With football season right around the corner, the sweet aromas of hot boudin and cold beer are beginning to creep their way onto campus.
In just 44 days, LSU will host UAB at 6 p.m., marking the return of Saturday night in Death Valley — as great an experience as exists in the world of college athletics.
Apparently not.
According to a study done by Movoto Real Estate, Baton Rouge ranks third on a list of best Southeastern Conference cities for sports fans.
The criteria for the study included each program’s on-field success, tailgating, per-capita number of sports bars and radio stations, rivalry victories, school population and attendance at football and basketball games.
Tuscaloosa, Ala., home of the Crimson Tide, was determined to be the best sports city in the SEC. Starkville, Miss., finished second with Baton Rouge; Oxford, Miss.; and College Station, Texas, rounding out the top five.
Maybe Baton Rouge isn’t the best SEC sports city, but to put Tuscaloosa and Starkville as the top two proves these rankings aren’t worth the Internet paper they are printed on.
Alabama is currently the king of college football — there is not even a debate to be had there. But Tuscaloosa is far from the best city in the SEC for a visiting sports fan.
I made the trek there for the LSU-Alabama game in 2011. A group of Alabama fans welcomed us to come watch the game at their tailgate. Food and drinks were had, friendly trash was talked and, overall, the city was a very welcoming host.
Then LSU beat Alabama 9-6, and the tide quickly turned unfriendly.
Bouncers at multiple bars wouldn’t let us in after the game because we were wearing the wrong colors. After giving up on that, we had a couple beer bottles lobbed at us from the roof of a fraternity house as we walked back to the car.
Tuscaloosa may be the best city in the SEC if you’re an Alabama fan, but if you’re not and the Tide doesn’t roll, the city becomes very unappealing.
I’ve never been a road fan in Baton Rouge, but aside from some “Tiger-baiting,” I’ve never seen opposing fans anything but welcomed here. Every tailgate has its share of traveling fans and they are all just as able to come spend their money at Tigerland as someone wearing purple and gold.
On to the other city ranked ahead of Baton Rouge: “Stark Vegas.”
Forget being ranked No. 2, the only way I can imagine Starkville cracking the top eight cities is if the number of cowbells makes up approximately 90 percent of the equation.
Equally as laughable, Columbia, Mo. finished sixth in the report. That means that Missouri — which has only been in the SEC for one unsuccessful season — ranks ahead of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Auburn.
At least Texas A&M has traditions that make it appealing to a visiting fan, but Columbia ranking in the top half of the conference is a joke.
Admittedly, I have never been there, but actually having success in the conference should count for something.
The fact that I’m writing a column on the best SEC cities to visit proves that we are all lost without football and need it back. Just 37 days ’til then.
Thank God.
James Moran is a 20-year-old mass communication senior from Beacon, N.Y.