Mood:
a-okTopic: Sports
Yesterday, I had the amazing opportunity to get a private tour of our lovely Tiger Stadium. As much as I say I'm still trying to get into this whole football thing, I always love going to an LSU football game, being in the stadium, the hype...and of course, the tailgating.
Fans are already counting down the days until kick off (17) and I feel lucky that I was able to be a small part of the behind-the-scenes activity as LSU Athletics prepares for the most anticipated event of the year.
Here are some of the pictures I got to take!
Chicago Bears helmet: One of the many mounted helmets in the "Helmet Room." Each helmet from an NFL team is mounted with a plaque, listing all of the players from LSU that went on to join the team. I took this photo for my dad...and Da Bears. This room also had paintings of all of the LSU football players who were named All American. Their portraits were even painted by an LSU alumnus.
National Championship trophy: this is one of three football National Championship trophies LSU has earned (1958, 2003, 2007). Although our tour guide (thank you, Michael-Anne) told us there are many replicas around the city, these are the originals that were placed in the cases directly after the games. Also in this room were representations of every bowl game the LSU football team participated in—some bowl games were represented with jerseys or posters, others with paintings or program covers.
The famous "Win" bar the players hit before running onto the field. The bar is from an actual goal post used years ago. The tunnel is large enough for all 120 football players to gather before the game, as well as all of the coaching staff. It is decorated with some pretty awesome graphics on the wall, including a giant picture of a Florida football player (ahem, rhymes with Kim Bleblow) getting tackled by an LSU Tiger.
Another view of the pre-game gathering tunnel. The tunnel is just outside of the locker room, which we also got to see—a giant room with pretty wooden lockers, each one engraved with a tiger. Right outside the locker room is a place to display the LSU player of the week, based on the coaching staff.
This is the view of the field the players see when they exit the doors under the win bar—right before Coach Les Miles leads them onto the field. Oddly, I was surprised to feel like the stadium looked smaller from where I stood here than when I've seen it filled to the brim with 96,000 fans.
View from the sidelines, over the tunnel. Sure is a long way up!
View of the new Georgia turf from the sidelines.
View of the field from the opposite side...yes, I walked on the turf to get here.
A unaltered view of the 20 yard line. I am so thankful I got to have this experience—things like this make it easy to brag about being a Tiger! Now who's ready for some football?
Posted by wittywriter7
at 4:19 PM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 9:30 PM CDT
