re: Bitch Bitch Bitch

I have done my share of bitching here, and more. But I was a kid on Halloween Night when Billy Cannon did his thing. We were in New Orleans; me and my uncle and cousin were attached to the radio listening (I was just 10) to the announcer screaming. Every year since (when in NOLA) I watched Hap Glaudi or Buddy D re-play the run on Halloween. It comes up now and then on ESPN, too. It's still a big thrill. I didn't understand when Dietzel left, but I do remember the big McClendon win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl. And I was a Cholly Mac fan for most of the time he was at LSU. I never got on the "Make Mac Pack" bandwagon, even though I felt he could have done more to bring LSU's offense up to par with his great defenses. Even though LSU broke my heart in bowls versus Nebraska and Penn St. and a few others... I was very sad when Mac was finally forced out.

But first and forever, I was LSU. Moved out of state in 1984. About then we were getting deep into the coaching spiral of more downs than ups, I hung in there. For most of those years I was living in Iowa and Kentucky, so esp. in Big Ten land, it was hard to get much current info on LSU. And it was pre-internet. So, I had to rely on second hand reports mostly. In KY, we were at least in SEC territory, and I attended more than one LSU/UK game at Commonwealth and cheered again for the Tigers. I suffered though, in the down years with Archer/Hallman especially. DiNardo brought some temporary hope until he self-destructed with Tepperism and whatever. I was not impressed when Saban was hired. I learned otherwise and became a big fan of his OCD style of coaching. I was neutral when Les Miles was hired, but optimistic that Saban's polar opposite might be good for LSU. The first three Miles seasons seemed to be golden. Then the bottom fell out in 08. A winning season, but who was this LSU underachieving team out there? And 09 kept that same kind of underachieving Tiger team on the field. Winning record, but... y'all know what I mean.

So I am having trouble with Les Miles-coached teams. And I am having trouble believing Les Miles really has a "want" to be LSU's coach more than anything else. I want to blindly support him, no matter what but I've seen where that can take you (Archer/Hallman/DiNardo years).

So I bitch. But I really want Les Miles to prove me wrong. Really I do. Because I am first and always LSU and if he turns this funk at LSU around, he's the man!