Oh my, where to begin. Out of courtesy to a fellow state school, Mikey is invoking the mercy rule and will keep his comments short…like UL’s list of football achievements.

 

 

First and foremost, it is indeed annoying to have the school insist on calling itself The University of Louisiana and forgetting add the “- Lafayette” in their name as much as possible. They wear “Louisiana” on their jerseys. They bristle when someone lets their old name “USL” slip out. But Mikey figured it out: They go with “UL” now because they were tired of having their “S” kicked all the time. But let’s go with ULL as the correct current description so we don’t get with confused with Louisville…or Underwriter’s Laboratory for that matter.

 

Honestly, they have a good school over dere in Cajun country and it’s great they use the name “Ragin’ Cajuns for their athletic teams.  Not many better nicknames than dat, cher.  Except maybe “Bayou Bengals.” And in a dance contest or Cajun cookoff, Mikey bows to their expertise and “joie de vivre.”

 

They’ve worked hard at branding themselves, I wouldn’t like having a “directional school” name either. As for mascots, it’s been a winding bayou road from being “Bulldogs” in the early days until now. They have tweaked the mascot thing from live and costumed bulldogs to a “Mister Cajun” man and then to "The Fabulous Cajun Chicken" from 1982-1999. 

 

When the chicken mysteriously disappeared the week before the 1999 Festivals Acadiens boasted its “Tastiest Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya Ever!” concession stand, the school held a contest to find a new mascot. The result was “Cayenne” the peppa man:

 

 

So let’s talk sports. You know your pigskin program is in trouble when your own Wikipedia page profile lists football underneath baseball, softball and basketball.  Other than a smattering of seasons, things have not been great in Lafayette since the first team was formed in 1998.  Too bad world class pig handling in a Cajun microwave doesn't translate to pigskin prowess on a sporting field. Atlanta radio 680 the Fan's John Kincade recently referred to them as "U - L - Laughalot."  Ouch, hey watch it, that's my coo-zan you're talkin' about!

 

Rather than send up a spoof of the school’s fight song as has been done the past two weeks, Mike respectfully submits a different tune based on a classic Beatles standard:

 

 

 

Oh yeah, football. Focus Mikey. And the LSU Tigers better focus this week as there are some who see this as a “trap game.” The Ragin’ Cajuns have won their first two games for the first time in quite awhile and will be coming to Tiger Stadium with a load of “Peppa Envy” and their minds thinking upset. They beat Southern 42-19 in the opener before a record crowd of 41,357 – what we refer to as “the east side” in Tiger Stadium. 

 

Then they upended a BCS conference opponent, Kansas State, 17-15, on a 48-yard field goal with 32-seconds remaining in the game.  It was kicker Tyler Albrecht’s first collegiate attempt and it gave the red and white Cajun diehards hope for the trip to Death Valley this week. However, to paraphrase Harry Truman, “the luck stops here.”

 

Game Prediction: Tiger fans have never been so spoiled and so uneasy after starting a season 2-0. We were all so sure that the Tigers would come out with their hair on fire and blast everyone in their path. Fact is, LSU rarely opens the season with a BCS opponent on the road (and two time zones west) followed by an SEC opener. And let’s watch how the Huskies and Commodores fare down the line. Both could be bowl bound at the end of the campaign.  

 

Our defense looked shaky if somewhat improved to get started, and the grumbles arose of “Third and Chavis” made famous by the Tennessee Vol fans during our defensive coordinator's tenure in Knoxville. The Vol message boards chortled with glee after the UW game. The Vandy game, like the weather conditions, was not a perfect outing but there was improvement shown across the board on both sides of the ball. Vandy was held to 210 yards offense and only converted 4 of 15 third downs.  After this result -and after Kiffen’s Vols lost to UCLA at home last Saturday-the fans in orange have been strangely silent on the subject.   Vandy is a prohibitive favorite over Mississippi State this week and no one will be surprised if they win 7-8 games this season.

 

There’s something to be said for facing tough competition to start out. You get up to speed fast and there’s no time to get “the big head” by rolling over outmatched opponents. Mikey doesn’t want to look down the line too much but only Florida looms as a clearly better team at this point of the season, and we get them at home with a chance to make Timmy cry again in Death Valley.  ULL will put up a good fight, but in the end our depth and overall talent will have the Tigahs pulling away after the first quarter. Sgt. Peppa will be shouting "Help!" when the Tiger Band blasts Pregame, and then sing “When I’m 64 (to 6)” on the bus ride home. Well, not quite that bad.  LSU Tigers 48 – Ooh La La 10.

 

ATLANTA TIGER FANS – Watch for the Tiger Prize Patrol to roll into Copeland's Cumberland this Saturday with a dozen great prizes including gift certs, a sweet Fan Mats LSU rug and new goodies from Tigermania.net! 

Your Pal,

 

mike.a.tiger@gmail.com

 

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