Rickety

It seems that historical success, as in the Big 6, held more sway than historical rivalries. It was a coincidence that Auburn and Georgia had been playing the longest. The Alabama-Tennessee game and the LSU-Florida game were going to be played because they wanted competitive balance within the conference as well as within the 6 most successful programs.

Alabama had played Vanderbilt longer than they had Tennessee just as LSU had been playing Kentucky longer than they had Florida. Those were the rivals that they kept in the 5-2-1 format. When it flipped to 5-1-2 after 2002, imagine the uproar if LSU had insisted on keeping Kentucky instead of Florida or if Alabama had insisted on keeping Vanderbilt instead of Tennessee. But administrators at all the Big 6 schools know that historical success means you have to play the big boys. It's a good thing that administrators are more level-headed than the average rantard.

I've been around a long time. The first college football game I attended in person was in 1968. I wish Alabama still played Vanderbilt every year. Not because it's a guaranteed win, but because Alabama started playing Ole Miss regularly in 1992. The competitive difference between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are negligible. But the fan experience is like night and day. Vanderbilt fans aren't pretentious and generally aren't preppy.

Nah. I know why you said that, but I'm going to respond with an actual answer.

Vanderbilt and Alabama had been playing every year since 1926. When the SEC decided to go to the 5-2-1 format, lots of schools had to make some choices. The Big 6 were going to play each other as cross-division games, to balance the traditional powers' scheduling. That's why LSU plays Florida every year. When they decided the other traditional rivals, they let the schools make decisions and suggestions if the first choices couldn't be worked out.

Alabama had been playing Vanderbilt continuously longer than any other East school, including Tennessee. Auburn had been playing Florida longer than they had Tennessee, so the Auburn-Tennessee rivalry was no longer played every year. There was no way Alabama-Tennessee or Auburn-Georgia were going away because of the traditional nature of the games and the teams being in the "Big 6." So Alabama and Auburn both chose the East opponent they had been playing the longest, other than their traditional rivals. Is that the reason LSU had Kentucky as their other traditional rival after Florida?

Wow. How exactly do 3 Democrats sit on a 5-member commission with 3 Republicans? White, Collins and Buckelew made up the controlling majority of the County Commission and all 3 are Republicans.

By the way, Mr. Simian, I never once said that Democrats were not involved in the swaps or the subsequent prosecutions. They were. I pointed out that a previous post said that Democrats control Jefferson County and they simply do not. They didn't when the sewer financing was being negotiated.

Langford is a disgrace. Chris McNair is a disgrace. So are White, Buckelew and Collins. I know that she was opposed to the swaps. But she also presided over the crap that happened as commission president.

With all due respect,

An idiot.

Look, I get the baseball and the basketball. I sat out at the Hoover Met for 36 or 37 miserable innings watching LSU eventually win all 3 games. But how does going 1-1 against Alabama in gymnastics constitute being Alabama's "Daddy?" Especially since LSU's loss to Alabama was for the SEC Championship, something LSU hasn't won since 1981.

I hope LSU can pull it out against Michigan. I don't hate LSU and would love to see y'all play Florida for the title just like Alabama did last year. An all-SEC championship series is pretty fun to watch. A 3rd SEC National Champion in the last 4 years would really add to the national image of the league and definitely help with recruiting great players from the West Coast.

I hope the Tigers win today. The LSU Tigers.

It's a great question. I'm sure ESPN has to have access to all ABC televised games from the past. There were lots of Alabama games televised in the 1970's when only one or two games were shown in a week. ESPN showed the 1973 Sugar Bowl immediately preceding the Alabama-Notre Dame BCS Championship Game. Hearing Chris Schenkel definitely brought back memories. I remember an old LSU-Ole Miss game from the late 1970's that had the loudest "Geaux to hell, Ole Miss" chant I've ever heard on television. I think Schenkel did that one as well.

The logo was originally made for Occidental College by a cartoonist in Los Angeles named Arthur Evans. He worked for a decal company called Angelus Pacific. It wasn't originally LSU's, although I think the LSU design looks the best of the ones shown. And no, it wasn't designed by a University of Alabama graduate, nor was Auburn the first school to use it. The link provides a history of the logo.

Mash Here

They did when the rivalry was taken away in favor of a manufactured rivalry with Arky.

He announced his retirement on December 15, 1982. His close friends said he made the decision to "hang it up" on the Sunday morning after the loss to Southern Mississippi on November 13. It was one of only two losses in Bryant-Denny Stadium from 1958-1982. He died of a heart attack on January 29, 1983.

The LSU game at Legion Field was the most dominating performance over an Alabama team I had seen in my lifetime. I saw more when DuBose came along. The funny thing was, after the '82 game, I really thought Stovall would be around in Baton Rouge for a long time.

New Orleans, not the Superdome, has hosted 10 Superbowls. The first 3 were played on Willow Street in Tulane Stadium. The largest crowds ever for the Superbowl in New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl were in Tulane Stadium. It could be quite dark, but I don't remember the lights going out there.

I remember Tulane Stadium filled to capacity (86,000+) for the last LSU-Tulane game played on the Tulane campus. What a night. Not because LSU lost but because Tulane won. The stadium and the neighborhood were alive that night. I went as an LSU fan, and was disappointed when they lost. But I couldn't help being a little happy for the Tulane folks who had endured 25 years of frustration at the hands of the Tigers. I think there were a couple of 62-0 beatdowns in those 25 years.