engl6914

There must be 1,000 decisions Coach has to make before and during a game. This decision about the field goal is just one of them. Of course some of these decisions will be wrong in retrospect. It's too complicated to be otherwise.

I went to my first game in 1960 as a 11 year old, a 7-6 win over Miss St, and was awestruck. I wondered if the crowd was as loud a year earlier when Billy Cannon made his punt return. I have been since to virtually every game cited on this thread. What I can tell you is that they are a series of very intense experiences that are unforgettable, each different in a certain way. I was in the room when my son and later my daughter were born. These are all as riveting as it gets. I got once to be on the LSU sidelines to photograph a game against Auburn. It's worth saying that however loud you think it is in the seats it is much louder on the field where every voice in the stadium is projecting toward you.

110 db is like being just off the runway with a large passenger jet on its take off roll.

This play and the "pass interference" /tipped ball play in Alabama's overtime possession may have had something to do with Kelly's decision to go for two following our overtime TD. The longer overtime goes the more likely some referee call decides the game.

I don't have the bill in front of me but recollection says two seats in 309 is about $7,000 donation to Stadium Club (maybe TAF). Then buy two sets of season tickets ($300 for two to Alabama and $200 for two to Ole Miss). Then make a contribution of, say, $500 for the right to buy a parking spot in lot 401 by the stadium and then, say $600 for a season parking spot. Foolish to buy the tickets without the parking pass. So, what's that? $7,000 + $2200 or so for tickets, then plus $1100 parking. Means about $10,000 plus for two. That's 3rd level stadium club about 10 yard line--it's a little lower in the first two levels. Then you have to buy the whiskey.

Just reading the thread regarding crowd noise high marks at TS. We have at TS what amounts to a legend in its own time. Other SEC fans have heard and wonder about the place. I remember Ath Director Dietzel 30 years ago proposing a new stadium down Nicholson because TS was so maintenance heavy. That proposal was met with an embarrassing silence and later Dietzel was shown the door.
So what will it look like there in 500 years? Like the downtown Rome coliseum ruins with signs indicating the remains of showers (yes, that's what they used back then) and with a new stadium by the river or on central campus, or the same stadium with a dome and AC added and a Mitsubishi hi-def TV hanging down?
I ask this because TS is central to the lore of LSU. It's like a temple. Maybe Mitchie Stadium at West Point, The Big House, or Notre Dame Stadium could be talked about the same way. Maybe. Griffin Stadium in Gainesville? I dunno. I do know part of what I pay to TAF goes to stadium maintenance, but I pay it cheerfully. No dog in this fight. Just wondering what some feel about it.

Those of us who have lived in other areas of the SEC are aware of the reason--south Louisiana is culturally distinct from the rest of the SEC. They are not sure what to think or do about us. I lived three years in Birmingham and remember the quietness and uncertainty when the issue of going to Baton Rouge to a game came up.
And it has always been so; there was an infantry brigade in General Lee's army in Virginia called the Louisiana Tigers. Always thought of as peculiar, they were from around Bayous Teche, Lafourche, and Sara and from the Irish Channel and the docks of New Orleans. A lot of both English and French was spoken. Same attitude as now by the rest of the Army. But when General Lee had to have it the Tigers were brought up. They ruptured the Yankee line themselves on the 2nd day at Gettysburg. In 1895 when football teams were being started this unit was remembered better than now and is the reason for our team name.

The ghost of Chuck Mullins hangs over the SEC. Decades from now we will remember his name.

We only had 30 players to suit out late last year. There's a large infusion of transfers. We have a new coaching staff and players working with each other in a game for the first time. I thought it was a great achievement to come back the way we did. Standing back to look at it, the QB and the team as a whole were playing considerably better at the end than at the beginning. The team didn't quit and came back strong at the end. I'm anticipating better as the season goes on and a competitive game against Alabama. Remember that a lot of these players are teenagers.

I think hiring Kelly will mark a turning point for the better for LSU football, just as did Saban's hiring 21 years ago.