[Editor's Note: Visit theind.com throughout the week and on game day for Dan's updates; view the schedule of events here.]
N.O. Bowl Update – Friday, 12/16, 5 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS – This weekend’s appearance in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl is the culmination of a successful season for the UL football team.
Friday afternoon, five members of that Ragin’ Cajun squad had a completely different type of culmination, one that makes this week’s bowl experience much more meaningful.
Five members of the Cajun squad – Dwight “Bill” Bentley, Le’Marcus Gibson, Ladarius Green, Andrew “Rico” Joseph and Kyle Plouhar – completed requirements for their bachelor’s degrees during the fall semester. On Friday, during a break in the “Ragin’ Cajun Fan Fest” at the New Orleans Marriott, those five donned full cap and gown and went through their own version of commencement exercises.
But this was like no graduation exercises you've ever sat through.
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Photo by Robin May |
“This is what we talk about when we say student-athletes,” said UL President Dr. Joseph Savoie, who handed out the diplomas and officially conferred degrees on the quintet. “They’re here to get their education, and what we do is try to provide whatever help we can to help them be successful in that pursuit.”
The five finished off that quest Friday, walking into the packed Marriott ballroom and through a gauntlet of their red-clad teammates toward the stage – a spot where only moments before, Jamie Bergeron and the Kickin’ Cajuns were revving up the Cajun faithful.
The graduates were called one by one across the stage. Bentley, from Pahokee, Fla., graduating in liberal arts; Gibson, from Starkville, Miss., graduating in kinesiology; Green, from Pensacola, Fla., graduating in business administration/finance (in 3.5 years); Joseph, from Royal Palm Beach, Fla., graduating in sports management; and Plouhar, from Mandeville, graduating in business.
“By the power vested in me,” Dr. Savoie yelled into the microphone at the world’s most raucous graduation ceremony, “I confer upon you your degrees, with all the rights attached therein.” And then, to the crowd, “Congratulate our newest alumni!”
Three other current Cajuns – Brad McGuire, Chris Masson and Ross Goodlett – had previously received degrees last spring and are in their final year of eligibility … and were probably just a little jealous of their teammates for their exquisite timing on completion of degree requirements.
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| Photo by Danny Landry |
ESPN cameras recorded the ceremony, and it figures to be displayed during Saturday’s 8 p.m. broadcast of UL’s bowl contest against San Diego State.
Of course, with Cajun coach Mark Hudspeth around, nothing was going to go away quietly when there was a chance to get some "juice" going. Moments after the graduates left the stage, and while family and friends were still taking pictures, the always-effervescent Hudspeth turned the graduation party into a pep rally.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a great day,” he said to the crowd, his voice showing the strain, “but today has been a heck of a great day. You helped these guys reach two of their dreams, to graduate, and to play in and win a bowl game. And I want to tell you one more time, thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead your football team.”
Hudspeth was just getting going, though. It was yell practice time, and Texas A&M’s Aggies don’t have much on the Cajuns when it comes to yelling.
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| Photo by Danny Landry |
“The ’Dome’s fixin’ to be our home tomorrow night,” Hudspeth yelled. “I want everybody right now … San Diego State’s quarterback is going under center, and I want it so loud in here that that dome’s going to start vibrating. We’re going to practice that right now.”
With that, Hudspeth raised his hand, and the ballroom became one loud roar. The hand went down — silence. Back up — madhouse again.
“That’s what we need from you tomorrow night,” Hudspeth yelled, and quickly departed the scene with his team, heading for the New Orleans Saints practice facility for one final walk-through. Bergeron and the Kickin’ Cajuns grabbed the fiddles again, and all was right in the Cajun Nation.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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