The annual dispelling of the Tiger Stadium myth

quote:

---

“Baton Rouge happens to be the worst place in the world for a visiting team. It’s like being inside a drum.”
-- Paul “Bear” Bryant, Former Alabama Coach

---

quote:

---

“For three hours on Saturday Night, I don’t know that there has ever been an atmosphere in sports that I’ve been a part of that was as memorable to me. I have no dog in this fight. I mean look, I’ve been to games where I’ve watched Maryland win a national championship, that was very personal to me. Makes me think of my dad who left us too soon. I have nothing but being a sports fan on the line on Saturday night. And I’ve never seen something that felt like that. Or heard anything that was as sustained as that. … Everything that was part of the experience, I was told it was going to be awesome. It was better than I was told it was. … There is nothing I would put ahead of that that I’ve EVER seen in any sport. When you’re there, you don’t want to miss anything.”
-- Scott Van Pelt, ESPN Radio on the 2012 LSU-Alabama game

---

quote:

---

“Greatest sporting event I have ever been to....It was a wall of sound beginning at 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a transformative experience. There have been a lot of great events, but I have never seen anything like it. It was an experience I can’t stop thinking about.”
-- Chad Millman, ESPN The Magazine Editor in Chief

“The most spirited student section in America.”
-- ESPN The Magazine (Aug. 25, 2008)

“Usually when the opposing team does well, the crowd quiets down. All I began to hear was a chant ‘L-S-U, L-S-U.’ It got louder and louder and louder. It was the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium.”
-- Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt (on the 2003 LSU-Georgia game)

“I get asked about the best games I’ve called, and as far as college football goes, the Florida-LSU environment (2007) was as good as I’ve ever been around. I had always heard about night games at Tiger Stadium and had never gotten the chance to call one. It was really special to be a part of that and then the game, my gosh, how can anybody ever forget that. The fourth quarter and LSU’s final drive, that’s something I’ll always remember.”
-- Verne Lundquist, CBS Sports

“We are going to Baton Rouge and one of the most storied stadiums in the country, a place I can truthfully say is the loudest place I’ve ever been.”
-- Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt (prior to 2008 game)

"Best scene in college football is at LSU on a Saturday night."
-- the late Beano Cook of ESPN

“The toughest place to play in the SEC is LSU, Death Valley. The fans there are relentless. They don’t stop at all. They keep going.”
-- Former Arkansas All-American RB Darren McFadden

“It was electric. When Death Valley is rocking, it seems as if it might actually take flight. On Saturday, I went back to Baton Rouge to see Alabama barely beat LSU, and was, once again, reminded that Tiger Stadium is the best place in the world to watch a sporting event. … I’m not sure what it was like to walk into the Coliseum, but I bet it was something like this.”
-- Wright Thompson, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com (Nov. 10, 2008)

Best stadium – Tiger Stadium, LSU. The pregame festivities. The deafening noise – there’s no other place like it. … it’s in the freakiest, funkiest, most frenetic place in all of college football.”
-- Matt Hayes, The Sporting News Today (July 8, 2009)

“The noise is what I remember the most. We played at Michigan the following season. Their place held more fans but wasn’t anywhere near as noisy. Oregon, in our conference, could be loud. But the atmosphere at LSU was different from anything I’d ever experienced at a college road game. I can still see that tiger before the game.”
-- 1983 University of Washington kicker Jeff Jaeger

“My personal favorite remains Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, first home game after Katrina vs. Tennessee on a Monday night. Getting goose bumps typing about it. It was so loud and emotional that I think everyone was exhausted by the second half.”
-- Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports

“(Tiger) Woods pumped both fists and yelled, as jacked as you'll ever see him. But the crowd explosion drowned out whatever was coming out of his mouth. It was the closest golf has ever come to sounding like fourth-and-goal at LSU's Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night.”
-- Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports on Tiger Woods’ putt to force a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open (June 14, 2008)

“Three SEC coaches I spoke with who have worked in other leagues say that Tiger Stadium is, by far, the loudest stadium in the country.”
-- Bruce Feldman, CBSSports.com (Oct. 1, 2007)

“We are going to Baton Rouge and one of the most storied stadiums in the country, a place I can truthfully say is the loudest place I’ve ever been.”
-- Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt

“It has turned the knees of All-Americans to goo. It has caused coaches to lose their coaching minds. Dark. That combined with Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night is something loud, strange and holy. There is noise in stadiums everywhere from Eugene to Tuscaloosa. Only in Baton Rouge is there a living, breathing being lurking in its grand, old stadium.”
-- Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com, Oct. 8, 2009

“What makes LSU is the environment and the fans and those guys wearing the jerseys. They’re really good players.”
-- Former Florida head coach Urban Meyer (Oct. 8, 2009)

“LSU fans have descended upon Dallas and reminded us of this truth: when it comes to partying, they're the pros and we're all amateurs.”
-- Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports (Sept. 2, 2011)

“From Bourbon Street to Baton Rouge, the freaks come out at night in Louisiana. And nowhere are they more raucous and unnerving than at Tiger Stadium
-- Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports

“But for gameday atmosphere, there is nothing quite like Death Valley at night in the SEC. The food, culture, fans, smells and Richter Scale inducing noise echoing from LSU’s Tigers Stadium is second to none. Among the nation’s best college football venue’s, this one might be the best. ”
-- Athlon Sports (June 2013)

“Be it the vast and unique tailgating menu or Richter Scale-inducing fans, few places in the nation can send chills down your spine like a game at Tiger Stadium. As one of the loudest and most rabid atmospheres in the nation, LSU boasts one of the most daunting home-field advantages in college football — especially at night. And, honestly, how many venues have a real live Bengal Tiger roaming the sidelines?”
-- Athlon Sports (June 2013)

“I love LSU just a little bit more than the others … The heat, the humidity, Mike the Tiger and a stadium so loud you can feel it in your chest cavity.”
-- Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com No. 1 on his Top 25 stadiums (July 27, 2011)

“Someone once compared the noise level in Tiger Stadium to a 747 taking off or a Who concert. Those two events are background noise compared to the real thing. You actually need earplugs when watching football.”
-- Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com (Oct. 8, 2009)

---

quote:

---

Isn't the myth Tiger Stadium at night?

---

quote:

---

And yeah, its definitely not a loud, intimidating stadium. It has no history of opponents saying its one of the hardest places to play.

---

quote:

---

Corndoggies incoming! Take cover!!

---

quote:

---

TheCaterpillar

---

quote:

---

I agree that TS is a fantastic sporting venue...it's just not what you guys think it is from an advantage standpoint.

---