LSU Atlanta Email Newsletter- June 4

LSU ATLANTA OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

June 4, 2009

In This Edition:

• LSU Baseball Hosts Super Regional – View Ins at Buffalo Wild Wings
• Tiger Tour is NEXT THURSDAY… Are You In?
• New Regional Locations for Football View Ins in the Works
• Are You "Board"?

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LSU Baseball  Super Regional Begins Friday – Come Watch With Us!

The new Alex Box Stadium continued the “mojo” of its former magical field as  LSU Baseball dispatched Southern, Baylor and Minnesota and earned the right to host a best-of-three Super Regional tourney against Rice this weekend.   While you could watch it at home on ESPN, we will also have view ins of all games at Buffalo Wild Wings on Mansell just east of Ga. 400 in Alpharetta. 

LSU hopes to rewrite the history books with this opponent.  While the Tigers have beaten Rice 2-0 in the College World Series, they are 0-6 against the Owls in regional play, including sweeping us 2-0 in the 2005 Super Regional hosted by LSU.  We owe them a whipping! Rice and LSU have some of the best pitching arms in college baseball and many are saying this is the best matchup of all of the super regionals.  Let’s hope our bats get hot!

The first game is at 7 pm Friday night, then Saturday at 5 pm, with a Sunday 7 pm first pitch if that game is necessary.   Come watch with us if you can – and make sure your server knows you are with LSU Atlanta and we will earn a donation of 10% of your purchase.)

Our Mike A. Tiger also wants to extend an apology regarding an omission in last week’s newsletter.  While games were not available on TV outside of Louisiana, LSUsports.net did offer free streaming video coverage on its GeauxZone Internet subscription service. Mike knew about this but did not pass the information along because of bad experiences he had with freezing video and interrupted feeds in two previous “free” basketball viewings offered earlier this year.   As it turns out, GeauxZone must have upgraded their equipment because the streaming video worked very well by all accounts last weekend. Mikey promises to pass that info to share in the future and hopes the technical problems have been permanently resolved.

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Tiger Tour is NEXT THURSDAY – Will Call Ticket Sales Only

The 2009 Tiger Tour Featuring Les Miles comes to the Cobb Galleria next Thursday (Tiger Tour Info Here) and the tables are finally filling up.  Thanks to everyone who is supporting this great event- with a good turnout we improve our chance for return visits in the future, and we want you to help us sell it out in its first visit to Atlanta.

Doors open at 5 pm for the social hour with cash bar.  Give yourself time to visit the TAF Silent Auction and all of the other displays. The main room is opened for buffet dinner at 6 pm and the show kicks off at 7 pm sharp.  Door prizes will be awarded to start the show and it just gets better from there with multimedia presentations and intimate “conversations” with AD Joe Alleva, Men’s Basketball Head Coach Trent Johnson, and LSU Football Head Coach Les Miles.

IMPORTANT NOTE: With only 300 seats available every person has an excellent view.  You can still get tickets but you must  download the Order Form here and order now.  At this late date, no tickets will be mailed out in advance.  You will have to pick up your tickets at the Will Call Table at the event.   

You can still put together a a reserved Tier 2 table of 8 together - even if you’ve already submitted a partial order.  Simply call one of the contacts on the order form and they will work with you to upgrade and get your group table reserved.  Individual ticket holders will be free to sit anywhere in the tables behind reserved ones and will still have a great view. 

If these hard economic times have gotten the best of you, listen to the Rude in the Morning Show on 680 the Fan – We are giving away two pairs of tickets in the next couple of weekday shows so listen for your chance to call in and win.  

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You Say You Want LSU Atlanta Football View Ins Closer to Home?

Big News for LSU Atlanta Tiger Fans - Especially in Cobb and Gwinnett

The volunteer leadership of your alumni chapter has been actively seeking opinions for how to make a better LSU social network and improve the quality and quantity of our events.  LSU Atlanta also exists to promote LSU and raise money for our Scholarship Endowment Fund here in Atlanta.  Over the past year we have added new events and provided regular communications on the Web and with regular email newsletters and bulletins. We’ve launched the In Town Tigers to provide our fans with the city lifestyle new social networking opportunities. LSU Atlanta is now supported by nearly 20 sponsors who greatly enhance the quality of our events and have boosted our fundraising efforts by providing all of the great prizes we are able to offer as incentives to give.  As a result, membership, newsletter subscription and our fundraising tallies are at record highs. We also completed our SECOND scholarship endowment this year and have started a third.  Give yourself a big Geaux Tigers for being a part of that!

One comment we have heard many times is that having only one central football view in location was not convenient for people who live in the suburbs and many were choosing to stay home.  So last year we added a second location at Buffalo Wild Wings in Alpharetta.  Even considering how the football team’s lackluster performance greatly impacted attendance late in the season, the experiment was a success.  We also raised over $2,000 there, including a donation of 10% of food and beverage sales to the chapter.

So we are now in the closing stages of creating Official Football View In Locations in Gwinnett and Cobb counties to continue with our expansion.  There will also be at least one NEW location inside the Perimeter this fall.  Please note and tell all your Tiger fans that Rio Grande Cantina in Buckhead is no longer a view in location or a supporter of LSU Atlanta. Unfortunately there were numerous issues with communications and many negative reports on service from our membership so we ended the relationship after last season. (They will now host Tennessee fans so be aware that an Orange Alert has been issued for that location.)

We expect there is a trade-off in going with several locations.  Instead of packing one place with a big crowd, we expect that the groups at each place will be smaller.  However, last year demonstrated that we can increase the overall number of LSU fans gathering around Atlanta to enjoy LSU football together, and the expansion promises to bring in greater amounts for scholarships and help the chapter continue to grow.  And since we know one Tiger fan has the enthusiasm of ten ordinary college fans, we’re certain each location will develop its own great atmosphere and Tiger camaraderie.  Finally, over time we think each place has the potential to draw big LSU crowds. You can help us accomplish that with your attendance this fall.

We will continue to offer door prizes and fundraisers but the format will be adapted to serve multiple locations.  Could there be a Tiger Prize Patrol in the works that will rotate visits around our view in locations offering a “galaxy of prizes?”  Stay tuned!

In order to have a view in location we also require having a volunteer host each week. The duties are simple: Get there early to secure our viewing area, greet people and direct them to the Web for info.  Since many of these new places will also be donating a percentage of sales, we also ask our host to take a “head count” and report it to us so we can accurately track activity and anticipate what proceeds to expect.   For each new location we have obtained one primary host, but not everyone can be there every week.  That’s where you could help and we will ask again when our slate of locations is announced very soon. 

Details are coming in the near future.  Please plan to attend as many games as you can and spread the news to your friends around the neighborhood and at work. 

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Are You Board?  Committee and Board Positions Available

This week, Sarah Clayton, one of our best longtime volunteers and biggest Tiger fans, announced she had taken new job and would have to resign as a board member of LSU Atlanta due to her increased work load.  Sarah has been our treasurer and has helped at almost every event, co-chairs the LSU Forever campaign in Atlanta and graciously took over managing the Ga. LSU License Plate program after another super volunteer, Michele Heiger, recently took a job opportunity back in New Orleans.  Thankfully Sarah will continue to handle the license plate duties and still help as much as she can, but we will be losing our second great board volunteer this year with this change.

We always welcome volunteers to help as much or as little as they can to help keep the momentum going as LSU Atlanta rises in recognition as one of the best alumni chapters in the country for any school.  We are always looking for people to help on committees dealing with events and football view ins, scholarship program, newsletter, sponsorships and more. 

As you might expect, we are looking for new board members to keep us functioning.  The time requirements need not be great and our philosophy is to spread out the work so that no one has to do too much. The board meets in person 4-5 times per year and holds conference calls and utilizes email for communication in between.  Even the Treasurer position need not take more than a few hours in most months with some special attention needed around our annual crawfish boil and spot fundraising events.  If you are comfortable with accounting software and money management this position should not be a huge burden on your time. 

Please email us if you are interested in finding out more and to participate. The first words you will hear when we call you back to discuss the opportunity is “Thank You.”

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LSU Atlanta gratefully thanks the major supporters who help make our events and fundraising activities possible:

CHAMPION Sponsors: Buffalo Wild Wings Alpharetta and Duffy Realty of Atlanta.  

TOUCHDOWN level sponsors: Community Coffee, Catering Cajun of Georgia, Boudreaux's Cajun Market and Cafe, Front Page News (Little Five Points), Henry’s Louisiana Grill/Henry’s Uptown, New Orleans Fine Catering/The Peoples Restaurant, TigerMania.net online fan gear store, Tastings: A Wine Experience (Decatur) and Sign-A-Rama Buckhead.

VIEW ALL 19 OF OUR SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS HERE. 

Please patronize and tell our sponsors you appreciate them!  And if you have an LSU friendly favorite business not listed here, send them to our Contact Page at http://www.lsuatlanta.com/contact for information about how to participate.

Until next time ... GEAUX TIGAHS!

LSU Atlanta

www.LSUatlanta.com