saintdx

Stewart Mandel (formerly of SI.com, now with Fox Sports) had the following Q&A in his weekly mailbag -

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Dear Mr. Mandel: Huge fan. Thank you for writing. I've been reading your work for a long time. As it happens, I finally graduated law school this year and will have some time this fall to hopefully catch some games in person. I am thinking about going and seeing two to three games in SEC locales this fall. If someone has never been to an SEC game, what stadium do you recommend they start with?

-- David, Buffalo, N.Y.


I feel like I always need to answer this question with a disclaimer -- you can't go wrong at any number of places in that conference. There's no overwhelmingly obvious answer. But as I've written before, my favorite place in the country to attend a game is Death Valley at LSU. You'll get quite the indoctrination, from the uniquely Louisiana food to the live tiger that lives down the street from the stadium to the unique outfits of the Golden Girls. But I'd say much the same of a trip to Bryant-Denny (especially when "Thunderstruck" comes on), Jordan-Hare (when the eagle makes his flight) or Neyland (when the Vols run through the "T.")
I got chills watching all of those videos, by the way. Get thee to a stadium as soon as possible.

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:geauxtigers:

CnnSI preview of CWS

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LSU (57-9)

Tigers fans enjoy partying at the College World Series so much that many of them travel to Omaha even when the team doesn't make it. Imagine how excited fans were this season to watch a team that showed all the signs of getting back to the CWS for the first time since beating Texas for the 2009 national championship. LSU won 33 of its first 35 games to open the season, went 23-7 in SEC play and beat Vanderbilt for the SEC Tournament title. Sophomore Aaron Nola (12-0, 1.68 ERA, 117 Ks in 118 IP) and junior Ryan Eades (8-1, 2.79 ERA), both righties, comprise one of the nation's best 1-2 starting punches and senior lefty Chris Cotton (4-1, 1.23 ERA, 16 SV) is among the country's most effective closers. An offense averaging 6.6 runs per game is led by senior second baseman Mason Katz (.366, 15 HR, 68 RBIs), freshman shortstop Alex Bregman (.380, 6 HR, 52 RBIs) and senior outfielder Raph Rhymes (.343, 4 HR, 46 RBIs).

Drafted players: Eades (Twins, 2nd); CF JaCoby Jones (Pirates, 3rd); Katz (Cardinals, 4th); RHP Nick Rumbelow (Yankees, 7th); RHP Will LaMarche (Tigers, 9th); C Ty Ross (Giants, 12th); Cotton (Astros, 14th); OF Raph Rhymes (Tigers, 15th); INF Christian Ibarra (Pirates, 32nd).

One to watch: Bregman earned SEC Freshman of the Year after leading the conference in hits (102), triples (7) and total bases (151). LSU coach Paul Mainieri told The Advocate: "Not only is he the best freshman I've ever had, he might end up being the best player I've ever had -- and I mean in his freshman year."

How they got here: The Tigers swept through the Baton Rouge Regional by beating Jackson State, Sam Houston State and Louisiana-Lafayette. LSU then dispatched Oklahoma with 2-0 and 11-1 wins in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.

CWS history: The Tigers are one of the nation's most storied college programs. They first reached Omaha in 1986, beginning a string of 10 CWS appearances in 13 years. LSU's six national championships (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009) are second only to USC's 12 titles.

Well-known alum: Ben McDonald.

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Prediction

LSU over Oregon State

Experience counts in Omaha, and both of these teams are guided by coaches who have won national championships. Beyond that, both the Tigers and Beavers have the pitching depth and offensive balance to reach the finals. Once there, the Tigers will prevail because they don't have a weakness and have dispatched all challengers this season while playing in the loaded SEC.

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:geauxtigers:

Hate to hijack, but who is this?



:nana: :nana: :nana:

:geauxtigers:

Celebration at Lambeau

The Pack hold a victory celebration at their 50,000 person stadium and charge $5/person (and then let scalpers charge $140 on top of that).


The Saints held a free parade that was attended by approximately 800,000 people.

Saints' Parade

:whodat:

SP

The Good Times Roll in New Orleans' Saints Parade

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If pro football really is the national religion, the Mardi Gras-style victory parade for the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday displayed the varieties of religious experience: What other event would bring together Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's choirboy GOP governor, and the Ying Yang Twins, the Southern rap duo whose songs describe sexual activities that barely sound biologically possible?

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This is the louche, gothic, funky old city of dreams, on the third night of a celebratory bender.

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All of the classic pre-Lenten bases were covered. Satire was represented by the man in the chicken suit playing off the MasterCard ads, with a sign declaring that the Saints' victory -- and Nagin's exit because of term limits -- was "priceless."

Absurdity was embodied by the blindfolded guy with a sign: "Don't tell me what happens . . . I TIVO'd It!"

As for sex, there were two modestly dressed but devilishly grinning women with signs showing tight end Jeremy Shockey, shirtless.

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CNNSI NFL Draft 2010


Lafell at 20 to the Ravens

Ciron at 31 to Philly


Geaux Tigers

The Sovereign Lord and Paramount Leader of The Steampunk Republic (and erstwhile LSU linebacker)




Vote here -

National Name of the Year Bracket

Just curious. Is your relative currently enrolled?

Examples of "big fish" that Ron Cooper could bring in if he chooses to do so -



or -



not to mention -




[Bet you didn't expect to get a "babe thread" on the Recruiting Board... I blame Ron Cooper, who is just that much of a badass.]

Rivals Mailbag


Pretty good take on SEC football fans and SEC conference superiority. Gives good props to LSU for our win against the Wrecked-Tech.

Geaux Tigers

Hasn't happened in the past 10 years.

Rivals.com Article

This article discusses the Big 10 in bowl games and uses the SEC as the benchmark for comparison (how flattering).

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The Big Ten is 14-13 against the SEC in bowls in the past 10 seasons, joining the Big East (6-1) as the only automatic-qualifying conferences with a winning record over the SEC in bowl play in that span. In comparison, the Big 12 is 8-13 and the ACC is 4-13. The Pac-10 has not faced the SEC in a bowl in that time.

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The SEC plays:

Big 10 in the Capital One and Outback Bowls,

Big XII in the Cotton and Independence Bowls,

ACC in the Chick-Fil-A and Music City Bowls, and

CUSA in the Liberty Bowl.

So the only chance an SEC team has to play a Pac 10 team or the Big East team in a bowl is if the two meet in the BCS. With the SEC champ anchored to the Sugar and the Pac 10 champ anchored to the Rose, the likelihood of this happening is very slim, which is unfortunate for conference bragging rights.

I'd love to pick up a Pac-10 tie-in, even if the bowl game is on the West Coast. SEC fans travel, and I think an SEC team's fans could sell out its ticket allotment even to a stadium on the West Coast.