I had to go into work this am. Worked until 10:00. When I got in my truck, I turned the radio to 98.1 and there was a LSU program talking about today's game. It must have started at 10:00. They were giving out very good info about the Rebs plus the Tigers. They talked about OM players and their potential. They really praised some of them. They talked about matchups. They were really informative on a lot of subjects. THIS WAS AT 10:00 AM! Local station here kept informing us that game "coverage" would begin at 1:00 PM. We get a hour and a half of "pregame information" and you guys get at least four and a half. How can anyone, not from the south, understand this type of didication?

The only thing I have ever been able to use (I now live in Kansas, have lived in North Carolina and they did not get it either) is to tell them that throughout so much of Southern history there were no pro sports, so loyalty went to the state university.

This was multiplied by the fact that people aspired to go to the state university -- or to send their children there if they had no college background. The day I graduated from LSU was one of the happiest days of my father's life; it was "our" achievement. And with that well of pride that his son was going to LSU and then graduating from LSU, my love and loyalty for my father got tied into the school.

With my father now deceased, my high school no longer in existence, the closest connection I can feel to him is to recall all the time we spent listening to or watching the Tigers and the discussions we had on game days. And I am in awe of the fact that he spent 18 years hoping his son would go to the school he listened to on the radio or saw on television.

So LSU is not my school so much as it is my family and father.

yes. i attended LSU, and was in Tiger Band. LSU is a part of me. being on campus (even not on game days), those first 4 notes of pregame, the bell tower, the alma mater, all of it -- still stirs my heart and forever will. it's like that for so many.

because of that, if you're a local radio station that has the rights to broadcast lsu sports, you are guaranteed listeners if you start pregame coverage 8 minutes before kickoff or 8 hours before kickoff, so they settle for somewhere in the middle.

you always here them talk about all the festivals we have here in louisiana. for me the best festival atmosphere is during the day before a football game on the lsu campus. it beats any other festival in the nation.

FOREVER LSU!!!!

Well I really think it's the connection to the university. You have guys like Gordy Rush, Jordy Hultberg, Greg Bowser, Rene Nadeau, Doug Moreau, Hokie Gajan, (etc) that all played sports at LSU and they are involved with the media coverage of LSU. Whenever you have the kind of dedication to the state and our university like we do in Louisiana, it's a non-question. Plus, like Tigerhoss said, traditionally there weren't many professional teams down south (well, at least not teams that have had the success that some SEC schools have had.)

When I played High School football in Louisiana, LSU was all we talked about. We all talked about how much we wanted to play football in Tiger Stadium.

I remember going to games as a kid. I had never been in an environment with so many people that were so excited and so loud. You don't forget that feeling and so anytime you talk to anyone about football and especially college football you eventually relate that feeling. Father's pass it on to their kids and they pass it on to their kids.

You tell people "There's nothing like a Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium".

I don't really know of any other state where even players from other 1-A teams in the state are interested in how well they are doing.