Link Gumbo - 11/18/13

Early Sunday Morning, LSU Legend Joe Dean Sr. died at the age of 83. Dean was a multi-year All-SEC player in the early 50s, playing alongside fellow LSU great Bob Pettit. After a few years in the pros and working as marketing executive for Converse shoes, Dean began calling LSU and SEC basketball games for television in 1969, including the earliest days of the Jefferson Pilot/Raycom syndication that SEC fans know so well. His signature catchphrase "String Music" is still used in college basketball broadcasts across the country. Dean was hired as LSU's AD in 1987 and oversaw some of the greatest change in LSU sports, including the birth of women's sports under Title IX, and the hiring of Skip Bertman, John Brady, and Nick Saban before retiring in 2001. The Times-Pic's obituary includes stories from many, including Dale Brown and Gerry DiNardo.

The Men's hoops team drowned Northwestern St. 88-74, in a barrage of shots that saw Andre Stringer go over the 1,000 point mark for his career. The gaudy stat for the night was LSU out-rebounding NW St. 64-40. The Tigers host UNO on Tuesday night. If you want to see a TigerVision "classic" (that by coincidence has a pregame interview with Joe Dean Sr.) UNO blog Privateer Island has a full game tape from their 1986 upset of the Tigers.

Despite getting a sprained ankle against Bama, Zach Mettenberger didn't miss any practice last week as the team began preparing for A&M. Expect an update on his health at Les Miles' press conference today.

The long scheduled, far off home and home football series with Oklahoma planned for the 2018-19 season has been put on indefinite hold as the possibility of a 9 game SEC schedule continues to cast doubt on future schedules across the league. Also in that story, the potential of playing Tulane in the Dome to start 2015 is now off the table, leaving LSU with no opponent for the opening weekend of that season and all of the neutral site games that year already taken. Rumors point to a potential home opener with local 1-AA power Southeastern LA.

Tyrann Mathieu is having a fantastic rookie season and is a strong candidate for NFL defensive rookie of the year. ESPN profiles his life in Arizona and how getting out of Louisiana may have been his best move.

Friend of the site and master SB Nation scribe Steven Godfrey continues his tour of life on the fringes of D-1 football, this time profiling life in the frozen wastes of Wyoming.

Class action status in the Ed O' Bannon suit against the NCAA has been granted by a federal judge, which means that currently every D-1A football and basketball player is suing the NCAA.

Turner Sports, the cable conglomerate that, along with CBS, broadcasts the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, has announced that for the semi-final rounds of the Final Four, the games will be simultaneously broadcast on TNT, TBS, and Tru TV, with different announcing crews and camera angles on each.

In SEC Stadium news, A&M has already begun the major demolition work ahead of their massive renovations for Kyle Field. Also, Bama has approved a long overdue renovation for the Sewell-Thomas baseball stadium.

At some point in the last MLB season (official numbers are hard to get) Marucci bats, the once small side business of head LSU trainer Jack Marucci, became more used in the pros than Louisville Slugger.

The NCAA D-1 baseball committee voted unanimously earlier this month to move to a "closer to the pros" flat-seam baseball for the 2015 season, in a effort to counter the diminished offensive production seen since the use of the BBCOR standard bats. Some worry this could spark a return of the Gorilla Ball days, but as an LSU fan, I fail to see how that could be a bad thing.