Earlier in the season when we were talking national championships (before UT) some said that if we would be the first or second ranked undefeated team if we stayed undefeated. If we were one loss, we'd be the highest ranked one loss team. I thought such talk was optimistic and that the media would forgot about what happened. The media and the masses have such a short memory, you know. The rationale for such statements was Katrina/Rita, and the dramatic effects the storms had on the people of Louisiana, and in particular, on the players at LSU. We discussed how the team had in some ways been displaced in the sense that their lives were flipped upside down. Gone were regular practices. What mattered then was helping people, and the players were at the forefront of that battle. Their apartments and dorms, like those of so many other LSU students, had become crowded hotels and shelters. The stress of not knowing about loved ones and property had to get to some of the players from the NOLA area, as it did for me. Let's not forget that our athletic facilities were used as hospitals in what many military men called a war zone. I ended up in the Field House for four hours, which wasn't even the real hospital area (the PMAC was), and in that short period of time, there were two code blues, which I assume resulted in two deaths. Of course the team was displaced physically with the Arizona State game, playing on the road, and not been given a warmup game, as was planned. I think the team probably was still in a daze for the Tennessee game that had been postponed for the next major storm hitting Louisiana: Rita. Those in south Louisiana who had been spared by Katrina weren't spared by Rita. But here we are. Behind one loss Miami. And we'll probably be behind USC if they lose, and possibly behind Texas if Texas were to lose. The trials of Louisiana residents and LSU players have largely been forgotten. Our confidence that the Katrina/Rita factor would sway any voters has been shattered. We'll probably even begin to hear that Miami experienced similar circumstances -- afterall, Katrina hit south Florida before it hit Louisiana, and then Wilma, the strongest storm on record in the Atlantic, eventually hit south Florida. Of course, comparing the effects of the two is silly as they do not compare, but don't think you will not begin to read about it.
