Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Only Thing Better than the Morning Cup of Coffee: DandyDon.com



Today I want to make a little plug-in for my favorite sports website that I follow daily, year round. For those of you who love LSU and aren't familiar with it, it's the best way to start your day if you're one of those who is at a computer doing the 9am-5pm... or whatever your extended hours may be. It's www.dandydon.com . Dandy Don is definitely in the know regarding LSU sports. He attends practices, and has contacts both in the athletic department and the recruiting scene. His insider knowledge is invaluable, and I love his daily updates, especially during the college sports dry spell known as summer time.

This week, he posted some interesting stats showing once again that Louisiana is the place to be for college football. As I'm sure you know, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and California contribute the most Division 1-A college football prospects. In the 2009 recruiting class, Texas led with 394 players signing D1-A scholarships. Florida had 346, California had 295, Georgia had 195, Ohio had 159, and Louisiana had 96.

But in an effort to show the world why Louisiana is better than the rest, it's important to qualify those states and look at the number of signees when you take into account the population of the state... Mwah ha ha! (Can you hear my evil laugh?!?)

1.) Louisiana: 4,410,796/96= 1 in every 45,945 people
2.) Florida: 18,328,340/346= 1 in every 52,972 people
3.) Georgia: 9,685,744/195= 1 in every 58,701 people
4.) Texas: 24,326,974/394= 1 in every 61,734 people
5.) Ohio: 11,485,910/159= 1 in every 72,238 people
6.) California: 36,756,666/295= 1 in every 124,598 people

When you wonder what it is that makes the SEC the most dominant conference in the county, it's easy to understand when you see that the top three states producing D1-A scholarship players are in the SEC. And we all know LSU has a lock on the I-10 corridor heading into Texas, which just adds to our good fortune.

LSU has restored our program to national prominence, and it's hard to see it going anywhere when you look at statistics like this.

In closing, I received a "tweet" from Les Miles yesterday informing me that LSU is changing their jerseys. We are adding "LSU" to the front of the 2009 jerseys for both purple and white uniforms. The "LSU" is 2-1/8" wide and 3/8" tall and will be located just below the neckline and right about the player's number. We're going to be trendsetters, because this is the first time in the history of college football that a school's name will appear on the front of the jersey. I can't wait till the rest of the NCAA follows our lead and copies. You know they will.

Only 58 days till kickoff! AND... Southwest Airlines flies into Seattle, which is where LSU will be opening up the 2009 season. I've got free flights. My husband won't be able to join me because of work commitments (crunch time for his Ursaline Academy project), so I'm looking for someone to travel with me. Let me know if you're interested!

4 comments:

Monica Ramsey said...

You know we live 90 minutes from Seattle... what are the dates? Maybe Chad could drive there for the game and meet you. I'm due Sept 14th so we can look at that and see if he can join you and if you have the chance to take an extra night and spend it here... if not though... you and Layne need to come back when the boys can ski (maybe you ski too.. I do not so I can be on kid watch).

Anonymous said...

I would expect more responses to your post after that last sentence.

-Uncle Pat

Unknown said...

OK, my curiosity is peaked...re: "We're going to be trendsetters, because this is the first time in the history of college football that a school's name will appear on the front of the jersey."

Is LSU doing something different than I'm not understanding? I was pretty sure many schools have had the schools name on the front of the jersey...
It would be pretty cool if LSU came up with a new way to design a football jersey, especially since Nike forces a common template for most schools they sponsor these days.

It's awesome that the season is so close already...

Mitzi said...

I'll have to look into that Erol. That was quoted from the LSU press release regarding the new uniforms. If you know of gameday jerseys with names on them, let me know. I'll pose the question to DandyDon and he'll get back to me in 24 hours. Just another reason why I love the man...