LSU bid farewell to Alex Box Stadium this weekend sweeping the final regular season series with the MSU Bulldogs. The sweep marked the 12th straight win for the Tigers as they head into the Wally Pontiff Classic tonight against UNO at Zephyr Field. The Privateers sport their own gaudy 14 game win streak and have beaten LSU twice this season at Privateer Field and the Box. After tonight, LSU goes to Auburn for the final regular season series of the season before the SEC Tourney. If LSU can keep playing great baseball, then Sunday’s 9-6 win might not be the last game ever at the stadium’s current location. LSU could score a home regional for the post season. The Tigers moved to #16 in both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls.
Below is the LSU portion of the SEC Football Roundtable that yours truly took part in at bleacherreport.com. The site is an open source sports network, so any yahoo (such as myself) can publish works on it.
The SEC Football Roundtable is a collaborative effort by representatives of SEC schools. Hopefully as we move towards next season, I’ll have a chance to participate more and post the columns here. Since I speak to most of you as fans in the know, some of my info may seem elementary to the rabid Tiger fan. To see the entire roundtable you can click
And yes, I realize they spelled my name wrong. Hey, who’s perfect???
What are some of the major position battles going on within your team?
Since Jacob Hester exited to the NFL, the Tigers will have a three headed monster at tailback. Keiland Williams, Charles Scott, and Richard Murphy are all promising runners. Look for Les Miles to rotate the trio and play the hot hand. Williams is seen as the most athletic, while Scott brings the best mix of speed and power. Murphy has had the least amount of playing time of the three but had a great spring including a great spring game.
Corner will be another battle as both Jonathan Zenon and Chevis Jackson have graduated. The race is on as super frosh Patrick Johnson; Jai Eugene (sophomore); Ron Brooks and Phelon Jones (RS freshmen); and Chris Hawkins (junior) will battle it out for two spots.
Last but not least, with the dismissal of Ryan Perrilloux, the quarterback position becomes a race between redshirt freshman Jarret Lee and junior Andrew Hatch. Lee remains the early favorite but is more of a pro style quarterback. Offensive coordinator Gary Crowton has run a spread hybrid offense which suited a mobile Matt Flynn and would have suited an even more mobile Perrilloux.
Who are some players on each side of the ball that you see emerging as stars this year?
If you didn't hear of WR Demetrius Byrd in ’07, then you will definitely know his name in ’08. The senior JC transfer stepped up last year after the injury to Early Doucet and will probably be the primary target in the passing game.
Even though DT Glenn Dorsey was drafted, the Tigers are overrun with riches on the defensive line, highlighted by senior DE Tyson Jackson. In case you missed the BCS National Championship Game though, don’t sleep on Ricky Jean-Francois. The guy is simply a freak of Jevon Kearse proportions. He can play end or tackle and has size, strength, and athleticism. Another nasty on the line to watch out for is DT Drake Nevis. He will make the most of the playing time he gets.
Sophomore FS Chad Jones will continue to terrorize offenses. Jones is probably the best athlete on an already athletic defense.
Are there any injuries your team is worrying about?
The offensive line’s injury status will be a concern. Senior center Brett Helms' health will be essential, especially with a new starting QB. Guard Ryan Miller, who may fight for the starting RG spot with Lyle Hitt, will need to stay healthy to provide depth on the O-line.
LB Darry Beckwith has had nagging injuries that hopefully won’t carry over to ’08.
What do you think your team’s major strengths and weaknesses will be?
On offense the strength will be the offensive line and the running game. Inexperience and inconsistency may plague the QB and WR positions but a good ground game could be the saving grace for LSU. However, WRs Brandon Lafell and Terrance Tolliver could wind up being game breakers in the passing attack. The glaring weakness on offense will be inexperience under center.
LSU will be great up the middle on defense. With Jean-Francois, Nevis, Marlon Favorite, and Al Woods at DT, the Tigers have plenty of depth on the line. Senior Darry Beckwith will be great at MLB and safeties Chad Jones and Curtis Taylor will be solid. The weaknesses on the D will be inexperience at corner and OLB.
Finally, kicker Colt David found his groove as the season progressed in ’08, but with Patrick Fisher graduating, LSU has a big hole to fill at punter. Also, LSU’s return game last year was atrocious and the coaches will look to improve upon it in ’08. Speedster Trindon Holliday is great as a kick returner but doesn’t have the hands to return punts.
What games are you most looking forward to watching this year?
Every year in the SEC produces great match ups. The four games the Tigers have circled though are Auburn and Florida on the road and Georgia and Alabama at home. There will be no need for motivation for the fans on November 8th as Nick Saban returns to Baton Rouge, only this time on the opposite sideline than before. (Actually he came to Tiger Stadium when the Saints played the Dolphins after Hurricane Katrina but who’s counting?)
Revenge will be on the menu the day after Thanksgiving in Little Rock as the purple and gold look to avenge the 3 OT loss to Arkansas from last season. It would be wise not to overlook the Gamecocks as the Tigers travel to Columbia this season.
What record do you think your team will end the regular season with?
If there was a Vegas line on this, it would be OFF because of the QB situation. I would like to think the defense and running game would be good enough to produce an 8- or 9-win regular season, with the Tigers hopefully in the thick of the SEC West title race. Looking at recent history though, usually someone else besides LSU ends up in Atlanta on even years.
The Uniform Playoff continues... Air Force barely squeaks by in the Mountain West, with BYU and TCU making strong pushes for at large bids. We continue on our mid major tour with the WAC. Happy voting!!!
Miles handles situation like a coach and a father
By: Justin G. 5-2-08
I have no idea what it’s like to be a father, at least, not yet. I also have no idea what it’s like to coach a major college football program (at least not yet…). We know Les Miles is a good coach and I would suspect he is a good father as well. The Ryan Perrilloux saga has been THE issue of choice for LSU fans this off season. And it now looks like the end of the saga has arrived. No happy ending here for anyone involved as #11 exits stage left.
The talk amongst fans will continue with the general feelings being ones of sadness, relief, shock, and the culmination of the inevitable. In fact, at this point I hardly see how anyone can be shocked. Perrilloux made more headlines off the field than on it. He’ll probably be off to a Division 1-AA school soon to further pursue his hopes of entering the NFL. Someone proposed to me this morning, “Maybe getting to the NFL will straighten him out.” I thought back, “Yeah, I’m sure millions of dollars and a life of excess will calm him down.”
But maybe what they meant was if he gets to the NFL in the future, he would have done so by going the road less traveled and the trials associated with it would make him a better man. That’s what I’d like to think will happen. That’s what I hope will happen. Just like when I give a few bucks to someone on the street begging for change, I hope my minimal gift will go to good use even though I may know better.
I think it’s that same hope Miles had for Ryan. Miles had the daunting task of playing coach, role model, and surrogate father (practically) to Perrilloux. Les was constantly walking the line between doing what’s best for his team while turning his back on a kid in need of direction and trying to counsel a star player who was by far his best option at quarterback. I would think most coaches who are also fathers have a tough time with this. Watching a young man making one bad decision after another no matter how much you support him no matter how stringently you try to lay down the law. No man wants to disown a child or a player. Coaches like to win. Helping a kid turn his life around is a big win. It’s not one you’ll see in the record books but it’s one of the greatest accomplishments a coach can achieve. Miles will view this as his own failure.But most know that Les could’ve only done so much. He extended every chance he could. He handled the situation with integrity knowing that kicking off Perrilloux means giving up on him but showing the rest of the team that the rules are there for a reason. I don’t think there’s a better parallel for parenting than coaching. After all, coaches teach, nurture, guide, and direct. But when it comes down to it, it’s the players that take the field. They do so with the knowledge passed on to them by their coaches, but the players have to make the decisions on in the game. The coaches can’t play the game for the players. It’s the most powerless part of being a coach or a parent.
Les should be commended for being tough but fair. For being someone who balances doing what’s best for the team and doing what’s best for someone struggling to do the right things. In the end, Miles knows the team is bigger than one person. A football team has to be of one mind and one direction. When a player steps out of line, it’s the coaches’ job to redirect them. When offenses and trespasses are repeated, they become a distraction. Distractions are bad news for a football team trying to achieve goals. Achieving goals is the measure of success in college football.
So while this is a sad day for LSU football, (cue up the Saban sound bite) it’s time to move on. And we can move on knowing that LSU is defending its National Championship with a coach whose integrity is only surpassed by his patience and devotion to his players. A man who gave every chance until there was no more left to give. I’m sure Miles will lose sleep over this, wondering if he did the right thing. That’s what good coaches and good fathers do when making tough decisions. Les made the hard choice. Les made the right choice.
It’s a privilege, not a right, to wear the purple and gold and take the field in Death Valley on a Saturday night. The Tigers have over a hundred young men who earn that right. If you don’t earn it, you cheapen what it means to represent the LSU Fighting Tigers. The measure of a man is not how many mistakes he makes but what he learns from them. I hope Perrilloux sees the error of his ways and becomes a better man because of it. I wish the best for him in the future and wherever he goes, I hope he earns it.
Les Miles and LSU will defend the National Championship without the services of QB Ryan Perrilloux
By: Justin Goar
4-15-08
“You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.”
I should have learned my lesson the last four times. Something told me to not watch the LSU women play their Final Four game. But my fandom wouldn’t allow it. I watched yet another heart breaking, soul crushing defeat for the Lady Tigers in their 5th straight Final Four in which a sixth next year would be a long shot.
First off, the “atta girls”:
Five straight Final Fours are nothing to sneeze at. LSU has consistently been one of the best teams in the nation for the last five years. All the seniors suffering the one point loss to rival Tennessee were a big part of that successful run.
Now the bad news:
The women played pretty solid defense until about the last four seconds of the game. Shots weren’t falling and neither were free throws and despite that, little Erica White stood at the line in the waning moments and got a chance to live out every basketball player’s dream scenario. The scenario that floats through their heads whenever they step up to the line in their driveway or a dark, musty gym. Down by one…two shots…final seconds.
I’m not going to stretch this for drama. You know what happened. The pint sized point guard nailed them both and put the Tigers up by one with just a few ticks left. But it was enough for the Lady Vols to drive down the floor, miss what was thought to be the game winning shot, and get the tip in to seal LSU’s fate.
So what fits better, the Buffalo Bills of Women’s basketball or bridesmaids of Women’s Bball?
Maybe Pokey and Van didn’t get it done over a five year span but there was a lot of blood sweat and tears poured into this fantastic run whose lack of a championship disallows the moniker of a “dynasty”.
The missing cog in just about every year for the ladies was a consistent deep threat. The Tigers relied on a power O and stingy defense to win games. But last night, shots weren’t falling and good defense was the only thing keeping them in it. Add in gutsy leadership by White and Fowles and undying hustle of Ashley Thomas, and LSU was only a heartbeat away from playing Stanford in the final game. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be. The next time the women make it to a Final Four it’ll do my heart some good not to watch it, those women always seem to break my heart.
“Are allergies bothering you?
Skip the Bertman andtry new prescription Alleva! Side effects may include a grumbling fan base, Board of Supervisors headaches, and an overactive Lombardi. See your doctor for more details…
LSU hired Duke Athletic Director Joe Alleva last week. I can honestly say I talked to about a dozen or so people on the hire. One person liked it, a few were unsure, and the rest were pretty disappointed. At first, I was less than enthusiastic about the pick. Now I think I’m going to try to be as optimistic as possible and take a wait and see approach.
But the second this guy makes a move I don’t like, I’ll probably be one of the first ones to start lighting torches.
There’s no gating like tailgating…
I must say that tailgating is pretty sacred to me and usually just confined to the fall with football season. Every once and a while, we get the group together to tailgate for a baseball game.April 5th not only had LSU at the Box against Bama but also the football spring game in Tiger Stadium. And I made it to neither event. But we tailgated for both of them. That’s gotta count for something.
LSU took 2 out of 3 from the Tide in the horrific SEC West. And then lost two of three to Ole Miss this past weekend.
The people I know that went to the Spring Game reported back with these juicy nuggets of info:
1) Overall, it kinda sucked.
2) The defense looked good.
3) Richard Murphy was a hoss.
4) Perrilloux better stay out of trouble b/c the quarterbacking is inconsistent.
And if it’s consistency you desire, Ryan Perrilloux is your man. That guy is consistently in the newspaper for the wrong reasons.
I’ve held my tongue on this for a while now, but I officially think I’ve had enough. I know the kid has never gotten into any “real” trouble but he’s a ticking time bomb of controversy.
Which scenario would you prefer if you were Les Miles:
1) Kick the kid off the team, go 8-4 or 9-3, and keep your integrity
OR
2) Keep the kid, go 7-5 or 8-4 or possibly worse after he does something wrong and gets suspended. Les’s credibility is lessened.
OR
3) Keep the kid, he keeps doing what he’s doing (which is getting into just the right amount of trouble without getting kicked off), his teammates give up playing for him because of his attitude. All the while Les is losing a bit of his integrity and has to endure the ensuing poop-storm?
If Miles was still fighting for the respect of LSU fans, I’d say win at all costs. But Les has a crystal ball. He can afford to take the high road. It’s become clear that Perrilloux is held to a different standard than that of his teammates and if I was blocking for him, that would make me angry.
I don’t know anyone on the team, I don’t have any inside sources but this guy can’t be a beacon for team unity, he just can’t. There’s got to be more than one guy on this team that thinks this is going to be a distraction? Am I off base here?
Email me with your thoughts.
“LSU grabs Stanford’s Johnson”
No….. how about…
“LSU uses Stanford’s Johnson to plug their opening”
Uhhh….what about…
“The Tigers replace a dick with a Johnson”
I’m not one for constructing headlines I guess. At any rate, Stanford’s Trent Johnson has become the new basketball coach in Baton Rouge and most seemed pleased with the hire. Johnson has a pretty good resume’ and will look to take the Tigers in a new direction. With that said, the question emerges on whether or not he will retain Butch Pierre. I think Butch is invaluable as a recruiting tool in Louisiana. Butch has all the relationships with high school and AAU coaches that Johnson does not have in this area (at least not yet) and retaining Pierre shouldn’t get the dander up of all those Brady bashers. But it will be interesting to see what the new coach does.
The longest contest no one really cares about…
Well that intro hurt a little, but it’s time for another week of the JWBS uniform playoffs!!!!!
The Big 12 (my bad, I meant the Big XII) wasn’t nearly as close as I thought it would be. The burnt orange of the Longhorns walked away easily with the Big XII crown and a spot in the playoffs.
Now that every BCS conference has been accounted for, let’s take a second to take a look at the conference winners so far…(seeds listed next to team. Seeds based on voting percentages so far)
SEC-Georgia (6)
Big East-West Virginia (3)
ACC-FloridaState (1)
PAC 10- UCLA (5)
Big XII- Texas (2)
Big 10- Michigan (4)
Every conference will have a representative champion as well as wild cards to be voted on after conference play to give us a 16 team field which I will seed and then the teams will play each other tourney style. Hey, it’s a long off season, okay??!!
So its mid-major time and what better conference to start us off than the Mountain West?
Happy Voting and until next time…Go Tigers!!!
By: Justin G.
2-27-08
Now available in 49 states. Sorry Rhode Island!!!…
The JWBS title of my column started when I did succinct little tangents instead of editorial articles. But soon after, I just titled everything I did as “Justin’s Weekly Brain Seepage.” So for this week, it returns to its original form.
----In conversation, if someone mentions Kelvin Sampson or Bobby Knight as a coaching possibility for LSU immediately turn your back on them and be silent. Do not show them attention. Do not reward their behavior with a positive or negative response. After a few seconds, if you feel the person has learned their lesson, you can face them again and engage them in conversation. If they continue to exhibit bad behavior, repeat the act of turning your back on them. I learned this on the Dog Whisperer and it might just work. Remember, establish dominance.
----For everyone who was “dissatisfied” with Les Miles ’08 recruiting class, plan to be appeased in ’09. LSU is grabbing some great talent with their first few early commitments and should rack up a great class. Now smack yourself in the noggin with a media guide for being a doubter with unrealistic expectations.
----Regarding the Perrilloux situation…I still have no comment.
----LSU baseball should be on the rise this year. The Tigers took 2 of 3 in the opening weekend against Indiana and defeated Southern University Tuesday night. Paul Maineri is going to fiddle with the lineup and try different players out these first few series. They won’t be Omaha bound, but expect a better product on the field than in recent years. Remember, this is the last season in Alex Box stadium as we know it so go out and catch a game in a place with great history. No, I’m serious, do it. Get out there and support this team before its 96 degrees and 88% humidity!!!!!!!!
----I don’t know how many teams will pass on Glenn Dorsey in the draft in April. But whatever the number is will be equal to the number of teams that regret passing on Glenn Dorsey.
----It’s not LSU related but I have to mention what a great job the city of New Orleans did hosting the NBA All Star Weekend. It’s funny how those in the national media who showed such great concern and spoke out about New Orleans not being able to host effectively are so silent now.
People around this country NEED to know that the city did a wonderful job hosting the Sugar Bowl, The National Championship (a week later), and the NBA All Star Weekend. What those doubters forgot is that if there’s one thing the Big Easy can do well it’s host a party.
I highly recommend this article by ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons.
Simmons is one of my favorite writers and he nailed all the stuff about New Orleans on the head. There’s a lot of NBA stuff in there you can skip over but the sections on the city were great. Someone outside of New Orleans needed to say this.
----It looks like FloridaState will gain a playoff spot in the JWBS Uniform playoffs. I thought the Seminoles would win but be challenged by Georgia Tech and Miami but it wasn’t even close. There’s some good uni’s in the ACC. Clemson’s are decent when they keep the purple to a minimum. Georgia Tech should go back to wearing white at home but I like their look. Miami does the best they can do with orange and green as their official colors. I think Virginia looks too much like the Denver Broncos. Virginia Tech’s uni’s are one of my least faves in the country. BC, NC ST, Duke, and UNC have classic looks despite updates made in recent years. WakeForest’s 2007 uni’s were much better than in year’s past. Maryland does the best they can do with Under Armour as their sponsor.
Next we’ll move on to the Big East. For me, no one really stands out in this conference so it could be anyone’s guess as to who will advance. Thanks for visiting this week and Go Tigers!!!
2-18-08 By: Justin G.
Perrilloux suspended... Several news sources are now reporting that LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is suspended indefinitely from the football team. Since I'm putting this out at almost 5:00 pm on Monday, I'll refrain from commenting about the situation until more details are released. Ryan lost his father recently and has been going through tough times but has dug himself a hole with the coaches to where this was the only option. It is unclear at this time whether he will be reinstated but we'll see how this plays out. The signal caller from East St. John has been battling off the field issues ever since he's committed to LSU (even before actually). If he's not reinstated, I wish Ryan all the luck in the world. It seems as if he will need it. I know it's my thing to usually make jokes about different situations but as I type this, I'm not in the mood.
The LSU Tigers taking on teams such as the Appalachian States… Ok, so it’s not a BCS opponent like we all had hoped but ASU’s stock is pretty high right now. Most Tiger fans are lamenting the failure to schedule a “marquee” out of conference opponent for the 2008 opener. However, some national media outlets (CNNSI, ESPN.com, etc) have taken notice and are commending the Tigers for taking on ASU after the Mountaineers were turned down by Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Florida State. The game will probably be billed as a clash of National Champions and there’s talk of the game being televised. While some Appalachian State fans are offended that Tiger fans are disappointed in the match up; this doesn’t come from a lack of respect as much as a lack of big name on the LSU out of conference schedule and how that may affect National Title game aspirations for the Tigers. When it came down to it, Texas Tech neither wanted a one game one time match up in Tiger Stadium or a neutral site game in Houston. LSU didn’t want to give up a home game this year so the Tigers could collect off of the gate of eight home games in ’08 as opposed to the seven in ’07 (because of the Tulane series). Overall the best case scenario should just be LSU playing their best and not having to rely on their out of conference schedule to be the determining factor in ’08. That said, the Tigers never would’ve played the Buckeyes for the National Championship this past season without its big win over the VT Hokies. Here’s to rolling the dice! Also, it’ll be nice to take on the school that produced Ms. Teen South Carolina (Caitlin Upton) who’s known for her poor sentence construction (hey me too!) and her hatred for the anti-proliferation of maps worldwide. One day, her life long dream of getting maps to the Iraq and places such as will be a reality I’m sure. And while I’m at it, on the advice of one of my compadre’s, I’d like to take this opportunity to invite Caitlin to be our honored guest at our tailgate the day of the LSU/Appalachian State game. Even though she’s not a student there anymore (or ever was, I’m not sure), we promise to roll out the red carpet like we do for most of our opposing guests. Plus, she’ll get a chance to tailgate with other celebrities. Well, we’re all local celebrities. And I mean VERY local, like “on the 40 foot by 20 foot patch of land where we tailgate” local. And after looking up her bio, I’ve found out that Caitlin and I share more than an affinity for bad grammar and an inability to express ourselves in an efficient manner, we also have the same birthday (March 27th). So really we’re like kindred spirits. And we’re both U.S. Americans. If that and free alcohol doesn’t get her down here I don’t know what will.
While you were working on some random Wednesday… I have to commend the Gridiron Club for a very well run recruiting bash this year. Food and beer lines were 100% better and it’s the best event of its kind.I’ve heard complaints over the sound system but I think that has more to do with the acoustics at the venue and not the sound system (but I don’t really know). Les Miles’ speech that concluded the festivities was great to listen to and got me fired up as well as the showings of all the pre game motivational videos in the late afternoon. It was a great time. While I know this year’s class may not stack up talent wise to Miles’ other classes, LSU filled big time needs at cornerback and wide receiver. They added depth in areas that were needed QB, LB, OL, etc. Remember, Glenn Dorsey was a four star recruit. Jacob Hester was a two star guy. You may want to see what the coaching staff does with these guys before we start worrying about stars. You have to take into account that this year was a down year in recruiting in the state of Louisiana and that’s not the norm. Next year’s crop will have more blue chips and LSU’s recruiting ranking should be on the rise again. I think we’ve gotten to a great place as a program when people are actually worried about only having the tenth best class in the nation. Or maybe it’s a scary place?
“Reap the whirlwind, Brady. Reap it!!!” The axe finally fell on John Brady. While I won’t celebrate his firing, I think it was about time (or maybe a couple of seasons too late). Brady did some good things here, but his winning seasons were too few and far between. On top of that the man burned too many bridges, severed too many ties, and ran off too many players. I’m a little self conflicted when it comes to who should replace Brady. Part of me thinks we should blow it up and start anew and part of me would really like to see Butch Pierre coach this basketball team. I think the players really like Butch and it shows in their effort post-Brady(with close losses to Tenn and UK and a win at Florida). But there may be some old hard line LSU fans that abandoned the program a while ago and won’t come back until everything associated with Brady ball (Pierre included) is gone.
JWBS Uniform playoffs… Well UCLA walked away with a landslide victory in the PAC 10 in conference play and has earned a spot in the playoffs with SEC Champ Georgia and Big 10 champ Michigan. The Pac 10 has some great uni’s like UCLA, Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State, and USC (according to a friend).But they also have two of the worst, Oregon and Oregon State. Washington’s ok, Washington State is neither classic looking or imaginative, and if Cal got rid of their bright gold uni’s they wouldn’t be that bad. Next, we move back east to the ACC in what I suspect to be a tight race between 2 or 3 schools. Vote early and often to see your choice gain a spot in the JWBS uniform playoffs! Until next time, Go Tigers!
By: Justin G. 2-7-08
“Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones… in fact, how about just a no throwing stones at allpolicy???”
If you haven’t seen the article below, then I’m posting it in its entirety because you have to read it. You really do. It’s written by some Alabama fan with a blog (what, can just anyone get a website these days???) and it picks on LSU fans for two reasons:
1)We apparently deface Alabama religious items.
and
2)We make the road ways in the “Yellowhammer” state more beautiful.
It’s number two that sticks in the craw of the author and like most mentally deficient people with a keyboard, his facts are all wrong. Please read and I’ll meet you on the other side…
Categories: Football This means war. Put yourself in this situation: Your team just won the BCS National Championship despite having two losses and a coach who may or may not have all his mental faculties about him. You're getting ready to sign a top-15 recruiting class, which is actually kind of a disappointment compared to the classes you've signed for the past few years. You didn't lose your possibly-insane head coach to Michigan, and you've got a crop full of 5-star recruits ready to fill in for all the players you're losing to the NFL this year. How do you react in that scenario? Do you celebrate in the streets? Buy new national championship merchandise and DVDs from Sports Illustrated? Apparently not, if you're an LSU fan. It seems a number of them would prefer to wage floral warfare on the state of Alabama. That's right, some scholars and gentlemen from Baton Rouge have decided it would just be a great idea to throw seeds of purple and gold flowers from moving vehicles along I-20/59 in Tuscaloosa. Just the latest installment of things that make you go "huh?" from the Bayou Brainiacs. Who can forget the classic Purple and Gold Houndstooth hats? The organizer of the great botanical assault on Alabama, Pike Barkerding (I could not make that up), called the project "forget-me-not" flowers for Saban. Don't worry, Pike. Nobody forgets their psycho exes. LSU just won a title and the Tiger fans still can't let it go that we hired a guy who used to coach there. Seriously? This is a sign of a well-adjusted, mentally-balanced fan base? If you really want to drive Saban crazy, how about wearing all that national championship gear or devising clever chants about Alabama's frequent forays to the Independence Bowl. The There's no need to resort to drive-by gardening, or defacing a Houndstooth hat. Was this really necessary? LSU fans should be saying "Nick who?" right now instead of taking strange and elaborate measures to cheapen the traditions and interstate highways of Alabama. No matter what LSU fans do to the median on I-20, the Baton Rouge Tigers will never be higher than third on Alabama's list of rival schools. You can't just manufacture a rivalry out of thin air and purple and gold will never be more hated in Tuscaloosa than the insidious orange of Auburn and Tennessee. So if you're cruising down the interstate near Tuscaloosa and you see someone throwing seeds out a window, feel free to point and laugh at them for having the worst case of coach envy in sports history. The folks in Baton Rouge should chill out and enjoy their championship. You don't get to win one of those every year, no matter how many flowers you plant.
…Did you finish it with a confusing look on your face? Let’s review: By the way, yours truly did not travel to Alabama and therefore did not take part in the botanical assault.
The first slight comes at the expense of our National Championship despite a two loss season. C’mon Gumps, there’s no need for all the envy, green is simply not your color. Admit it; you’d give your first born son/nephew for a National Championship this side of the 90’s. Next, he takes a shot at Les Miles. The author questions Miles’ mental state. Nice. Typical Bama. Wanna know my mental state? Euphoria. It comes when you win a National Championship or two in recent memory.
In fact, I think it’s still awesome opposing fans will continue to question our coach and don’t look to stop anytime soon. I can only hope that opposing coaches follow suit. It’s the old bringing the knife to a gunfight thing. You show up with a homemade shank and Miles has a bazooka at your head. Let’s move on.
He then tries to make us feel good about our players coming back, Miles staying at LSU, and having a decent recruiting class despite it being a little weaker than the past few years (what a back hand this guy has!) and the previously stated National Championship.
The author then infers that in January we all got in our cars after the game with Ohio State and threw purple and gold flower seeds onto the side of the road along the interstate in Alabama so purple and gold flowers would spring from the ground.
Wait, what?
I know he infers this because he asked “how do we celebrate all our good fortune…”? (Championships included) By sprinkling seeds on the side of the road and so on. It’s cause and effect. X leads to Y and such.
What the author fails to recognize in his article is WHEN these seeds were dispersed. He seems to think that we care about 7-6 Alabama so much, that we took a break from our normal January weekend, gassed up the vehicle and drove 6 hours to throw seeds out of the window.
What the author fails to tell you (or doesn’t know himself) is that this was done the weekend we played Alabama all the way back in November. Our fans were headed there anyway so why not chuck some seeds out the window all the name of Tiger passion and floral warfare? He even posts the Yahoo article that stated the story he’s responding to and it’s dated November 2, 2007 but still treats this as if this happened mid January.
But I guess that’s how we celebrate a National Championship here in Louisiana, we call up Doc Brown, fire up the old Delorean, get her up to 88 mph and travel back in time a few months to throw seeds at dead armadillos and condoms daddy never used.
That isn’t the part that really got me. What was so funny about the piece was the righteous indignation that we as LSU fans would deface a hounds tooth hat with purple and gold. They’re basically saying that what we did was on par with the treatment of the crucifix by Linda Blair in “The Exorcist.”
And to me, if you take the action of decorating your roadways with flowers in lieu of the already prevalent Natty Light cans and Winston Menthol butts as an act of warfare, then you need to be mocked. If you construe the action of taking a 1970’s style fedora and adding two colors to it as an act of blasphemy, then you are beyond help.
And moreover, if you take the facts and skew the timeline of events in order to make us seem like we’re envious of Bama in the afterglow of our conference and national title then you are either… 1) Incompetent and irresponsible. Or 2) So jealous of LSU fans (and our success) that you accuse us of being the jealous ones in order to hide the fact that you want to be us so much.
Now look, I’m no journalistic prize myself. I know my works are full of grammatical mistakes, bad subject verb agreement, etc. But guess what? I do this for fun. I do this for free. My stuff doesn’t appear on al.com with other alleged respected sports minds like Paul Finebaum. (I actually detest Finebaum, but the man has a following).
Also to my knowledge most of what I write is factual or my own opinion of factual events. But the above piece is an opinion of events that actually happened, but the author skews the timeline to make us sound bad.
It would be comparable to saying, “You know right now in Germany there’s this thing called the Nazi movement. This guy Adolph Hitler has risen to power and he’s pretty much wanting to take over the world. If I were Poland, I’d watch out.” And there are the poor innocent Germans in 2008 just eating their sauerkraut and making BMW’s and they’re all like, “Whoa, that all happened a long time ago.”
And yeah, I just started a quote with “they’re all like” as if I’m a 14 year old girl (or mother of two in Bama). But it’s ok, like I said; I’m not a pro at this.
And yes, I compared floral warfare to Nazism because some hick hack compelled me to do so (well also because it’s kind of slow right now and I’m not really a recruiting guru).
But hey, I’m nobody. It’s not like I’m a prominent college football coach and compared a loss to a highly inferior team to 9/11 or Pearl Harbor in front of microphones and cameras.
I honestly think that there are still LSU fans that respect Nick Saban and were sad to lose him. I think if Saban had chosen any school except Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, or Tulane, LSU fans would’ve wished him the best. We know that he made a mistake by going to the pros and wanted to come back to coach collegiate athletes. But the number of fans that still want Saban back here are few and far between. We don’t hate the Gumps because of Saban, we hate them because we’re the most disillusioned fan base in America. That needs to be known.
The author states, “LSU should be saying ‘Nick who?’ instead of taking strange and elaborate measures to cheapen the traditions and interstate highways of Alabama.”
There’s no need to say, “Nick who”. Saban was a prominent figure in bringing LSU football to the forefront. He should be remembered for his accomplishments here. But he should be hated now, for wearing crimson just as Tuberville and Meyer are despised for wearing orange and blue.
And as far as cheapening the traditions and highways of Alabama…gimme a freaking break. What our fans did was all in good fun and if your fan base didn’t take it in the spirit in which is was intended then that’s your fault, not ours. Get over yourselves. LSU fans didn’t vandalize or hurt anyone.
You act as if making a houndstooth hat purple and gold is the first jab anyone’s ever taken at Bama. At LSU, we’ve had our tiger called a “pussycat”, our coach called a maniac, and our fans called corndogs. Opposing fans make stickers that say “Geaux Rebels” and “L-S-who?” And you know what? We take it all in fun. Because that’s what normal well adjusted people do, they can take a joke as well as they dish it.
Lastly, the author states that we’ll never be higher than third on the list of Bama rivals behind Auburn and Tennessee. That’s ok. We don’t need a rival. We’re not trying to “manufacture one out of thin air.” In fact, I’m glad we don’t have a traditional rival like Bama-Auburn. We have enough disdain for too many different schools to concentrate it all into one. We’re equal opportunity when it comes to opposing team hatred. But I think it’s cute that you’re ego-centric enough to think we only hate you.
So this has been fun. I’ve read a lot of articles slanted against LSU through the years, but I just had to comment on this one. It was too good not to do so. Who knows, maybe one day Bama fans will join the rest of us in reality? And maybe one day their skin will thicken and they’ll be able to take good natured antics at their own expense?
And maybe I’ll end this rant with a phrase written sixteen years ago by an Alabama writer to contrast the directions both programs have taken since then and at the same time ironically do what I’m criticizing someone else for doing…
Yeah, and pigs will fly over Alabama.
Good thing they didn't make the hat orange and blue. That would've crossed the line.
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