Final Score: LSU 21, OU 14
It was an ugly, ugly fourth quarter. And a particularly ugly close. (Really, even at the end of this brain-scrambling game, and after more beer than I might ought to have drunk, even I can do the math: 1.47 to go, and 3 downs to burn, and a 30-second clock, just does not add up, no matter how laxly called.)
But I’ll take the victory, thanks.
There are days when it’s nice to be the alum of a third-rate state school. Tiger fans, unite!
4 January 2004, 9.17 pm
Hooray! Congrats on surviving the game. I really enjoyed your real-time account (while the game was playing for me in the next room, of course).
4 January 2004, 9.28 pm
Way to Geaux!
4 January 2004, 9.33 pm
Thanks for sticking with me, Chuck. The good news, I guess, is I got some extra running in tonight.
Here’s a final thought, which I’m not going to put in an extra post, as there’ve been more than enough this evening: Nick Saban has a reputation in Baton Rouge as being a bit of an asshole (pardon my graphicness). Not in the sense of being a bad guy, so much, as in the sense of being all business, in a state that’s way too much laissez les bon temps roulez to understand that kind of sensibility.
So what moves me in this victory, is (a) all-business actually pays off (I’m looking at you, New Orleans Saints), and (b) Saban’s voice cracking repeatedly in the post-game interviews, talking about how much he loves those guys, was just sweeter than hell.
Okay, so is he worth $2,200,001? Not when the faculty in the English department still have to pay for their own photocopies. But I like him anyway. If we could just go ahead and acknowledge that college sports are in fact semi-pro, and pay the players appropriately, I wouldn’t begrudge him much of what’s coming his way next year.
5 January 2004, 6.03 am
His “all business” reputation served him well in the more conservative Big Ten country, and I always liked him as a coach (even though I’m a Purdue fan), but I knew he’d have a tougher time winning a championship at MSU….
The distinctions between college athletics and college classrooms is almost too absurd to think about right now: at least I’ve never had to *pay* for photocopies, but yeah, over $2 million for football seems extreme. And I agree that the players should get truly paid, but I shudder to think of what that will do to an already corrupt institiution such as college recruiting.
5 January 2004, 11.49 am
This is the best game I’ve never seen!
8 January 2008, 9.49 am
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