re: LSU and the Bengal Tiger

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Bull shite. Read the whole quote, not just the last part.

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I did.

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The part you quote is merely an aside that was a confirming coincidence.

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No, the opposite. The part I left out was the "aside." It was simply an acknowledgment of what other schools were doing. Coates went on to say WHY he chose the Fighting Tiger ("Tigers" came from the Civil War unit, "The Louisiana Tigers."). Read the last sentence. Its location (end of the paragraph) is a clear indication it defines the "choice."

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confirming coincidence

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bullshite

You post like a nerd who hates all LSU athletics.
Maybe a professor on tRant?

So one man (Dr Coates) says that the commonly accepted story isn’t so and we’re just supposed to take it as gospel truth?

You know how ridiculous that is, right? Please tell me that you realize this.

During the civil war there was a brigade from St. Grable was the Bengal Tiger unit! They were a great Unit, thus LSU Bengal Tigers!

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that's not what lsu web site says

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Way back in the fall of 1896, coach A.W. Jeardeau's LSU football team posted a perfect 6-0-0 record, and it was in that pigskin campaign that LSU first adopted its nickname, Tigers.

'Tigers' seemed a logical choice since most collegiate teams in that year bore the names of ferocious animals, but the underlying reason why LSU chose 'Tigers' dates back to the Civil War.

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That is what LSU's web site says. LSU

I understand that there appears to be some misunderstanding about the origins. But my link comes directly from a letter from the man who started the LSU football program in 1893, was LSU's first football coach, is the man who, in conference with his players, chose the Tiger as the mascot, and chose purple and gold as the school colors.

My link is from his own letter.

It is not someone's interpretation of what happened. It is not someone's research into what happened.

It is a letter from the man who actually chose the Tiger as the LSU mascot because he wanted a "ferocious animal" as the mascot. He knows what happened. He was there. He made the decision with his players. (BTW - His players were born well after the Civil War ended.)

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Maybe a professor

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Thank you.....but I retired from Exxon a while back. Maybe I should apply for a teaching job at LSU....thanks for the reference.

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ou post like a nerd who hates all LSU athletics.

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Nope. At least 50% of your statement is false.

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The daily thread on this topic...a useless exercise that accomplishes nothing.

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Except that it exposes the extent some will go to rewrite history. Instead of trying to offer a lame rewrite of LSU's heritage (related to Fightin' Tigers), just stand up and own it. Let the Democrats make an attempt to change the school's mascot and see where that goes. The Democrats have/are crapped in their own box with this cancel culture stuff.

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Wrong. It does NOT say that. It mentions that naming teams after a "ferocious animal" was....."an occult."

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The use of the term "occult" merely means that people did not know why ferocious animals were chosen as mascots. It was just the lore and custom of the time.

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It is clear this statement meant Coates narrowed the discussion of the mascot to a "ferocious animal." However, the final choice was directly connected to the Confederate military unit. Coates' own words plus the LSU's statement confirms the obvious. You are "reaching" for a different explanation. However, you fall short based on the evidence.

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The evidence I rely upon is neither someone else's research nor someone else's interpretation of what happened. It comes straight from the proverbial horse's mouth:

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It was the custom at that time, for some occult reason, to call football teams by the names of vicious animals; the Yale Bulldogs and the Princeton Tigers, for example. This is still the vogue. It struck me that purple and gold looked Tigerish enough and I suggested that we choose “Louisiana Tigers,” all in conference with the boys.

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So "Louisiana Tigers" went into the New Orleans papers and became our permanent possession.

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Dr. Coates expressly states the criteria and the reason. They wanted a ferocious animal and the LSU team looked "Tigerish."

He certainly discusses SEVERAL military units that also used the "Tiger" appellation, but that is merely confirmatory coincidence:

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The Louisiana Tigers had represented the state in Civil War and had been known for their hard fighting. This name was applied collectively to the New Orleans Zouaves, the Donaldsonville Cannoniers, and to a number of other Louisiana companies sent to Virginia, who seemed to have the faculty of getting into the hardest part of the fighting and staying there, most of them permanently. One company I knew of went in 200 strong; only 28 returned and many of these were wounded.

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At no point in his letter, however, does Dr. Coates state or even suggest that your hyptheses is correct, that "the final choice was directly connected to the Confederate military unit."

Indeed, it is you who is "reaching" for a different explanation. However, your supposition falls short based on the evidence.