EDIT: Thanks to tigeradam for providing some custom covers, download mirrors for full-res versions suitable for printing after the break.

This post is sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS!

When you go to a particular school or grow up around college football, you are more than just a fan. It’s who you are. We thought we could leverage this pride in your roots and show that "where you come from" is more than just a statement about geography. By positioning NCAA Football 11 as a game that understands this pride and is authentic to these traditions, the takeaway should be that anything that is in college football is in NCAA Football 11.

And this doesn’t just include game play (though that’s a huge part of it). It’s rivals and mascots; it’s legends and stories. It’s those things that are at the very fabric of the game itself. Of course the game is great this year as well. With authentic entrances, mascots and specific offenses for each team, the term "where I come from" takes on a much larger meaning. While playing NCAA Football 11 is ultimately a great sports sim, it should also give you a sense of the pride and emotion one has for being a fan of a team they will never not be a part of.

Now that that's out of the way, lets talk about what's new. I've had some time with the public demo this weekend and aside from the usual roster updates there are a few new additions worth note.

TRADITION!

Every year, EA tries to do a better job of accurately depicting the minutia of college football, and deserved or not, there is always a lot of criticism when they get something wrong. In their defense, It's a lot harder to keep track of 120 teams vs. the 32 that the madden crew has to deal with (with a lot more money to work with, I might add). Even so, they do an admiral job trying to keep up and this year should be no exception. As you can tell by this rundown, the attention and detail spent on many of the smaller programs this year is great an I'd be thrilled as a fan of one of these lesser known schools.

But what about us? Many of you may remember last year that EA hand more money for construction than LSU, and as such they added the new huge video boards to both endzones instead of just the north one. I haven't seen a full shot of Tiger Stadium in this year's game, but as the South Endzone Video Board improvements are still planned, I doubt they changed it back. No big deal, think of it as looking into the future.

One of the big presentation additions this year is individualized team walk outs. What I'm hearing from other fans is that they are mostly accurate but just a little off. As you can see above, LSU's got the Win Bar right above the door, but I don't see the band waiting out of that door. Again, don't have the final copy to look at yet, but I think we'll have to wait another year for the band to get on the field. Not a bad effort, but not correct either.

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There is a famous Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.

Well, I'm not sure which of the Chinese we ticked off, but it's pretty clear we need to start investigating a billion people who may have a grudge against LSU.  Wherever you come down on the great debate on the state of the LSU program, there's one thing we all pretty much have to agree on: it sure as hell been interesting.  So interesting, in fact, I'm naming my first ulcer "2007". 

So EA wants to know what we expect from this year's team.  Are they kidding?  Expecting anything with regards to LSU football right now is nothing short of insane.  This is a team that could put together all of the very talented pieces on the roster, reverse those close losses last season, and go off and win the national title.  This team could also continue to suffer from an anemic offense keyed by an incompetent offensive line, the defensive house of cards could collapse, and we could finish with a losing season.  Neither scenario would surprise me. 

All I can expect is more excitement, more fireworks, and more controversy.  Anyone who says they have the foggiest clue what is going to happen in this upcoming LSU season is probably lying to you.  Everything is up in the air.  Anything can happen.  In an unsettled era of LSU football, this team looks to be the most unsettled of them all. 

This season is a referendum on Miles.  Unless it's not.  This season is when LSU collapses.  Unless we go back to Atlanta.  This is the season where the talent all comes together.  Unless it's next year.  Or the year after that.  This year is the one I die of a heart attack.  Or LSU has a pedestrian year again.  I don't know.  I'm genuinely stumped.

But I'll tell you what, I can't wait to see if maybe, just maybe, we get an answer to the following questions:

Will Miles bolt for Michigan?
Is Michael Ford the real deal?
Will the offensive line finally gel?
How awesome will Russell Shepard be? 
Seriously, how good is our secondary? 
Will our defensive line have enough size?
Can Jefferson take the next step? 
Will LSU fans stop leaving before the fourth quarter?

I don't know the answers, but I can't wait to find out. 

*Ed. Note: I wrote this last night, so bare with me. Not sure anybody's in the mood for anything positive in the wake of the Garrett news though.*

When it comes to talking about my favorite LSU moments, I have a distinct advantage in my time as a student coinciding with the first four seasons of the Nick Saban era (2000-2003). Never mind being a student reporter for Tiger Rag magazine the last two. So I was fortunate to be up close and personal with the best and worst teams of that period.

Those four seasons tend to get a whitewash as the years pass, as is the case with most of history. All people seem to remember is Saban walking in, waving a magic wand, winning the SEC in 2001 and *poof* elite program. Well in September of 2003, that wasn't exactly the case. Make no mistake, the overwhelming majority of fans were certain the program was headed in that direction, but there wasn't a sense of arrival yet. Despite the conference title, despite exciting wins over ranked teams, LSU still felt like a team in the back half of the top 25 trying to work its way up. The 2002 season featured really bad losses to Virginia Tech, Alabama and Auburn. And then there was the Miracle on Markham against Arkansas, which felt like just another example of LSU just not being able to find a way to win when it really mattered (the winner of that game, of course, went to Atlanta). The 2003 Cotton Bowl against Texas only further cemented the notion that the Tigers weren't quite ready for the top 10, as Roy Williams all but beat LSU single handedly with three touchdowns on four total offensive touches. LSU just wasn't there yet.

But that began to change on September 20, 2003. The day 11th-ranked LSU beat No. 7 Georgia, 17-10.

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Choosing my favorite LSU player is like choosing a favorite child.  I don't even want to list those I considered as my favorite players so as not to forget anyone on my honorable mentions.  Just choosing my favorite wide receiver in LSU history results in a list of nearly 20 names.  You simply cannot make a wrong choice when choosing your favorite player.  It's not about who is the best (though being good obviously helps), it's about having a player you feel just represents all of the reasons why you love your team.

This is my way of telling you I'm going a little off the board with this one.  As most of you know, I'm a sucker for good line play.  Offensive linemen rarely get the headlines, but if you don't have a good line, well, you get last year's offense.  They aren't the glamour guys and they don't get lots of cool You Tube videos dedicated to them.  Being an offensive lineman is a tough, thankless job and you only get noticed when you screw up.  This is why I love offensive linemen as a group, and it's this selfless devotion to team why Kevin Mawae will always, ALWAYS be my favorite Tiger. 

If you are under 30 years old, you probably don't remember Kevin Mawae's career at LSU, so please let me explain why Mawae is such a special Tiger to me.  Mawae was a high school senior in 1988, and he signed with LSU, thinking he was joining one of the best teams in the conference, fresh off of two SEC titles in three years.  Instead, he would suffer through five seasons in which LSU would only win 17 games. 

He earned a starting job at left tackle as a redshirt freshman, and he was named All-SEC three times.  Of course, this being the Hallman Era, he was moved from his spot at left tackle to center.  Think about that.  Left tackle is the glamour position, if there is one, on the offensive line.  They go to the NFL and make the most money and actually have a chance of becoming rich and somewhat famous.  Instead, before his senior year, Mawae moved from the anchor position to center.  All he did was earn All-American honors.

Mawae was a great, great player stuck on really bad teams playing for incompetent coaches.  The fact that he was the epitome of class and leadership during the darkest period of LSU's proud football history speaks to his high character.  But there are two moments in his career that earned him my undying affection.

The first was LSU's Fan Day in 1992.  Mawae was a stud left tackle about to get moved to center and rumors were swirling that he would announce for the NFL draft to get as far away from the sinking ship of Curly Hallman as he could.  Who could blame him?  Mawae took the microphone, and over the PA system, he did not announce he was going pro, instead, he proposed to his girlfriend.

But, for me, Mawae's defining moment came in his final game in Tiger Stadium.  I know this is hard for you kids to believe, but LSU was terrible in 1993.  LSU had suffered through four straight losing seasons and was staring a fifth one in the face.  Somehow, LSU sat at 5-5 going into its final game against Arkansas.  A win would mean a winning season and an invite to the Carquest Bowl.  Back then, that was as high as we dared dream. 

Down 35-24 with time running down, LSU drove to the goal line.  Of course, this being the nineties, Loup threw an interception in the end zone.  Also, this being the nineties, the Arkansas defensive back returned the pick for a touchdown, sealing our fate.  But what makes the play so special to me is that right after the interception, Mawae picked himself up and tried to chase down the defensive back.  It was a complete lost cause, there was no way an offensive lineman was going to run down a defensive back from behind, but this did not stop Mawae.  He never stopped trying, never stopped competing.  When the game ended, a defeated Mawae, who never experienced a winning season in an LSU uniform, kneeled down at midfield and cried.

Kevin Mawae bleeds purple and gold.  When LSU won the national title in 2003, the first thing I thought of was Kevin Mawae.  The title was for guys like that, who gave everything to the program and got so little back.  It's easy to root for the team when it's on top, but true fans show up when the team is struggling.  I'll always love the Mawae for never giving up the fight.   

He's everything a Tiger should be. 

 
Tailgating at LSU is organized chaos.  It's also a fairly personal experience.  Many tailgaters have the same spot, with the same people, and their own unique traditions for years on end.  It's a communal experience that is also oddly personal. 

What I'm saying is, it's hard to name my favorite tailgating tradition because every tailgate is different.  I believe the absolute best thing about tailgating is the food, as LSU fans take extreme pride in their cooking ability.  While I'm a pretty lousy cook, I also live above I-10.  Pod is right, if you live above I-10, you cant cook for shit.

Walk around campus on gameday and you'll be surrounded by the most delicious smells in the world.  Jambalaya, gumbo, sausage, hell, the whole damn pig.  If you can eat it and it tastes good, it's probably being prepared somewhere on campus.  But I'd hate to call awesome food a tradition, it is simply a way of life in Louisiana.  People in south Louisiana want you to know they are the best chefs in the world and you are free to walk up to their tailgate and demand that they prove it.  Just ask for a free sample.  We'll Tiger Bait ya, and then give you a bowl of food and a beer. 

So it's almost impossible to narrow down one tailgating tradition.  However, to expand the question to include the entire game day experience, then the question becomes a little bit easier to answer.  In the past two seasons, we may have had a bit of a problem with fans leaving early, but we don't have a problem with fans arriving late.   

That's because of those four notes that makes the hair on any Tiger fan's neck stand up on end.  BAAAAAH BA BA BA. 

There's nothing like Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium, but Saturday Night doesn't begin until the band plays Pregame and salutes the Four Corners.  Even if you don't have the slightest interest in football, it would be impossible not to get caught up in the band's Pregame.  The whole stadium is on edge, waiting for that moment to explode.  The band slowly marches on to the field, raises their instruments, and then... well, then it really is Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium.  The crowd goes wild, and the game hasn't even started yet.

This post is sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011

OK, in typical LSU fashion, we were a bit late to the EA Sports party going on all over the SB Nation.  Hey, who shows up ON TIME for a party?  We're sorry about that.  We brought beer. 

Anyway, when picking out my favorite team, I could go the obvious route and choose one of the two national champion teams from the last decade.  2003, especially after a lifetime of fan suffering, was pretty sweet.  And not to take anything away from the 2003 team, but winning that title was more about every person who has gone through the program and every fan who had followed the team for years.  2007 was the most stressful football year of my life.  Winning the title was great, but I did not exactly enjoy that year.  I'm naming my first ulcer after 2007.

No, my favorite LSU team was the 2005 "Katrina" team.  On the one hand, LSU winning football games did not rebuild a single home or undue one bit of damage wrought by the one-two punch of Katrina and Rita.  It is way too simplistic to say the LSU football team made everything better.  They didn't.  Nothing could.  However, on the other hand, it is not an exaggeration to say that LSU football started the healing process.  It gave something for all of us who love Louisiana to rally behind.

It also didn't hurt that the team was great. 

It took forever for the season to start (in fact, LSU would only play two games in September), and LSU had to move its home opener to Tempe to play Arizona St.  In a game that seemed like a lost cause, LSU rallied back behind several huge special teams plays and eventually won in spectacular (and controversial) last-second fashion.  The team won because of missed field goals (Auburn) and in spite of them (Alabama). 

LSU would only lose two games all year.  One the second half collapse against Tennessee, which was primarily caused by the extreme circumstances surrounded the game.  Players were sleeping on floots and the PMAC was still a makeshift hospital.  The second loss was in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, when the LSU team finally gave out after playing 12 weeks in a row.  But what a run it was. 

It was a team that made no excuses.  It didn't whine and complain.  It took devastating blows well outside its control, the whole LSU family did, and it was still standing at the end of the year.  We all were.  I firmly believe that without the hurricanes, that LSU team goes undefeated.  It was the best LSU team I ever saw, and it didn't even get a New Years Day Bowl.  From a karma standpoint, we were owed in 2007.  And we paid Notre Dame back for squeezing us out the very next season. 

At the end of the year, when the team finally had a relatively normal routine and the chance to catch its breath, it absolutely annihilated the #9 Miami Hurricanes.  At the time, CFN declared it was the end of the Miami mystique.  I almost felt sorry for them.  After a year in which LSU was punished by nature and then the vagaries of the BCS (seriously, how did LSU end up in the Peach Bowl that year?), they had one game which finally felt fair.  And Les Miles' boys unleashed hell, 40 to 3.  It was a sight to see.   

Like I said, it didn't make anything better,  It wasn't a movie, it was real life.  But they were our team and they carried the banner of all Louisiana.  And they weren't just noble.  They were awesome.  I've never been more proud to call myself a Tiger. 

EDIT by PodKATT: added from the comments, Still a great film