I know we got man-handled by the pac ten this weekend but,
A phone call to the LSU athletic department ticket office on Tuesday went like this:
Do you have an estimate of the number of tickets your office has sold to Saturday's football game in Tucson?
"A little more than 5,000."
Do you know if the majority of those 5,000 were sold to LSU fans living in Arizona or were they bought by LSU fans who are going to travel to Tucson?
"We sold them through our office to people here."
That's so SEC, isn't it? Making such a big thing of a little old football game.
No Pac-10 school sends 5,000 fans to Tucson for a football game, not even Washington in a Rose Bowl year. Never USC. No way UCLA. The allotment given Arizona State rarely exceeds 5,000, and Sun Devil football fans won't come to Tucson unless they sense a sure thing.
The SEC is America's Football Belt, a culture unknown to the Pac-10.
LSU plays at Death Valley. In the Pac-10, Cal plays at Strawberry Canyon.
Adjacent to LSU's Death Valley is a bengal tiger, caged and angry. Outside Washington's Husky Stadium is a lake that allows Pac-10 spectators to arrive via their yachts and houseboats.
LSU's football radio network has 42 affiliates. Cal's football radio network has four affiliates.
In the SEC, adults arrive at the stadium wearing hats shaped like pigs and alligators. Pac-10 fans arrive with their hats backward. Or sideways.
SEC football fans begin their tailgate parties on Thursday. Pac-10 football fans arrive at kickoff.
"How 'bout them Dawgs!" is an accepted form of midweek greeting in the SEC. In the Pac-10 it's, "Do you know anybody who wants my tickets? I'm going to Tahoe on Saturday."
In the SEC, community leaders have been known to use political platforms to express their passion for college football. "The great state of Florida, as proud of the Democratic ticket as it is of our No. 1-ranked Seminoles, casts all of its ballots for ? " In the Pac-10, politicians play tennis.
In LSU's media guide, starting receiver Devery Henderson says he enjoys raising pit bulls. In Arizona's press book, starting receiver Ricky Williams says he enjoys reading.
Since the Pac-10 expanded in 1978, it has played 41 games against SEC schools. Only 10 of those games have been played on Pac-10 turf (and nine of them were in Los Angeles). Why? The Pac-10 views the SEC as an ATM. Six SEC schools routinely average in excess of 80,000 for home games, far more than any Pac-10 school has ever averaged. Poor old Washington State agreed to a suicidal series of five games at Tennessee from 1980 to 1994 in exchange for a piece of the Vols' bountiful gate. Wazzu went 0-5.
In 1988, an epic LSU victory over Auburn at Death Valley actually registered movement on a seismic meter at the campus geology department. In 1989, fearing that its football stadium was not earthquake-proof, Cal held a series of practices on an intramural field.
The SEC is Bear Bryant sipping whiskey, smoking cigarettes, living at the office, creating a legend. The Pac-10 is Steve Lavin, hair slicked back, living on the beach, looking for a clue.
The SEC is Tennessee's distinctive orange-and-white checkerbox end zone paint. The Pac-10 is Oregon's shop-at-the-Gap, yellow jerseys and yellow pants.
The SEC is between-the-hedges at Georgia, instantly identifiable as the place Herschel Walker once played. The Pac-10 is "CARDINALS" visible under a sketchy coat of maroon and gold paint at turf-challenged Sun Devil Stadium.
The SEC is an intimate neighborhood, requiring LSU to travel no farther than 690 miles (to South Carolina) for a league game. The climate never changes. In the Pac-10, Arizona and Washington are separated by 1,635 miles.
At LSU, Halloween is Heisman winner Billy Cannon's 89-yard punt return to beat Ole Miss on Oct. 31, 1958, the most enduring play in school history. At Arizona, Halloween is Oct. 31, 1992, when Desert Swarm, coming off three straight victories over Top 25 teams and an 8-7 loss to No. 1 Miami, drew 38,463, their smallest crowd since 1985.
In the SEC, an under-the-microscope football coach got fired for partying when out of town. In the Pac-10, the same coach went on for 14 seasons without being recognized outside the city limits.
A phone call to the LSU athletic department ticket office on Tuesday went like this:
Do you have an estimate of the number of tickets your office has sold to Saturday's football game in Tucson?
"A little more than 5,000."
Do you know if the majority of those 5,000 were sold to LSU fans living in Arizona or were they bought by LSU fans who are going to travel to Tucson?
"We sold them through our office to people here."
That's so SEC, isn't it? Making such a big thing of a little old football game.
No Pac-10 school sends 5,000 fans to Tucson for a football game, not even Washington in a Rose Bowl year. Never USC. No way UCLA. The allotment given Arizona State rarely exceeds 5,000, and Sun Devil football fans won't come to Tucson unless they sense a sure thing.
The SEC is America's Football Belt, a culture unknown to the Pac-10.
LSU plays at Death Valley. In the Pac-10, Cal plays at Strawberry Canyon.
Adjacent to LSU's Death Valley is a bengal tiger, caged and angry. Outside Washington's Husky Stadium is a lake that allows Pac-10 spectators to arrive via their yachts and houseboats.
LSU's football radio network has 42 affiliates. Cal's football radio network has four affiliates.
In the SEC, adults arrive at the stadium wearing hats shaped like pigs and alligators. Pac-10 fans arrive with their hats backward. Or sideways.
SEC football fans begin their tailgate parties on Thursday. Pac-10 football fans arrive at kickoff.
"How 'bout them Dawgs!" is an accepted form of midweek greeting in the SEC. In the Pac-10 it's, "Do you know anybody who wants my tickets? I'm going to Tahoe on Saturday."
In the SEC, community leaders have been known to use political platforms to express their passion for college football. "The great state of Florida, as proud of the Democratic ticket as it is of our No. 1-ranked Seminoles, casts all of its ballots for ? " In the Pac-10, politicians play tennis.
In LSU's media guide, starting receiver Devery Henderson says he enjoys raising pit bulls. In Arizona's press book, starting receiver Ricky Williams says he enjoys reading.
Since the Pac-10 expanded in 1978, it has played 41 games against SEC schools. Only 10 of those games have been played on Pac-10 turf (and nine of them were in Los Angeles). Why? The Pac-10 views the SEC as an ATM. Six SEC schools routinely average in excess of 80,000 for home games, far more than any Pac-10 school has ever averaged. Poor old Washington State agreed to a suicidal series of five games at Tennessee from 1980 to 1994 in exchange for a piece of the Vols' bountiful gate. Wazzu went 0-5.
In 1988, an epic LSU victory over Auburn at Death Valley actually registered movement on a seismic meter at the campus geology department. In 1989, fearing that its football stadium was not earthquake-proof, Cal held a series of practices on an intramural field.
The SEC is Bear Bryant sipping whiskey, smoking cigarettes, living at the office, creating a legend. The Pac-10 is Steve Lavin, hair slicked back, living on the beach, looking for a clue.
The SEC is Tennessee's distinctive orange-and-white checkerbox end zone paint. The Pac-10 is Oregon's shop-at-the-Gap, yellow jerseys and yellow pants.
The SEC is between-the-hedges at Georgia, instantly identifiable as the place Herschel Walker once played. The Pac-10 is "CARDINALS" visible under a sketchy coat of maroon and gold paint at turf-challenged Sun Devil Stadium.
The SEC is an intimate neighborhood, requiring LSU to travel no farther than 690 miles (to South Carolina) for a league game. The climate never changes. In the Pac-10, Arizona and Washington are separated by 1,635 miles.
At LSU, Halloween is Heisman winner Billy Cannon's 89-yard punt return to beat Ole Miss on Oct. 31, 1958, the most enduring play in school history. At Arizona, Halloween is Oct. 31, 1992, when Desert Swarm, coming off three straight victories over Top 25 teams and an 8-7 loss to No. 1 Miami, drew 38,463, their smallest crowd since 1985.
In the SEC, an under-the-microscope football coach got fired for partying when out of town. In the Pac-10, the same coach went on for 14 seasons without being recognized outside the city limits.
