Scooter column: Charity ends when the game begins
Published 12:36 pm Friday, October 9, 2015
As best anybody can tell, that was LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva with an impassioned plea for Tiger Stadium to roll out the garnet-and-black carpet and go out of its way to pamper and please the “home-away-from-home” South Carolina team Saturday afternoon.
A noble gesture indeed.
The Gamecocks are undergoing some travails back home, as you’ve surely heard, and it’s important for LSU fans to put away silly prejudices for an afternoon of sportsmanship and fellowship, just this once, milk and honey, so that all can come together for the common good.
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“Our goal is to make South Carolina feel at home … we want our fans to make them feel at home,” Alleva said. “We really hope our fans come out and support both teams. So we’ll treat South Carolina as the host team, for the most part.”
That’s all fine and good, and surely you wish Alleva godspeed in his charitable work and …
Wait. What did I miss?
Tiger Stadium is not always hospitable and inviting to visitors from the SEC?
When did that happen?
Is it not the perfect spot for visiting teams to get into their happy place for some meditation, perhaps crumpets and tea?
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What do they need to change?
What could possibly go wrong with this benevolent gesture?
The Golden Band from Tigerland has even gotten into the act, possibly pulling a musical all-nighter to be able to passably pull off South Carolina’s fight song and alma mater at some point during the festivities.
Impressionable, somewhat idealistic students are onboard too. The LSU student government plans to transfer the “keys to Tiger Stadium” to their South Carolina counterparts in a pregame ceremony at the Parade Grounds, complete with “free good and non-alcoholic beverages.”
For all their other indiscretions, LSU tailgaters will even share food with Alabama fans — surely without feeling any sympathy, and surely what the ravaged Carolina fans could use right now is a beer anyway.
For that matter, who knew there were keys to the place?
And what of the Steve Spurrier factor?
Spurrier, ol’ Darth Visor himself, will be on the designated sympathetic sideline.
That’s the real bonus for this lagniappe home game.
South Carolina wasn’t due to play in Baton Rouge again until 2020, and it’s probable that Spurrier will be on the golf course full time by then.
Spurrier knows a little something about making himself at home in Tiger Stadium. He’s had the keys to the joint before. In fact, he used to have the run of the place.
Long memories will recall the worst loss in LSU history, at the hands of his Florida Gators, a tidy little 58-3 tap dance on one of Curley Hallman’s frustrating editions in 1993.
Maybe they could give Spurrier the key to Tiger Stadium too. He used to take everything else.
Point is, this all makes for a great story.
But did Tiger Bait suddenly become politically incorrect?
Most people will tell you its part of the place’s charm.
For that matter, usually Alleva is happy to get through a game without the fans burning down the campus.
Now he wants LSU fans to sit down and sing kumbaya with the invaders, uh, visitors.
Anything else LSU might get them? Coffee? Tea? A quarterback?
The Gamecocks (2-3, 0-3 SEC) are apparently down to their third-stringer, but I’m afraid LSU can’t help them much there. They don’t seem to have a spare quarterback for anybody.
And Leonard Fournette is not a bargaining chip, not available as a loaner for the day.
LSU certainly hopes South Carolina dries out soon. But there are limits to the concern.
I might also point out that LSU fans have never been above booing the real home team in a pinch, so you may need a ruling on that one.
There are limits to anybody’s benevolence, particularly in SEC football.
My guess is that once the presentations are made and the goodwill is over with, a lot of pregame back-patting, LSU fans will claim they gave at the office and boo the Gamecocks to Bunkie and back.
I’ve seen it before.
When Hurricane Katrina forced the Tigers to relocate a home game against Arizona State to the Sun Devils’ home stadium, the impromptu hosts couldn’t have been nicer.
LSU was put up in a swanky desert resort the night before the game. The pregame was filled with a lot of heartfelt appreciation for what Louisiana was going through back home.
Once the game started, however, it appeared all the fans bets were off and charity and good will for the Tigers kind of got thrown out into the desert.
At the end of the day, it’s still a football game, not a telethon.
Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at shobbs@americanpress.com
The LSU Marching Band welcomes fans to the school’s matchup with McNeese State University on Saturday. The game was ultimately canceled due to lightening. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press)