Bamatilldeath said:
In past history, LSU was always a win for Bama. When you feel like the red-headed step child for years, it is easy to feel disrespected..overlooked.
Now that LSU is a national power, Bama is on their "must-do" list to prove their image. Auburn has a similar mentality...always a bridesmate to BAMA.... Very subconscious don't you think?
Yes it is, and actually this goes way back further than LSU's recent football success. Coach Bryant had Coach Cholly Mac's number when it came to the Bama-LSU series, but despite that fact, the game always seemed to be a hard fought one, regardless of scores. For me, the one game that epitomized this rivalry was the 1979 game at Tiger Stadium in a "monsoon," when Bama defeated underdog LSU, 3-0, to remain undefeated on its way to winning the NC.
Ever since I can remember LSU fans have been the way they are toward Bama, and it has nothing to do with Nick Saban. His situation only seemed to feed LSU's obsession to beat BAMA. I know back in the 70's Bama usually faced two conference games that played a major role in determining the SEC champion--Tennessee-Bama and LSU-Bama games.
If Bama could secure wins in these two games, then chances were real good that they would win the SEC. Sometimes it was a victory over LSU that would clinch the SEC title for BAMA, leaving the Auburn game meaningful only in terms of bragging rights.
Remember, Florida was a whipping boy much of the 70s and Vandy, Ole Miss, MSU, Kentucky, and Auburn were weak sisters. Of course, South Carolina and Arkansas were not even in the conference at the time. Besides Tennessee, LSU, and occasionally Georgia, BAMA usually did not have to be as concern about the other teams.
So if Bama beat Tennessee and LSU, its chances were good to become SEC champion; the same held true for Tennessesse and LSU. That is why it has always been important to Tennessee and LSU fans to beat BAMA; it usually meant that the SEC title was at stake.
I also blame some of LSU's extreme "egomania" on something older and deeper than their recent rise to as a national power because honestly Tigers fans have acted the way they do long before their football program's recent success. I actually blame this "egomania" on the fact that for many, many years most of LSU's home games were played at night, especially before college football was shown on more than one network during the regular season.
You see, back in those days, the night games actually served as a sort of insulation for LSU fans. These folks spent all day outside Tiger stadium partying, and I do mean partying, while waiting for the 7:00 or 7:30 pm kickoff. And in those days there were no convenient, quiet generators, fancy televisions, and portable satellite dishes that you see at tailgate parties now. Radio was the most popular way to keep up with what was happening around the league. A lot of LSU fans would not even know what had gone on that day in the SEC and the rest of college football until they heard the scores announced during the LSU game.
In effect, these LSU fans were living in their own little football world created by their daytime tailgate/night game culture. And they still continue to live in their own little football world, egomaniacal and passionate, regardless the state or condition of LSU football.
Yes, their mindset really does not have anything to do with them being a national power, except that fact, alone, seems to give them "permission" to be even more passionate and egomaniacal about LSU football. You know, the whole" we've-had-to-wait-almost-50-years-for-this-so-it-is- okay-for-us-to-act-the-way-we-do" attitude. This mentality was demonstrated fairly well in
The Daily Reveille's article on the houndstooth hat: "It's what LSU fans would do. It's what we're known for."
