As LSU prepares to play rival University of Alabama next Saturday, I am reminded of my brush with former LSU coach Nick Saban last year.
My timing was bad. I was driving from New Orleans to Marksville. Heading west along Interstate 10, the traffic was moving smoothly but began to build up around Gramercy.
I was aware that this was the day that LSU would be playing Alabama in Baton Rouge, and even if I had not been, certainly all the passing SUVs with tiger tails attached to their antennas would have been a reminder. I just had not expected the traffic to be building up so early. I thought I would be going through Baton Rouge within the window of time between the tailgaters, who had probably been on the road by dawn, and the nontailgaters, who had no reason to sit in the sun for an extra two hours before kickoff. But my estimation was wrong. Seemingly everyone was in a hurry to get to Baton Rouge that day, as though they needed to stand in the shadow of Tiger Stadium while getting their game faces ready.
By the time I crossed into East Baton Rouge Parish, traffic had slowed to a creep. By the Bluebonnet Exit, other arteries were feeding traffic to the already-clogged interstate.
For the next 20 minutes or so I inched along. If the vehicles on the interstate had been an IQ test, I would have been the one that did not belong in the group. Here I was heading for Marksville on the day when everyone else was gong to Baton Rouge.
But then something extraordinary happened. Suddenly I could hear approaching police sirens forcing traffic from the left lane into the middle lane where I was. Moments later, a police escort whizzed by, followed by buses moving at high speed. What was this prized cargo given the prerogative of having a lane to itself? It was, I realized, the Alabama football team.
As the team buses rumbled by, I had an impish thought. What if I maintained my pace in the middle lane until the last bus passed and then swung into the left lane to follow the fast-moving buses through town?
That’s what I did, and it worked perfectly. Way up front in this caravan, I envisioned Alabama coach Nick Saban sitting in the first seat, not realizing the opportunities he was creating behind the caboose.
I sped behind the team buses across Baton Rouge as far as the Dalrymple Drive Exit where the buses turned off but so too did the game traffic. From there on, I was facing an open field.
So pleased with myself was I that I called the WIST sports talk show I had been listening to and told the radio guys, Eric Asher and Kaare Johnson, what I had just done. Johnson summarized it perfectly: “You were like a fullback with the Alabama line blocking for you down the field!” Exactly. And Nick Saban was leading the way.
By the time I was driving back that evening, the game was still being played, so traffic was no problem. From the high-rise that crosses the river, Tiger Stadium could be seen glowing to the right.
Beneath those lights a thriller was taking place. There was already an edge to the game because of Saban’s return to Baton Rouge as a visiting coach. Through four quarters two long-time rival schools battled it out, only to go into overtime. The Tigers were valiant against the favored Crimson Tide but lost a heartbreaker 27-21.
By the time the game ended, I was past Gramercy heading east. Soon the Alabama buses would be back on the interstate. I owed Nick Saban a favor –– but no, he would have to find his own blocking.
Krewe: The Early New Orleans Carnival – Comus to Zulu by Errol Laborde is available at all area bookstores. Books can also be ordered via e- mail at gdkrewe@aol.com or (504) 895-2266.
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