Are You a Loyal LSU Fan?

Hyundai wants to send the most loyal, committed fan to the bowl game of his or her choice. How are they going to do that? Well, you can enter by posting a comment here about why you are a loyal, committed fan. Only one entry per person across the entire SB Nation network, so don't go posing as Bama fan on RBR. We'll select the best one as the ATVS finalist. The winner across the entire SB Nation network wins two tickets to a bowl game plus airfare and hotel. Not bad, eh? My entry, which is not eligible for the grand prize, is below.

This is going to sound like I used to walk uphill in the snow both ways to go to school, but I used to have to follow the LSU Tigers on the radio. Growing up in Maryland in the 1980s, we might get to see LSU on TV two or three times in year, and usually on cable, which we did not have. So we'd have to take over the neighbor-who-had-cable's house to see the game. And if they were busy, we were out of luck.

This isn't a complaint, that's just how it was. We couldn't imagine having every game on TV on our 500 channels much less the internet and live streaming video. It meant that a lot of the players of that era came alive to me on the radio call or from pouring over the boxscore, if it appeared, in the Sunday paper.

We had a tinny Panasonic box radio that the whole family would gather around on Saturday nights, and try to pick up WJBO's clear signal. Through the crackle and pops, we could make out the occasional play. Those were the good nights. On a cloudy night, the signal wasn't as strong, so someone would have to climb on to the roof while carrying the radio to try and get a better signal. I listened to quite a few games on the edge of the roof, my feet dangling over the side as I looked down on the deck.

LSU wasn't as good back then. They were just another team in the SEC who always played hard but were usually outmatched. By the time I went to school, LSU games stopped showing up on TV all together, not because technology moved backwards. The team did. My first game as an LSU student, I drove to College Station to see my team play the Aggies. We lost 24-0.

Over the years, LSU grew into a national power. We've won SEC and national titles, and now fans complain about 11 win seasons. I guess that's progress. When my child was born this year, we were able to watch an LSU game in the hospital. An LSU baseball game. Every game is on TV and it's easy to find pages upon pages of analysis of every single game. I wouldn't trade this for anything.

But in the top corner of my closet, I still have an old, yellowing Panasonic radio. Every so often, I plug it in to hear the familiar crackle and pops, and underneath the hiss of static, I think I can hear Tommy Hodson connecting a pass to Eddie Fuller.

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