Gary Laney for Dec. 20, 2008
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LSU throws size around in Texas
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Having some ties to New York and as a somewhat frequent visitor to the Big Apple, I’ve become privy to the long-standing inside joke some New Yorkers like to share. Here’s how it goes and forgive me if you are a Brooklynite who wanted to keep this a secret.
Take some tourist who doesn’t know better. Work into a conversation with said tourist a reference to some obscure ethnic group, preferably one from some far-reaching, maybe even fictional country. Then throw in this punch-line to get a raised eyebrow from the tourist:
“You know, there are more Paradorians living in Flatbush than they got living in Parador.”
If the tourist is wowed in amazement you and your New York insiders share a chuckle at their expense.
I’ve come to learn of a similar game played down here. It involves LSU graduates and the largest city in the south. It goes like this:
“You know, there are more LSU graduates in Houston than there are in Louisiana.”
I heard it spoken as an absolute truth recently by a Texas high school football coach as an explanation for how Russell Shepard, Houston’s wonderkid quarterback, got away from Texas A&M and Texas and wound up the Savior Apparent on this side of the Sabine.
Working in Beaumont for four months before coming here recently, I saw it and can vouch that it’s at least half true. For every couple of burnt orange or maroon bumper stickers in Beaumont or Houston, you’d probably find one that was purple and gold. And there are way too many people in east Texas named Hebert but pronouncing it He-Burt.
Because yes, Texas has good jobs. Lots of ’em. And yes, it’s close. And yes, there are more people living in Greater Houston than there are living in Louisiana.
So yeah, it’s a healthy group of LSU grads who will have a chance to see LSU play its first nationally significant basketball game of the season today against Texas A&M in Houston.
Don’t get me wrong, more of these LSU graduates are probably more excited about Russell Shepard going to play football for LSU than they’ll ever be a about anything the basketball program does. Let’s face it, they’re LSU graduates. And they’re in Texas. So if they weren’t football-first when they got their degrees, Texas has probably retrained them.
But considering today’s showdown — and make no mistake, these are two pretty good college basketball teams, no matter what the polls tell you — won’t be on TV, then you may have to consult the Houston chapter of the LSU alums to get the first really solid evaluation of the hoops team. A&M is big, it has a fabulous point guard, a high-scoring wing, is well coached and it beats big-name programs (like Arizona and Alabama).
So if LSU proves to have the kind of team the bandwagon Baton Rouge fans hitch on to in February when things start getting fun, a good performance today could be the first real sign of things to come.
If this is a special team, the Houston Tiger fans — the largest LSU fan base on earth (just kidding) — will be the first to know.
Take some tourist who doesn’t know better. Work into a conversation with said tourist a reference to some obscure ethnic group, preferably one from some far-reaching, maybe even fictional country. Then throw in this punch-line to get a raised eyebrow from the tourist:
“You know, there are more Paradorians living in Flatbush than they got living in Parador.”
If the tourist is wowed in amazement you and your New York insiders share a chuckle at their expense.
I’ve come to learn of a similar game played down here. It involves LSU graduates and the largest city in the south. It goes like this:
“You know, there are more LSU graduates in Houston than there are in Louisiana.”
I heard it spoken as an absolute truth recently by a Texas high school football coach as an explanation for how Russell Shepard, Houston’s wonderkid quarterback, got away from Texas A&M and Texas and wound up the Savior Apparent on this side of the Sabine.
Working in Beaumont for four months before coming here recently, I saw it and can vouch that it’s at least half true. For every couple of burnt orange or maroon bumper stickers in Beaumont or Houston, you’d probably find one that was purple and gold. And there are way too many people in east Texas named Hebert but pronouncing it He-Burt.
Because yes, Texas has good jobs. Lots of ’em. And yes, it’s close. And yes, there are more people living in Greater Houston than there are living in Louisiana.
So yeah, it’s a healthy group of LSU grads who will have a chance to see LSU play its first nationally significant basketball game of the season today against Texas A&M in Houston.
Don’t get me wrong, more of these LSU graduates are probably more excited about Russell Shepard going to play football for LSU than they’ll ever be a about anything the basketball program does. Let’s face it, they’re LSU graduates. And they’re in Texas. So if they weren’t football-first when they got their degrees, Texas has probably retrained them.
But considering today’s showdown — and make no mistake, these are two pretty good college basketball teams, no matter what the polls tell you — won’t be on TV, then you may have to consult the Houston chapter of the LSU alums to get the first really solid evaluation of the hoops team. A&M is big, it has a fabulous point guard, a high-scoring wing, is well coached and it beats big-name programs (like Arizona and Alabama).
So if LSU proves to have the kind of team the bandwagon Baton Rouge fans hitch on to in February when things start getting fun, a good performance today could be the first real sign of things to come.
If this is a special team, the Houston Tiger fans — the largest LSU fan base on earth (just kidding) — will be the first to know.
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