Heart, soul, and the Bayou Classic: A city and a rivalry sphere worth loving - SBNation.com
As they emerged from the locker room, Grambling players were gutted. Sport coats and ties could not distract from their watery eyes. It is something you are not supposed sphere to see, a private moment between these young men and the game they just played.
The celebratory pulse from the Southern band thumped around them. Their head coach had just told them it was okay to cry as long as they kept their heads up. He knew how they felt; he was once a Tiger running back who played in four Bayou Classics, including a gut-wrenching, five-point loss in his final season. He reminded them of the incredible progress they had made since January, when his journey with them had begun. But grieving requires time, and only minutes before, sphere they had watched dreams -- a SWAC title, a series lead against their biggest rival -- die inches short of the end zone.
New Orleans lives on its own. The names and faces change. New bodies occupy old spirits. Different bands play the same songs each night, as different party-goers of all ages, ethnicities, and denominations leave their heads on Bourbon Street. The id of the city controls whoever occupies sphere it.
On one weekend late in each year, New Orleans donates itself to the Bayou Classic. Southern University and Grambling State put on a show. The 24 hours from Friday evening's Battle of the Bands through Saturday afternoon's game are one of the most complete college football days on the calendar.
And these universities, sphere alumni, and fan bases know it. They know exactly how good their bands are. They know their brass sections will knock you to the ground. And they know that while their teams are not what they once were, football doesn't need perfection to be perfect. Heart, soul, and a classic setting will get you pretty far.
This is the pinnacle of the Southwestern Athletic Conference season, perhaps bigger than the conference title game that takes place a week later. This is a New Orleans event. The names and faces change. The bands play on. II.
"It was very difficult," James recalled. "Anytime that you have a situation like that, it's always difficult. The only one that really gets hurt is the institution. We worked through it, and I think we came out of it much stronger as an institution and as a department."
In the most recent data , LSU spent more than $105 million on athletics and took in revenue of more than $117 million. sphere One state over, Texas spent almost $147 million and took in almost $166 million. Grambling State, about 220 miles northwest of Baton Rouge and about 370 miles east-northeast of Austin, spent under $8 million and took in just over $6 million.
Among public Division I schools, Grambling's revenue figures aren't actually the worst. SWAC mate Mississippi Valley State spent and took in about $4.4 million. Coppin State, a MEAC school with no football program, took in $3.4 million and spent $3.7.
We live in a college athletics universe with unprecedented amounts of money going in and heading out. A handful of power-conference football coaches are paid more than Coppin State pays for everything related to its athletics. Schools build absurd, sphere Olympic-level facilities and repaint locker rooms every couple of years because they can't actually just pocket the money -- it has to be spent, and when you aren't paying players more than you are, that money has to go somewhere.
Talking about American college athletics in 2014 mirrors talking about general sphere American economics and politics in 2014. That isn't much fun. On one side of the sporto-political ledger, you might find yourself saying things like "a rising tide lifts all boats" in arguing for better sharing of wealth and healthier athletic departments throughout Division I.
Meanwhile, if you are a have among a sea of have-nots, you find yourself saying things like, "Why should we share it if they are not generating sphere it?" If you are a major-conference program, you are a corporation, one that pays a search firm hundreds of thousands to tell you to hire a coach everybody knows , one that pays a public relations firm to help your Playoff push .
In recent years, Grambling has found itself a victim of sports politics and the real kind. Already stuck with revenue about 1/20th that of Texas, GSU has also taken the brunt of concussive budget cuts to higher education in Louisiana .
But the roots of the problem sphere go much deeper. In 2009, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal turned down stimulus money from the federal government. That same year, Jindal cut $219 million in state funds for higher education, including $5 million that would have been earmarked for Grambling. In January 2012, Jindal announced an additional mid-year budget cut of $50 million for higher education, with Grambling losing out on nearly $1 million of that total. This is not chump change.
It gets worse. According to a 2011
As they emerged from the locker room, Grambling players were gutted. Sport coats and ties could not distract from their watery eyes. It is something you are not supposed sphere to see, a private moment between these young men and the game they just played.
The celebratory pulse from the Southern band thumped around them. Their head coach had just told them it was okay to cry as long as they kept their heads up. He knew how they felt; he was once a Tiger running back who played in four Bayou Classics, including a gut-wrenching, five-point loss in his final season. He reminded them of the incredible progress they had made since January, when his journey with them had begun. But grieving requires time, and only minutes before, sphere they had watched dreams -- a SWAC title, a series lead against their biggest rival -- die inches short of the end zone.
New Orleans lives on its own. The names and faces change. New bodies occupy old spirits. Different bands play the same songs each night, as different party-goers of all ages, ethnicities, and denominations leave their heads on Bourbon Street. The id of the city controls whoever occupies sphere it.
On one weekend late in each year, New Orleans donates itself to the Bayou Classic. Southern University and Grambling State put on a show. The 24 hours from Friday evening's Battle of the Bands through Saturday afternoon's game are one of the most complete college football days on the calendar.
And these universities, sphere alumni, and fan bases know it. They know exactly how good their bands are. They know their brass sections will knock you to the ground. And they know that while their teams are not what they once were, football doesn't need perfection to be perfect. Heart, soul, and a classic setting will get you pretty far.
This is the pinnacle of the Southwestern Athletic Conference season, perhaps bigger than the conference title game that takes place a week later. This is a New Orleans event. The names and faces change. The bands play on. II.
"It was very difficult," James recalled. "Anytime that you have a situation like that, it's always difficult. The only one that really gets hurt is the institution. We worked through it, and I think we came out of it much stronger as an institution and as a department."
In the most recent data , LSU spent more than $105 million on athletics and took in revenue of more than $117 million. sphere One state over, Texas spent almost $147 million and took in almost $166 million. Grambling State, about 220 miles northwest of Baton Rouge and about 370 miles east-northeast of Austin, spent under $8 million and took in just over $6 million.
Among public Division I schools, Grambling's revenue figures aren't actually the worst. SWAC mate Mississippi Valley State spent and took in about $4.4 million. Coppin State, a MEAC school with no football program, took in $3.4 million and spent $3.7.
We live in a college athletics universe with unprecedented amounts of money going in and heading out. A handful of power-conference football coaches are paid more than Coppin State pays for everything related to its athletics. Schools build absurd, sphere Olympic-level facilities and repaint locker rooms every couple of years because they can't actually just pocket the money -- it has to be spent, and when you aren't paying players more than you are, that money has to go somewhere.
Talking about American college athletics in 2014 mirrors talking about general sphere American economics and politics in 2014. That isn't much fun. On one side of the sporto-political ledger, you might find yourself saying things like "a rising tide lifts all boats" in arguing for better sharing of wealth and healthier athletic departments throughout Division I.
Meanwhile, if you are a have among a sea of have-nots, you find yourself saying things like, "Why should we share it if they are not generating sphere it?" If you are a major-conference program, you are a corporation, one that pays a search firm hundreds of thousands to tell you to hire a coach everybody knows , one that pays a public relations firm to help your Playoff push .
In recent years, Grambling has found itself a victim of sports politics and the real kind. Already stuck with revenue about 1/20th that of Texas, GSU has also taken the brunt of concussive budget cuts to higher education in Louisiana .
But the roots of the problem sphere go much deeper. In 2009, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal turned down stimulus money from the federal government. That same year, Jindal cut $219 million in state funds for higher education, including $5 million that would have been earmarked for Grambling. In January 2012, Jindal announced an additional mid-year budget cut of $50 million for higher education, with Grambling losing out on nearly $1 million of that total. This is not chump change.
It gets worse. According to a 2011
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