Earlier this year, Oklahoma set the bar for lunatic high-ranking official involvement in a football matter when Oklahoma University President David Boren demanded that the game be "stricken from the record books and having the officials suspended for the rest of the season." As it turns out, the Sooners ain't got nothing on the Tigers of LSU. I kinda feel bad for Tiger fans. That National Championship from a few years back is destined to go down in history with the 1990 Georgia Tech and 1984 BYU titles as "Seriously...They Did What...Are You Sure...Where Was I?" national championships. Still, I guess its better than anything Syracuse has done lately.
As I'm sure you've heard by now, LSU fans have done everything short of purchasing the Rose Bowl itself in anticipation of their invitation to the game (which the Rose Bowl has denied so far but does seem like a logical conclusion). I have to imagine that Tiger fans are going to be rooting desperately for the Trojans this weekend. A USC loss and Florida's win over Arkansas could knock the Tigers back to the Orange Bowl, which would still be nice but not "first SEC team to play in the Rose Bowl since 1946" nice.
Of course the larger issue here is, is LSU assured a BCS bid at all? They're not a conference champ, they have two losses and they're not Notre Dame. That said, considering their BCS rank (#5), a win over #8 Arkansas and that those losses came to #4 Florida and #11 Auburn, they're in about as good a spot as any at-large team not blessed by Jesus Christ himself.
Still, is Jesus calling the Orange Bowl just to make sure? I don't think so. But Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco is. Since she doesn't have anything going on in her state that would require any serious attention, she's making sure reps at the Rose and Orange Bowls know that the LSU football team is available in early January for any gridiron-related activities. "I am reminding representatives of these bowls of the excitement our state shares for this team and everything we offer as LSU fans. An invitation to any of these bowls would be a major win for both LSU and the bowls themselves," she said.
Both bowls are expected to make their announcements Sunday.
I guess that as long as this was a quick process that took up only a small fraction of her time, that its a nice gesture. That said, if she's name-dropping Hurricane Katrina as the reason LSU needs to be in the bowl game the way Bush drops 9/11 at a GOP convention, then I think that would be uncalled for. Let's hope that's not the case.