(photo: ESPN)

So we are 100% confident we know where Apple’s Tim Cook will be on January 6th and it’s not the International CES in Las Vegas. Tim Cook, an alumni of Auburn University, is a very active Auburn Tigers fan, he even has a home in Auburn that he uses for game days. In fact, when the Auburn Tigers won the BCS championship in 2011 (for the 2010 season), Apple was debuting the iPhone on Verizon the next day.

While he wasn’t the CEO of Apple at the time it was presumed that Steve Jobs was too ill to make that announcement. So, taking a flight in the middle of the night from Glendale Arizona to New York City, a weary eyed Cook unveiled the iPhone on Verizon, but not before shouting “War Eagle” to the flock of reporters in the room.

With two Auburn alums on the staff here at Techfaster it will be just like 2010 CES for us, we’ll be taking a pit stop to the BCS championship as well, War Eagle (PR tip: if you’re pitching me a CES booth meeting request a War Eagle in the subject line may take you a long way).

Well Cook was here in  received a lifetime achievement award from Auburn  Some of his remarks from his speech have already been quoted in the tech media, especially ones that deal with equality. Cook is an openly gay man and being gay in the early 80’s in Auburn Alabama probably wasn’t the easiest thing he had to face.

Cook, a tiger at heart and someone who very much believes it’s great to be an Auburn tiger, made an awesome reference to the 2013 Iron Bowl in the speech. Just fast forward to 1:08 mark. There he talks about keeping his remarks brief, but noted, that he may need “one extra second”. A reference to the 1 extra second that Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban made a stink about during the Iron Bowl, which caused them to lose the game when Auburn’s Chris Davis returned a missed field goal 109 yards for Auburn to win the game.

While Cook isn’t the autograph type, when he is on campus at Auburn and attending football games he’s more than approachable, he’s not the CEO of one of the wealthiest tech companies in the world, he’s just another Auburn Tiger.

Check out my good friend Ina Fried’s post about Cook witnessing a cross burning, also remarks from this same speech. 
Thanks WarBlogle.