Bayou Classic Preview

[datruth4u]

Check this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumAm3TDME0

[TexasTerror]

Nice video!

First time in history of the game that both teams come in with losing records. That says a lot about both programs...

Seems this game may be overshadowed...

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16772

Do have hopes of making the Bayou Classic some time! :)

[*****]

Anytime you want to cover it...

[TexasTerror]

Anytime you want to cover it...

If the family wasn't in town for Thanksgiving, I'd be there in a heartbeat. Not sure what next year will bring, but I definitely am game for covering it. I'm happier in my line of work than I've ever been before, so I'd be surprised if I jumped back to the old means of covering a game...;)

[Tod]

Check this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumAm3TDME0

Very cool! :thumbsup: :) :)

[MACHIAVELLI]

Classic makes welcome return to New Orleans
In-state SWAC rivals played in Houston last year after Katrina
http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs...611200331/1006

GRAMBLING — A year away has taught Grambling State's football team just what it means to miss New Orleans.

The Bayou Classic returns to the Superdome this week after being moved to Houston's Reliant Stadium last season in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. That was the first time in 33 years that the event has been played outside of New Orleans.

"Just going back after what has happened, back to the place where the Bayou Classic started, that's big," said sophomore Monroe quarterback Brandon Landers, who is expected to share time with fellow sophomore Larry Kerlegan. "Houston was a great place to have the game, but New Orleans, it just has a special feel."

Kickoff for the Bayou Classic, which is nationally televised on NBC, is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.

The traditional job and college fair begins on Friday at the Marriott Hotel, 555 Canal St., in New Orleans. The Battle of the Bands and Greek Show also returns to the Superdome, with a start time of 7 p.m. Friday. The indoor fan festival that precedes kickoff is at 10 a.m. Saturday.

This flurry of tourism — an average of 200,000 fans have poured into New Orleans after Thanksgiving in years past — is another signpost in the recovery of a hurricane-besieged city.

Officials heralded the game's return in a news conference held late last month, belated recognition for an event that's had a sometimes-rocky relationship with the state.

Louisiana "cannot afford to let the game and its financial impact leave the state," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said, while announcing Classic's return. "In previous years, this event has pumped some $30 million into our economy, providing direct support into the New Orleans region. ... The storms were strong, but they can't stop us, and they can't stop the State Farm Bayou Classic."

More than 20 cities submitted bids in 2005 to play host the game, including Shreveport. But school officials settled on Houston, saying its facility was better suited in the event of inclement weather — prescient in that last year's game day dawned cold and rainy.

The city had also taken in thousands of evacuees, though that didn't translate in ticket sales. Houston's game drew 53,214, second smallest ever behind only 1984. The Bayou Classic had averaged more than 70,000 in the previous five seasons at the Superdome.

[MACHIAVELLI]

Struggling teams meet in Bayou Classic
November 20, 2006

GRAMBLING -- This is a Bayou Classic, perhaps, that only a diehard fan would enjoy.

Grambling enters the Saturday contest with just three wins, having put together the first losing season since former coach Doug Williams' rebuilding project began in 1998.


Southern, which once boasted a run of 11 straight winning seasons under Pete Richardson, has managed only four wins in 2006 -- and faces the prospect of a second consecutive losing campaign.

The response from GSU's players: So what?

There still burns inside of them that desire to beat Southern, as evidenced by up-tempo, emotional practices over the past two weeks.

"Throw the records out the door," said senior fullback Ruben Mayes, who made a game-changing touchdown reception in last year's 50-35 win over Southern. "Our guys are ready to play, no matter how the season has gone."

It's gone terribly.

Never before, in fact, have these two teams met in a Bayou Classic with both sporting losing records.

That makes Saturday something of a litmus test for a fan base used to having something to play for.

"You have fair-weather fans on both sides," GSU coach Melvin Spears admits, "but it's all about the true Jaguars and the true Tigers that are going to stand up and come down. We're going to have a great time."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061120/SPORTS02/311200006/1001/SPORTS

[*****]

... Seems this game may be overshadowed...Why? The Gridiron Classic is played 12/2. :nod:

[MACHIAVELLI]

1976 Bayou Classic Documentary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xblWzYoXMEI)

[MACHIAVELLI]

NEW ORLEANS — How much does the Bayou Classic transcend football?

Enough so that Grambling coach Melvin Spears reworked a quote from transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“Ralph Waldo Emerson once said — and this is for what we talk about with our kids on a regular basis and it goes out to all the folks around the country — what lies before you and what lies behind you is a very, very tiny matter compared to what lies within New Orleans, Louisiana,” Spears said, “and certainly to have the opportunity to lend a helping hand to our fellow man, to reconstruct our great city, is really what the Bayou Classic is all about. … I’m glad to be back.”

The Bayou Classic returns to a restored Superdome at 1 p.m. Saturday after Houston lent a helping hand by hosting the event a year ago in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Katrina.

The return is historic and important in that sense. And the matchup is also one for the history books in that this will be the first time both schools have losing records entering the Bayou Classic since the event’s inception in 1974. Only in 1991 have the two left the game with each saddled with losing marks.

Though Southern (4-6, 3-5 Southwestern Athletic Conference) and defending conference champ Grambling (3-6, 3-4) were both expected to contend, as they traditionally have for the SWAC crown, Arkansas-Pine Bluff is headed to its first SWAC Championship Game with the division title and a seven-game winning streak.

The way the seasons have turned out will test the adage — spouted with verve at a news conference Monday at the Superdome — that the records don’t matter in a rivalry game of this stature.

“The records are really not that big of an issue right now,” Spears said. “The main thing is, we’ve got folks who aren’t living in New Orleans and we’re trying to get them back home. We’ve got to do some things to help them. Our way of helping, from Grambling’s and Southern’s standpoint, is by continuing to have the Bayou Classic here in New Orleans.”

http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/southern/featured/4705251.html?showAll=y&c=y

[TexasTerror]

Why? The Gridiron Classic is played 12/2. :nod:

Gridiron Classic will be fun times, but the investigation in Grambling is an interesting issue onto itself. Surprisingly, it has not gotten much "run" in the media since it first came about...


GRAMBLING — Grambling State’s internal investigation into an early November drug test of several football players will focus on whether proper procedures were followed in administrating and reporting the results of that test.

“We are investigating the matter, then we’ll report our findings,” said GSU athletics director Troy Mathieu.

GSU coach Melvin Spears also confirmed the investigation, though he had no further comment. "

[MACHIAVELLI]

Extra week off adds to Southern-Grambling rivalry

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Nov 22, 2006

One of the factors that makes the Bayou Classic a tinge different than other college football rivalry games is that each team usually has had an open week ahead of the big event.

For the players, that allows for rest and recuperation heading into the emotional game. For the coaches, that allows for an extra week of tinkering.

“Going into the game, there is always a wrinkle or two,” said Southern coach Pete Richardson, in his 14th season at the school.

As the teams enter into the 33rd Bayou Classic at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Superdome, the series is tied at 16 games apiece.

By this time of a season, not only does a coach know his own team’s strengths and weaknesses, but he’s also seen plenty of film on the other team (beyond just the usual exchanged set of the last three games).

“We have an opportunity to see each other a lot during the year, because we’re either playing a team they just played, or vice versa,” said third-year Grambling coach Melvin Spears, who also spent six seasons as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.

Grambling (3-6, 3-4 SWAC) has had the rare occurrence of two open weeks.

“It gives you an opportunity to look at them a little longer,” Spears said. “The one thing you have to think of, too, is you don’t want your team to come here and have rust on them as well.”

Both coaches mentioned the importance of resting injured players. Southern (4-6, 3-5) lost a crucial SWAC matchup with Arkansas-Pine Bluff with four defensive starters sidelined.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/southern/4718316.html

[MACHIAVELLI]

Coaching legends Eddie Robinson and Marino Casem - winners between them of 568 college contests - faced off again in 1992, producing another remarkable rivalry game.

And another razor-thin margin.

Three times, they roamed the sidelines at the Bayou Classic. The average margin of victory: 6 points.

This time, GSU won 30-27 before a sold-out crowd of 71,283, the year before Casem moved up to become Southern's athletics director. It was the last time these two Southwestern Athletic Conference legends met on the field - and the only time Robinson got the better of Casem in New Orleans.

MORE FROM NICK DERISO'S DAILY BAYOU CLASSIC WEBLOG:
http://www.thenewsstar.com/news/blogs/blog3/index.html

[MACHIAVELLI]

Southern stumbled after series of '06 mishaps
By Nick Deriso
[email protected]

GRAMBLING — Southern needed a week off, quite literally, to lick its wounds.
There's something that hurts worse than a second-ever losing record for the Jaguars under 13th-year coach Pete Richardson.


It's losing more than a dozen players to injury over the course of this year.

Two quarterbacks have fallen. And tacklers? By the bushel — including four before last week's dismal blowout to Arkansas-Pine Bluff alone. The Jags even had an offensive guard go down ... with a finger infection.
Ouch.

"It's been a funny year for us," Richardson said. "Every game, it seems like we lost somebody."

The result: Southern is 4-6, just the third time Richardson has entered the Bayou Classic with a losing record — and only the fourth for the Jaguars in 20 seasons.

They face a similarly struggling Grambling, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Superdome in New Orleans.

"This is a rivalry, even if we are 3-6 and they are 4-6," said redshirt GSU sophomore Larry Kerlegan, who has been sharing time with quarterback Brandon Landers. "We both have something to prove."

For the Jaguars, it just might be whether they can get through it without running ruts in the Dome turf with a trainer's cart.

Quarterback J.C. Lewis, the Jaguars' starter as the season began, missed three contests and parts of two others with a concussion and then an injured throwing arm. His replacement, C.J. Byrd, also suffered an arm injury.

http://thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061123/SPORTS/611230337/1006

[TexasTerror]

Oddly enough, not much coverage in NOLA. Just a listing of the 'Schedule of Events'...

http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-27/116426367999340.xml&coll=1

[MACHIAVELLI]

Bayou Classic's return to Superdome special, even if subdued
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BettingExpress.com - Online Sportsbook, Casino & Racebook
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -Overflow crowds in the Louisiana Superdome were long a given for the Bayou Classic.

It was rare if either Grambling State or Southern came into their annual regular-season finale without at least one of them being in contention for a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

The part-athletic, part-musical, part-cultural event had become so popular in recent years, with hotel occupancy in the city surging as high as 95 percent, that fans began complaining about a perceived spike in room rates for the traditional Thanksgiving weekend event.

Now, a year after Hurricane Katrina forced the relocation of the nationally televised spectacle to Houston, the Bayou Classic will be back in its longtime home - in downtown New Orleans, this Saturday.

This one will be special for sentimental and economic reasons. But it also will be a bit different.

That's because neither Grambling (3-6, 3-4 SWAC) nor Southern (4-6, 3-5) has a shot at the conference championship game this year. And the game still wasn't a sellout just before kickoff.

There hasn't been the grumbling about hotel rates, which are down from the 2004 classic, said Darrius Gray, president of the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association. They're lower than in years past, he said.


http://www.bettingexpress.com/news/sports_betting/241734.html

[TexasTerror]

Still no coverage in the Times Picayune...

Was in the Superdome area and saw all these tents and booths set up with plenty of food. Saw loads of streets with special Bayou Classic signage because they're shut down...

[FormerPokeCenter]

I covered the 1999 Bayou Classic for the Shreveport, La., Times, and it was a great experience.

No disrespect to SWAC football, but the coolest thing about doing that game is watching the bands at halftime. Seeing them in the stands is awesome, watching them from the field is something else entirely.

With the way both teams are playing right now, I'd be willing to bet the Bands will produce the most highlights again this year...

I haven't seen much press coverage on The Classic this year, but I'd be willing to bet they do something to honor Collie Nicholson, the man who first realized Grambling's marketability and who first conceptualized the Bayou Classic.

I had occasion to speak with Mr. Nicholson about 10 years ago as a consequence of my day job investigating accidents for insurance companies. He had been involved in an auto accident that was not his fault and I took a statement from him about the events leading up to the accident and also about his injury. After the statement, we probably spent 45 minutes talking about Grambling football and the Bayou Classic.

He was a very classy guy and a marketing genius.

Here's a link to an article about his passing earlier this year...

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/09/15/1897114.htm

[TexasTerror]

Times Picayune stepped it up today...

Jags, Tigers jacked to be back at Dome
But some players say home feels foreign
Saturday, November 25, 2006
By Ted Lewis

Sometimes, Grambling State senior cornerback Greg Fassitt confesses, he feels like a stranger in his hometown, especially in eastern New Orleans where he grew up.

"It's like you're in a different place," said Fassitt, a Kennedy graduate. "The places where I'd hang out like the (Lake Forest Plaza) mall are closed down. It's sort of like you're going through a ghost town or something out of a movie. It's just weird, man."

Southern junior strong safety Glenn Bell, who prepped at Carver, often gets the same sense of displacement.

http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-27/1164438408207060.xml&coll=1
-------------------
CLASSIC COMEBACK
Last fall, the Bayou Classic decamped to Houston. But this year, it's back where it belongs and the fans and the city are ready to party.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
By Gwen Filosa

Bayou Classic fans brought their game faces to New Orleans this weekend, as the 33rd annual gridiron grudge match between Grambling State and Southern University returned to its original turf for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit last fall.

With the nationally televised State Farm Bayou Classic came about 200,000 football fans, their tourist dollars and the anticipation of taking home the bragging rights that come with victory.

Kickoff is today at 1 p.m. inside the Superdome, but Classic fans rolled into New Orleans hotels, restaurants and bars Friday with visions of glorified traditions dancing in their heads. The Battle of the Bands, a venerable marching band showdown, was set for Friday night, along with enough parties to satisfy the masses.

http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-27/1164438481207060.xml&coll=1