My most fond memories from my childhood revolve around a few central themes: Tennis, Soccer, a few neighborhood friends in our "gang" (5-year old street thugs roaming
Pujo street at all hours of the night), and probably the longest memory of all -
LSU football. For those who know me, it comes as no surprise that I am a big fan. No, I don't face paint or shell out tons of money to go to away games. But, i can tell you statistics and memories from seasons throughout my youth. I remember David
Browndyke, I remember the Ohio State game in 87, I remember getting beat by Miami by 41 in the pouring rain in 88, and I even remember the 1979 win over Mississippi State in
Cholly Mac's last home game. I was a big Charles
McClendon fan.
Anyway, most of those memories surround the setting and people involved, and not so much the game itself. My parents always took me with their best friends (Betty and
Lehrue Stevens -
Lehrue was a groomsmen in our wedding), sitting in Doctor Stevens' 50 yard line tickets. I do not believe the seats changed in the 20 plus years of sitting there. We would load up in Lake Charles around 11, drive to Baton Rouge, and tailgate from Doc's spot about three over from the governor's , next to the bent pole on the west side (If you went to Tiger Stadium before the West rebuild you know exactly where I am talking about). We would hang out, eat, adults would drink, and then I would either sit on a lap or sit on the concrete step next to Doc the entire game. The guy across the aisle had a national championship ring from 1958, and he would show me it every time.
Anyway, being an only child, one of the things I always dreamed of when I was on these trips (probably in later years when I actually understood that one day the roles would be reversed) was bringing my children to games. I thought the world stopped on
saturdays in the fall, and I can remember saying to myself that it would be the best feeling to share this experience with my child.
Well, call Oprah, because a dream of mine came true on September 27, 2008. Thanks to the fine folks at England Motor Company in
Greenville, MS, Elise and I headed to Baton Rouge. We went with Nick Mills and Kate, and their little lady
Myrt. Kate was Nicole's
roommate for 3 or 4 semesters at
Millsaps, including the two when Nicole and I started dating in 1996. Holy crap, that was 12 years ago!!!!!!!
Here is Elise in her
LSU cheerleader dress (with
GiGi). Also, Elise and
Myrt ready to cheer on the Tigers.
Anyway, the five of us headed to Baton Rouge, drove past my and Nicole's first house on June Street, and parked on the lake. A 10 minute walk and we were at two of my friend's tailgate. Elise's first food at an
LSU game - an M&M cookie. She was pretty quiet at the tailgate so we headed to look for Ella. Elise's best friend in the world was supposed to be just across the street. Thank God I didn't tell Elise about Ella because we never saw the Barrios
crew.
After walking towards the stadium we headed to a good spot under a tree to wait for the band. I can
remember making either my mom, dad, or someone else with them take me to see the band enter the stadium with Mike the Tiger. So we got in line. After waiting 20 minutes, and probably a minute before the band and players were supposed to line up, Elise had to go to the bathroom. We ran over to the port-o-potty, waiting in a 25 person line, and after 5 minutes were in. I told her not to touch anything, pulled down her panties, and held her in the air. Needless to say, this method of going to the bathroom was not sitting well with a 3 year old girl. Then, she looked down into the abyss of the toilet, and we were out of there. She told me that she could not and would not go to the bathroom in there. Instead, she would hold it. Knowing I didn't want her to miss what she was really there to see, I accepted her decision realizing I may be getting wipes and the backup outfit out.
We hurried back to Kate and Nick, and jumped in line just in time to see the players walk down the hill. They were huge, and Elise was pretty much frightened at the sight of them. I have to admit that when Ricky Jean-Francois and Herman Edwards walked by, I flinched for no reason. Anyway, one guy (probably the reserve center) came over and said hi to his parents who were next to us. So she got to see one of them a foot away. She called him a football boy...a fitting description considering his size compared to the rest. Hell, I was bigger than him.
(Kate will be sending pictures to fill in this part of the story).
Next down was the cheerleaders. Elise was so excited to see them doing the thing where the guy
deadlifts the girl onto his shoulders and they hold up the T-I-G-E-R-S signs. Then, the girls walked up and down chatting. Two girls probably 10 were in front of us, and a cheerleader came and talked to them. I was holding Elise up and the cheerleader noticed her and told her how cute her dress was. Elise was in shock...but surprisingly answered "Thanks". Not sure how she got that out because she was
deathgripping my arm. Then the cheerleader handed Elise her purple pompom and asked if she wanted to help cheer. Elise (with my prodding) reached for it, grabbed it, shook it, and said "Go L-S-U". My heart melted. When the cheerleader left I looked at her and said "You just met an
LSU cheerleader!", and reached out my hand for her to give me a five. Without ever taking her eyes off the cheerleader, Elise just slapped the hell out of my hand. It was a spastic motion of the arm, but it summed up her reaction and it is a two-second moment I will remember the day I die. I cannot imagine a two second moment where I feel so happy for her other than when she gets married or has a kid. Nicole will have this moment when they go to Disney some day and she meets Cinderella and Ariel.
After the girl came by a guy cheerleader came by with a megaphone and put it to Elise's mouth. Without hesitation, she screamed "Go Tigers". Again, another high five.
Kate's pictures catch two shots of Elise talking to the girl, and I will share as soon as I get them.
Then the band came down and Elise heard Hold that Tiger live for the first time. She really liked the band, especially the back of the band where the little flutes are. She screamed "Those are wind instruments like Quincy", the musical genius on Little Einsteins. Thought that was funny.
After the band we headed towards Nick's tailgate with his work folks. On the way I had one stop in mind. Not to tick off Nicole, but I wanted those temporary tattoos for Elise to get the full enjoyment out of the game. Instead, I saw a face painting girl. She had little designs, and whole face designs. I had no intention of doing the big ones and kept on turning the sample book to only pages with small things for Elise to pick from. This guy behind me kept saying "There's more on the next page" and "She should get her whole face as a Tiger". In return, I telepathically told him to get the hell out of there. We settled with a tiger paw with glitter, which she loved.
Then we headed to Nick's for a while, where we were able to put the stroller in
a friend's car.
We then walked to the gate and I gave Elise her ticket. She had me carry her in, but she scanned her ticket herself. A quick stop to the ladies room (with Kate) and we were headed to the seats. In today's world memories are very easy to make with digital pics, etc. I wish I had a picture of the first time I ever saw Tiger Stadium inside, but I don't. Now, if Elise grows to share my love she will have that memory. I took to pics to be sure, but this was a one time modeling because she grabbed her ticket, walked up the ramp, turned towards me with her ticket, then turned around and was looking for her seat. Truly a memory (more for me than her, at least now).
Once in we were able to see the pregame march of the band, hear Hold that Tiger, and see the players and cheerleaders run out. She was in a great mood for that until the F-16s did a flyover a few hundred feet above the stadium. I saw them before I heard them, and immediately realized I should have warned her. About 3
minutes later she was fine.
Kate has more pics that I will share, but the game for her was pretty routine. I held her up so she could see and she was very into it the first quarter. Uncle Jared was with us so a familiar face was there to help her through the experience of the large crowd. However, as the second quarter started she looked at me, said the sun was gone and it was nighttime, and proceeded to grab her
pjs out of her bag. 2 minutes later she had on different panties and
pjs.
At half she said she was hungry, so after we watched the band and golden girls, we went to get a "special Tiger dog". She actually ate an entire stadium dog, impressive because that was more than she has eaten after 3:00 collectively for the month of September. She also put down about a 25 ounce sprite (I think that was her first time for Sprite). We got back to the seats, put on her backup outfit ( a white dress), and watched more of the game with her doing some cheers and
doing a strange circular wave with one arm that Jared and I could not figure out. Maybe it was a
high from the Sprite. She was pretty much collapsing during the third quarter, was hard to hold, and was becoming a bit squirmy in the seat. We left with about 6 minutes left in the game,
LSU's 28
th consecutive home win in a night game very much intact.
After getting the stroller we rolled back to the car. After talking up Raul's, one of my favorite burger joints in Baton Rouge (on campus next to Chimes), we had to stop. Nick impressively put away a double burger, while Kate and I went for the fit for human consumption size burger with cheese. Elise had some fries and, in her Ariel cup, more sprite. After loading up we stopped near our old house for me to put
pjs back on (thinking ahead from when I would be carrying her in later). By the time we hit College, Elise and
Myrt were snoring.
When I got her home I carried her straight to bed. I had to put on a diaper which i thought would not pose any problem. Instead, she half-woke up. She was totally out of it but still yelling at me and fussing. I could not wake her, resorting to soft slaps on her leg and cheek as well as (i know, I'm going to hell) spraying water in her face. I just couldn't wake her up out of the half-awake thing. After about 15 minutes up there she was out, and I headed to bed.
The announced crowd of 92,710 included the happiest little girl on the face of the earth, and the proudest and most joyful father in the world. It was truly something I will never forget as long as I live. While every moment of every day makes memories, those are the impromptu moments where something funny is said, something happens, etc. For the planned out memories to be
successful, things outside of your control must happen. For the first goal in soccer, the first ballet recital, the first date, the first (gulp) kiss, a little girls' memories are contingent on things outside their control. For this day, there is nothing I would change. Kate and Nick having the tickets and offering them, Elise deciding not to pee so we could make it back for the players and cheerleader, Elise seeing the F-16 rather than being underneath the stadium, Elise turning back to me as I was taking her picture walking in - All of these things had other people involved who played their role in the day (whether intentional or fate). It truly could not have been better. By the way,
LSU won. I would be lying if I said a loss would not have mattered for the day. Also, forgot to mention - First
LSU touchdown witnessed by Elise was scored by Charles Scott, after which Elise screamed Touchdown and high-
fived me and her Uncle Jared. Never forgetting that.
This is long enough. If you are still with me, sorry. But, I hope that you have either had or soon have this day in your life. Nicole will have it when she takes Elise to Disney soon, and now I have something to hopefully duplicate for Lila and Bennett.
