Quote:The antagonism stirred by some fans has all but killed the enjoyment of the rivalry.
I agree. I find that the distaste I have for what's left of the rivalry can be traced to one thing. There are two different kinds of LSU fans.
When the #1 ranking in BA came out, a colleague of mine who is an LSU alumnus, former LSU baseball player, and former professional baseball player (made it to the bigs) came by my office to bring it up and talk about it. He asked about the team and how various players were doing. He also said he couldn't see how LSU rated a #2. He thought that they were not that good. Classy guy and very knowledgable about the game. He'll enjoy it if they beat us for sure as he should. He's a Tiger fan.
Then there are the other turds in the office. Not my colleagues. The tigah fans. No college at all. Never set foot on LSU's campus other than to go to a tigah football game. Break their necks to stop by my office when we lose, just to ask how the game went. Never hear a word from them when we win. If they were ranked ahead of us in the preseason polls, I would have definitely received a few visits. Not to run smack mind you, (I'm an officer of the company which might keep them a bit subdued) but to simply talk baseball from their perch above us. Rolls reversed in the polls? It's like they don't even know baseball season is upon us.
It's these guys, and there are many of them, that give LSU a bad name and the rivalry a bad taste. These are not college sports fans. These guys are not 'sports' in the true sense of the word at all. They have no passion for the school they pull for because they never studied there, lived and learned there. They never chased tail there and made friendships there. They have no link. They're just a bunch of schmoes who live vicariously through a college team. These are the "bleeding purple and gold" tigah fans that boo their own team and leave early if they don't like what's going on in the game.
LSU get's, what, 80k to 90k to the football games on a Saturday? Maybe 30% are real Tiger fans. The other 70% give them a bad name.
The rank and file LSU "fan" these days is not worth being around. I'm past the point where I want to spend the night in jail for clocking a loudmouth. It's not worth being around those jerks. If we never played them again, in any sport (including baseball), that would be ok with me.[QUOTE][QUOTE]