college football, but also how people celebrate game days that have become tradition. Rolling the trees at the intersection of College and Magnolia is one of football’s truly unique customs and Auburn fans won’t let it die with the oaks. Even though there was an air of anguish hanging over the intersection, the mood was, by and large, happy. Auburn fans celebrated at Toomer’s last Saturday the same way they always have and that, I think, is pretty cool. They won’t let some crazed fan ruin their good time. They will continue to go to Toomer’s for years to come and love every minute of it.

The tradition shows that, at this point, it’s not about the trees. It’s never about the trees, it’s about the memories made at the trees. Why be upset about something when there are so many good memories about that something?

But what does Toomer’s corner have to say about the world outside of Auburn? Although the trees may be dead, we should take the approach of fans at Auburn and celebrate life for the right reasons. They don’t concern themselves with Updyke, they just want to relive and recreate memories that are so cherished at one place, and that is something that we can all learn to live for.

So, it’s up to you. Will you allow poison from somebody else to slowly work its way up the branches of who you are? Or will you acknowledge that life happens but continue to reflect on the story of life itself? The choice is yours, but, I, quite frankly, believe it is a pretty easy one to take.