Recently in LSU Athletics Category

A light Sunday. First things first.

Happy Father's Day.

The College World Series in Omaha has seen the higher seeds lose the first three games. It's a trend that I hope continues as lower seeded LSU takes on North Carolina right now in the fourth and final game of the first round. GEAUX Tigers.

One from the CrabAppleLane back deck this afternoon.

CrabAppleLane Tomatoes - June 15, 2008

81 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Study hard. Laugh often. Keep your honor.

Tim Russert

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The tornado's path started only a few blocks from here, but with new evidence it may have started less than that, as in across the street."

Ryan Perrilloux, LSU quarterback, is a mystery to me. He has the keys to a Mazzeratti and a ticket to the NFL if he could just keep himself out of trouble. Apparently, that's too much to ask. He was going to start at QB next year for defending National Champion LSU. That's his Mazzeratti. The Tigers have a lot of talent on offense. He has a great arm and has good presence on the field. That's his ticket to the NFL. He also has a propensity for screwing up off of the field and for being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. That's going to derail his career. I hope he straightens himself out and makes something of himself but I surely support Coach Les Miles handling of him. He has been suspended indefinitely.

Caught a glimpse of two horses on my long way home today. Thought I'd share.

Folsom, LA - March 8, 2008

Quote of the Day

So many people are doubting us coming into the season because we lost so many guys. But they haven't seen a lot of the other guys who've been waiting their turn. I have, and they're going to step up and make big-time plays for us, just like last year.

Demetrius Byrd, LSU Tigers

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The fledgling baseball league called Major League Baseball is trying to squeeze some money out of the juggernaut Cape Cod Baseball League."

Two big items of interest yesterday for LSU fans.

First, the lopsided Sugar Bowl win was just what the doctor ordered when the Tigers fell short of a national championship game. When LSU went ahead 41-14 midway through the 4th quarter last night, I turned the TV off and went to sleep only disappointed in the unsportsmanlike penalties the Tigers got. They don't need to do that. It was 11PM when I turned the game off and I was worn out. Definitely a lightweight. I’m sure there are people on Bourbon Street still celebrating right now ... or mourning. The Irish made a game of it in the 2nd quarter but the 2nd half was all LSU. Leaves Tiger fans with a case of the what ifs. Like what if they didn’t have those 4 road games against top ten teams this year? What if JaMarcus Russell decides to stay another year? If he does, they’re your preseason Number One.

The other big news for Tiger fans was former LSU head coach Nick Saban leaving the Miami Dolphins for big Tiger rival, Alabama. LSU fans are not at all happy about that but I don’t think they’re as pissed off as this guy in the Miami Herald. Man, take a deep breath. I’m not all that mad or surprised. Nick Saban is better suited to the college game and the college lifestyle. He made a mistake leaving LSU. He was a god in Baton Rouge and could have stayed as long as he wanted. The NFL is much harder on coaches. Took him two years to find that out but he was able to correct his mistake although there will be some pressure at Alabama for him. The money is good, though. He failed upwards. And one last thing:

Yesterday was a sad day for the Red Sox. Their oldest fan passed away. Cheered for Babe Ruth ... of the Red Sox. Attended the first game at Fenway Park in 1912 ... just WOW.

Quote of the Day

They can't be content to be 10-3 and going to a bowl game and getting your clocks cleaned.

Charlie Weis, Notre Dame Head Coach

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Darius Walker averages 19 carries and 95 yards per game. However, Walker and the run game seem to disappear in big games. This can partially be attributed to Coach Weis' tendency to pass more when behind, and the tendency to save the run for late in the game to hold a lead."

Local sportscasters were reporting last night that LSU had a deal with the Rose Bowl but the Rose Bowl is saying otherwise this morning. First off, that’s their style. For whatever reason, the major bowls don’t like to make their positions known publicly ... but they also like to snap up the good teams before the lesser bowls do. Athletic directors at schools whose teams had a good season want to reward their teams with a bowl game somewhere. Obviously, the Tigers and their fans would love to go to Pasadena. They’ve never been to the Rose Bowl and a game with Michigan or USC is very attractive. The Tigers also have a following that is second to none. The Rose Bowl knows this and also knows that the Tigers and that huge following are very attractive to the Orange Bowl and the Capital One Bowl, too. The Rose can’t afford to leave the Tigers twisting in the wind and the Tigers can’t afford to leave the Orange and Cap One twisting in the wind. Though it will probably remain unannounced until Saturday, it says here that the Rose-Tigers deal is done.

Other Thursday tidbits:

I can sleep better now that I know these three have “bonded”.

The 49ers come to town to play the Saints Sunday. This is a game everyone says the Saints should win. That scares the hell out of me. Stop saying that.

Quote of the Day

Sheriff's deputies pulled a naked man from the jaws of a nearly 12-foot long alligator that almost completely severed the man's arm, the sheriff's office said.

AP & USA Today

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "According to Reuters, senior Walt Disney Co. executive, Anne Sweeney, says there are limits to how long Disney will tolerate copyright infringement of its programming by YouTube users."

The LSU women joined the men in the Final Four of their tournament last night. I watched a bit of it. The women’s game is different but not that much. Stanford played a zone defense where all five of their players were no more than 10 feet from the basket. That's not much different than the men. That’s pretty much the same defense Texas used against the LSU men. Both LSU teams like to play inside and both are successful even though the defenses they’ve faced have clearly been trying to stop them from doing so. The LSU guards were dribbling 18 feet from the basket last night and no one from Stanford was within five feet of them. If those guards could just pull up and shoot from there and make a few, we wouldn't be talking about the Lady Tigers chances in the Final Four next week. We'd be talking about their undefeated season.

Some odd news from India:

I thought it was easy to get a divorce in this country. They have us beat by a mile.

There are alternatives to that easy divorce. After an argument with your wife, you could just set fire to yourself.

Quote of the Day

Maybe when things get back to the new normal, a 'normal' normal, they'll sit back and reflect on all of it.

Pokey Chatman, LSU Women's Basketball Coach

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Having LSU and George Mason make the final 4 is fantastic!"

The only thing I can say about last night is what a fun night of basketball for LSU fans. First things first. It is to Duke’s everlasting credit that a win against them is always special and always remembered. This one falls in that category. The LSU Tigers are young, they’re athletic, they’re exuberant, they’re fearless, and they had a few days to let their adrenaline build. By gametime, said adrenaline level was over their eyeballs. They were going to be a handful for Duke. Late in the game, the announcers said the West Virginia and Texas fans were cheering for LSU. They then said, “No one wants to play Duke”. I beg your pardon. The Tigers wanted to. Oh, and one other thing:

The CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool continues today and I rejoice that my entries still have a chance.

Quote of the Day

They didn't go in, but overall, he did a good job of contesting my jump shots, and when I did drive, they had shot-blockers back there.

J.J. Redick, Duke Blue Devils

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Worst case scenario for this game is SheWill picks up early fouls and McRoberts is left alone to deal with the cavalcade of LSU big men…it will be a great game regardless…so fingers are crossed."

I thought LSU was going to work to bring that worst case about. They concentrated on Redick instead. -Rob

All eyes are on the LSU-Duke game tonight in the Georgia Dome. The talk around town is that the Tigers have a chance. They’re a very athletic team and that’s exactly the kind of team that has given Duke trouble this season. It would bust my brackets pretty good if they win tonight but that’s fine by me. Duke is a smart and very well coached team and I expect they’ll play a very deliberate game tonight. The Tigers are going to go inside and try to get Duke in foul trouble, especially if they see Sheldon Williams on Glen Davis. Of course, Duke could shoot the lights out early in the game and the very young Tigers may get down on themselves. I don’t think that will happen, though. They lost by one at UCONN. They know they can play. I’m looking forward to this.

The CrabAppleLane March Madness Pool continues and I rejoice that my entries still have a chance.

Watched Heist last night. The criminals appear to be cool and highly organized and the cops appear to be a bunch of screw-ups led by a kleptomaniac. The thieves are robbing three jewelry stores tomorrow and robbed a bank today to finance it. Actually, they didn’t rob the bank. They robbed the bank robbers. Don’t know how they can get a whole season out of the next 24 hours but it looks kinda fun.

Quote of the Day

Anything after an upset of Duke would be considered gravy.

Pat Forde, ESPN.COM

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Well, here I am. Diving off into something else that I don't have time for. I really don't have any time to spare, but I know that the public is just dying for a peek into my life."

The LSU Lady Tigers are rushing headlong for another meeting with the Tennessee Lady Vols for a national championship in the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament. I’m sure that’s the one everyone wants to see except perhaps the LSU Lady Tigers and the Tennessee Lady Vols. They’ve split two games this year. I think the Lady Tigers wouldn’t mind avoiding it because strange things happen when they play Tennessee. They had the Lady Vols beat in last year’s Final Four but a turnover in the last seconds undid them. I think the Lady Vols wouldn’t mind avoiding it because the Lady Tigers are a better team by most accounts, including mine. Pokey Chatman, LSU Women’s basketball coach, is one of the terrific stories in college athletics. She took over last year when illness befell longtime coach, Sue Gunter, and led the Lady Tigers to their first Final Four. Pokey is a rock star in Baton Rouge now and was a no-brainer to replace Gunter when she retired at the end of last season. The women outdraw the men in attendance. That’s no easy feat and something that the men’s basketball coach, John Brady, is probably hearing about every day. Go Lady Tigers.

Quote of the Day

This is it. No time to leave anything.

Temeka Johnson, LSU Lady Tiger’s Senior Point Guard

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "With the conviction of WorldCom's CEO Bernard Ebbers, analysts are trumpeting the defeat of the "aw shucks" defense -- this is where the CEO claims ignorance of everything that went on during his watch."

The LSU Tigers are out of the College World Series after losing both its games. They simply didn’t play well. That said, LSU fans need to get a grip. There are some calling for the coach’s head. In his three years, he has been to a super regional, where they lost to a very good Rice team, and two College World Series. Give the man time to find his way. His legendary predecessor didn’t win in his first few tries, either. Many of the same twits were calling for head football coach Nick Saban’s head a few years ago, too. What a phenomenal mistake that would have been. Calm down everyone. I'd like to have seen them go a bit deeper into the tournament, too, but it's not like they had the best team this year.

80 days until football season.....

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: “"Old man gets out of bed, memories of old days in his head... and some days he'd rather be dead... hard when there's nobody there. Another day of stamping cards... 50,000 yesterday. Another day wasting away, it's just another day. Why'd they have to all go? House is so empty and cold. Memories and cobwebs inside, nobody left to confide in."."

Another terrific photoblog. -Rob

A good signing day for LSU yesterday. What a job Nick Saban has done. He took a languishing mid-tier program and made it the envy of the toughest football conference in the nation. Skip Bertman (Baseball coach then, now athletic director) did the same thing for LSU baseball 20 years ago. That program is the envy of every NCAA baseball program. Their baseball team is ranked 2nd in the meaningless preseason polls and I can’t remember the last time the baseball team was ranked lower than the football team. At 2nd!

Skip Bertman tells the story of the early days of his tenure as baseball coach at football crazy LSU. His task was even greater than Saban’s. The LSU baseball program was bottom-tier. There were 7 or 8 programs in Louisiana that were in better shape than that one. At one of the games, someone yelled out, “Hey ref, you stink!” and he explained that “they’re not referees, they’re umpires, and they do.”. I don’t know if there’s an ounce of truth to that story but I like it anyway. It is extremely hard not to like the Skipper.

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: “I've been blogging for two years today. It doesn't seem like it's been that long - probably because it's so much fun. In spite of the occassional rude e-mail and one actual death threat, I still enjoy this little hobby quite a bit."

Congratulations from CrabAppleLane! -Rob