Top 10 clues LSU is back to normal post-Gustav10. “Easy Streets” no longer refers to post curfew routes to avoid cops.9. Student Union construction has been delayed another eight years.8. Motorists dodging debris now means avoiding students in crosswalks.7. Chimes and Walk Ons no longer are accepting food stamps.6. Category numbers 1 through 5 refer to national football rankings.5. Les Miles says so.4. We’re back to discussing important issues, like LSU’s defensive game.3. Professor Kevin Mulcahy is back in the news.2. Every Facebook status isn’t, “Oh shit! There’s a hurricane.”1. Normal? This campus is normal?!—-MC2011 mass media writing classNumber-changing is childish, unnecessaryPlayers changing jersey numbers the week before a game to delibrately confuse the opponent is one of the most childish things I have heard a sports team do.The message seems to be that the team cannot win by its own merits, but rather needs to resort to outrageous gimmicks to win games. More importantly though is that such behavior is terrible sportsmanship. It shows a blatant disrespect for the opposition to use deceit that is not within the boundaries of the game. This is not faking a field goal or running a play action pass, this is a methodical manipulation of the rules.There seems to be an idea that the national media does not give the Tigers enough respect. Oklahoma and Alabama being ranked ahead in the AP poll is cited as proof. In college football, these sort of perceptions are not merely trivial, they can decide the fate of a team’s season. It is mind boggling that the Tigers coaching staff would do anything that could easily portray the Tigers in a negative light.What if Colt David gets injured and Josh Jasper needs to kick a game-winning field goal, the coaching staff mindlessly puts Brady Dalfrey in to hold, and LSU is called for a penalty that costs them the game? That would probably be karma at work.Come on Tigers, you’re better than that. —-Steve Wolfmass communication freshman
Letters to the editor: 10/6
October 4, 2008