"Death Valley" (or Tiger Stadium)

The football stadium here at LSU is Tiger Stadium, and it is nicknamed "Death Valley." And for good reason. The stadium with a capacity of 92,400 (6h largest in the NCAA, 3rd in the SEC) has a long history and many traditions behind it. The band is a large part of some of these traditions, as the band's pregame show is cheered on by everyone in the stadium and is so well known. Every single person in the stadium will notice and know when someone messes up during pregame, as it is that well known and that obviuos when someone does.

One of the biggest, if not the biggest Death Valley tradition is that of the night game. The words by the announcer "It's Saturday Night in Death Valley...and here come your Figting Tigers of LSU." ring throught the stadium as a deafeaning roar from the stadium erupts at the end of pregame when the band plays the fight song as the football team runs out from the locker room, underneath our H-style goalposts and through the band tunnel onto the field. Death Valley is one of the most intimidating places to play on a Saturday night, and is reffered to by many and is voted in many polls as a dreaded place to play on the road. It is one of the greatest college football venues in the country. The following is taken from the LSU Sports website information on Tiger Stadium:

"Part of the lore of Tiger Stadium is the tradition of playing games at night, an idea that was introduced in 1931 against Spring Hill (a 35-0 LSU victory). In 2006, LSU celebrated its 75th year of playing night football in Tiger Stadium. Since that first night game in 1931, LSU has played the majority of its games at night and the Tigers have fared much better under the lights than during the day. Since 1960, LSU is 206-59-3 (.774) at night in Tiger Stadium compared to a 20-23-3 (.467) record during the day over that span. "

One of the things every member of the band looks forward to each year is an "epic" pregame. This means doing pregame at night for a HUGE game such as games against Auburn, Georgia, or Florida, and sometimes (this year being one of them) Alabama. However this year, the Georgia game was played at 2:30. This was a huge disappointment. This was because CBS chose to broadcast the game at that time. Today, the same was announced for the Alabama game on November 8. You can imagine how upset everyone in the band is. This years freshmen will not experience a true, "real" night in Death Valley this year. And maybe not next year, either. It all depends on CBS now. This is because the SEC (Southeastern Conference) is in a TV deal with CBS, and CBS chooses what games they want to show when. 2:30 is their favorite time slot to show their games, because they opt to show regular tv shows during the night game hours instead of huge football games that will probably draw even larger audiences if shown at night. I wish they would realize this. The day I found out I made Tiger Band after the pre-season week and cut night, I was waiting for the Georgia game, hoping to be at night. It wasn't. And neither is Alabama. The two biggest home games of the season, played in the daytime. Its upsetting. I have never really liked going to football games during the day. I always enjoyed the night games, and being under the stadium lights. Its disappointing.

Here is some more history of Tiger Stadium (which I'm sure you will find very interesting) from the LSU Sports website:

The home of one of football's proudest traditions, Tiger Stadium once served as a dormitory for approximately 1,500 students, and while Broussard Hall, then LSU's athletics dormitory, was being renovated during the fall of 1986, the LSU football players lived in Tiger Stadium.

The original phase of construction was completed in 1924. This first phase included the east and west stands, which seated about 12,000. Seven years later (1931), the sides were extended upward to accommodate an additional 10,000 fans, raising the capacity to 22,000. In 1936, the stadium seating capacity was increased to 46,000, with the addition of 24,000 seats in the north end, making Tiger Stadium into a horseshoe configuration.

The next phase of construction took place in 1953 when the stadium's south end was closed to turn the horseshoe into a bowl, increasing the seating capacity to 67,720.

The original upper deck atop the west stands was completed in 1978, and it added 8,000 seats to the stadium's capacity. Additional seating in two club level sections, which flanked the existing press box, brought the total addition to approximately 10,000 seats and raised the stadium's capacity to approximately 78,000.

Refurbishing began on the stadium in the summer of 1985, when the east and west stands were waterproofed, and 25,000 chair back seats were added to replace the older "bench" type seats. Another phase of improvements was completed in 1987 when the north and south stands were waterproofed and newer bleachers were again installed to replace the older ones.

The playing field was moved 11 feet south in 1986 to provide more room between the back line of the North End Zone and the curvature of the stadium fence, which surrounds the field. It also put the playing area in the exact center of the arena's grassy surface.

Prior to the 1987 season, more seats were installed at the upper portion of the west lower stands in Tiger Stadium. Also, the stadium's seating arrangement was renumbered to make all seats a uniform size. The addition of bleacher seating in 1988 brought the capacity to 80,150, but the elimination of some bleacher seating after the 1994 season dropped the capacity to 80,000.

Now the sixth largest on-campus stadium in college football, Tiger Stadium continues to provide fans with the ultimate college football experience. Eight years ago, 11,600 seats were added with the installation of the east upper deck, bringing the capacity to nearly 92,000. In addition to the new east upper deck, 70 skyboxes, called "Tiger Dens,” were built, giving Tiger fans luxury accommodations. The addition of the 11,600 seats in 2000 marked the first expansion to Tiger Stadium since 1978, when the original west upper deck was completed.

The distinctive environment of Tiger Stadium became even more pronounced in 2005 as the ambitious West Upper Deck project was virtually completed. Construction on the project -- which began immediately after LSU's home finale against Ole Miss in November of 2004 - carried a $60 million price tag and rebuilt over 3,200 special amenity seats as a well as a state-of-the-art press box to Tiger Stadium. The west side renovation, which included the removal and rebuilding of the upper deck to mirror the east side upper deck, was finished during the 2006 season.

The Memorial Tower

On campus, by the parade grounds near the Student Union (pretty much the center of campus) is the tall clock tower, the Memorial Tower. This clock tower goes off every 15 minutes using the Westminster chimes sequence. It can be heard somewhat easily from the Pentagon where I live. It is quite convenient to figure out what time it is, having the clock tower go off every 15 minutes. At least, until 10 PM. The bells stop ringing at 10 PM daily. Every day at noon, after the full on-the-hour sequence is played and the 12 chimes of noon ring, the Memorial Tower then plays the LSU Alma Mater in its entirety, all two verses. Just a unique thing about the LSU campus.

Oh, and on a side note, I received my absentee ballot in the mail a couple weeks ago and waited until after the last presidential debate (the "Joe The Plumber" debate) to fill it out. I mailed it in at the end of last week. Now I just have to sit back and wait for everything to be counted.

A Big Weekend In College Football

Every weekend is big in college football, and this weekend is no exception. This weekend, during college gameday the winner of the "Battle of the Bands" contest will be announced. You can keep voting up until then, and all your support is much appreciated. Also, this weekend includes some big matchups between some good teams.

Oklahoma and Texas face each other in the "Red River Shootout." Both teams are undefeated and ranked in the top 5 of the AP poll. The winner has the easier path to the Big 12 championship game, and more than likely to the national championship game. However, both teams still have very difficult schedules remaining after this weekend. Also in the Big 12, Oklahoma State and Missouri will play each other. Both are undefeated as well.

In the SEC, LSU (Geaux Tigers!) will play in the swamp at Florida. This is one of our biggest east-west games every year. The LSU-Florida game is always a game to watch. For this game, the band is sending a 100 member pep band. Some of those who are not going in the trombone section are planning to get together to watch the game. The band has not had practice all week because this weekend was originally going to be fall break, meaning we would not have had classes on Thursday and Friday. The band directors had planned on us not having rehearsal this week. When fall break was canceled due to Gustav, they were nice in letting us still have the whole week off of rehearsal. It was definitely nice not having practice all week and not having anything to worry about after lunchtime all week (aside from a required recital Tuesday night and concert band on Monday). Also in the SEC, Vanderbuilt, a surprise 5-0 team, plays Mississippi State, a 1-4 team. Many people are expecting that this is where Vandy could end up tripping up, looking forward towards their game with Georgia next week. I hope they stay undefeated.

In other conferences, USC plays Arizona State. I hope Arizona State beats USC. I always like it when USC loses, as I've never much liked them. I was very happy when Oregon State beat them a couple weeks ago. I was not so happy about 30 minutes later when the fire alarm in my stack went off because someone knocked the cover off the fire alarm. Oh well, those things happen. In the Big 10, Michigan State plays Northwestern, both sleeper teams for the Big 10 title. We'll see what happens.

Although it is not college football, I am happy to say that the Oakton Cougars football team is 6-0 at the moment, having defeated Chantilly at home on Friday. Tomorrow night they play at Centerville, who is a surprising 1-5 so far this season. After last seasons disappointing ending, missing the playoffs (which were expanded last season as well, doubling the number of teams who make playoffs) by losing the last two games of the season, the Oakton Cougars football team took very seriously preparing for this season. The moment the season ended, they began preparing for this season, determined not to let there be a repeat of last year.

The Video Is Up!

The video of the band playing The Raiders March is up here: http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/indianajones/voteBand

You can vote every day. The winner will be announced during College Gameday on October 11.

In today's Daily Reveille, the school paper, there was the following article:

Auburn fan, don’t call me ‘nigger’

Johanathan Brooks

Sports Contributor

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Published: Thursday, September 25, 2008

Updated: Thursday, September 25, 2008

I had my fourth away game experience when I went to Auburn, Ala., to see LSU play this past weekend.

It was a good time, and I list Auburn as one of my favorite college gameday experiences. But one bad apple left a sour taste in my mouth.

Nearly everyone was gracious in welcoming me to the city and hoped I enjoyed myself, but one guy thought he’d be bold enough to actually call me the “n-word.”

I’ll admit, I don’t have high regards for the state that tried to force Rosa Parks to the back of a bus, forced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to march from Selma to Montgomery so people like my grandparents could have their basic civil rights and had a governor who defied the Alabama National Guard by refusing to let blacks enter the state’s largest college.

But with all that negative history, I never expected to be told to “Move out of the way, nigger” while lining up outside the stadium to get in.

The instance reminded me of a quote by my favorite comedian, Dave Chappelle:

“Have you ever had something happen that was so racist that you didn’t even get mad? You was like, ‘God damn that was racist!’”

That’s exactly how it felt. I didn’t even have the capacity to respond because I was caught so off guard.

To top things off, this wasn’t the first instance of racism I’ve had to deal with while trying to enjoy a football game.

I had the unfortunate experience of driving to Oxford, Miss., in 2007.

Aside from Oxford being where fun goes to die, I had to see dozens of confederate flags and listen to men sing “Dixie.”

I respect other schools’ traditions no matter how backward or racist I perceive them to be, so that didn’t bother me.

What bothered me was a grown man asking me when I was let out of prison to come see the game as if — just because I’m black — I’ve committed enough crimes by the age of 20 to warrant serving hard time.

I’ve only had one run-in with the law, and it was for speeding.

Maybe I’ve been sheltered growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, but I honestly can’t recall an instance when an “adult” picked on me because of my race.

It was only these two idiots coming to see teams — ironically enough — comprised mostly of people who look like me.

My other two away trips saw no instances of bigotry. For that, I’d like to thank the lovely people of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Tulane fans in New Orleans.

In 2008 — a year that has seen a black man leading most national polls to become the next president — there are still people ignorant enough to try to offend me because I don’t have to tan and my hair is a coarser texture. And I think it’s ridiculous.

I don’t really care if people hate me. But if you are going to, at least have a real reason.

Don’t hate me because I’m black.

Hate me because I’m a national champion, and you aren’t.





That article serves well for me to discuss the second big difference that I have noticed between home and LSU (as I knew would probably be a difference in some form). Racism. I figured before I even came here that I would probably hear of/encounter some situations regarding this. LSU is in Louisiana, which is part of the Deep South.

The book I had to read over the summer before my senior year of high school, The Blind Side, is a book about Michael Oher, a football player for Ole Miss from the Memphis area, and his high school football career and college recruitment (sidenote, he was being recruited by Nick Saban who at the time was the coach for LSU. Nick Saban promised him that he would not leave LSU, and then he left LSU for the Miami Dolphins. Now Nick Saban is coaching again in the SEC, now at Alabama. Needless to say, there are a lot of negative and hard feelings towards Saban. It is going to be one interesting game when Alabama comes to play here on November 8, when it will be Nick Saban's first time back in Tiger Stadium since suddenly departing LSU). Anyways, in the book, there are portions that do show how there are still some remaining racist attitudes in the deep south. I was not shocked when I have observed the racist feelings that sometimes surface in some people at times.

I heard a story about how a New Orleans police chief said that any white person driving in a black neighborhood would be pulled over, and vice versa, any black person driving in a white neighborhood would be pulled over, and he said "If you don't like it and complain, we'll stop. An you can get robbed."

Now, the Oakton, the high school I went to, is considered in Fairfax County as being "the rich white school." This is because the school demographics are somewhat like this: 70% white, 20% asian, 10% hispanic, black, others. In the band program, there was an average of about 2-3 black kids in the program all four years I was there. Yes, this shows that even up in Northern Virginia, there are some areas that are still somewhat "segregated" in a sorts, it is not as bad as still is down here in some ways. As well, I never encountered any actual situations regarding racism while I was at Oakton.

Down here at LSU, it is different. And I'm sure its similar all across the deep south, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia. This also goes to show that although the civil rights movement occured almost 50 years ago now, there is still a LONG way to go before racism is eliminated. I honestly don't think it will ever completley happen, because there is always going to be one group that thinks they are elitist over another group in some form or another. Its a part of human nature.

I belive that this could also be a deciding factor in the November election in the swing state of Virginia. A large part of southern Virginia is comprised of blacks. However, a large portion of them do not typically vote in elections. The fact that Barack Obama is running as the Democratic candidate could change this and push Virginia over the edge. It will probably be interesting to see how the voting in this years election compares to that of past years, especially in states like Virginia and those in the deep south. There is a new factor that has not been in past presidential elections. We'll see how things go.

Vote for LSU

Last Wednesday evening, the Tiger Band had a recording session with ESPN. We are a part of a competition with 6 other bands as a part of the release of the new Indiana Jones movie. The winning band will recieve $25,000. If LSU wins, the money will go to our new band hall. You can go to the following website to vote every day until the winner is announced on College Gameday on October 11 (which there is a good chance the featured game will be LSU-Florida):

http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/indianajones/voteTeam

So go to that website and please vote for the LSU band! The videos of all the bands will be up on September 29.

Fairfax County #2?

I was just checking my e-mail and looking at some of the news stories that were showing on Netscape, and one of the stories was a listing of the top 10 richest counties in the country. Five of those 10 counties are in the Washington DC metro area. Prince William County ranked #9, Montgomery #7, Howard #3, Fairfax County, where we live, #2, and Loudoun ranked as the richest county nation wide. Seeing that really hit home how I live in such a well-off community.

For my MUED 1700 class, we are being assigned a reading partner at a local elementary school. We are being assigned a child who is behind where they are supposed to be in reading standards according to a test that they will be taking this week (they would have taken the test last week, but the East Baton Rouge schools had two full weeks off due to Gustav). It will then be my job to help this child improve their reading skills over the course of weekly meetings for about 8 or 9 weeks. When the person in charge of registering us for the program came and talked to our class, she was talking about how much of an impact we will be making in some childs life and how these children really need the help. She cited some statistics, and the one that is most prevalent in my mind right now is that the fact that about 40% of adults in East Baton Rouge parish are illiterate, meaning they have lower than a 3rd grade reading level. I'll say taht again, a third grade reading level. To most of us that seems really easy, but for such a large area, for 40% of adults to not be able to read at that level is truly staggering. That means that a large number of children also do not have parents who are able to help them with reading. For a large number of households, they either have no books or very few, usually being a phone book, maybe a Bible, and maybe a magazine. At my house, everywhere you look you will see books. I would say it would be safe to say that about 1/3-1/2 of the wall space at our house in Fairfax is covered with bookshelves and books or have books piled on the floor in front of it.

Seeing where Fairfax County was earlier just helped me realize even more than I already did, how much of a completly different community I am down here at LSU than I was up in Fairfax. I am truly thankful that I have such a loving and caring family that is there for me and how I have been able to grow up in such great environments for education. It is truly amazing how much a large difference ther is just in our nation alone, I can only imagine what it is like in some other countires in Africa, South and Central America, and the Carribean. There are other big differences between Fairfax and Baton Rouge that I will be writing about in the next couple of days.