Seismographs might get set off at other stadiums, but the noise in TS is deafening......like I have never heard before...and my only game in TS wasn't a night game. I've been to crazy games at PennState, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State.....and none compared to what I heard in Death Valley.
Back in the 80s, the crowd helped some of those unbelievable defensive stands led by RMelancon, HThomas, KDunbar, KWilson, EHill, TCaston, MBrooks, RBarbay and others. I remember the defensive players turning to the student section waving their hands, and the stadium would go nuts, and the D would rise to the moment, typically. I think the fans definitely help the players at those poignant moments.
In 2010--November 6, 2010, to be exact--I sat with my daughter & her friends in the student section when 'Bama came into town. I rode into the stadium on the pick-up truck that pulled Mike, because my connection with LSU derives thru the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. Dinner at Ruffino's the evening before: happy to treat the students to a great dinner in an unbelievably ELECTRIC environment. It feels like the minute before a NASCAR start--but the feeling carries through the night and into the next day, through the tailgating and the opening kickoff. Magical, unable to be duplicated. It is the South, the SEC, autumn college football, the City of Baton Rouge holding its breath once again, and the LSU Tigers gearing up for another run at tradition. I had good seats in an upper level, mid-field, but I chose to hang with my daughter & all her friends in the student section. Watching the game last Saturday brought back that VOODOO MAGIC that I feel only happens in Death Valley when the sun goes down over the "Father of Waters." Truly--you have to be there, smelling the bourbon, screaming your lungs out, learning the chants, and the cheer rituals, and screaming some more, to earn the right to say to anyone that Saturday Night in Death Valley--especially against a hated but respected SEC opponent--has a magic and a flavor and a high that cannot be duplicated by anything in my experience. I swear to you that, to my dying day, I will regret not having gone to LSU for my undergrad education. I even get pissed when you guys post that you "are gonna miss a home game" because it coincides with opening day of squirrel season, or some other unbelievable crappola of an excuse. If I got tickets, I am THERE! No excuses. Not this homeboy. GEAUX TIGERS.
I hate that eaux shit too. Don't need that crap for Lsu to be special. Epic finish to a game. Don't need to spoil it with some propaganda. Was a rough time to be a student. The win against vandy was probably #2 for me in that time. At least basketball was fun.
