Met Expectations

It is so rare in this day and age that something lives up to the hype. Movies are often over rated. Concerts don't always perform up to the price of the ticket. But nothing is more disappointing than a live sporting event. The fans can be obnoxious to the point of violence and the parking and weather are not all that fun to deal with either. And then there is the issue of the stadium seats... do they make any stadiums thinking about the fact that there will be 6 foot 3 inch tall men who weigh more than 200 pounds sitting in there? It just isn't fun for me anymore. Besides that - most stadiums do not carry Diet Mountain Dew and if they do, it most certainly isn't chilled like it is at the house. Thus, I usually choose to watch games at my house.

However (written with Stephen A Smith punctuation), this game was supposed to be different. I was driving on my birthday to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to watch the second ranked LSU Tigers play #7 Virginia Tech. The seven hour drive was going to be worth it because my nephew TC is a freshman quarterback on the team, plus his Mom - my sissy, would be at the game. To top it off, I was taking the trip with a great friend of mine - Steve Hayes. Seven hours in the car with Hayes is priceless because he is one of the funniest and Godliest guys I know - so I was pretty excited when Saturday morning hit and it was time to make the trek to Tiger Country.

The car ride was as expected with a mixture of humor, prayer, and Tiger talk. We had 11 Diet Mountain Dews in a cooler which kept the stops at a minimum. We pulled into Baton Rouge about four hours before game time and walked a mile or so to Tiger Stadium. I don't think I could ever do justice to the sights I saw. Now keep in mind that I have been to games at the greatest stadiums in the land. I've been to The Big House, Touchdown Jesus, Aggie Land, Folsom Field, The Coliseum, the Rose Bowl, The Orange Bowl, The Super Dome, the place where people are made of Corn, Sooner land, Floyd Casey Stadium (seeing if anyone is reading this list) and on and on... I have never seen anything quite like this...

First of all, these people know how to tailgate. There was food for miles and evidently more than 25,000 people kept on tailgating during the game with no intention of ever entering the stadium. They set up couches, BBQ pits, TV's with satellites, sound systems, and other amenities. And when we approached the P Mac (Pistol Pete Maravich Center), we were able to get up high and get a birds eye view of the more than 125,000 people hanging out a few hours before kick off. As we were on our perch, one of the cool things we saw was the way that the band gets the crowd into a frenzy. I have never quite understood the purpose of cheering before the game outside of the stadium when your team and the opposing team is inside the stadium warming up and cannot even hear you. But these folks have it down. The band marches down this curvey hill that leads to the football stadium playing a rhythmic drumline. The beat of the drums is motivating and even I am being caught up in it. I found myself yelling "Geaux Tigers" to no one in particular as my heart is beating louder and faster. Steve points out to me that from our view, which seemed to cover miles, you could not see one blade of grass or concrete - it was all purple and gold - wow! This was insane. Then the band held in formation for what seemed like 25 minutes hammering the same beat over and over. Every once in a while they would bob there heads in unison. I realized that they were faking us out. We were all waiting for them to bust out the famous tune, "Hold That Tiger," and they were stringing us along. No one was talking to anyone else, everyone was fixated on the band. All 125,000 plus were waiting...

The it happened - the band members heads popped up and they turned together to face the crowd and hit it - "Baaah Bah Bah Baah!" and everyone yelled "Geaux Tigers." I say yelled, it was more like an eruption. Here we were 2 hours now before kick off and the place was going bonkers. There was no way we could keep this up. Yes we - I am totally in it now!

The entire crowd then makes a mad dash to the gates to get inside and watch the Tigers warm up. It takes a few minutes to knife through the crowd, but Steve and I eventually make it to our seats. My sister Kristy is there and I am so pumped to get to experience this with her! She quickly points out #17 and my eyes become fixated on watching TC. Every little thing that he did made me giddy. He must have thrown 95 passes during warm ups and completed every single one. He was absolute money. And he was doing it in front of 92,600 admiring fans. What a rush! Watching him complete 45 yards passes to future NFL stars like Early Doucet and Brandon Lafell was well worth the trip. Happy Birthday Me! My expectations were met - I needed no more. Of course the other 92,599 didn't exactly feel the same - so the game had to go on. And wow did it ever.

LSU completely dominated in every facet even gaining 600 yards on what was thought of as the best defense in the nation. In fact, the LSU defense put on such a show that they just went ahead and assumed the title of best defense in the nation. I could go on about the game, because it was really fun to watch - but what really got me was the fans. They kept on going all game long. They have cheers that they do in unison that rival anything I have ever seen the Aggies do, but it happens with such a sense of spontaneity that causes you to join in. I acted like a complete fool for 3 1/2 hours with the rest of the 92,600 and loved every minute of it!

Proud Uncle, Proud Mama

Pulling the ole tip toe trick on TC

Steve like Popcorn (AD reference)

I can't wait to go back!