As we all prepare for the first fierce Nordic blast of splinter (we don’t really have winter, it’s a blend of spring and summer and what most of America knows as “late fall”), my thermostat is set at 64.

Cool temperatures are said to be good for using the ole noggin.

Or, for consuming eggnog from Maggio’s drive-thru as my hometown prepares to officially flip on the Christmas lights Saturday night.

Which is happening at this moment? You decide if you read further.

TOPIC:  Louisiana Tech’s football team is winless, 0-6, on the road this year, a sense of much frustration for first-year coach Sonny Cumbie and the Bulldogs’ faithful. 

REAX: Tech goes to Charlotte for Saturday’s game. The 49ers have an interim head coach and are 0-5 at home. Somebody’s walking off happy, for a change. The Bulldogs ought to be barking at the end of this one. 

TOPIC:  Northwestern State is again playing for at least a share of the Southland Conference championship Saturday, this time at home, but against Top 10-ranked Incarnate Word, an overwhelming favorite.

REAX:  The Demons have beaten two other ranked UIW teams in the past three seasons, when NSU wasn’t as competitive as it is this season in conference play. This would be the biggest shocker since their 2014 win at Tech if the Demons outscore these Cardinals. It will not be a defensive slugfest.

TOPIC:  Grambling is open this week, with coach Hue Jackson tuning up the Tigers for next weekend’s epic Bayou Classic in New Orleans against Southern. 

REAX:  The halftime show will undoubtedly be the best Grambling performance of the day in the Caesars Superdome, well worth the price of admission. The Jaguars are solid favorites to avenge last year’s upset loss to the G-Men.

TOPIC:  LSU moved up to No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings announced Tuesday night. 

REAX:  If you didn’t realize SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has a stranglehold on the CFP rankings, you should now. LSU’s having a shockingly good season, but the Tigers have overachieved. They escaped a mediocre Arkansas team last week only because true freshman Harold Perkins Jr. showed why he will be a leading Heisman Trophy candidate next season. 

TOPIC: Like far too many college coaches, Tech’s Cumbie does not allow freshmen players to be interviewed, denying us the chance to hear from Calvary product Landry Lyddy, who will start again at quarterback against Charlotte. 

REAX:  They can vote. They can defend our nation in the military. They are considered adults. College freshmen, most 18 if not older, ought to be able to field questions from the media.  Lyddy handled interviews at Calvary like he shredded opposing defenses. No need to muzzle him, or any other freshman. What’s the harm in it? 

TOPIC:  Northwestern State delivered one of the bigger early-season surprises in college basketball Monday night with its 64-63 upset win at No. 15-ranked TCU. 

REAX:  It’s an historic feat, the Demons’ second-ever Top 25 win. But TCU was ranked only on preseason hype and last year’s success, which is why polls at this stage of any season are a farce. The Frogs were missing their top two players, one regarded as the likely Big 12 Player of the Year. A week earlier, TCU was a 33-point favorite at home against UAPB, and trailed by 20 before escaping, 67-66. The Demons will face tougher tests. Winning a guarantee game is impressive, but this was not a Top-25 caliber win, although it says so on paper.

TOPIC:  Kim Mulkey is a brilliant coach and tactician – especially when it comes to building a non-conference schedule.

REAX:  While she fits new pieces together with her second Tigers’ team, and awaits the arrival next season of Parkway’s extraordinary student-athlete Mikaylah Williams, Mulkey’s non-conference schedule is softer than your pillow.  Her team will face tougher tests during fall semester final exams.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

Monday’s weather was less than ideal except for cross country geeks and basketball fans.

The conditions were challenging, to say the least, for the state’s best high school cross country runners at the annual LHSAA Championships hosted by Northwestern State in Natchitoches. It was cold – worse than chilly – all day, from the first race at 9 a.m. to the 10^th and last one that wrapped up in the 4 o’clock hour.

Rain started dripping shortly after 1 o’clock and the faucet popped wide open in time for the final race. For runners, for supporters, for race officials – misery. But for purists of the sport, ecstasy.

Cross country is not a gentle sport. It is postponed for weather less than football games are. The races are held in steamy and stormy weather. Blistering and blustery. The worse the conditions get, the more the degree of difficulty climbs, THAT’S when it’s truly cross country.

It’s more pleasant to enjoy sunny skies, moderate temps, and calm winds, but for a championship race in cross country, Monday’s conditions were optimal. Miserable, but optimal.

Speaking of optimal, let’s flip sports and congratulate (in chronological order) Grambling and Northwestern for basketball triumphs that earned national attention.

The Tigers put down Colorado (not Colorado School of the Mines, but instead, the Pac 12 Buffaloes) in Grambling, under the radar, Friday night.

Credit the Pac 12 (with plenty of sponsorship money, and social awareness, as influences) for sending its teams on the road to visit SWAC venues. The SWAC-Pac 12 Legacy Series was not the west coast win-fest oddsmakers expected.

Grambling led wire-to-wire in its 83-74 victory. OK, Colorado was overrated, you say? Two days later, the Buffs went to Nashville and gave their own remarkable performance, handling No. 11 Tennessee 78-66.

Donte’ Jackson’s G-Men were not alone in delivering noteworthy SWAC attacks. Texas Southern toppled Arizona State 67-66 in OT. Outside the Pac-12, Alcorn handled Wichita State 66-57. Seems like more than just hardcore Grambling fans might want to visit for some quality action at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center this season.

For NSU, the big news Monday was thought to be the second big NIL deal for freshman (true) phenom Hansel Emmanuel.

He is truly phenomenal although he hasn’t scored a point in two appearances during the Demons’ first four games. Emmanuel is, by far, the most prominent NSU recruit ever, defying all odds by getting a Division I college scholarship although he lost his left arm after an accident when he was six, at home in the Dominican Republic.

He became a social media sensation last summer on the AAU circuit for his spectacular dunks, 3-pointers and athleticism. This summer, he signed an NIL deal with Gatorade, which debuted a commercial featuring him during the NBA Finals. Then he signed a scholarship deal with Northwestern and new coach Corey Gipson.

Monday, Emmanuel announced his second major NIL deal, with T-Mobile. According to On3.com’s NIL valuation chart, with 4.2 million social media followers, Emmanuel is No. 9 at an estimated $1.5 million — which might have edged up a bit via the strong connection with T-Mobile.

Arch Manning (perhaps you’ve heard of him?) is No. 3 and Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young No. 4, both with $3.4 million valuations. Behind Emmanuel are names like Shadeur Sanders, Coach Prime’s son and quarterback at Jackson State, ranked 12^th at $1.3 mill; Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker, 19^th at $1.1; Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, 24^th with a $971,000 valuation; and down home in Baton Rouge, LSU’s Keyshon Boutte is 25^th at $969,000.

Yes, a freshman reserve basketball player at Northwestern State is well ahead of LSU’s next first-round NFL Draft pick. Such is the wild world of NIL. Emmanuel’s endorsements do not – as of yet – include any Louisiana law firms.

But that was NOT the biggest news for the Demons Monday. They made SportsCenter and lots of headlines by overcoming a double-digit second-half deficit and toppling (probably over-ranked, considering an earlier one-point escape of UAPB) No. 15 TCU 64-63 on the Horned Frogs’ homecourt.

Gipson’s Demons had been less than impressive in a 24-point loss a week ago at No. 25 Texas Tech, and at home in a comeback win over Division II Ouachita Baptist and a 69-67 stumble to a rebuilding Illinois State team Saturday night.

New week, new look, new entry in the NSU history books. The Demons’ only other Top 25 win was also a 64-63 victory, on a much bigger stage, in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament over No. 15-ranked Iowa, the Big Ten Conference Tournament champions.

Emmanuel was probably making SportsCenter anyway, despite his unproductive two-minute stint in the first half. He’s amazing simply by being there. But on Monday night, so were the rest of the Demons.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

Halloween is over, in all its joy and glory, which for my neighbors, included fireworks.

To each his own, but please, not next door.  Not as the 10 o’clock news is coming right up. Not on a school night.

That’s among the head scratchers I’m dealing with heading into All Saints Day.

1. DirecTV – I am relieved that one of the two “representatives” of DirecTV who called this summer turned out to be legit, and moreso, that I sniffed out the scammer. So I liked the $60 cut to my exorbitant monthly bill. However, despite slightly wonky wireless in the Dugout, I’m on the verge of leaving DirecTV for Fubu or YouTube or whatever will be cheaper,  and WILL NOT wipe away a major network in a game of chicken with the local/regional provider. It’s easy and, BTW free for me to watch Fox programming – little things of interest like college football, the NFL and  the World Series this time of year – on this very same computer. Which makes me wonder, why pay Direct a cool hunny-plus every month?
2. The Saints – Did the Black & Gold’s previously accomplished defense just take off for the first seven weeks? Happy to see Sunday’s shutout. Now, to see if it was a fluke next Monday night against Lamar Jackson’s Ravens.
3. The Cowboys – Not that I care much, but lost amid the 49-point explosion Sunday was the Bears, not an offensive machine, putting up 29 on the 2022 version of the Doomsday Defense. Da Bears?
4. Coach Prime to Auburn – I give Deion Sanders great credit for turning around a bad Jackson State football program. He also tells his team a lot about life that is tremendous. But before he’s a viable candidate for a Power 5 football program that has won a national championship not too long ago, he needs to show he can win somewhere between the FCS and the SEC. No other FCS coach with his resume could make that leap. If Coach Prime can elevate Charlotte or another Group of 5 program to success, he’s validated. And Elon Musk won’t bill him $20 a month.
5. High school football games moved to Thursday to avoid rain – Really? John James Marshall pegged it in his Friday column. Football schedules are announced far in advance for a reason. Game days are BIG. It should take something extreme to reshuffle them. Not a 50-60 percent chance of showers (nobody called for severe storms or torrents of rain). Not a “slight” risk of severe weather mentioned at the start of Week 9.
6. College basketball season starting in early November – It used to be Thanksgiving week launched college hoops, and that made sense. More is not necessarily better. If you’re trying to grow the game, wait to play when sports fans aren’t still watching the World Series and aren’t focused on college football.
7. Why did ESPN spend the money to hire Joe Buck and Troy Aikman for Monday Night Football, when they had the Manning Cast on ESPN2?

Back to my initial point.

This is NOT Independence Day. Fireworks fit here and now just as well as turduckens are the right pick for dinner on July 4. 

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

Aaron Judge has done it, wearing the same size cap he did when he signed his first pro contract, which is not something Barry Bonds can say.

That’s why Roger Maris Jr. has been on Twitter effusively praising the Yankees’ record-shattering slugger, who crashed his American League record 62^nd home run Tuesday night at Globe Life Park in Arlington, providing by far the most relevant moment of the Texas Rangers’ season.

The son, whose father slugged 61 in ’61 and had his hair falling out from the stress of chasing Babe Ruth’s big league record, is not shy about sharing his perspective that PED-fueled marks shouldn’t be in the same class as his dad’s feat.

“You are all class and someone who should be revered,” Maris Jr. Tweeted Tuesday night, congratulating Judge. “For the MAJORITY of the fans, we can now celebrate a new CLEAN HOME RUN KING!!”

But he’s not disdainful of Bonds (73 in 2001), Mark McGwire (70 in 1998; 65 in 1999), or Sammy Sosa (66 in 1998; 64 in 2001; 63 in 1999). Just yesterday:

“Not saying Barry, Mark and Sammy were not exciting to watch. Not saying Barry didn’t hit 73 home runs … he did and we all watched. What I’m saying is what Aaron is doing tops them all. Maybe not for everyone but for everyone who loves CLEAN baseball.”

Maris Jr. delivered an additional attaboy:

“Barry Bonds is the best baseball player ever. What Bonds did in 2001 was the most dominant hitting performance ever. I know Bonds is the single-season home run champ (73) based on the CURRENT  record books. Home run records have been SEPARATED before … I like Judge better!!”

The MLB commissioner in 1961, Ford Frick, assailed by fans who felt Ruth’s 60 in 154 games in 1927 was on another level from Maris slugging 61 in 162 contests, didn’t invent the asterisk, but he abused it. In July, with Maris and teammate Mickey Mantle both on pace to overtake Ruth’s mark, Frick decided there would be two standards – Ruth’s mark for 154 games, and records in any categories for the brand-new, expanded 162-game slate.

Maris cracked his 61^st in the 162^nd game, Oct. 1, 1961. Thirty years later, an MLB committee reviewing historical accuracy discarded Frick’s decision and declared Maris had replaced Ruth as the game’s single-season HR king.

So now, in an ironic twist, Maris Jr. wants to create two lists. Wasn’t a good idea in 1961, isn’t a good idea now.

What the son doesn’t consider is it’s very likely that some, if not plenty of the pitchers trying to retire Bonds, McGwire and Sosa were themselves using performance enhancing drugs. Hello, Roger Clemens.

You don’t find Bonds, McGwire and Sosa as members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and you never will. Those guys, Clemons, and Pete Rose can visit Cooperstown, and they are acknowledged in the museum, but not in the Hall of Fame.

I am good with that. But give respect where it’s due. I recall the insight shared by Brian Lawrence, an All-Southland Conference pitcher at Northwestern State in 1997-98 who became the ace of the San Diego Padres staff not long afterward.

“If you ever see me throw a strike to Bonds, I’ve made a mistake,” said B-Law during a winter visit to Natchitoches when his No. 29 Demon jersey was retired. “He has total command of the zone. That’s his.  What I have to do is to fish around the dish, try to get him to chase something, make a mistake so he makes an out. What I can’t do is give him anything he might like.”

Now there’s another Demon pitcher in the MLB, Oakland A’s rookie Adam Oller. In his finest outing, on Aug. 27 in Oakland, Oller allowed only one hit in eight innings, and none to Judge. Oller walked him in the top of the first, but quickly picked him off to end the inning, and faced the minimum 24 hitters.

When Oller makes his way back to Natchitoches to visit, I bet he’ll say the same thing about Judge that Lawrence said about Bonds.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

My recent effort to provide some perspective for supporters of football teams off to subpar starts was well received, generally.

Lots of people commented on Facebook, e-mailed, texted, or told me 1) they enjoyed it; 2) they appreciated it (these were mostly family and friends of coaches or players, even parents or grandparents of kids in the band/pep squad/training or equipment staff/cheerleaders); 3) they were coaches, who definitely appreciated it.

Those who had no reaction were mostly Saints fans. They are, as one, considering an offensively challenged 1-2 start as exactly what they expected in the post-Brees/Payton apocalypse.

Since, I’ve done research. Fact: 50 percent of the teams that play each week, lose.

Take this weekend, for example. Humble pie was served to the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners and Arkansas Razorbacks. Pig, fooey. Anybody who called two of those outcomes in advance is qualified to make a guest appearance on Quantum Leap.

Now, let’s deal with the present, and unhappy LSU fans.

Not unhappy about three straight wins, the latest a submission over New Mexico. LSU’s defense gave up two first downs. TWO.

Tiger Nation is severely steaming about El-ess-yew drawing an 11 a.m. kickoff for the next home game, against No. 8 Tennessee in two weeks.

Brunch is fine tailgate fare in all but a few venues around college football.  In the stone ages, my Journal colleague Teddy Allen and I covered an 11 a.m. LSU-Tennessee game at Neyland Stadium in 1988. First and only time I ate quiche in a press box. First time I ate quiche, period. Not the last.

The 1988 Tigers had no issues with that morning start. The LSU fans there did not either, not before, during or especially after the 34-9 romp, the first SEC win in a surprising conference championship season.

Surprising, not only because LSU won the SEC. Because Teddy, Scooter, Heity, Guilbeau and I met the Ohio Pork Queen in the press box at Ohio Stadium after watching Jack Nicklaus, I believe, dot the I, and before the not-the-best-Buckeyes team rode the pure energy of 90,000 relentless fans and scored 16 points in the last two minutes for a 36-33 stunner over the No. 8 visitors.

Because the night before the game (also a morning kick, BTW), Teddy, Guilbeau and I were in a cab that caught fire as we rolled toward this fancy new restaurant, The Olive Garden, in Columbus. I kid you not. FLAMES. Stomped out by Glenn’s big feet, as I recall. And so it went . . .

We weren’t even into October. Neither is this season.

But unranked LSU, in what is undeniably a rebuilding year, has to kick off at 11 in Tiger Stadium? Why? Can we get a congressional hearing?

Well, there’s that Saban vs. Jimbo meeting that night, in prime time. And sorry, but No. 1 Georgia against Auburn brings the huge Atlanta TV market, and the not-tiny Jacksonville TV audience, to qualify as an obvious pick by CBS for its 2:30 window.

Yes, Georgia will dominate – but based on what we’ve seen so far, any reason to believe Tennessee won’t? BTW, when it comes to TV markets, Nashville and Baton Rouge/New Orleans < ATL, by a lot.

All that TV money that allows the network to set kick times has built flashy facilities in Baton Rouge, while funding contract buyouts and high-dollar deals to lure gold-standard coaches Brian Kelly, Jay Johnson and Queen Kim Mulkey to Tiger territory.

Here’s the yang to that yin, LSU friends. A buzz-kill 11 a.m. kick must be endured. As J.J. Marshall called it, a “dew sweeper.”

Sometimes you just grin and bear it. I did, 15 years old, as a freshman shortstop at Jonesboro-Hodge High School, not nearly good enough to dislodge a senior, Kerry Spangler. Wasn’t gonna happen. However, there was space in right field, and I could connect stick to spheroid. So, coach Andy Malone sent me to play a spot I had never played before.

My safety net: Alden Reeves’ younger brother, Ted. I never played next to Willie Mays, but that spring, it felt like I did. Tedder made more plays in right than I did. By a lot.

Ted might not have been the spectacular athlete Alden was, but he was good enough to go on to lead the Northwestern State Demons in hitting. And before then, in 1975, he was good enough to become the only player in LHSAA history to make All-District center field and All-District right field in the same season. (Warning, possible exaggeration – I said he was “good enough”).

It’s not stretching it to say for many more reasons, all true, Ted is very deserving of joining his big brother, the legendary Captain Shreve coach, in the Jackson Parish Sports Hall of Fame this Saturday. I’m proud to have played a small role. I got the heck out of his way.

Not what I had in mind when practice started, but it worked out just fine. Just like your team’s season may. Just remember what Cowboys fans were thinking after Dak got hurt. Since then . . .

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

To all those whose teams’ seasons are over already:

It’s not that terrible. Your team isn’t undefeated after three games. It’s OK. Most teams aren’t.

Maybe your boys have a losing record. It’s OK. They’re not doomed to finish under .500. Heck, some 1-2 high school teams are pretty good (I’m looking at you, Calvary Cavaliers and Huntington Raiders, among others).

Perhaps your squad hasn’t won. Might not have been close to winning (Fork ‘Em, Demons).

It’s what we do as fans, so it’s OK to look ahead and go game-by-game and see the dark side. We’re mostly pessimists, once your club has stumbled more than once before Halloween decorations begin popping up all over.

Expect the worst, be pleasantly surprised if you’re wrong. It’s the emotionally safe approach.

C’mon! To summon motivational speaker John Blutarsky, was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

True, some teams are floundering. Some teams might seem hapless.

Your struggling bunch needs 1) a different quarterback; 2) a change at offensive coordinator; 3) to fire the head coach, 4) all of the above, plus ….

We all want better. Alabama fans want better.

Driving in Baton Rouge many springs ago, when after a rocky February weekend in Houston, I heard sports talk caller Boudreaux saying he reckoned ole Slip Bertram was too old, had lost touch and had stayed just a little too long. All the LSU Tigers did that season was WIN THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES.

Fifth one for the washed up Bertman.

There’s hope. Maybe your team bounces back, learns from these tough times, and pulls it together. Can happen.

Twenty-five years ago, I saw it up close. My NSU Demons were 1-4 after getting dough-popped, 50-7, by the dastardly McNeese Cowboys in Lake Charles. How’d that season end? Cradling a Southland Conference co-championship, rewarded by an FCS playoff berth, bringing back the core of a team that not only won another Southland crown in 1998, but steamrolled to the national semifinals, finishing a quarter away from the national championship game. Best NSU team I ever saw.

I’m not here suggesting your team, or mine, can flip the script like that this fall, or even the next one.

But maybe it can.

I am here telling you that the players and coaches on every team not off to a dream start have not given up. They are doing all they can to win this weekend. They are pushing every day to be better than they were the day before.

My junior year at Jonesboro-Hodge High School, we were 1-9. A few of my teammates piled into the Ireland family Country Squire station wagon and made the half-hour ride down to Winnfield to watch our despised rivals play a Shreveport Catholic school for the state championship on a cool December night in the woods.

Number 7 (a guy I got to know later, John James Marshall) fluttered the prettiest 62-yard screen pass you’ll ever see, the Jesuit (nee Loyola) Flyers somehow blanked the high-powered, homestanding Tigers 7-0, and we drove home amazed.

And determined. We were unbeaten the next fall, and played for the state championship our own selves.

Can’t promise that sort of turnaround is in the cards for your team. But I can promise you, those guys didn’t put in all the work earlier in the spring and summer to surrender after three weeks, or six, or even in the moments between the third and fourth quarter of their last game this season.

Those band kids, those cheerleaders and pom-pom line members, those trainers and managers, they’re giving it all they’ve got, too, every time they enter the stadium. They deserve just as much support.

No, your team’s season is not over already. It’s only just begun. You never know where the victories will be – maybe not often enough on the scoreboard, but more often than not, they’re in there, somewhere.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

Hate to say it, but the Shreveport Classic was a disappointment.

That conclusion has nothing to do with how my favorite team, the Northwestern State Demons, fell flat on their collective facemasks last Saturday night.

Grambling’s Tigers withstood an early NSU flurry, scored on six straight series to end the half and dominated the football game, riding back home 47-21 winners.

A team that needed to win, did. Good for new coach Hue Jackson and the Gram Fam.

But even the grinning Grambling fans, at least those I heard from and was told about later, were not entirely pleased. And as distraught as the Demon faithful were about the outcome, they were also dissatisfied customers about the game experience.

I’m not here to slam Shreveport’s public agencies involved in hosting the game.

I’m hoping to sound a helpful warning.

Grambling and NSU people left Independence Stadium less than enthusiastic about coming back for any other college game. Me, too.

Oh, I’ll be there for the Independence Bowl for as long as the stadium is able to host it. BTW, that infrastructure is aging. Reminds me of one of the Deep South’s football shrines for many years, the home of the Iron Bowl, Legion Field in Birmingham.

NSU played there against UAB in 2013, so I visited then. What hosted Bryant vs. Paterno, USC and Sam “Bam” Cunningham hammering Alabama and spurring integration of the Crimson Tide roster, and housed so many Auburn-Alabama classics, was in miserable shape.

A couple years later, UAB pulled the plug on its football program and the decrepit stadium was a key in that decision. The Blazers and Birmingham have since built their own stadium and relaunched football, to great success (ask Louisiana Tech, which has seen UAB jump to the American Athletic Conference).

Independence Stadium isn’t that broken, yet, but it’s trending in that direction without some attention (and investment). Remember LSU women’s basketball coach and Lady Techster legend Kim Mulkey’s appearance Aug. 30 in front of hundreds of community leaders at the Independence Bowl Kickoff Dinner?

She pointedly told the crowd, don’t take the bowl for granted. It’s the biggest billboard for Shreveport-Bossier, putting us on the national stage not only on gameday with ABC or ESPN, not only during bowl season, but going home with visitors who hopefully leave with a good impression of not only the great job the bowl does in hosting, but also with those out-of-towners sharing their experiences here.

What finally has led to eliminating the eyesore that has been Fair Grounds Field? It was a derisive social media post from an I-Bowl visitor, a BYU blogger last winter, ripping the city and using the bat-infested baseball stadium as his lynchpin. His posts went viral and finally, city officials committed money to doing something to the ole ball yard – wiping it off the face of the earth, out of eyesight of I-20 traffic. Sad, but overdue.

Addressing anything with the structure of the stadium is a multimillion-dollar project that will take some time. Is it on the radar? Hope so. That question should be asked during this mayor’s race.

But the simple things matter. Things like traffic control, facility oversight and event management. These are issues that didn’t need to boil up as they did Saturday. Frankly, it looked like indifference.

I rolled up behind the Skybox and the flashy I-Bowl message board on I-20 at 5:38. I was happy to see traffic backed up to that point. Good crowd, I hoped. I congratulated myself for not taking the Hearne Ave. exit and getting snagged in that long, winding line of vehicles on the road adjoining the interstate, crawling toward parking.

I didn’t consider what that line meant until I discovered there were no police or anyone else directing traffic at the bottom of the Jewella ramp.  I finally parked my car in the media lot at 6:15. That was faster than those who had to sit in line to pay for parking at what were, apparently, only a couple of points of access, one on each side as I saw it, and later heard about it. I did see what appeared to be three law enforcement types standing underneath an awning of an abandoned gas station on Jewella.

Little things like the press box AC apparently set to 58 or so, which leads to condensation forming that gradually prevents anyone upstairs from seeing through the glass to what’s going on down on the field. By the halftime show, the VIPs and stat people and announcers and handful of media folks watched as if we had horrible cataracts. This is standard operating procedure up there, I was told.

Not so little things like at the base of the Skybox elevator, where people paid a premium to enjoy the game, then had to wait up to an hour because the wristband supply ran out shortly after 5 o’clock, an hour before kickoff. Didn’t matter these good folks had tickets showing they had access. They just had to wait, until middle of the first quarter.

That’s just a snapshot. I didn’t make calls to gather more trouble reports, and I didn’t make calls seeking explanations from whomever was in charge.

But if Shreveport is serious about drawing crowds to Independence Stadium for more than a one-time experience, I hope those in charge are committed to change – for the better.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

One of the greatest days in state college football history is next Saturday.

It’s pretty great here in Shreveport-Bossier, because Grambling and Northwestern State are matched up at the Independence Bowl.

It’s absolutely fantastic in Baton Rouge. Say all you will about the appeal of LSU’s home schedule – ostensibly highlighted by SEC contests with Mississippi State, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Rammer Jammer Alabamer – but I’ll take next Saturday’s home opener over any of those.

Will the game be competitive? Highly doubtful.

Will game day be epic? Absolutely.

This century, LSU has wisely, and thankfully, adopted the routine of playing host to in-state football opponents, not just Tulane but all the others. Well, almost all the others.

Just not the HBCU’s. Just not the school 10 miles up the Mississippi River. And just not the school in the red-clay hills that is undoubtedly the most prominent minority-rooted institution in the country, with the gold standard in HBCU football tradition.

But that invisible barrier begins tumbling down Monday, and by kickoff at 6:37 next Saturday, Tiger Stadium and surrounding tailgating parties will have reached a level never experienced when an FCS team has come to play.

LSU and Southern is the matchup long overdue.

A year later to the day (of the week), Sept. 9, 2023, it’s Grambling at LSU.

Southern has won 19 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and 11 Black college national crowns. Grambling owns 26 SWAC titles and has been the best HBCU team in the land 15 times.

“This is an incredible opportunity to join our fan bases of these historic Louisiana institutions and championship programs,” said LSU athletics director Scott Woodward June 1, 2020, announcing the contract signings.

“These dates will be days to celebrate not only football, but the state of Louisiana and all (italics are mine) of our people. It’s time,” he said, “and we are proud to be part of it.”

Northwestern State and Grambling broke the state college football “color barrier” Sept. 14, 1974 at what was then known as State Fair Stadium in Shreveport, before an estimated 30,000 fans. It wasn’t just the first collision of PWI (predominantly white institutions) and HBCU’s in Louisiana; it was the first such pairing in the Deep South, no small thing at a time when school desegregation was not completed.

There wasn’t much tailgating then. There will be an astonishing tailgating scene all over the LSU campus next Saturday.

During the 30 years I worked in athletics at NSU, we began squaring off against Southern in 1994. With all due respect to Grambling fans, and McNeese supporters, or the Bison Nation of North Dakota State and the Griz fans in Montana, there’s no fan base in the FCS that comes close to the sheer sprawl and the high caliber of tailgating that Jaguar Nation brings game after game, at home, and anywhere on the road.

Crosstown travel for the core of that fan base? OMG.

Come hungry. Jag fans are as gracious as any. Come happy. The music range is tremendous. The menu, limitless. Come ready to make friends, and see neighbors. This is liable to be a 48-hour cultural blend, probably longer, at least from Friday morning to Sunday lunch.

And I haven’t even mentioned the bands. That pairing, the Golden Band from Tigerland and the Human Jukebox of Southern, is so good that they ought to let the football teams play at halftime and the bands play for four quarters.

Not to diminish the Grambling-Northwestern rematch, which has its own scaled-down appeal locally. The crowd won’t approach the 30,000 from 1974. If half that many make it out to Independence Stadium Saturday, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Marketing for “The Shreveport Classic” started a few days ago, because it was only a couple days before that when Grambling finally agreed on a kickoff time.

But there will be a wonderful tailgating scene around the I-Bowl, a lot of common ground, two football teams trying to make a statement after opening as overmatched visitors, and yes, two fabulous bands, the Spirit of Northwestern and the World Famed Tiger Band.

If you’re not among the 150,000 or more – seriously, I’d bet on that — who will be tailgating at Tiger Stadium, I hope you consider coming out to Shreveport-Bossier’s big ballpark and taking in the scene for Grambling-NSU.

On so many levels, it’s a really big, joyful deal. And unlike in Baton Rouge, the football matchup should be very competitive, too.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

New Northwestern State basketball coach Corey Gipson has created a unique buzz around his first recruiting class.

There’s a blend of transfers from four-year schools and junior colleges, eight in all. One, Missouri transfer Jordan Wilmore, is 7-foot-3.

There are two prep school signees, a year removed from high school.

And there’s the most famous recruit in NSU athletic history.

The one-armed kid.

Seriously.

Hansel Enmanuel is not a name that resonates, but his story is incredibly compelling, and it’s not exaggeration to say that people around the WORLD have taken notice.

His left arm was amputated just below the shoulder when a cinder block wall fell on him at age 6 in his native Dominican Republic. It did not deter his joy of playing sports, although it ultimately redirected his focus from baseball to hoops. That may have happened anyway; his dad was a pro basketball player on the island.

He was an ESPY Award finalist for “Best Play.” He is the subject of a Gatorade commercial. He has four million followers on Twitter and Instagram, not counting the reach of that Gatorade advertisement that debuted on ABC during the NBA Finals and continues in rotation across networks and on the company’s social media a month later.

Monday, ESPN’s Jalen & Jacoby show hosts told the audience they were bringing their show to NSU at some point this season to track the story.

Toss in the fact that 247Sports.com ranks him as a three-star recruit. Enmanuel posted averages of 25.9 points, 11 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 3.4 blocks as a senior at Life Christian Academy in Kissimmee, Fla.

But is he the product of high-caliber editing, a phenom who has a mind-blowing highlight reel, but due to obvious limitations, has shortcomings that cast doubt on his potential to play at the NCAA Division I level?

Perhaps.

His stats say otherwise. And clearly, the Demons believe otherwise. So did the coaching staff at Bethune-Cookman, a SWAC program based in Daytona Beach., a 78-mile drive from Kissimmee. So did coaches at Tennessee State, and if you can accept it, coaches at Memphis, a national program said to be among his final four choices.

But those stats were compiled against lower-level Florida high school competition, along with a few intersectional games for the Lions of Life Christian.

He has amazed and impressed observers for two summers while on the summer ball circuit. He was invited to play in the pro-am Drew League in Los Angeles last weekend, which is where he announced his college decision, although it turns out he had signed his letter of intent with the Demons a month earlier.

Smart move to make the announcement on a big stage. It immediately splattered across the internet and social media on outlets like Sports Illustrated and Apple News, gaining millions of impressions.

Whether engineered by Enmanuel’s camp or Gipson, breaking the news then and there got the desired result.

This guard, whose size has been reported from 6-4 to 6-6, is a media sensation.

Will he be solid enough to play at Northwestern, in the Southland Conference? There apparently were not offers from nearby programs like Central Florida, South Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida A&M, North Florida, Stetson — all within easy driving distance of Kissimmee — let alone Florida, Miami or Florida State.

Who was right? It will be interesting to see as his days with the Demons unfold.

The mere fact that he’s gotten this far, and earned such widespread attention and respect, is mind-blowing. Enmanuel undeniably is worthy of all the praise he gets.

For Gipson and the Demons, there’s minimal risk, and already, great rewards. People will be keeping an eye on Northwestern State basketball this winter, and maybe if things go well, more Gatorade commercials will follow, along with wins.

Contact Doug at SBJDoug@gmail.com

Monday morning, I listened to Greg Sankey, the most powerful man in college sports as the Southeastern Conference commissioner, cite the necessity to be “thoughtful but nimble” in the constantly evolving landscape of conference affiliations.

New Southland Conference commissioner Chris Grant has certainly been thoughtful but nimble as he’s navigated the turbulent league landscape since coming on board as the No. 2 guy last summer, then emerging as commissioner in waiting last fall. He gets a lot of credit for Southland cornerstone McNeese choosing to stay put (for now, since the Cowboys unabashedly admit they are looking for upward mobility).

He also is lauded for helping bring Lamar back from the Western Athletic Conference to the Southland after a miserable year flying teams all around three time zones, and for helping Incarnate Word realize the folly of trying the same thing. UIW walked to the DMZ, looked at the other side, and decided not to defect, after Grant helped encourage the Southland’s San Antonio member to stay put.

The Southland was a conference in crisis a year ago, with longtime members (Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston) departing, dragging Lamar and Abilene Christian along; with Central Arkansas also bolting, and McNeese wavering on joining the wacky WAC. Now, largely credited to Grant’s playing a pivotal role, the league has 10 committed members (eight football schools) and an even split between Texas and Louisiana campuses. As it stages the Southland Football Media Day event Wednesday in the defacto conference headquarters, Lake Charles, the Southland has pulled off quite the comeback.

In an 11^th-hour switch in June, Lamar chose to rejoin the Southland for this season, not 2023-24 as indicated this spring. That produced a scramble to rearrange the league’s schedules in all sports. Football, in scope and profile, presented the biggest logistical hurdles.

And the biggest, oldest, most tradition-laden rivalry in the Southland didn’t survive.

When the Southland proudly trotted out its revamped football slate six days ago, the Northwestern State-McNeese game was wiped away. The Demons and Cowboys have met every season since 1951, but are no longer to scheduled to play this fall.

It was to be the final home game for the Demons and the closing contest of the regular season for both teams. If played on that date, or any other, it’s a series with 70 years of annual history, the one game that every year, players, coaches, and fans on both sides circle as soon as that season’s schedules are set.

Kicking off SEC Media Days in Atlanta Monday, Sankey addressed scheduling – the SEC’s issue is not a quick fix, but what to do when Texas and Oklahoma join, presumably in 2025. He cited the SEC’s policy of three “permanent” rivalries (LSU has Ole Miss, Alabama and Florida).

The Southland doesn’t have permanent rivalries – well, not any longer. In a statement issued to The Journal, Grant tried to explain why not.

“As a conference with deep pride in its history of competitive excellence, the Southland Conference has profound respect for the legendary rivalry between McNeese State and Northwestern State. We also understand the fan frustration that organizers had to hit the pause button for a year due to multiple intersecting obligations. As schools worked to build non-conference schedules for this fall, they did a fantastic job accommodating the welcome presence of Lamar University and the University of Incarnate Word, a scheduling alliance with the Ohio Valley Conference and several prioritized dates on campus for multiple schools. We apologize to the student-athletes and fans for the necessary pause on this annual tradition and look forward to the rivalry’s spirited resumption in 2023.”

Sorting through: “profound respect for the legendary rivalry?” Horse hooey.

“Had to hit the pause button for a year due to multiple intersecting obligations.” Don’t think you “had to,” Mr. Grant. You just didn’t care enough to have your crew work a little bit harder to preserve a 70-season series between in-state rivals. Truman was president when the Demons and Cowboys first teed it up. You’re right about one thing – it is a “legendary rivalry.”

“Several prioritized dates on campus for multiple schools.” Uh, we can easily read that as Homecoming. Every school has it. Everybody loves it. But shouldn’t the oldest active, continuous series in the Southland also be “prioritized?”

“Necessary pause on this annual tradition.” Totally unnecessary, that is. I get that there’s a rush to produce a schedule. The season is nearing, but there are six weeks before the Sept. 3 season opener, and nine weeks before Southland games start on Sept. 24. The Southland didn’t pause on the annual tradition. It trashed the annual part.

Remember the words of Greg Sankey – commissioner of the Southland, by the way, from 1996-2002: “thoughtful but nimble.”

During the crush of the pandemic, we saw countless examples of “nimble” when it came to scheduling, to practices, to travel, to . . . everything.

What we have here is a refusal to admit a correctable error. The conference office will tell us that the schedule announced last week was “approved” by each school. I know it caught the NSU football staff by surprise, after they heard a couple days earlier from McNeese colleagues that the game would probably move off the final date to accommodate McNeese-Lamar there. Fine. But to toss it aside? Terrible.

Even worse? There’s ample time to fix this. If only Grant and crew could show us a little “nimble.”

It took under three weeks to produce this altered slate. This could be fixed faster, if anyone truly cared at the Southland office. It only matters to the players, coaches and fans. That’s all.

Contact Doug at SBJDoug@gmail.com