So it's early August.
Monday night.
I'm in position in front of my beloved Sony 46", flippin the remote, supper is still dancing in my stomach. I see that two of my favorite shows are on at the same time, Last Comic Standing and America's Game. It doesn't even concern me that the Mets and Braves are going at it on ESPN. What do you want from me? I'm from the south. I'm from the Louisiana south. Baseball? Call me in October.
So I'm flippin between sets of LCS and the White Album of AG, "Missing Rings", the story of the 1998 Minnesota Vikings. The most compelling episode of this epic series. Chris Carter is money! John Randle makes you want to cry...and I HATE the Vikes!
Then the unthinkable! Commercials are runnning at the same time! Thinking on my butt, quickly I flip to ESPNews.
There's Kirk Herbstreit opining on who should be ranked preseason #1 in college football. OMG! TV is rollin' tonight!
As he finishes, the screen cuts to a list of the scheduled games on ESPN/ABC for the weekend of Sept 4: "USC v Illinois kicks it off Thursday night", the anchors voice is heard. "The weekend continues with Notre Dame vs Purdue, then the BIG one...Boise St vs Virgina Tech!"
Seems innocent enough until you realize that on the screen also happens to be the Chic-fil-A Kickoff Classic...LSU vs North Carolina.
No mention. Not even skimmed over. Not even as an after thought.
Sad as it is to admit, the anchor is correct. Boise St. vs. Va Tech IS the big one of the weekend. They are preseason ranked # 4 and 10 respectfully.
This is just another reminder of where LSU head coach Les Miles has taken his program. In year 6, Miles has managed to reduce the football team to just an incidental game, not even worthy of mention, on a list of "big" games to kick off the season.
Thinnk about it. Just three years ago LSU was headlining ESPN's football promotions. They had a legit Heisman Trophy candidate in DT Glen Dorsey, were fresh off a Sugar Bowl trouncing of hated Notre Dame, returning a ton of NFL caliber talent and had a 5th year QB, understudy to the first pick in the 2006 draft tutored by nationally respected offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher.
Today?..."oh the other game on the schedule, sorry, to insignificant to mention".
Suddenly, I got that sinking feeling in my already queezy stomach. The same one I had after Les' SEC Media Day performance. "I like my team". "I look forward to competing". "We are now working on clock management in practice"
Les, you did it to me again, without even being on the screen.
It's enough to ruin an early August night of television.
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