And Tulane, a private school, may not even exist tomorrow. It's students have transferred elsewhere, and except for those in it's prestigious law school, they may not want to come back. Tulane will have to make cutbacks to fund the rebuilding it's school, and that may mean cutting back on luxury items like football.
They won't even have a home this season as the entire campus, including athletic facilities is underwater and the Superdome (it's home football arena), is a biohazard that has to be torn down.
But you have to like the attitude of Tulane coach Chris Scelfo and his team. (Washington Post)
"We don't have a home stadium, so we don't need home jerseys. Hey, we ain't going back home this year. So we're on the road and that's all we have."
...
"I'll play in the parking lot of a Popeye's Fried Chicken and so will my team,"
(article link courtesy Every Day Should Be Saturday)
That last quote has to be early favorite for "Quote of the Year."
It also shows the kind of moxie Tulane has developed throughout all of this. They may not have a tomorrow, and they don't have a home, but they are a very dangerous team.
While the Football team is now working out at Louisiana Tech, other schools such as Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, and SMU have opened their doors to their athletes.
So Cheap Seats is going to do the same. We'll be "adopting" the Tulane Green Wave as an honorary Texas team this year and we'll be featuring them in our Weekend Preview and Wrap-Up.
How can you call this a "rematch"?
The Patriots are playing the Raiders tonight, and all the lazy sportswriters and talk show hosts seem to want to focus on the "Tuck Rule/Snow Job" angle.
For those of us who have put this game out of our minds, the Raiders appeared to have stripped Tom Brady on a play where his arm was going forward, but he never released the ball, and throwing arm extended, lost it. The Patriots challenged the play, saying that his arm was going forward when the fumble occured. The Raiders thought he tucked the ball back into his body. Well, what the Raiders' thought was a tuck didn't match the NFL's definition of a tuck, and as President #42 might have said, "It all depends on how you define 'tuck.'"
Point being, what could have been a game-clinching play gave the Patriots new life, and they went on to win the game. Four years and 3 Patriot championships later, the Raiders' fans are still steaming about this.
But is it really fair to ask players to care about this angle? These are almost two different teams.
Key figures in the Tuck game, such as Rich Gannon, Charlie Garner, Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, John Gruden, Tedy Bruschi, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Charlie Weis, and Romeo Crennell, have all moved on.
Warren Sapp was a Tampa Bay Buccaneer that year. Randy Moss was a Viking. Kerry Collins was a Giant. Norv Turner was coordinating Miami's offense at the time. Carlos Francis was at Texas Tech. Why should they care about what happened to a past Raider team they weren't a part of?
Conversely, why is it up to Rodney Harrison, Chad Brown, Monty Beisel and other Patriots who weren't around in 2001, to defend a rule that even the NFL can't defend or the honor of a team that they weren't a part of?
Furthermore, both sets of fans need to get over it. The game has been decided, and unless BALCO or shady payments from Michigan boosters to Chris Webber are somehow involved, it's not coming off the books.
Sure, tonight's game will be competitive and will be a great kickoff to the 2005 NFL season, but calling it a rematch of a game that happened four years ago with all the roster turnover in the salary cap NFL is ridiculous.
So please, drop the rematch angle.
Big XII/Texas Schedule for Thursday
Oklahoma State vs. Florida Atlantic
(at Dolphins Stadium, Miami, FL)
6:00 PM ESPN2
Oklahoma State has to improve greatly on offense. They barely beat 1-AA Montana State last week on a 4th-quarter touchdown. FAU performed admirably, albeit in a loss, to Kansas, so OSU needs to not take this trip to South Florida lightly.
Tomorrow: Weekend Preview
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