LSU students are known for their devotion and passion to their school, their academic achievements and their extracurricular interests.
However, it seems certain University students’ levels of passion have gone far beyond the realm of a general interest and have become a way of life for them.
While some may call these people “obsessive,” those who are united by their extreme levels of passion seem to prefer the label of “fanatic.”
Mandy Cockerham, a kinesiology sophomore, has been a longtime fan of professional wrestling, but she says no other wrestler can capture her attention like WWF superstar Edge.
Cockerham attributes her fascination to the superstar’s style and personality both in and out of the ring, and when her friends ask her why she is so devoted to Edge, she responds with the wrestler’s hip catchphrase: He simply “wreaks of awesomeness.”
“I got interested in Edge when he first appeared in the WWF,” Cockeram said. “I noticed his promos, his moves in the ring, and I thought he was funny. He’s not bad to look at either.”
To prove her devotion, Cockerham collects anything adorned with Edge’s likeness.
“I’ve collected all kinds of wrestling stuff for about five years, but I mainly collect stuff with Edge on it,” Cockerham said. “My friends and family know exactly what to get me when Christmas or my birthday comes around.”
Her room is decorated with dolls, posters and various toy wrestling rings and figures, but her most cherished collectable is a clock with Edge’s face on it.
“I love it,” she said. “I get to see Edge’s face every time I look at the clock.”
While Cockerham is fascinated by the wrestler she sees, history senior Connolly Ferrell is fanatical about the music she hears.
“I’m obsessed with Radiohead,” Ferrell admits. “I have all their albums because I think their sound is just really incredible, creative and individualistic.”
She lists the British band’s “OK Computer” as her favorite album and admits to experiencing a spiritual feeling every time she listens to their music.
“Their albums are good, but they are better live,” she said. “I saw them for the first time in 1995 or 1996. I went to high school in Florida, and I had to drive to Baton Rouge to see them because Louisiana was the closest they were coming to where I lived.”
Ferrell later said her drive from Florida to Louisiana in the mid-90s paled in comparison to the trek she made last year when she traveled from Washington state to Houston to see her favorite band in concert.
“I have the ticket stub for one of their concerts framed on my wall, and I buy every magazine that even mentions Radiohead,” she confessed.
Great music yields devoted fans, and first- year law student Trey Zeigler says he can relate to people who are fanatical about music.
“I love The Eagles,” Zeigler exclaimed. “I have all their albums.”
Zeigler cited band members Don Henley’s and Glen Frey’s songwriting ability as the band’s most appealing characteristic.
“I love ‘Lyin’ Eyes,’” Zeigler said. “The song tells the story of a woman cheating on her husband, but they wrote the song from her perspective. That’s really interesting.”
A lifelong Eagles fan, Zeigler remembers the time his father first exposed him to their music.
“My dad was a big fan, and I remember the first time I heard ‘Hotel California,’” he said. “I thought they were awesome. The way they combined rock and country in their songs – the contrasting styles – I thought that was really amazing.”
Zeigler named “Best of My Love” as his favorite Eagles song, and he admits to listening to their music daily.
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t a huge fan,” Zeigler said.
While some find happiness in television and music, business student Jason Stopa’s satisfaction is found in a game well played.
Up up, down down, left right, left right, b, a, b, a, start. To Stopa, this isn’t just a code for the original Nintendo game “Contra.” This is a code of honor.
“The NES [Nintendo Entertainment System, circa 1985] means a lot to me. It’s more than just a game console. It’s been a loyal friend to me.”
Stopa still remembers the day his father Armando came home with the system.
“At the time, my family had a giant arcade-style ‘Pac Man’ game, but I was too short to see the screen. My brother used to get down on his hands and knees so I could stand on his back to see the screen. My dad knew how much we loved it [Pac-Man], so he went out and got us a Nintendo,” he said while huffing into an over-heated game cartridge.
“He couldn’t even wait for my birthday so he just gave it to me right then. I remember the look on his face. He’s a Brazilian, so he didn’t really understand the fascination, but he could tell I really liked it,” Stopa recalls.
To say that Stopa liked it would be a serious understatement. By age 6, he had developed moderate arthritis in his left hand.
“I had a lot of trouble with my thumbs as a kid. I developed a technique for the directional axes [arrow part of the controller] that involved rolling the button rather than pushing it. That eventually caused me a lot of pain,” Stopa said. “I even used to tape cotton swabs to my thumbs to protect them from blistering.”
Stopa played through the pain. By age 8, he had mastered over 115 NES games, often depriving himself of food and sleep just to keep playing.
“The first game I ever beat was the old ‘Ikari Warriors.’ I got such an incredible feeling — I was hooked,” he said. “I can still beat Mike Tyson every time. I didn’t even consider selling out when Super Nintendo came out.”
Stopa said he only cares about the original game system. He has owned the same machine since he was 4.
“I swap out the machine and the games every two weeks to keep them clean, and they love me for it,” he said. “I call her Mammy, like Scarlet O’Hara’s servant, because she’s so hard-working.”
Stopa said he knew he was hooked on Nintendo the first time he TKO’d Mike Tyson in the second round.
Also, Stopa’s love for original Nintendo showed when he snuck out of school the day that ‘Super Mario Brothers 3’ came out in the stores.
“I saw the truck pull up and unload the boxes right into the store. They told me they drove that truck all the way from Japan, and I believed them,” he said.
Stopa said his favorite Nintendo character is Little Mac from the old ‘Mike Tyson’s Punch Out.’
“For a while I used to wear a black tank top just to be like him,” he said. “Also Luigi Mario from the ‘Mario Brothers.’ He was the neglected brother just like me.”
Stopa’s advice to other students interested in game systems: Less is more.
“Don’t get wrapped up in all the bells and whistles. NES can compete with any game system out today,” he said. “And, always surge protect your system.”
Fans like Stopa, Ferrell Ziegler and Cockerham are not crazy, they make the entertainment industry work. If not for these die-hard aficionados, the industry couldn’t afford to produce the arts that our society has come to depend on.
To these fans, a show is more than just a show, and a song is more than just a song. Each one finds an escape in doing whatever he feels passionately about. At a time when our society has seen and heard all the reality it can bare, escapism sounds like a pretty good idea.
J. Colin Trisler and Grant Widmer