When it comes to football conferences, my heart belongs to the SEC. But if I was really drunk at a party, and I knew no one would ever find out, I would consider a fling with Division III SLIAC. That's right, the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Home of the Blackburn Beavers, Maryville Saints, Webster Gorloks (whatever that is), and many other teams, but most importantly the LaGrange College Panthers (just one of the 3 "panther" teams in the SLIAC).
The LaGrange College football team has been around for all of 3 years, none of which were during my tenure there. I went to the first ever football game and haven't been to another game since. For a little football history, until September 6th, 2008 LaGrange had not won a single football game. Since September 6th LaGrange has lost only one game to Shorter College by only 5 points gracing them with a current record of 5-1.
This weekend, I will likely miss the Georgia/Vanderbilt game for Homecoming in LaGrange. The Panthers take on division rival Westminster at 1:30pm and for the first time, I'm looking forward to going to a Division III football game. This is directly influenced by their winning record which makes me a total bandwagon fan!
For once, I'm okay with this. I see this completely different than when a buddy of mine starts dating a girl who goes to Auburn and automatically turns into the world's biggest War Eagle. I see this as, I'm a huge Georgia fan and oh by the way I went to LaGrange College who is tied for first in their conference for the first time ever so perhaps I'll catch a game this year. No hate in 2008.
Here are a few pictures of our guys in action so far:
and one facilities shot...
In Division III there are no scholarships, so these kids are at LaGrange to go to school first and play football on the side. They got a LARGE sum of money to throw at this football experiment and for the first 2 years it looked like it was going to be lost. Then something finally started clicking (as it usually does with a third year head coach) and we starting outscoring our opponents to the tune of 225 (points for) to 109 (points against) translating into outscoring them nearly two to one. So congratulations Panthers on your winning record thus far. It sounds like Coach Mooney is really turning things around this season and I look forward to being back in the realm this weekend.
6 comments:
Ahh, it seems that if we allow ourselves to exit not only SEC football, but also Division I football, we can find something we agree on. I'll see you there.
Dude, bandwagon, count me in. Not sure I've ever been so excited about DIII. See you, and sweetie, and gayman/fake tt there.
you didnt actually go to UGA?
weeeeaaak
Anon, I've covered this before that I didn't attend UGA. If not going to school there should prevent me from supporting the athletic program, I'll await a letter from AD Damon Evans saying my money is no longer being accepted when I go to purchase my tickets.
If you want to talk about weak, we'll discuss the topic of students/alumni of a government funded university complaining about people who weren't students cheering for their team as if they were a part of some exclusive club. If my tax dollars are going to fund the education of students at UGA, GSU, or any other school not supported by tuition and product revenues alone, then I and any other person who chooses to do so has the right to be a fan. Deal with it.
Good comeback Mr. Pantsless....
Looks like Stella got her groove back biaaaatch..
Cool....I'm pretty sure that I played a high school game in that stadium...errr, football field? Nonetheless, we lost.
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