re: What has been your Best Seat ever for an LSU game in Tiger Stadium?

Old band seats. Sec 221 I believe?

Every home game from 2004 to 2007.

Ok… this wasn’t in Tiger Stadium, but the story must be told.

Think back to the 2001 season. LSU is in the SEC championship game against Tennessee. If Tennessee wins, they play for the BCS National Championship. The Tigers had an unexpectedly good season, and slipped into the SEC Championship game because of an Auburn loss. No one gave LSU much of a chance.

My buddy was dating a student athletic trainer at the time. She had family tickets to the game, and she offered them to us. My buddy and I said screw it, we’ll study for finals in the car. We drove to Atlanta.

We’re expecting nose-bleed seats. But when we give our names at the Georgia Dome will-call, the agent tells us to go wait by a special door. A few minutes later, a guy in a suit opens it and escorts us to field level seats.

No shite: We’re sitting with the LSU parents, right on the goal line, two rows off the field. Matt Mauck’s father is sitting on my left. The entire Clausen family is on my right.

Important detail: Little Ricky Clausen was an LSU freshman walk-on. His older brother Casey Clausen was starting for Tennessee and chasing the Heisman. So, the Clausen family was splitting time between family seats in both the LSU and Tennessee parents’ sections. And… the Clausens were a miserable, overbearing stage family. Just want you’d expect from Southern California parents who have a private football field for their boys, and expensive private coaches. Truly awful.

Another important detail: Matt Mauck is a relatively unknown back-up at the time, just returned to college from four years playing AAA baseball. His parents, who were lovely, kind people, had driven all the way from Santa Claus, Indiana just to watch their son on the sideline.

Did I mention I was drunk? Yeah. I was really drunk.

The game starts. Casey Clausen throws away a ball rather than take a sack. I call him a coward, right in front of his whole family. And that was the least of it. I had all sorts of beef Casey Clausen, for some reason. And I let it all fly. With my booze-addled mind and the high-stakes game, I reverted to behavoir ususally reserved for the student section. His uncle gets in my face and wants to swing on me. I’m so drunk I don’t even understand why. I’m just laughing at the insanity of the whole situation.

The Clausens leave the LSU parent’s section under escort. There’s a standing ovation by the LSU parents. It’s during a television time-out, so there’s no action on the field. I don’t understand what’s going on. My buddy says, “They’re applauding you.” My obnoxious behavior had finally provoked the miserable Clausen uncle into acting out, and now he was finally getting kicked out. The LSU parents were thanking me for making that happen.

Back to the game. Rohan Davey is injured by a late hit out of bounds. He leaves the game. (I think I somehow blamed that on Casey Clausen, too.) Matt Mauck comes into the game, and he lights the world on fire. Running. Throwing. He wins the game, and the SEC championship, for LSU.
I’m hugging Matt Mauck’s dad and jumping up and down. On the big screen, it’s announced that Mauck is the game’s MVP. I’m pointing to the screen, showing his dad. Suddenly the two us are on the screen together, hugging, high-fiving, jumping up and down. Somehow, the camera man was tipped off to where the Maucks were sitting, and I guess it looked like I was Mauck’s cousin or something.

My buddy and I leave. We get on the MARTA to ride back to the friend’s house where we’re sleeping.

He turns to me and says, “What the frick just happened?”

I loved our "seats" in the student section.. we got there hella early but were near the top of the section with the costumed fans, close to the band and golden girls (where the band was from 04-7)



i want to go back

I should add nothing ever topped being in the Student Section for the 1997 Florida game. Not sure where we sat because after each score we found ourselves in a different row. I know I was the last person holding the goalpost before it was ripped from me by police.