methomps
an imbecility, a stupidity without name
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]LSU attracts the idiot from every village, even Berkeley[/font]
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=1900831
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Geaux South, Young Man[/font]
As much as The Dash and Adriana adore college football, we might have met our match in LSU football-exchange student Blake Buisson (14).
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5 rowSpan=2><SPACER width="5" height="1" type="block"></TD><TD width=275>
</TD></TR><TR><TD width=275>[font=verdana, arial, geneva]Blake Buisson (fifth from left) tranferred from Cal to LSU for the semester to major in football.[/font]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The 20-year-old Californian with the classic French-Louisiana surname transferred from Cal to LSU this semester. When it's over, he's transferring back. He switched schools for one reason, and one reason only:
"To get my football fix," Buisson said.
Unfulfilled by the tepid grid culture at Cal, Buisson decided to channel his inner Chinese Bandit, tracing the roots of his passion to their source.
His father, Jay, was born and raised in New Orleans and went to LSU. He raised his son in Encino, Calif., as a Bayou Bengal fanatic in absentia.
By age 10, Blake had the plastic LSU helmet, shoulder pads and jersey. He was in full Tiger regalia for one trip with his family to a game at Baton Rouge, and remembers pouring Bloody Marys for passengers while squashed into the back compartment of a Chevy Blazer.
Coming out of Crespi Carmelite High School, he narrowed his college choices to Cal and LSU. "I went with academics," the mass communications major said. "But LSU's always been my team."
For that reason he made it to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl last year to see the Tigers win the BCS half of the national championship. Then he started thinking about how fun it would be to follow LSU all season.
Working hard through his sophomore year, Buisson got ahead on credits toward his degree. Then he pitched the idea of a one-semester grid sabbatical in Baton Rouge.
Dad was excited. Mom, Janice, was worried about his ability to transfer back to Berkeley in good standing.
Everything checked out, and the deal was done. Buisson enrolled in 14 hours of course work -- the vast majority of it non-bunny material -- but mostly he's there for grid-related purposes. He's tailgated for days at every home game, driven with buddies to Athens and bused with a student group to Gainesville.
"Football pretty much is dominating my life," Buisson said. "Most people laughed at me. They couldn't understand it. But they'd never been here, that's why.
"It was eating at me. I've been to Louisiana 20 times my entire life. It's so different down here, I felt like I owed it to myself to see what it's really like."
What it's really like in the Red Stick during football season? Buisson offers a couple of examples:
<LI>"At Cal, you could have a home football game and half the people on campus wouldn't know who we're playing, or if we even have a game," Buisson said. "At LSU, the girls are tailgating at 10 a.m."
<LI>The professor in Buisson's management class came in on the day of a test wearing eye black and blaring the LSU fight song on the lecture-hall sound system. Blake's reaction: These are my people.
He misses his friends at Cal and still roots for the Golden Bears -- who, irony of ironies, are in the top 10 while LSU has plummeted out of the top 20. But even now, in the midst of what could be a Wrong Way Roy Riegels (15) decision for Buisson (to reference a name that lives in Cal football infamy), he offers no regrets.
"I wouldn't trade coming down here for anything in the world," Buisson said. "I'm still enjoying Cal's season vicariously through my friends. But I'm getting seven home games here, and I'm going to make three road games. That's 10 amazing weekends."
Not a bad loaner program, if you can get it.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=1900831
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Geaux South, Young Man[/font]
As much as The Dash and Adriana adore college football, we might have met our match in LSU football-exchange student Blake Buisson (14).
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5 rowSpan=2><SPACER width="5" height="1" type="block"></TD><TD width=275>
"To get my football fix," Buisson said.
Unfulfilled by the tepid grid culture at Cal, Buisson decided to channel his inner Chinese Bandit, tracing the roots of his passion to their source.
His father, Jay, was born and raised in New Orleans and went to LSU. He raised his son in Encino, Calif., as a Bayou Bengal fanatic in absentia.
By age 10, Blake had the plastic LSU helmet, shoulder pads and jersey. He was in full Tiger regalia for one trip with his family to a game at Baton Rouge, and remembers pouring Bloody Marys for passengers while squashed into the back compartment of a Chevy Blazer.
Coming out of Crespi Carmelite High School, he narrowed his college choices to Cal and LSU. "I went with academics," the mass communications major said. "But LSU's always been my team."
For that reason he made it to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl last year to see the Tigers win the BCS half of the national championship. Then he started thinking about how fun it would be to follow LSU all season.
Working hard through his sophomore year, Buisson got ahead on credits toward his degree. Then he pitched the idea of a one-semester grid sabbatical in Baton Rouge.
Dad was excited. Mom, Janice, was worried about his ability to transfer back to Berkeley in good standing.
Everything checked out, and the deal was done. Buisson enrolled in 14 hours of course work -- the vast majority of it non-bunny material -- but mostly he's there for grid-related purposes. He's tailgated for days at every home game, driven with buddies to Athens and bused with a student group to Gainesville.
"Football pretty much is dominating my life," Buisson said. "Most people laughed at me. They couldn't understand it. But they'd never been here, that's why.
"It was eating at me. I've been to Louisiana 20 times my entire life. It's so different down here, I felt like I owed it to myself to see what it's really like."
What it's really like in the Red Stick during football season? Buisson offers a couple of examples:
<LI>"At Cal, you could have a home football game and half the people on campus wouldn't know who we're playing, or if we even have a game," Buisson said. "At LSU, the girls are tailgating at 10 a.m."
<LI>The professor in Buisson's management class came in on the day of a test wearing eye black and blaring the LSU fight song on the lecture-hall sound system. Blake's reaction: These are my people.
He misses his friends at Cal and still roots for the Golden Bears -- who, irony of ironies, are in the top 10 while LSU has plummeted out of the top 20. But even now, in the midst of what could be a Wrong Way Roy Riegels (15) decision for Buisson (to reference a name that lives in Cal football infamy), he offers no regrets.
"I wouldn't trade coming down here for anything in the world," Buisson said. "I'm still enjoying Cal's season vicariously through my friends. But I'm getting seven home games here, and I'm going to make three road games. That's 10 amazing weekends."
Not a bad loaner program, if you can get it.
