Hold That Tiger! LSU vs Tennessee

I love Louisiana.

Yes, I said it.

Like other great states (I’m looking at you Massachusetts and Texas), Louisiana has a robust identity. When you are in Louisiana, you know you are in Louisiana. It has a culture, heritage and identity completely unique to itself and it permeates all aspects of life there. The food, music, topography and language are all distinctive to the state and ingrained through generations into the social fabric. Furthermore, Louisianans are proud of this heritage, and like few other places I have been there is a shared solidarity among them that celebrates it. Whether it be kindness or “southern” hospitality, Louisianans take every opportunity to share that pride with you, and welcome you into their homes.

Nowhere was this hospitality more evident than with our host for the weekend, and proud fifth generation Louisianan (Louisianite?), Mandy. More appropriately, Mandy, and an assortment of her extended family that graciously welcomed us into all aspects of LSU and the broader Louisiana experience.

If it’s one place that people know how to tailgate, it’s LSU. Tiger fans have elevated tailgating to an art form in Baton Rouge. Sprawled among the campus under towering live oaks, you’ll find some of the most elaborate spreads and mouth watering Cajun fare simmering away beneath a sea of purple and yellow tents.

Starting our own festivities for the day, was one such pre game tailgate with Ron and Karen along with their famed “Van Geaux” tailgating machine. A reclaimed DHL delivery truck, Van Geaux housed the most welcoming tailgate setup we have attended in our all of our trips thus far. After wrestling our overflowing cooler of adult beverages over, we were greeted by a fantastic setup ranging from cookies and sausage balls to a coffin sized crock pot full of home made chicken and Andouille Gumbo. Better than all of that, however, were the dozens of other friends and family members that welcomed us with open arms and never let a cup go empty regardless of the colors some in our party were wearing. It was truly remarkable hospitality that almost made going into the game an afterthought.

However, I glanced down at our tickets that yet another of Mandy’s uncles had procured for us and noticed they were in the fourth row, so with a little corralling into the game we eagerly filed and settled into some of the best seats in the Tiger Stadium.

LSU versus Tennessee proved to be one of the more interesting games I have ever witnessed. With the exception of a field goal, the Tigers scored exactly twice on the day: on the first play of the game and the last play of the game. In between was an offense that sputtered to establish any momentum, and couldn’t sustain a drive all afternoon. The final series has been rehashed on TV all week, as the Vols thought they had the game won when LSU botched a shotgun snap on the final play. A hailstorm of debris came raining down from the LSU student section in protest of the botched ending, making me glad I had opted for LSU yellow.

Unfortunately, the temporary Tennessee victors forgot that you aren’t allowed to throw a bakers dozen jerseys out there on defense, and the yellow flag on the field would give LSU one final play. The Tigers took advantage of this fortunate second chance and crashed into the endzone for the win. Lost in the fact that LSU won, however, was how poorly head coach Les Miles managed the clock during the final two minutes of the game. I’m sure the fickle fans in Baton Rouge will not be too quick to let that get swept under the carpet.

This is our second time back to Tiger Stadium for a game, and I can assure you that LSU is an absolutely phenomenal experience.

The festivities weren’t over after the game however as more of Mandy’s ever gracious family invited all of us over to “visit” after the game. What followed was one of the more simplest yet delicious feasts that I have sunk my teeth into anywhere in our College Football travels. Jay was a master chef for the evening as fresh caught gulf shrimp were deftly battered in a homemade breading recipe and fried up Cajun style in the backyard. Eager open faced rolls awaited these golden nuggets from heaven along with all the fixin’s, and what followed was one of the shortest lived Po’Boys in the history of Louisiana. Deep fried sweet potato hush puppies accompanied the Po’Boys, the mix for which was acquired through Jay's elusive connections to a local proprietor. These sweet potato hush puppies were absolutely sublime. On the scale of addictiveness they ranked somewhere between heroin and raw nicotine.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the feast in Kenny and Sandy's backyard as I was a bit preoccupied with gorging myself into an early triple bypass. Some things are better left to the imagination anyway.

In the end, in case you haven’t realized it yet, LSU versus Tennessee was the perfect College Football weekend. It blended the perfect mixture of amazing friends (both old and new), welcoming family, unique culture, native foods, tailgating, gameday atmosphere and an incredible, competitive game. It’s the best of what College Football represents and an experience we won’t soon forget.

Special thanks to Bryce and Kate for coming along with us, especially all the planning that Kate put into making this weekend special. Sorry again about the Vols.

Thanks again to Mandy and Jake for making us part of their family, and all the incredible work that Mandy did into making this such a memorable experience. We hope to get you to Texas sometime.

And of course, thank you to all of Mandy’s family members, Karen, Ronald, Kenny, Sandy, Jay and a host of other incredibly kind and generous folks that opened their homes and tailgates to us.

Tiger Bait!!!

Wow.

LSU prides itself on being one of the preeminent gameday experiences in college football. Tiger fans take immense pride in their tailgating prowess and boast one of the loudest stadiums in college football. Throw in a night tilt against a conference rival in arguably the biggest regular season game of the year, and you have all the ingredients for an unforgettable college football experience.

LSU vs. Florida in Baton Rouge lived up to all of these lofty expectations and vaults itself into the top handful of games I have ever experienced.

The tailgating atmosphere is a spectacle to behold. Nearly all of the action takes place in a well known area called Dalrymple, where legions of purple and gold adorned Tiger fans start claiming spots on Friday night before the Saturday festivities. Once Saturday rolls around, they spend their day blissfully gorging and guzzling themselves into a well lubricated stupor under the embracing arms of impressive towering oaks and manicured lawns. Purple and Gold shirts flood the landscape as far as the eye can see, and I can only imagine the horror of Florida fans being taunted by crowds of Cajuns rhythmically chanting and pointing “Tiger Bait….Tiger Bait…”

After our pit stop at Chimes to fuel up, we spent the next hour or so wandering around the Dalrymple area, taking in the vaunted gameday atmosphere. A quick glance at the watch told us it was time to head to the stadium and begin the arduous task of finding affordable tickets. (stay tuned for more to come on the student tickets we scored in another post)

The stadium atmosphere in Death Valley fully lives up to its well deserved reputation. 90,000+ fans belting out “Callin Baton Rouge” in unison during the pregame was a joy to experience. Tiger Stadium is unequivocally (as difficult as this is for me to say), the loudest stadium I have ever been to. So loud in fact, that you cannot even hear your own voice screaming among the cheers of the raucous crowd. Given the record numbers in attendance on Saturday night (93,129 attendance), one could reasonably assume that we witnessed the loudest game in LSU history. I simply can’t imagine trying to quarterback a football team amongst this deafening roar, but as a fan it was a pleasure to be a part of the pandemonium.

Mike the Tiger being paraded around in his cage before kickoff.

Gearing up for kickoff...

We had the rare fortune of sitting (well standing) in the student section for the entire game (12 yard line Row 9). Like most big football schools, the student section at LSU is the heart and soul of the stadium and bar none the best place to sit (despite the fact that we somehow managed to end up in front of four Big Ten alums). The spirit, enthusiasm and fervor among the student crowd can draw even the most passive of fans into the frenzy surrounding a big play. Before the game even started, we had already screamed and sung ourselves hoarse ardently cheering alongside our newfound Tigerhood brethren. Given the choice, I would sit in the student section in every game I go to, what an unforgettable night.

On the field, the Bayou Bengals simply couldn’t put it together on this night. Florida lived up to its’ reputation as the number one defense in the country, and it was painful watching LSU flounder to move the ball. The stagnant offense could only muster a field goal by the nights end. Adding to the Tigers woes, they managed a handsome job of shooting themselves in the foot with a multitude of offensive false starts and defensive offside penalties during key stretches of the game. At any point, they could have played themselves into the lead with a big play or two, but they could just never quite put it together.

Final score: LSU 3 – Florida 13

The Chimes

Ask anybody where to go for food or drink on gameday in Baton Rouge, and the inevitable response will be “The Chimes”. There were a handful of other places mentioned, but The Chimes was unanimously at the top of the list. So on Saturday afternoon before the game, to the Chimes we went.

http://www.thechimes.com/overview.cfm

The Chimes is an LSU campus staple, but could aptly be described as slightly more upscale than your typical college beer sling. On gameday it is expectedly packed, and given the hour plus wait for a table, we opted to elbow our way into some bar seats. (Next to the impressive lineup of taps)

The beer menu is the runaway winner at the Chimes and they boast over 60 beers from 20 countries. I obviously opted for the darkest local beer they had on tap, which proved to be Turbo Dog from Abita Brewing company (a dark brown ale). Abita is a Louisiana brewery located in Abita Springs, LA, and I was favorably impressed enough to bring a six pack back to Texas with me.

http://www.abita.com/

As promised we sampled the fried gator tail. Which of course, resembled and tasted like chicken, and in a blind taste test I would be hard pressed to tell the difference. This of course adds more credence to my theory that all deep fried foods essentially taste the same. You could deep fry a rusty screwdriver and it would still taste like chicken.

The one fault I found at Chimes had less to do with the Chimes itself, and more to do with the concept of the “Po’Boy”. As a born yankee, I was quite eager to sample my first Po’boy and I promptly ordered up a shrimp version of the Louisiana staple. In my head I had mistakenly built it up to be a unique Louisiana take on the sandwich (something akin to a Philly Cheesesteak or a Primanti Bros. sandwich).

Instead, I was slightly chagrined to find that it’s simply a sandwich, and a rather boring one at that. Shrimp, lettuce, tomato, bun. These things make a Subway footlong look like a nine course epicurean tasting menu.

The offending "sandwich" with the fried gator in back.

It’s time to drop this deceptive “Po’Boy” nomenclature, and call it for what it is: just a sandwich.

In all though, The Chimes is a pregame must do, and the beer menu alone is worth the visit.

http://www.thechimes.com/beermenu.cfm

Geauxing to Baton Rouge!

We’re calling an audible this week! Neither of us could resist the gravitational magnetism of Garth Brooks and his beckoning chorus “Callin Baton Rouge”. As such, we are heading into the heart of Cajun country to check out one of the most revered gameday experiences in all of college football: LSU.

This will actually be my first ever SEC game, and what better way to experience it than to see #1 Florida vs. #4 LSU. This may very well shape up to be the biggest game in the SEC this season. Once we glanced at a map and realized it was a mere 6 hours away it was settled. Of course, it had been almost two weeks since we visited a capital city (Austin & Madison thus far) so we were long overdue.

As you may recall, we had originally planned to go to Arkansas this weekend for a solid matchup against unbeaten Auburn. As big a draw as that game may be however, it might as well be a Pop Warner game compared to the hoopla surrounding LSU vs. Florida.

Fear not Razorback fans, the Arkansas game has been rescheduled to November 7^th against South Carolina. Forgive me if the story line of “Hogs vs. Cocks” was too much to resist.

This week, however, the thought of 92,000 extremely well lubricated fans playing a night game in what is widely considered the loudest venue in all of College Football, and you have one potentially electric atmosphere. Tiger Stadium is oft referred to as “Death Valley” and has recorded crowd noise levels of 130db. I can tell you from my hard won minor in architectural acoustics that is well….pretty loud. Add in the inevitable media love fest for Tim Tebeaux (err…Tebow), ESPN College Gameday, and Baton Rouge is a powder keg ready to explode.

Now all I have to do is sell a kidney or three, and I should be able to afford tickets. This may be the toughest ticket negotiation all year.

Finally, LSU brings a LIVE Tiger into the stadium as a mascot. A live Tiger. Which on the scale of “Mascot Accidents Waiting to Happen” ranks a full 10 out 10.

http://www.mikethetiger.com/

In addition to the game itself, there are a handful of local establishments that have come highly recommended by our resident LSU diehard Shyrl.

Among the local hotspots that I have been told I “must do”:

-The Chimes Restaurant – Rest assured the “fried gator tail” will not go untried. I also foresee a nice Poboy and couple of their fine beer selections in my future.

http://www.thechimes.com/

http://www.thechimes.com/s3web/1001931/docs/menu.pdf

-A Daiquiri at Daiquiri Café (I am not sure how well my ego will handle this slap in the face to masculinity). I can’t believe this is on here. But Shyrl put it on there, and one does not question Shyrl.

-Schlitz and Giggles (worth it for the name alone). Be sure to check out the rather impressive selection of dirtneck beers on the menu. I think they have all their hipster swill covered.

http://www.schlittzandgiggles.com/menus/schlittz-menu.pdf

-Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s – mostly for the extraneous X’s alone.

http://www.bandtlive.com/

Well I’d say that lays out a pretty solid agenda for the weekend, and I am confident there will be plenty more adventures in store waiting to be discovered, just a matter of getting in the car and getting there.