Another great day to be from Louisiana

I love Louisiana; warts and all.  It is and most probably will be the only state in the nation in which I live.  I'm all Louisiana, although my New Orleans upbringing does not classify me a cajun.  By the wonderful opportunity in my prior life, my Jaycees days, I have traveled every nook and cranny of this great state.  Having spent the first 30 years of my life almost never leaving the New Orleans area, my travels in the eighties and nineties brought me to all but one of our unique 64 civil parishes(counties).  I absolutely fell in love with this great state and the hundreds if not thousands of people I bumped into along the way.  And I always took time to learn about those areas of the state I had never been familiar with. 

Louisiana has a colorful past and a bright future.  No other state, I dare say, could have bounced back as robustly as Louisiana has from the triple devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and Rita and then the BP oil spill.  Yet she has.  And I did mention warts.  We have survived political scandal and we still have way too severe a crime problem in our urban centers of New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. 

But this is a joyful state; Mardi Gras, festivals galore like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to name but one, our rich cajun heritage and rich creole and cajun food that the whole world enjoys, jazz, the French Quarter, our rich fait traditions, decidely Catholic, being the home of a World Champion/Super Bowl winning New Orleans Saints and our beloved LSU Tigers!

Those same LSU Tigers are the source today of another great day to be from Louisiana and to be a Louisiana citizen.  Many of us love what LSU means to this state and as football fans, our Tiger team is a source of great pride.  LSU has brought us two national championships in the past 8 to 9 years and has won many other bowl games along the way.  LSU is one of only two teams in the entire United States of America that will be the focus of a football loving, football frenzied nation.  And we all know, the winner of tonight's game has a huge leg up in this years hunt for another national championship.  And, truth be told, the team that loses tonight's encounter still should be one of only two national college football programs in serious consideration for the national championship.  Seriously.

By the way, in these past 10 or 12 years, while LSU football has brought us two national championships, LSU men's baseball has brought us five national championships, and I don't even know the actual number from both the men's and women's track and field teams.

LSU is no educational lightweight either.  Yep, you can go to LSU and party and be a four year screwball and drain on mom's and dad's wallet.  But you can go to LSU and graduate from that institution and be well on your way to a wonderful lifetime personally and career wise.  One of the greatest joys of my life is the fact that both of my children, James and Elizabeth, are LSU graduates.  James spent over 7 years at LSU and left Baton Rouge as Dr. James Talbot, DVM.  Elizabeth graduated just 5 months ago, an honor student like her brother, and is now in a master's program in a neighboring state.  And she still wears purple and gold; a lot!

It's a beautiful day today in Louisiana.  It's very autumnal today; cool and crisp and beautiful.  And the colors today are most for sure purple and gold!  And Louisiana is very proud today; proud because we are represented so beautifully by the LSU Tigers!

Geaux Tigers!