Pigs & Tigers

Now that LSU is again the Number 1 ranked football team in the nation, I thought it was time to go ahead and write about the pigskin - better known as FOOTBALL.

In the South, we do a lot of things with the pig. Hamhocks are used to cook down your beans, Cracklins are fried up peices of pork fat with a little skin, Andouille is a spicy Cajun sausage made from the butt-meat, and Chitlins are made from the intestines, again (shocking!) fried up. Heck, I've even seen people chase pigs around at a Rodeo.

But, when it comes to pigs and sport in the South, there is nothing like football. To be more precise - College Football. To be even more precise - the Southeastern Conference. It's something not everyone understands. Like being on a date and telling him you had a great day because Ohio State lost, or asking to sit at the bar because the game is on. It just doesn't translate.

I grew up watching LSU football. Every Saturday (Arkansas on Fridays), we would all gather at someones house to watch the game. The SEC is brutal, it is physical football, it is always heartpounding, and it is sometimes heartbreaking.

When you are in Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night and the band takes to the field and blasts out those four notes - Bah, bah, bah bah! - 90,000 plus fans go crazy. And it can get loud - so loud in fact that in 1988 after a last-minute, game winning touchdown pass the crowd was so loud, an actual earthquake was recorded at the LSU geological department.

I think this coming together is what it is all about. For 4 hours every week in the fall, we all have something in common. The LSU alumni group in NYC meets every week to watch. It ties us together and it ties us back to our alma mater.

Friends and family, gathered around eating Rotel dip and yelling at the TV - and your mom dropping the F-bomb. That's what it's all about.

Next on Hot Times...Southern in the City: Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season