I am, what is most commonly referred to in the sports world as, a “traditionalist.”  It makes me sad to see old stadiums torn down to be replaced by huge, gaudy TV studio/malls where games are now played.  To know that when a left handed batter steps into the batter’s box at Yankee Stadium, he will be doing it somewhere other than where Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig did it makes my stomach turn.  I hate divisional playoffs (there was a time when winning the pennant meant WINNING THE PENNANT OF YOUR LEAGUE!!) and inter-league play proves the devil is real.   And don’t even get me STARTED on how much I love old time sports uniforms and how much it makes me want to vomit to see some of the abominations companies like Nike and Adidas have foisted on the American public.  All I have to say is, poor, poor, Oregon!

So as an LSU fan, you can imagine how much joy I get out of pretty much knowing that my Tigers are going to take the field in most cases in their traditional gold (it’s yellow) helmets, white with shoulder striped jerseys, and gold (yellow) pants with stripes sides.  The Tigers have won this basic uniform both home and away with very little alteration since the late 1950′s.  That’s what I call tradition.

Alas times change…and over a decade ago Miami started wearing what, at the time, looked like space gear.  Pretty soon many of the less tradition rich programs began altering their uniforms to fall in line with the more up to date styles.  Most of the big boys stayed put…including LSU.  But about 6 or 7 years ago I started tinkering around with the idea that LSU ought to have more uniform options.  not because I had any problems with the current uniform, as I clearly did not…but because I was afraid that without multiple options the team could be recruited against by programs who allowed Nike and the others to use their program as a blank canvas to sell their products.  Former LSU coach Nick Saban suggested as much one time when he talked about why he wanted to reinstate wearing LSU’s purple jerseys at home on certain occasions.

My idea wasn’t to radically change the uniform design…far from it.  It was to simply add more options.  LSU’s colors are purple and gold (yellow) so why restrict the uniform jersey to being only white?  why not keep the same basic uniform layout with it’s traditional striping but wear gold helmet, gold jersey and white pants?  Or gold helmet, white jersey and white pants?  Or gold helmet, purple jersey and white pants?  Florida, which also has pretty garish colors does this remarkably well and still maintains it’s branding…so why not LSU?

And then 2009 rolls up and sure enough, Nike tabs LSU as one of ten programs that will wear a uniforms designed entirely by Nike which is done to highlight their new Nike Pro Combat materials.  It’s hard to describe how much I hated the thought of this.  And when I first saw the Nike prototype (first image above) I became ill.  But then came the meltdown at Ole Miss and what uniform LSU would wear to play Arkansas became largely irrelevant.

As it turns out in person…I didn’t hate the uniform.  Wait…let me rephrase.  I hated them WITH A PASSION as LSU’s uniform, but as a football uniform they are alright.  I’ve certainly seen worse (any Oregon game will suffice.)  But then a funny thing happened…I fell madly in love with the helmet color!  LSU did wear a similar helmet in the 1940′s, though of course it was sans face mask and had nothing on the sides of the helmet in terms of a logo or numbers or anything.  but in person, they looked striking.  For all those people who feared LSU would look like Washington, or Notre Dame, or Georgia Tech, etc who also wear gold helmets, that fear was unfounded.  LSU’s helmet color was distinct, with a reddish hue to it giving it an almost copper feel.  Under the famed lights of Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night LSU’s helmets glowed with true Old Gold for the first time since the 1940′s.  Even though LSU has a wonderful new HD scoreboard (which doubles nearly 70% of the time as a HD billboard for sponsors) I really don’t spend a huge amount of time looking at it.  but I found that I kept wanting to simply to see the helmets more.

So…the final verdict.  I’m no fan of the Nike Pro Combat LSU uniform…at least as an alternate LSU uni.  But, and this shocks even me, I’d be ready RIGHT NOW to alter each and every piece of LSU to reflect the new/old gold used for the helmets…they were that good.  Keep the new gold lids, wear the same traditional LSU white jersies (except instead of the yellow stripe on the shoulder use this new gold color) and then matching old gold pants with the same striping as before.  If LSU would do that, they would take what is arguably one of the Top 10 uniforms in college football and move it right up to #1 .  And, LSU would, once again, truly be using Purple & Gold!

Special thanks to Jeff from www.tigerdroppings.com who was kind enough to allow me to use his field level photos from the LSU-Arkansas game in this blog. Much apprciated, Jeff!

And thanks to Ryan Shaw for the wonderful field level image of former Tiger great Skyler Green from his punt return for a TD in the LSU-Florida game from 2003.

So yesterday we took a look back at the list of movies and music that America has seen roll on by since the last time Ole miss won an SEC Title.  Slumdog Millionaire to Tom Jones is a pretty expansive gap in time…  and when you stop and think that in November of 1963 The Beatles had yet to make their landmark appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show (they would appear for three straight Sundays in February of 1964) you start to realize just how long it’s been for poor Ole Miss to be out in the wilderness without another title to their name.

But as an American, very few things seem to mark the passage of time more specifically than televeision.  So today I thought we’d take a look at what was playing on American television the last time Ole Miss won an SEC Title.

Who can forget the ladies of Petticoat Junction!

Who would have thought that in 1963 it may ACTUALLY be this long until Ole Miss wins another SEC Title?  I’m thinking we may get flying cars before it happens again…

Few better illustrations of TV in 1963 than the fantastic Andy Griffith show.  I’m almost positive that Mayberrey is NOT located near Oxford, but I could be mistaken…

There is nothing wrong with your television set.  Do not attempt to adjust the picture.  We are controlling transmission.

Get the picture?  It’s been AGES!!  But these were all on when Ole Miss fans were still basking in the recent glow of success.  But for nearly 50 years they’ve waited for a return to glory…seeing 2 different Mannings fail to bring them to the promised land.  Let’s take a look at a few of this things they saw come AND go while waiting…

1964′a Bewitched…with the GOOD Darren!

I dare you not to know the words to this song…and I was born about 5 years after this debuted.

From this to the new J.J. Abrams big screen version in the summer of 2009…

7 years post title…at least there was good TV on!

Before Angels & Demons…before Apollo 13…before Forest Gump (BAMA’s only Heisman winner!)…before Big…before even Bachelor Party…Tom Hanks was the cross-dressing roommate of Peter Scolari in Bosom Buddies.

Really kids…there was a time when MTV played music videos. Honest. They started in 1981…nearly 20 years after Ole Miss’s last SEC Title.

In what can only be described as irnoic, China Beach debuted in 1988…so not only did the show take place a quarter century after the Rebels last SEC Title, but even the subject matter of a medical facility in Vietnam had taken place after the Rebs won the SEC. Honestly…I sort of feel for those guys…

Hey look…George Clooney was on TV! Whoo hoo!

Honestly…this almost feels like rubbing salt in the wound.

You realize we started with Petticoat Junction…right? RIGHT?!?

I was hesitant to include a hit show that just started this fall because I did start this little clinic by suggesting I was going to show TV shows that had come and gone since Ole Miss last won an SEC Title…but let’s be serious. They were #4 in the nation at one point this year. Modern Family could be the next Bonanza and it still wont be alive by the time Ole Miss wins another one.

As an LSU fan, I’m genetically predisposed to hate Ole Miss. Though to be honest with you, as a 39 year old fan, I have very little in the way of actual dislike that would be brought to light due to some hard fought rivalry. Sure…I hate Auburn, but then LSU’s series with the other SEC Tigers has been an incredible one going back nearly 2 decades. I hate Florida, but that game has been a slugfest in recent years with the winner of that game having won the last three National Championships. And everyone hates BAMA…

But hating Ole Miss is almost an afterthought and it’s because LSU has dominated the series over most of my lifetime. Yes…there have been Ole Miss wins in that timeframe and some hard fought LSU wins. But the LSU – Ole Miss game is nothing like it was in the 50’s and early 60’s. And let’s be honest…that’s Ole Miss’s fault. Ole Miss’s last SEC Title came in 1963. Since then, LSU has won 5 SEC Championships, three coming since the expansion set up a conference championship game in Atlanta, and two BCS National Championships.

So what with it being LSU – Ole Miss week, I figured it would be fun to see just how many things have taken place in our world since The Rebels last won an SEC title after tying Mississippi State on November 30, 1963 to end with an SEC record of 7-0-2 to clinch the SEC crown. Let’s just say…um, it’s a WHOLE LOT!  Today’s list will focus on the world of entertainment.

Academy Award Winners For Best Picture Since Ole Miss Last Won An SEC Title:

2008 Slumdog Millionaire

2007 No Country For Old Men

2006 The Departed

2005 Crash

2004 Million Dollar Baby

2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2002 Chicago

2001 A Beautiful Mind

2000 Gladiator

1999 American Beauty

1998 Shakespeare In Love

1997 Titanic

1996 The English Patient

1995 Braveheart

1994 Forrest Gump

1993 Schindler’s List

1992 Unforgiven

1991 The Silence of the Lambs

1990 Dances With Wolves

1989 Driving Miss Daisy

1988 Rain Man

1987 The Last Emperor

1986 Platoon

1985 Out of Africa

1984 Amadeus

1983 Terms of Endearment

1982 Gandhi

1981 Chariots of Fire

1980 Ordinary People

1979 Kramer Vs. Kramer

1978 The Deer Hunter

1977 Annie Hall

1976 Rocky

1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

1974 The Godfather, Part II

1973 The Sting

1972 The Godfather

1971 The French Connection

1970 Patton

1969 Midnight Cowboy

1968 Oliver!

1967 In the Heat of the Night)

1966 A Man For All Seasons

1965 The Sound of Music

1964 My Fair Lady

1963 Tom Jones

Number One Song Each Year Since Ole Miss Last Won An SEC Title:

2008 Flo Rida feat. T-Pain – Low

2007 Beyonce – Irreplaceable

2006 Daniel Powter – Bad Day

2005 Mariah Carey – We Belong Together

2004 Usher feat Lil Jon & Ludacris – Yeah!

2003 50 Cent – In Da Club

2002 Nickelback – How You Remind Me

2001 Lifehouse – Hanging By A Moment

2000 Faith Hill – Breathe

1999 Cher – Believe

1998 Next – Too Close

1997 Elton John – Candle In The Wind 1997

1996 Los Del Rio – Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)

1995 Coolio/L.V. – Gangsta’s Paradise

1994 Ace Of Base – The Sign

1993 Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You

1992 Boyz II Men – End Of The Road

1991 Bryan Adams – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

1990 Wilson Phillips – Hold On

1989 Chicago – Look Away

1988 George Michael – Faith

1987 Bangles – Walk Like An Egyptian

1986 Dionne Warwick and Friends – That’s What Friends Are For

1985 Wham! feat. George Michael – Careless Whisper

1984 Prince and The Revolution – When Doves Cry

1983 Police – Every Breath You Take

1982 Olivia Newton-John – Physical

1981 Kim Carnes – Bette Davis Eyes

1980 Blondie – Call Me

1979 The Knack – My Sharona

1978 Andy Gibb – Shadow Dancing

1977 Rod Stewart – Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)

1976 Wings – Silly Love Songs

1975 Captain and Tennille – Love Will Keep Us Together

1974 Barbra Streisand – The Way We Were

1973 Tony Orlando and Dawn – Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round The Ole Oak Tree

1972 Roberta Flack – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

1971 Three Dog Night – Joy To The World

1970 Simon and Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water

1969 Archies – Sugar, Sugar

1968 The Beatles – Hey Jude

1967 Lulu – To Sir With Love

1966 S/Sgt. Barry Sadler – The Ballad Of The Green Berets

1965 Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs – Wooly Bully

1964 The Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand

1963 Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs – Sugar Shack

Let’s play a little Then & Now.  This is a game where we take a look at an entertainment figure the last time Ole Miss won an SEC Title, and what they look like today.

Paul McCartney

Brigitte Bardot 

Clint Eastwood

Brad Pitt

With the start of the LSU Football season on the road against PAC 10 Washington a little over a week, I figured it was time I made a few LSU Wallpapers for the 2009 season.  I used to do these every year, and stopped a few years back.  But, I decided to do some this year as good luck I guess.  Truth is I'd be willing to sacrifice a live goat to avoid another season like last…so a few wallpapers seemed an easy alternative!

I've got wallpapers for each game in both 1600×1200 and 1200×900 sizes.  They are all very clean with no text.  Just the background image…which this year is the mascot of the home team, and the helmets.  I envision switching mine out each Monday in preparation for that week's upcoming game.  Anyway…hope you enjoy them and if you're interested in any other type of design just drop me a note in the feedback section and I'll try and oblige.

Game One: LSU at Washington

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Game Two: Vanderbilt at LSU

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Game Three: UL-Lafayette at LSU

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Game Four: LSU at Mississippi state

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Game Five: LSU at Georgia

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Game Six: Florida at LSU

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Game Seven: Auburn at LSU

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Game Eight: Tulane at LSU

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Game Nine: LSU at Alabama

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Game Ten: LA Tech at LSU

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Game Eleven: LSU at Ole Miss

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Game Twelve: Arkansas at LSU

Right up front I have to admit…I’ve never been a huge LSU baseball fan.  Settle down.  That doesn’t mean I hate the program or anything.  Just that my first love is and will always be LSU Football.  And up until Dale Brown gave up on the program after Shaq left and then John Brady happened, LSU Basketball was number two.  LSU baseball, despite the 5 National Titles under former manager Skip Bertman in the 1990′s, has never garnered the same type of devotion from me.  I’ve always chalked this up to simply not getting to see the team play as regularly as you can see football and basketball play if you don’t have season tickets.  Football is on TV nearly every week, and basketball gets its fair share of exposure.  But college baseball is the red headed stepchild of college sports in terms of TV.  To follow college baseball takes effort…effort I have simply never put forth.  You either need to get season tickets and be there in person for games or REALLY make the effort to keep up via radio and the internet.  And given the tremendously good time I had at my first ever trip to an LSU baseball game a couple of weeks ago at the new Alex Box Stadium, I may need to start putting forth the effort.

While I had never attending a game at the old Box, I had been in and around it tons of times.  Even with her history, clearly the old girl had seen better days.  The new Box is really a tremendous facility.  I’m not going to go into all the specs of the place.  If you’re into that sort of thing, I’ve linked the official LSU Sports page for The Box.  Have at it.  I’d simply like to give my impression of the stadium as kind of an outsider.

First, I need to thank Dexcomm’s own Jamey Hopper for the invite to go to the Ole Miss game with him.  Jamey’s seats are simply outstanding.  I got there about 45 minutes before the first pitch, and was stunned to see I’d be sitting just to the left of home plate about four rows back from the screen!  Being that close and watching warmups really brought me back…kind of bittersweet really. 

From these seats (and let’s be clear, unless there are some seats that are behind a pole or something, there isn’t a bad seat in the joint) the views of LSU Sports’ Complex are just ridiculous.  There have been plenty of complaints about the additions to Tiger Stadium over the last decade…and I’ve made some of them…but LSU really did their homework with this place.  Standing directly behind home plate, the entire centerfield view is of the southeast corner of Death Valley!  In dead center fly LSU’s five national championship flags, the American flag, and the innaugural season at The Box flag.  If you keep panning right, you see the back of the south endzone scoreboard at Tiger Stadium which lists LSU three national titles in football.  In other words, you look out of The Box and all you see is excellence! 

In left, they have installed a state of the art scoreboard featuring an HD video screen that is a sight to behold.  The scoreboard itself is reminiscient of the one in Omaha, Nebraska at Rosenblatt Stadium.  Just beautiful.  And in right you can see a rather large one story building that at first I thought was the new locker rooms.  Nope.  Turns out, it’s the BATTING CAGES!

I didn’t get much of a chance to sample anything at the concession stands, but I’d assume it’s all fine.  Frankly stadium food isn’t that big a deal to me.  I go to sporting events for the SPORTING EVENTS.  And I’d say based on the size and enthusiam level of the crowd, so do a goodly portion of the fans in attendence. You can see why LSU baseball routinely leads the nation in attendance figures.  And with the added seats and the program runing high at #2 in the nation currently, I have no doubts that with this new addition to LSU’s athletic complex the program will continue to rake in the crowds.  If you are in or around the Baton Rouge area, do yourself a REAL favor and get out to The Box.  You’ll have a wonderful time at the ballpark and get to support a damn fine program.    

Being the father of young boys teaches you something new almost every day.  One thing I’ve learned is that you can NEVER assume your kid knows something if you haven’t first told him about it.  You may be saying to yourself, “Self, that’s a pretty broad statement.  Surely there are things kids just KNOW, right?”  In fact, no…no, there aren’t.

So to the point, my eldest son, Brooks, came with me to the LSU – Ole Miss Game (Geaux To Hell, Ole Miss, Geaux To Hell!) two weeks ago.  And, to my great surprise, he behaved tremendously better than the LAST time he came to a game with me (as featured earlier in this blog).  What a difference three years makes.

Basically, the day was a polar opposite of our last attempt at this.  Three years ago, it was about 1,000 degrees and were cooked in the stands.  This time, it was cold.  Below 40 degrees cold.  So, I had him bundled up as you can see here.

I had snacks, movies, a football to throw around, etc. but none of them interested Brooks as much as all the people around us.  My son, much like my late father, is a “people person.”  Or as I like to call them, “The type of person who will start talking to you at the checkout counter for no good reason…and for some reason you don’t mind.”  Like my father did, Brooks has this knack of making himself a pleasant annoyance to all around him.  And since I’m basically the Steve Martin character from that movie Parenthood, it drives me insane.  So…Brooks spent much of the day “visting” the various tailgates near ours.  He was also pleased when some friends of mine (Ryan, Amy & Jacob) showed up to visit some more.

At one point Ryan took Brooks to see Mike The Tiger in his multi-million dollar cage.  She came back and said, “Brooks is Hi-larious!”  Seems there was some guy driving on the sidewalk, and Brooks, who does not have an internal monologue, simply shouted, “Hey you guy!  You aren’t supposed to be driving there!!”  This apparently garnered cheers from various onlookers.  Another friend of mine, Michael, also stopped by the tailgate.  Michael and his father sit next to our seats in the stadium…and Brooks took to Michael immediately. Soon gametime was approaching, and we packed up and made our way to Tiger Stadium. 

Anyhow, we got to North Stadium Drive in plenty of time to hoist Brooks up onto my shoulders so he could enjoy the team coming down the hill AND to witness The Golden Band from Tigerland play Pregame and run down the hill.  We got to our seats over an hour before kickoff and he was pretty comfortable with the whole setup.  I’ve never had a problem with the height of our seats, but I thought he might.  He really didn’t…so at least that wasn’t an issue.

As for the game itself and how Brooks enjoyed it…eh.  He still has no interest in the game, so he was fairly bored most of the time.  And given how poorly LSU played, there was almost nothing the fans were doing to interest him either.  Assuming you don’t include saying a bunch of tremendously stupid things about our players, coaches, and the game of football in general.  All in all, a pretty hum drum game to bring him to…but he earned a return trip next year for the annual day after Thanksgiving game against Arkansas.

I am a stupid man.

Tomorrow, November 21st, 2008 I’m going to be bringing my son, Brooks, to his first (technically second but I’ll explain that shortly) LSU game.  Brooks is 6, and…well…a handful.  I have a feeling we’re both going to be in for a LONG day!

The first time Brooks accompanied me to an LSU game was back in 2005 when he was only 3.  That was shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had torn a new bunghole in south Louisiana.  LSU had already moved a game against Arizona St. from Baton Rouge to Tempe because LSU’s campus was being used as a large scale triage unit for evacuees.  Then, LSU’s game with Tennessee was moved from Saturday to the following Monday night.  In a display of poor parenting unrivaled outside of the Spears family, I decided that I did not want to miss another game, so I dragged my 3 year old son (still in diapers, folks) to the game.  For those not accustomed to LSU games, you don’t arrive an hour before the game.  It’s ALL DAY.  And on that particular day in early September, it was as if we were tailgating on the face of Mercury.  So from about 8 AM, we tried to make the most of it in 95 degree heat (insert “it’s not the heat it’s the humidity” joke here).  As you can see, it started out well enough.

Brooks happily giving the #1 sign.

Brooks enjoying some snacks.

What doesn’t come through from these photos is the oppressive sweatbox-like heat cooking us the whole time.  Add to that, at the time the kid was anti-food…so I was struggling to get him to eat and drink stuff.  Oh…and at one point I had him stratling my chest in the driver’s seat with the truck on so we could run the AC and cool off a bit so he could take a nap.

So…we go into the stadium.  My season tickets are in the East Upper deck of Tiger Stadium.  Great seats…I love them.  But, in early September, I get the priviledge of getting to admire the majesty of the south Louisiana sun as it slowly slides into the western horizon.  So after having him sit in the heat all day, I then bring him into the stadium to literally fry.

Did I forgot to mention that at the time he hated loud noises?  I brought my three year old son to an LSU Football game…to a venue known internationally as one of the loudest sports venues on Earth…knowing he didn’t like loud noises.  I’m polishing my “Father of the Year 2005″ award as I type this.

As you can imagine, the kid spent the next hour+ huddled up against my left side, whimpering.  By the time the game started and LSU jumped out to an early lead and the crowd went crazy, he was in tears.  So…I finally did the right thing and called it a day.  I gave it a shot and it hadn’t worked out.  I was ok with that.  I never leave games early, but this seemed like as good an exception as I could think of.  I took a few photos of Brooks just after leaving the game outside of Mike the Tiger’s new multi-million dollar crib.  You can almost see the day he had…the color all washed out of him and the slightest of smiles betraying his joy of leaving this awful day behind him.

By the time we made it home, LSU was winning 21-0…so I had made peace with leaving them.  And then, they fell apart in the second half and lost in OT.

Tomorrow will be the first time Brooks has gone back to a game.  I’m tired already… 

Fine, I’ll admit it.  I hate Alabama football.  So this week is going to be tough…waiting until BAMA gets to Baton Rouge. In the meantime, enjoy a few of the latest hits BAMA’s QBs have enjoyed at the hands of LSU defensive backs.  It’s ok to laugh…really.

I promise, if you dressed up like LaRon Landry and trick-or-treated at Brodie Croyle’s house, he’d run screaming.

It got no better when John Parker Wilson inherited the position…

Not to be outdone, Chad Jones stepped in last season and nearly decapitated JPW in the first half.

And then promptly made the key sack at the end of the game to preserve the victory.