Baton Rouge, L'uisiana

I had the gator.

The money was in Baton Rouge this week.



Our first exit in the Pelican State.

Britney Spears was born just up the road from Exit 61 in McComb, Mississippi but she was raised in Kentwood, Louisiana.

Aside from the Pumpkin Center/Baptist exit there's not much else along the interstate 'til you get to Baton Rouge and it's Live Oaks...



If left alone, the limbs'll get so long that they bow down and start to grow along the sandy ground. There are whole neighborhoods and roads canopied under these things draped with Spanish Moss...it's one of the most beautiful sites in The South.

Of course the most beautiful site in The South is one of these....



Tiger Stadium, Death Vally, where it never rains and where in 1988 the fans caused an earthquake to register at the geology center after a game winning touchdown against Auburn.

Baton Rouge is home to Louisiana State University...LSU, The Tigers, Bayou Bengals, founding member of the SEC. They're named after Wheat's Tigers. Recruited mostly from the waterfront in New Orleans they were a L'ousiana unit of zouaves in the Confederate army...so rowdy that they had to be dispersed after Wheat was killed. It's a legacy the LSU fans carry on with ridiculous enthusiasm.

Me and Martha went down for a game against Mississippi State a few years ago. The first thing we saw as we pulled onto campus was an actual gator hanging from the limb of a live oak. The president of the school regularly has to write letters of apology to visiting teams and their fans. While most schools in the SEC are known their sharp dressed fans (ties and cocktail dresses)...at LSU you'll find purple and gold pimps and Elvis impersonators.

First of all they're mostly Cajuns...it's just how they are. Secondly, it takes an act of congress or millions in tv loot to get 'em to play a game during the day. Saturday night in Death Valley is a brutal place to try and get a win...mainly because its 92,000 seats are mostly filled with Coonasses that have been drinking bourbon since before the sun came up.



Edit: I had to add this one...so perfectly over the top.


It's an unqualified blast.

The Money really was in Baton Rouge this week...or more specifically in Gonzalez. I love my job...that's all...and I found out just how satisfying it can be this week. I ride with sales reps. I bring new products and we talk to their customers about bringing them on. I spend a day or two with the reps and get to know them, their goals, about their families...and I get to help them make money. Wednesday, just a couple of hours after meeting a reps wife and daughters, he got a call from a customer we'd talked to that morning...they were going to buy.

He was so excited...jumpin' around, high fives..and then he thought about the money...got his calculator out, ran the numbers...2 grand in annual salary. That's what our morning turned out to be worth for him and his family.

Like I said I love my job.

Oxford, Mississippi

I was on the road again last week...



Oxford, Mississippi



One of the prettiest towns you'll ever come across.



It's not a trick...They named it after Oxford, England as part of a successful effort to have the University of Mississippi located in the town.





Ole Miss was founded there in 1848. Bones (not the actor :) ) from Star Trek is an alum, John Grisham, Charlie's Angle Kate Jackson...the school's produced three Miss America's...



and of course William Faulkner was a student there.



The school also produced The University Greys*, Company A of the 11th Mississippi Infantry...only 4 students showed up for class in 1861 after secession.



The other 135, along with much of the faculty, enlisted. They suffered 100% casualties during the war...that's everybody either killed or wounded. Got farther than anybody during Pickets Charge...and paid dearly for it. Gen Barksdale was killed on the second day of the battle leading his men from the front. One dumbfounded yankee was overheard saying "we don't have officers like that." Damn right they didn't...they were past-masters in burning and raping things...and slaughtering Indians though.

Ole Miss is a fine academic institution but, more importantly it's the home of The Ole Miss Rebels**...founding members of the SEC. It's been about 60 years since they were dominant force on the field....but, off the field, in The Grove, they're still champs.


"Don't win many football games but, they've never lost a party." ***

Lots of music around Oxford. It's the home of Fat Possum Records...R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough territory. The Silver Jews and Modest Mouse have recorded records there...Johnny Marr used to have a house there.

Books...Books and more Books...



Square Books is annually rated as one of the best privately owned bookstores in the country (along with Lemuria in Jackson...we are book lovers)...it's even too big for one store...



It's just a pretty place.

Grenada (that's Gre-nay-duh in Mississippi) is not really that pretty of a place but, I like it all the same. Had business in Kosciusko...so I stayed there Wed. night.

I ate my supper here...



Looks great...sorriest BBQ I ever had south of the Ohio River...pulled pork straight from a bucket. I've had better pork in a school cafeteria...place should be shutdown by the cops.

Should've eaten here...



or maybe here...



Anywhere but High on the Hog.

Anyway fortunately I made it home in time to see this...



Next week...Baton Rouge.


*That's GrEys...we spelled words correctly down here until after the war. Evidently a part of being reconstructed was learning a peculiar New England way of spelling English words.

**Let's not go there for now.

*** Sorry Jenny Q, Sister...I'll make it up to you after my next trip to Starkville.

The Eraser

Ladies and Gentlemen I present for your consideration Reggie Nelson, The Eraser.



Y'all know I don't need much of an excuse (read any) to start posting Gator and SEC football clips, but this particular post is thanks to Natetin. He mentioned sports drinks.

What? You don't see the necessity of that leading to football clips?

Truth is it takes an effort every day not to post SEC football clips...besides this one's got LL Cool J.

The Super Bore

Gregg from Brief Encounter (I still don't know how to do links) asked who I'd be rootin' for in tonight's game. After all there will be a game...somewhere in the midst of the smoke and fireworks, rock concerts, dance sets, multi-million dollar commercials and UFO landings.

The game...the game



With an eight man front they're daring Georgia to throw the....sorry...back to the NFL, back to the Super Bowl.

Somewhere amongst the hoopla tonight there will be an NFL Championship game between the Pittsburg Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. One thing the game has going for it is that these are two of the least plastic teams in the NFL. These are old franchises with storied histories and dedicated fanbases. They didn't start out in some other city and move to get a new stadium. They have archaic nicknames that actually reflect the character of the cities where they play. They are family affairs and an important element in the identities of the areas they represent.

These are championship programs too. For a while now the NFL has been rigging the schedules...that and free-agency have allowed teams to build for a couple of years, make an appearance in the big game then crash back to mediocrity. Glazer's Tampa Bay Buccaners are a perfect example. Not this year. These teams have been playing in Championship games and Super Bowls for decades.

They have great uniforms too...well traditional uniforms anyway. They're actually both pretty ugly, but this game



See positioning the safety like that...ooops that's Alabama and Auburn from the SEC both wearing the same uniform for almost 100 years. I'm sorry it's just whenever I think about the actual game of football this happens.

Anyway this Super Bowl would've looked exactly the same in 1971. It matters dang it. The most atrocious costumes in sports can be found in the NFL (of course as bad as they are...they still don't have beer adverts on 'em :) ).

So it's not the worst possible match up...and given our options it's a pretty good one. It's still the NFL though and the game....



I did it again...

Anyway my Daddy used to be a big Steelers fan when Bradshaw was the quarterback, so I'll be rootin for them. He was also a big Redskins fan like my middle brother. Me my oldest brother were Cowboy fans...If that gives you any idea of how much NFL allegiance mattered in our house.

I think when the smoke clears and glitter settles...when all the dollar bills have been tucked, and the clowns have removed their make-up, parked their tiny little car...the Steelers will win. Their biggest problem is being without their starting center Pouncey...former center for the Mighty Gators.


(don't know what the story is with the song...Gator videos are some of the worst on youtube)

Time for me to stop.

I gotta get back to dealing with Adam's nonsense anyway...speaking of Adam, it's good to see him and his boy pictured as followers. Beth, my sister-in-law managed too. That leaves Brian M. and Allen on the clock...get with it you two.

Make it Five Tigers!

For those of you that are football challanged...we'll let Jeeves (he keeps talking about America...read The South) explain...



Of course by the time y'all read this it'll all be over but the cryin'.

WAR **** EAGLE!!!

Roll Tide Mama-Grey.

Mary-Cathcart woke me up at 5:30 this mornin' sniffin' my face..wantin' to play. There's no goin' back to sleep for me...so I shuffled into the livin room, flipped open the computer and turned on the t.v. to the sound of...



At first I didn't think anything of it...that's just what people sound like. Then I realized it was comin' from the T.V.

You know what happened...production's on a skeleton-holiday crew in connecticut...just new people and interns. Somebody ignorantly suggests...

"If we're gonna do a commercial about Alabama fans...why don't we actually go to Alabama and use people that live there."

The big bosses'll be back next week...somebody's gettin' FIRED and the commercial will be reshot using Canadian actors, doin' their best Forest Gump, all wearing jerseys and face paint...standing around an out-house.

To all y'all, a bregrudging Roll Tide...everybody around here this week is a Bammer (dear Sister?), a Barner, and a Cock, a Volunteer and a Mangy Dawg and Dawg...you're all secretly Gator fans year round anyway.

SEC Clowns...ESSSS - EEEEEEEEEE- SEEEEEEEEE!

Ha Ha Haa Ha Haaaaa

Mighty Gators 34 - flea biters 31 (in overtime)

As you can read...Georgia fans have turned whining about this game into an art form.

They've had a lot of practice in the last 20 years.

EDIT: I tried to link an article, or summary of excuses, from Dawgsports, but I'm an internet moran. Here's the long and the short of it.

1. He didn't want to say anything before the game, but he knew the loss was coming.

Still....

2. The Gators are the luckiest team ever and the Universe hates the Bulldogs (prolly).

3. The bulldogs gave the game away with turnovers. I'm not sure when turnovers became the sole responsibility of the offense...I'm sick of hearing this one.
a. Turnovers are part of the game...nobody tracks games you would've won if you hadn't turned the ball over.
b. More often than not the ball is taken away...not turned over...that's why they're also called take aways.

4. It's the red-shirt freshman Quarterback's fault.

5. Moral victory..."at least we didn't get blown out this year"...nobody, except losers, tracks these either.

6. The coach and his staff suck (yeah sorta).

7. Same ole crap about the Gators having the week off before the game...can they not find somebody at Georgia who knows how to read a calender and schedule their bye-week accordingly?

8. See point 5.

9. See point 5....Geeeze.

10. Rainey's a thug.

The official Flimsy Cups response?

Something that Matters

About thirty minutes from now the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs will get down for the 88th time...(that's right mutts 88th)...for the climax of the Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

http://www.cbssports.com/video/player/sec-live

Half a Hundred, The Celebration, The Time Out, The Time Outs, Fourth and Dumb, Run Lindsay Run....



One of the greatest calls of all time...from one of the greatest announcers. My first football heartbreak and the one that still stings the most.

Is Georgia really that much better with AJ Green? Is Florida really as bad as they looked two weeks ago?

It's always Great to be a Florida Gator...we'll see how much fun it is here in a minute or two.

Tiger on the Plains

SEC Football...



not beer is further proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Post #7

Seersucker pants, so I've been informed by a stylish woman who would know, are meant to be neutral...in other words, it's OK to wear a shirt that isn't blue or white with them.

I think it's a ploy by my wife to get me to wear this green shirt that she likes...cause I asked about a check shirt once, and the overall look on her face was one of amusment, but in her eyes I could see a twinkling desire to smack me for bein' a hassel.

I think the blogs turnin' out like that...I've gone out in public wearin' a checked shirt and seersucker pants..in October. She hasn't smacked me, but she has made some casual suggestions, in the way that only a wife can, about topics for the blog. "Now that" would be a good thing to write about kind of thing.

Do y'all really want to hear about my humiliation with a seven year old LSU fan on Sunday morning at Church?

Probably.

I thought I was gonna miss him. J.C. had the nursery so I went to the early service, and the little Tiger doesn't show up til 9:30 giving me just enough time to get clear of the place...except that I had forgotten to deliver some diaper boxes into the nursery (I'm still not clear on why I was asked to do this...but that's life as a husband)...took just long enough for me to be standing in the parking lot when his Momma's minivan pulled up.

Who knows how his tiny little face covered an entire window with teeth. He never said a word as he got out...just stood in front of me with his hands in his pockets grinin'. He was wearin' sandals. I coulda stomped on his toes, but we were in the Church parking lot...it just wasn't the place.

I'll catch 'im on the street eventually.