In honor of LSU’s appearance in the BCS title game tonight, I’m reposting this entry from a year ago — mostly as an excuse to share these awesome pictures of my brother-in-law, Tommy (with his son in the second picture). He scored tickets to the Sugar Bowl last year and gave us a preview of his game-day attire, but will be watching from home this evening with the rest of us.

Geaux Tigers!

When I started at LSU 20 years ago this fall (gulp), basketball games were an enjoyable enough way to spend an evening. Ricky Blanton was the big draw and rumors hadn’t started yet about the 7-foot crime fighter with the secret identity, so these events were really easy to get into. Football games were another story.

Game day seemed to double the population of Baton Rouge and most of the imports ended up in the stadium parking lot … early. It was a great time to be a starving college student because you could fill up on all kinds of grilled meats, jambalaya, red beans & rice, and even find a beer to wash it down just by wandering around the tailgating area and taking advantage of Tiger fans’ largesse (which leads to large ass). It was clear you didn’t need to attend the university to bleed purple and gold (and I’d argue that many of those who did, don’t).

The football team had a few good years in the mid-80’s, then headed downhill pretty quickly after the 1987 season. I’ll testify to the excitement of the 1988 Auburn game that registered on the seismograph across campus, but by the time he graduated, “Heisman Hodson” wasn’t much more than the butt of a joke. Still, those games were awfully fun. My roommate and I would head down to the stadium, the excitement curing our still-aching heads, and start milling around until the gates opened and we could rush to the student section to stake out our seats. I remember some miserable losses (44-3 against Miami, and anytime the team lost to Alabama…grrrr), but we always stuck it out to the very end to show our support.

I’m happy my Tigers have turned it around in recent years and wish I could be at the Dome tonight to see them play in the Sugar Bowl, but I’ll be cheering from our living room instead. And I’ll be on the lookout for this guy, hoping he doesn’t continue to embarrass Mason by wearing those white shoes: