There’s a first for everything, right? That’s kinda the beauty of college football, in my opinion.

Regardless of the college town you find yourself in on a Saturday in the fall — and heck, it can even be the same one over and over again — no two experiences will ever be the same. But today’s experience for me will especially be different as I take on my first-ever gameday at the Loveliest Village on The Plains.

On Friday morning as I waited for my Chick-fil-A breakfast, appearing a bit dejected under the brim of a Florida Gators ballcap, an older gentleman in an Auburn ball cap approached me, sighed and said something along the lines of him wishing he had gone to bed instead of watching the Florida-Utah game.

I agreed and we began talking ball. I told him I was excited to experience my first game at Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday, to which he told me he’s a season-ticket holder and has been for 30 years.

Then there’s me, who at 25 years old, is set to experience a gameday in Auburn for the first time. But if people like the nice fella I met in Chick-Fil-A can do this for 30 years and never get sick of it, there must be some truth to this place being special. So I’m setting out to experience it all today ― from watching my first Eagle Flight to a trip to Toomer’s Corner when all is said and done — and I’d like to bring you with me.

Entry No. 1: Saturday; 6:37 a.m.

Dear Gameday Diary,

Last night I set my alarm for 7 a.m., but something jarred me awake a few minutes early. As fate would have it, it was a power outage.

However, the inconvenience of not having power paled in comparison to the news that the world had lost Jimmy Buffett, who I didn’t know had an allegiance to the Auburn Tigers until Saturday morning.

When I think Buffett, I think of my late grandfather, who was about as close to a modern-day pirate as they come. He wasn’t the thieving or conniving kind, but he did choose to sleep on an air mattress on his bedroom floor because to him, that was the second-best thing to sleeping on the floor of some fishing boat in the middle of the ocean.

As such, it was real fitting when I walked into Auburn’s Big Blue Bagel to get a proper breakfast and was nearly driven away by the line to the door. It was a shock considering the place had opened just less than 10 minutes prior.

But it wasn’t until I heard the chorus of Buffett’s “Down at the Lah De Dah” playing over the iconic establishment’s speakers that I decided the wait was worth it.

It didn’t take long to realize that whoever was in charge of the music was a Parrothead in mourning. For an hour, I sat and enjoyed my cinnamon bagel, diet Coke and Buffett marathon while chuckling at the occasional young Auburn fan wearing either a cheerleading outfit or No. 34 jersey.