Hey Everybody! I haven't posted in awhile. I have been lurking, but just had to tell y'all about when I met Ryan Perrilloux. It was ar Tiger Football 101. Which was the funnest day!!! It was a football clinic for the Bengal Belles put on by the coaches and players. About 200 of us got to live a day in the life of a Tiger football player. We were divided into three teams and given shirts and a little face towelee thing, a water bottle and.... our very own playbook and big Coach Tom Bass Sport Map (It folds out and is a 16 pg. insiders guide to watching football, very helpful.)I was on the Gold team (which is not my color, but they wouldn't let me trade....dang!) Anywho, after my friend and I polished off a bunch of mimosas, we met met in the practice field house and then took the team bus to the new Cox Communication's Building. We met Kathy Miles,who is just great! Then we had a lesson on Offense by Jimbo. It was great and he taught us some plays, huddle formation, cadence etc. He told us how fast they have to call plays and how they send signals and how they confuse people with multiple signs being sent at once and only the players know who to look at etc. Man,do they have to learn a bunch of stuff!!!! And read defense and make last minute adjustments etc. After that we went to the weight room and met the nicest and most enthusiastic and talented coach, Tommy Moffitt. He showed us all of the weights and how many reps they do and who benched the most etc. He told us that he had some freshmen there to demonstrate some lifts etc. They were all on the side. I saw RP and smiled and caught his eye and did a little pass motion to let him know that I knew he was a QB. After the guys showed us what Coach Moffitt wanted them to (he didn't ask RP to demonstrate). I walked up to RP and said I was so glad he chose us over dumb old Texas and did he remember getting that email and link that I had sent him (a link to Tiger Stadium) when he was still deciding? "No ma'am." I said well anyway I sent it and am glad he is a Tiger and that I was Geaux Girl on Tiger Forums and knew his friend Cigisclair and did he know him too and did he read posts? "No ma'am." Well, the Gold team was heading out so I had to leave, but I patted his big muscley arm and said I was glad he was at LSU and wished him luck.So, I think he was nice and polite. I wish I knew Cigi's real name because I would have dropped it being the name dropper that I am. Now on to more fun stuff from that day. We toured the conditioning room and therapy place. A few of us got our ankles taped. They tape up every practice and game and have a $50,000 budget for tape alone!!! We went to the locker room and saw all of their uniforms and equipment (heavy and very specifically designed for each player and position... and expensive too. It was modeled by a cute guy who drove the team bus and was a good sport!) Did y'all know that they peel off all of the stripes and stickers from their helmets after each game? They polish and restripe them every week. There is a staff and and lots of volunteers (players girlfriends) that help with that each week!:helmet: I met Justin Vincent in the locker room and he signed autographs. I asked him if he was pointing to his mamma in the stands on the cover of SI after the Sugar Bowl. He said, "No, that was my friends." I said I thought you were sending a message to your mom are you sure? "No, that was my friends." He was very polite as well, even though he lost a brownie point from the mom in me (ha). Then after we ate and toured the trophy room and I had my pic taken in front of the All Americans sign. I saw the crystal trophy. :crystal: Then the best... we all ran through the chute and touched the actual old Goal Post that says "Win" and ran onto the field!! FUN! FUN! Okay, so I almost tripped on the rug under the old goal post. I made a save and made it. I even did a cartwheel on the feild.I learned that we are the only team that is allowed to have the old timey Goal posts that you actually run through. That is because of our tradition here and it was grandfathered in. Yee ha! After that we had a big talk on defense by Bo Pelini. Sure most of it was over our heads and he could have been talking Dolphin Squeek up there and pointing out blitzes. and 3-4, 4-3 whatevers.I liked it. Some of the more astute Belles asked good questions. Some dozed off....it happens. The old Blitzes were named after states. Seems like cities are popular now. Bo said he keeps it simple. They all seem to be good TEACHERS and they respect the effort and work that the guys go through. Special teams instruction was the easiest to understand. Basically 8 plays. It made perfect sense and now I know what to look for when Skyler is trucking down that field.:thumb: Then we watched tape and learned about a play at the Sugar bowl that was mistakenly called a delayed blitz by the broadcasters but was actually Lionel Turner making a good read and being out of the line of site of the OK Center, who made a fundamental football error and turned away frome the line and made a gap and WHAM! Sack City in old Jason White! Take that! Way to go Lionel!!!:rofl: Then here comes my very favorite part of the day.... we actually went to the indoor facility,broke into teams and positions that had been determined in advance and listed on our name tags ( I was a RB and a DL!!!) and those nice coaches, who must have been thinking..."You want us to teach what to who?? a bunch of women???" actually taught us technique and had us run and practice a bit. The passing guy taught us how to "make a shelf and cover the ball." He kept telling us to cover our "tips" (ends of the ball) but it was loud in there and a few of us thought he said something else :shock:which made us all chuckle. He was nice and when we were just starting to ask good questions about how they knew when to turn or who was getting it thrown to etc. and he was teaching us soooo much, we had to switch. We learned how to run up and through those blue mats fast, fast and okay so a few of us fell.:sob:.. we were giving more for Les! (110%) it happens. The coaches then got a little worried and told us we could take it easy and these were all optional. It was funny because they were a little amused yet somewhat concerned and all.:shock: I have to say, I just love that Carl Dunbar!! He is SOOOO nice and so glad to be back. He loves being a Tiger and back closer to home. He loves his family and his mother-in-law! What a nice guy! You could just tell he loves being back in good old Louisiana!:laflagwav We got to practice kicking and met the punter and kicker.We took two steps back and a slanty step back and then walked up and kicked it. Okay, so mine only went 5 yards and up about 3 feet and whizzed inches away from the top of the head of the guy who was bending over to get a ball. It did not hit him, more of a graze.:hihi: Les came in after Media days and talked to us all and answered questions and is nice and enthusiastic! I had a ball! It was the best $101 I ever spent. They were very accomadating, polite, enthusiastic and fun! I can't wait till football season! Oh yea, did I say I like RP? I like them all!! GO TIGERS!!!:geauxtige
I went to LSU orientation and met 2-3 guys that I had previously not met, and trust me, I wanted to come out here and run off an essay like that too! It is hard to contain yourself sometimes when it comes to the Tigers... The good things just add up
Yea, it was fun! The news guy saw how much fun I was having and interviewed me. I was a bit exuberant about my love for LSU and Football. It never made the news.... dang the luck. But we all get a DVD of the day and they showed us 1/2 of it there. It had the music from Eye of the Tiger and they edited it to show the real players on the bus, us on the bus. The players running the chute, us running the chute. I can't wait to get my copy. At one point we were racing (Okay me and this other fun lady were racing.. others "moseyed") over to our next practice session and Dwayne Bowe was being interviewd and they tossed him a ball just as I was running up behind him and I did this fun jump up trying to intercept kinds thing and cracked myself up. I swear, I have no pride, but I do have fun. I hope my near tackle/ interception makes the DVD. Iwonder what he would have done if I would have whammed into him. My son said he would have stood there like a statue cause I am a liteweight, but I think I could have taken him by surprise. I am just glad I held back because I was making a big enough fool of myself anyway. Check out all the pics @ www.Bengalbelles.com
