Motivation is an interesting thing. Some people are internally self-motivated. Others are best motivated by external circumstances. Earlier this week, I wanted to make sure that my son was motivated to help his mother, do his homework, brush his teeth(!!), etc. while I was in New York for a week. Therefore, I told him that if he did all of these, without fussing, I would take him to Auburn early on Saturday because ESPN Gameday will be televised live from the front of Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. I think he is already working on the signs he will bring, such as “Tuberville owns LSU (Les, Saban and Urban)”. It should be a lot of fun, not to mention a LONG day.
This marks the 5th time that the Gameday crew will have been at Auburn, the last one being in 2006 when the Florida Gators came to town. That same evening, Tre Smith had the ESPN game changing performance by flipping into the endzone after Auburn blocked a punt of the #2 ranked Florida Gators. Of course, Auburn went on to win that night.
It would have been the sixth visit to Auburn by the Gameday bunch. They were scheduled to be at Auburn for the LSU game in 2004, but hurricane Ivan forced them to move to Michigan State.
The curmudgeon prognosticator-coach that most seem to enjoy watching and yet despise deeply is Lee Corso. One of the things he does at the very end of the broadcast, is pick who he thinks will be the winner at the venue where they are located. Typically he puts on the headress of the school mascot he is picking to win. It will be interesting to see which set of Tigers Lee picks.
Lee Corso is the only original gameday cast member remaining. For those of you old enough, you might jog your memory and recall that the original crew consisted of Bob Carpenter as host, with Lee Corso and Beano Cook as analysts. That goes all the way back to 1987, when the show got its start. Chris Fowler joined the show in 1992, and has hosted every Gameday event until 2004, when he began to tag-team the duty with Rece Davis (a bammer!!!) In 1996, Kirk Herbstreit joined the team, and they have been together ever since.
One of the bits of trivia that you may not know has to do with LSU and Gameday. Back on November 9, 1996, ESPN Gameday was at Baton Rouge for the LSU-Alabama game. As he always does to end the show, Lee Corso picked who he thought would win. He picked Alabama. The LSU fans were so raucous, angry, and many witnesses say drunk, that they began throwing anything they could at Fowler, Herbstreit and Corso. One person threw a golf ball that barely missed Lee Corso’s head. And, believe it or not, the LSU Athletic Department still has that golf ball in their trophy case, as though it should be some type of award! Needless to say, Gameday changed their security measures and have used a protective screen around their crew ever since. By the way, Alabama shut out LSU that day, 26-0.
So get up early, draw or paint your sign, and come join the crowd as Auburn welcomes Gameday to the Plains this Saturday.
War Eagle!
WJLaneSR
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