• Assume as close a grip as possible while still keeping the elbows underneath the bar during execution of the lift. Larger men will have to put their index fingers on the ring; medium-sized lifters can typically cover the rings with their pinkies; smaller lifters should grab the bar inside of the rings; and most lightweight females should be able to grasp the bar so close that their hands actually touch their shoulders. 
• Nearly all lifters will benefit from wearing the bar low during squats. Placing the bar on the shelf of the rear delts, rather than up high on the traps, lowers the center of gravity and makes a lifter more stable resulting in more weight lifted.
• A narrow grip and low bar placement practically forces the lifter to keep their chest up while squatting, which is highly preferred. The downside of this technique, however, is that it places tremendous pressure on the wrists. Most lifters should, therefore, opt to squat with wrist wraps to avoid trauma. 

•  The walkout should either be two or three steps, never more. Additional steps will just waste valuable energy (ATP) that will be needed for the heavy squat that will follow. For a narrow-stance squatter, two steps is perfect. This is achievable only if the lifter takes two very short steps out of the rack. If the narrow-stance squatter takes a long step back, their second step will invariably catch on the squat rack and the lifter will get hung up.
• If the lifter squats any wider than shoulder width, the walkout will require three steps. The first step is straight back, never outward, for a maximum of six inches. If the lifter steps outward while stepping back on their first step, their next steps will cause the weights to hang up on the rack.

             Step #1—First foot moves six inches straight back.

             Step #2—Second foot moves back and out to its anchor spot.

             Step #3—First foot swings outward, to accomplish the desired stance width

•   Stance width is a highly individual preference, but there are guidelines for where to point the toes. If the stance is narrow, the toes will point slightly out, never straight ahead. The rule for wider-stance squatters is: the wider the stance is, the more the toes will be pointed out. Lifters that try to squat wide without significant outward pointing of their toes will encounter “hip-lock” and won’t be able to hit proper depth.
• Once in the desired stance with the toes pointed outward as needed, take a deep breath and hold the air in on the way down. The only time a lifter will exhale is as he/she is locking back out, that is, on the ascent. Never exhale on the way down or in the initial part of the ascent – otherwise, the lifter will lose stability and buckle forward under max weight.
• After taking in a belly full of air, SIT BACK while squatting down. Squatting straight down will cause the knees to shoot forward over the toes, which is not only a very weak position, it is also very traumatic to the knees. During the descent, continue to sit back as though sitting down on an imaginary toilet. The secret to sitting back properly is to always keep the chest up and the elbows under the bar while descending. This will cause the lifter to break parallel with his/her shins and he/she will be in excellent position (i.e., almost vertical) to fire the weight back up to a strong lockout.
• A narrow-stance squatter will only sit back slightly while descending; however, a wide-stance squatter will sit back considerably more during descent. The rule is: the wider the stance, the more one must sit back.

•  Lastly, opening the groin is critically important to achieve maximum weight. If the stance is any wider than shoulder-width, the knees must be forcefully pushed out to the sides during execution of the lift. Opening the groin comes naturally to innately talented squatters, but is very awkward to novice lifters with weak hips. The novice lifter will open the groin on the descent, but will often buckle the knees inward to generate more force on the way back up. The novice lifter does this subconsciously because their hips are weak; thus, they buckle the knees to take the pressure off of their hips and incorporate the quadriceps muscles. The only solution to this problem is to use appropriate weights to facilitate perfect form, including an open groin. By training with lighter weights and an open groin, the hips will naturally become stronger. Insisting on training with weights that  buckle the knees will decrease balance, hinder progress in the long run, and worse yet, cause serious knee injury.

• Continue to sit back and keep the chest up during the descent. As soon as one breaks parallel, he/she should violently explode upward to blast through the sticking point that commonly occurs in the mid-range of the lift. The knees should lock-out simultaneously as the hips push in to bring the torso fully erect. Congratulations– you’ve just completed the perfect squat!

Baer also kicked field goals of 47 and 46 yards, the second of which gave the Ragin’ Cajuns (4-1, 2-0) a 34-20 lead with 7:43 remaining.

Graham Wilbert brought the Owls (0-4, 0-1) back, throwing a 5-yard scoring pass to Nexon Dorvilus and a 12-yard TD to Xavier Stinson to tie the game with 1:48 left.

Blaine Gautier then directed the Ragin’ Cajuns from their 26 to the Florida Atlantic 9, completing 6 of 7 passes on the drive. Gautier completed 26 of 33 in the game for 329 yards and two touchdowns.

Wilbert finished 20-for-38 with 219 yards and three touchdowns. His one interception gave Louisiana-Lafayette the ball at the Owls’ 16, but a missed field goal by Baer ended the threat.

Louisiana is coming off an upset of the Florida International Golden Panthers last Saturday at FIU stadium. FAU is coming off three straight brutal losses to major Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

FAU played at Florida, Michigan State, and Auburn to open up the season. In those games, the Owls have managed a total of 17 points. They were shut out by Michigan State and managed only a field goal against the Gators.

Not surprisingly, FAU’s scoring offense is ranked dead last in the entire country, averaging just under six points per game. FAU’s total offense numbers this season are also dead last in the country with the team managing just 164 yards per game.

Defensively, FAU is allowing 38 points per game and more than 400 yards of total offense in the team’s first three games this season.

Luckily for FAU, they step back down in competition to their own conference against Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin Cajuns are averaging 32 points per game this season against teams including Oklahoma State and FIU.

The Cajuns also rank 70th in the country in total defense, giving up just 373 yards per game this season, with the majority of those yards coming against the prolific passing attack of Oklahoma State.

Louisiana will be led by head coach Mark Hudspeth. He is a former coach of the University of North Alabama Lions where he put together a 66-21 record and won two Gulf South Conference championships, while making five NCAA D-2 playoff appearances.

Hudspeth also spent time in 2009 and 2011 as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for Mississippi State University.

FAU’s game is set to kickoff in Louisiana at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN’s Gameplan package or on ESPN3.com.

When setting up for a geared (or RAW) press, first grab the bar with your index finger covering the 81 cm rings (max width in all powerlifting federations) so as to shorten your pressing range of motion. The modern bench press shirt stretches very little, so we must shorten the bar’s range of motion as much as humanly possible. By shortening your stroke, you can actually derive assistance from the shirt throughout more of the lift. When the shirt is helping through most of your range of motion, you will bench press considerably more weight.Secondly, squeeze out the biggest, nastiest arch that you can possibly muster and pinch your shoulder blades together as you get the hand-off. Now that you have physically shortened the range of motion as much as humanly possible, it’s time to get the most out of your bench press.

If you lower the bar to a higher region of the chest by letting your elbows point straight out to the sides, as commonly seen in every fitness gym in America, you will rely almost entirely on your pectoral muscles alone to perform the lift (which we refer to as a pec-bench). While I have no personal issues with using the pectoral muscles, I realize that their potential is limited. A RAW lifter will almost always bench press more weight by slightly tucking their elbows inward and lowering the bar to just below the chest. By doing so, the pecs, triceps, and lats will share the load, thereby allowing the lifter to press more weight.

Now for the reason that a lifter must tuck their elbows when wearing a bench press shirt: If a shirted lifter starts their descent by pushing their elbows straight out to their sides, the chest panel of the bench shirt is immediately stretched. The chest panel of today’s ultra-shirts has very little ability to stretch, so if it is already being stretched at the top of the lift, the lifter will hit what feels like a brick wall before they are half way down. At that point, the novice lifter will insist that they cannot touch their chest and will opt for a bigger shirt that provides less carryover. When their bigger shirt arrives in the mail, they put it on and now the wider chest panel doesn’t even start to stretch until the last few inches of the descent. The lifter is certainly able to touch their chest in their new loose shirt, but the shirt only rebounds for the first few inches of the lift, leaving entire mid- and upper-range of the press to the unaided strength of the lifter alone.

Proper form in the bench press is to tuck the elbows  during the descent of the lift. For the geared lifter, this is critical to avoid stretching the chest panel until the last few inches of the descent, obviously maximizing the rebound potential of the shirt. Regardless of whether you lift geared or RAW though, avoidance of pec-benching is absolutely essential to employing multiple muscle groups to consistently bench press the greatest weight possible.

FIU is riding high after knocking off opponents from a BCS conference (Louisville) and Conference USA (University of Central Florida) in the last two weeks. Much of the hype surrounding FIU has centered on the dazzling play of the electrifying T.Y. Hilton.

Hilton is currently number five in the country in All-Purpose yards, averaging just fewer than 200 yards per game, even though he played sparingly in the second half against UCF. Hilton had a breakout game against the Louisville Cardinal.

For the season, Hilton averages 21.4 yards per catch and catches 6 passes per game for roughly 121 yards a game. He rushes for an additional 18 yards and averages 58 yards in kickoff returns per game.

But as good as Hilton has been, it’s the other side of the football that is leading the Golden Panthers charge into the record books.

All you have to know as an opposing quarterback facing FIU is get ready to face the heat. FIU has pulled down 14 sacks this season, which is tops in the country according to cfbstats.com. FIU is also second in the country in sacks per game with the defense pulling down opposing quarterbacks nearly five times a game.

It’s a team game for FIU’s defense as the leading sacker is a 5’10” cornerback. FIU’s defense is attacking opponents and manhandled UCF’s offense which was the top rushing attack in the country before running into FIU’s defense.

UCF ran the ball 40 times against FIU and gained just 119 yards, or roughly 3 yards per carry. Louisville ran the ball 41 times and only got 83 yards, and North Texas ran 38 times for just 97 yards against the Golden Panthers’ suffocating defense.

FIU’s total defense is ranked 56th in the country and is allowing just 349 yards of total offense per game this season. Scoring defense is even better with FIU ranked 21st nationally, allowing just 14.3 yards per game.

Now, the Golden Panthers turn their focus to the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns this Saturday.

La.-Lafeyette is 89th in the country averaging 121 yards per game on the ground. But, Louisiana is only averaging 132 yards passing this season, which against FIU’s defense is not good news for the Cajuns.

Still, Louisiana is averaging nearly 31 points per game, which will put FIU’s defense under the gun once again.

Louisiana opened the season with a 61-34 drubbing by Oklahoma State University. The Cajuns followed that up with two straight victories over Kent State and Nicholls State respectively.

Louisiana is specializing in winning the turnover margin this season. The Cajuns are ranked number 17 in the country averaging plus one in the turnover battle per game. Louisiana has a 5-3 advantage in interceptions in 2011.

FIU’s game against the Ragin’ Cajuns is set to kickoff at 6:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN3.com.

• About 90% of all women, 90% of all lightweight men, and about 50% of heavy men typically favor the sumo deadlift stance. Deadlifting sumo-style significantly shortens the range of motion during the lift, which basic physics suggests will enable the lifter to move a greater mass.  Certain exceptions apply to this rule, however, as discussed below.
• Although the vast majority of lifters will benefit from pulling sumo, the following characteristics are common to conventional lifters that may not be as well suited for the sumo style.

1.  Heavy/thick men and women—The reason that many thick lifters cannot pull sumo is that once they approach the lockout, their own body mass gets in the way and they have to battle against that girth to push their hips in and pull their shoulders back. Conventional deadlifting places the arms to the sides of the body, away from the girth, thus freeing the lifter to accomplish a much smoother lockout.
2.  Women with unusually narrow hips—The reason that 90% of all women favor the sumo deadlift is that they naturally possess wide, strong hips for the biological purpose of bearing children.  This same feature greatly enhances their ability to perform the sumo deadlift, which largely depends on hip strength. A small percentage of female lifters, however, have an unusually narrow pelvis and/or weak hips, in which case, conventional deadlifting – which relies on back strength – may be preferable. 
3.  Men and women with inflexible hips—The key to a strong sumo deadlift is the ability to push the knees as far out as possible in order to open the groin to its maximum extent.  This places the weight very close to the lifter’s center of gravity and enhances the body’s leverage. The less flexible a lifter’s hips are, the less open their groin will be. Thus, the bar will have to travel farther out in front of the lifter’s body and away from his/her center of gravity.  Those whose hips aren’t flexible enough to fully open their groin may well find that conventional deadlifting is preferred.

The Perfect Sumo Deadlift

• The first objective, when setting up a sumo deadlift, is to set the feet. The average stance is shins at the rings with the toes pointed significantly out to the sides (even further out than when squatting wide). The knees will naturally follow the toes, so by pointing the toes outward, the groin will likewise open up. The wider the feet are set, the shorter the range of motion needed to accomplish the pull, and thus, the better the leverage. However, if a lifter is going to deadlift ultra-wide (i.e., with the toes touching the plates), he/she must possess extreme hip strength and tremendous groin flexibility. Most lifters simply lack the hip strength/flexibility to set up that wide. Those among the small percentage that can deadlift “plate to plate,” will enjoy a shortened range of motion that will provide a significant advantage over their competition.

•  Next, with  legs stiffened and the bar about an inch in front of the shins, bend at the waist and grasp the bar shoulder-width (one hand over- handed, one hand underhanded). If the lifter grips the bar narrower than shoulder width, the lockout will be extremely difficult as his/her shoulders will naturally be pulled forward. If the bar is gripped wider than shoulder width, the range of motion will increase and bar will have to be pulled even higher which reduces the ability to  lift maximum weight. So, the secret here is to be as close to shoulder width as possible for the shortest and smoothest stroke.

•  Now, the lifter should pull into proper starting position with the knees out, chest up, and the bar close to the body. LIFTING THE BAR SHOULD NOT BE INITIATED UNTIL THE PROPER POSITION HAS BEEN ATTAINED. Achieving this position in a tight deadlift suit is very difficult; thus, it  is critical to practice suited until this position can consistently be reached.

•  The bar should be squeezed off of the ground while maintaining a chest-up position. Never yank the bar to initiate the movement as this will pull the chest down and shoot the hips up prematurely.
•  Finally, as soon as the bar passes the knees, forcefully drive the hips forward to lockout. Congratulations–you’ve just completed the perfect sumo deadlift!

The Perfect Conventional Deadlift

• For conventional deadlifting, the feet should be shoulder-width apart (or slightly narrower) with the toes angled slightly outward.
• Bend at the waist with semi-straightened legs, and grip the bar just outside of the legs. For an average-sized lifter, there will be approximately one-inch of knurling visible between the hand and the smooth portion of the bar.
• With the hands set, position the bar an inch or two in front of the shins and directly over the center of the feet.

•  With hips up, and feet and hands set, take a deep breath and lower the hips. The shins will come forward to touch the barbell as the hips drop.
•  When the hips are down, the chest is up, the shoulders are pulled back, and the back is flat, squeeze the bar off the ground. Never yank the bar to initiate the movement as this will pull the chest down and shoot the hips up prematurely.

•  The hips and back should rise together. Never let the hips shoot up early, even if more weight can be lifted by doing so. A lifter will be able to  deadlift considerably more in the future by insisting that his/her hips and back rise together now. Achieving short-term gratification by stiff-legging heavier weights will preclude a lifter from attaining his/her maximum long-term potential.    
• Finally, as soon as the bar passes the knees, forcefully drive the hips forward to lockout.  Congratulations–you’ve just completed the perfect conventional deadlift!

                                    -Kyle Ramsey, Teenage and Collegiate National Champion

Commandment #2 is a close relative of commandment #1. They are both critical to avoiding overtraining, injuries, and premature peaking of strength when training for a meet. Unlike most programs and coaches, however, I speak in percentages very little. Many coaches will say, “do 3×5 @ 85%,” but this is a very cookie-cutter approach to picking training weights; it is far too elementary for lifters that wish to become elite strength athletes. With the percentage-based approach, some lifters would do the 85% with only marginal strain, while others would miss reps and be unable to complete all three sets. In Werner Strength Programs, percentages are usually only listed for speed work. All other exercises simply list the suggested set and rep range, for example “Bench press—warm up, then 3×5.” In my program, the lifter will warm up as desired, then choose the weight for their first set that is challenging, but no so heavy that they miss reps or break form. If, after the first set, the lifter is confident about adding more weight to the bar, that is perfectly acceptable. The goal is to practice restraint. . . approach failure during heavy sets, but never actually cross the line into missing reps. Leaving a little strength in the tank (10-pounds or so) is far better than overloading and missing reps.

The book “Werner Strength Programs” includes 6 programs proven to dramatically improve strength and power!

Included in the book are the following step-by-step programs:

• 14-week Meet Cycles (Raw and Equipped)
• Offseason RAW cycles for general strength
• Jason Beck’s IPF World Championship Program
• Mike Broussard’s Arnold Classic Program
• Nelson Boutte’s Junior Worlds Program
• Kyle Ramsey’s 800-pound teenage squat Program

All programs are specific, easy to follow, and proven to work. The book is on sale now for only $27.95, which includes FREE shipping for the a limited time!

The Ragin’ Cajuns Football coach who came in to take the place of coach Baldwin in 2001 is now resigning from his position as head football coach after a bad year overall. Bustle made the Cajuns bowl eligible for several seasons but was not very successful at getting bowls and often had the Cajuns in that relatively tiny group that is bowl eligible but does not get a bowl. He let the conference championship elude him repeatedly when some thought he should have it.

Bustle did a great deal to improve attendance, rebuild community support and bring some big event games to the schedule again. Many of us will remember those contributions. Playing Southern and Mc Neese were both great home events at Cajun Field. Now the school will be looking for a replacement.

I have a suggestion. Get Brandon Stokely, Jake Delhomme, Brian Mitchell and Louis Cook on the committee in any capacity they can serve in as well a handful of others. If these people are involved in a search committee of ten or fifteen appointed officers I believe we will achieve a good result. Recruit the committee first. Then we can recruit the right coach!

TU Hall of Famer & CU Women’s Basketball Coach, Marilyn Stephens, to be Honored

Louisiana-Lafayette Cajuns Will Miss J. Kelley Hall

Former Ragin’ Cajuns head women’s basketball coach J. Kelley Hall, 51, suddenly passed away on Thursday afternoon after suffering a heart attack at his home in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Rob Phillips, Director of Strength and Conditioning

After the very surprising departure of Gavin Ozaki (former Tulane Director of Strength and Conditioning), the Tulane Athletic Department has quickly found his replacement.

Rob Phillips joins the Green Wave staff as the new Director of Strength and Conditioning, after spending the last five years at UL Lafayette.

Phillips was very highly respected at UL Lafayette and comes to Tulane with great experience.  He was previously employed with the Cleveland Browns, where he worked from 2001-05.  Before joining the pro ranks, he had worked on the staffs at Miami (1999-2000) where he was head strength and nutrition coach in 2000, Western Carolina (1997-99) and Tennessee (1995-97).

Phillips graduated from Tennessee-Martin in 1995.  He received his master’s in human performance from Tennessee in 1997.  He is also certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Before Phillips officially left the Ragin’ Cajuns’, UL Lafayette matched the Tulane salary offer to try and retain the 38-year-old.  However, Phillips cited personal reasons and has since joined the Green Wave.

Phillips replaces Ozaki, who left very abruptly a couple weeks ago.  Ozaki had been with the Green Wave staff for over eight years.

John Brady’s conference-leading Red Wolves opened the game on a 17-2 run and never trailed, but had to hold off a torrid late charge to beat Louisiana-Lafayette 62-60 Thursday at the Convocation Center.

The Red Wolves led comfortably for most of the game, but had to hold off a late charge from UL that saw the visitors pull as close as four points down with a minute left to play and within just two with 5.5 seconds left. ASU missed three straight front ends of 1-in-1 free throw attempts in the final minute, giving UL a chance to win on their final possession. The Cajuns’ Raymone Andrews had a three-point attempt to win at the buzzer, but it was too long and ASU prevailed.

ASU (12-8, 7-2 Sun Belt) maintained their lead in the conference standings while recording their seventh conference victory of the season.

“Three weeks from now they’re not going to remember the three missed 1-in-1s or the missed layup,” Brady said. “It goes in the record book for us as a win … I told out players don’t worry about anything but that the Red Wolves won, it happened, now lets worry about Saturday.”

The Red Wolves opened the game on a 17-2 run to put distance between themselves and the visiting Ragin’ Cajuns just over four minutes into the game. “I don’t think my players thought they could lose when it seemed so easy,” Brady said. “We got hypnotized early, but that first four minutes was the best I’ve ever had a team play.”
UL halted the bleeding with an 8-0 run of their own, but ASU held a comfortable advantage the rest of the half, and led 36-25 at the break.

ASU shot well from the field throughout the night. The Red Wolves hit at a 50 percent clip in the opening half and followed that up with just over 40 percent in the second frame. Free throw shooting wasn’t as pretty a picture for ASU, hitting just 10-of-21 free throws, including the final three misses from the line down the stretch.

The Convocation Center crowd had much to cheer about throughout the night.

Freshman guard Brandon Reed had another solid performance, leading the ASU squad with 19 points on the night. Redshirt freshman Trey Finn added 13 points of his own.

The Ragin’ Cajuns were led by their leading scorer Tyren Johnson who put in 19 points and 15 rebounds on the night, including five of UL’s final seven points on the night.

ASU will complete their two-game homestand this Saturday, weather permitting, when they host Sun Belt West foe Denver.

2.Tomorrow is Friday the 13th.  I am not going to plan much to observe that incidence but it is the fact and one many people will note — including me I suppose.

3. Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday.  Give her a call if you know her.

4. My father, brother Simon, niece Alyse and brother’s fiancée Brooke have gone down to Mexico.  They will be there through Thanksgiving. Most years we have a large Thanksgiving feast in the House there with different members of the family, missionaries and staff hosting the feast. I have only been to a few of these. My mother and brother Joseph will be joining them down there as well. I am not sure exactly what my own plans will be yet — although I have some ideas in mind. They  will have a group of short-term missioners down with them as well and probably all of the family will be back here by December first or second.

5.The UK Parliament has ended or is ending its term and is gearing up for the State Opening. The Queen’s Speech and all the rituals are in advanced preparation I am sure.  I wrote a little verse for the occasion:

High Ways of Robery: Acrostic Verse

How dear it does appear to appear a peer.
I presume it would seem queer to disappear,
“George, is Baroness Murphy not yet here?”
“Her ladyship found no kit or gear we hear.”
*
Worthies waiting for worthy wear wearies.
And every chevron must match the ranks
Yet a baroness may fear college dearies.
Students tripping lords as evil pranks.
*
Only few match the lined cap of maintenance
Fur is humble rabbit in stoat’s appearance.
*
Rarely our health scholarly Baroness wears
Our race’s white and spotted skins about.
Because too few serfs, traps and affairs
England has given her to remove doubt.
Ravenscroft and Ede must live as well.
Yes, the Opening by robes all can tell.

For the context:  http://lordsoftheblog.net/2009/11/10/in-the-red/

6. I did a good number of things with my niece Anika and  nephew Soren yesterday. We had a n enjoyable visit and then I went to see the film Amelia. I enjoyed and recommend it.  When I got back however there were chores to attend to and my foot which gives me trouble from time to time was in full blazing pain and I overlooked the Country Music Awards which I otherwise would have watched until it was simply too late. I hope to catch some “re-runs” on CMT but it is not the same of course.

7.The weather is beautiful here lately but I am not doing all that well in terms of enjoying it because of nagging health problems that have chosen this time to flare up. Ah well …. Life is seldom a perfect paradise here on planet Earth.

8.The New Orleans Saints are still undefeated. The Ragin’  Cajuns are not completely out of the bowl picture and the LSU Tigers are still ranked.

9. Healthcare legislation still dominates the picture in congressional discussion, media coverage and debate.

That concludes this Thursday’s round-up. I will hope to be around before next Thursday in my other kinds of posts and to round things up next Thursday.

By Andrew Wilson

Despite a disappointing early season, ASU came into Saturday’s game holding out hope of winning out and finishing with a winning record. Those hopes are now dead.

Louisiana-Lafayette dominated ASU in nearly all categories through three quarters, before ASU made a late game charge led by redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Aplin. The comeback attempt fell short though and the Cajuns prevailed on ASU’s home turf 21-18 Saturday night at ASU Stadium.

“Obviously disappointed with the loss here at home,” ASU head coach Steve Roberts said. “My responsibility was to get our team to play for four quarters, but I failed in that the last two weeks.”

Through three quarters, the Cajuns had out-gained the Red Wolves 302-101 in yardage and ran nearly 25 more plays from scrimmage en route to a 21-3 lead entering the final period.

Trailing by that score with just under three minutes left in the third quarter, Aplin engineered a 16-play, 68-yard drive that included some key conversions. After facing 3rd and 28 from the ASU 24-yard line, Aplin found Taylor Stockemer for a 25-yard gain and then scrambled for a first down on the next play. Then facing a 4th and 15 from the ULL 21-yard line, Aplin found Taylor Clements at the two-yard line to set up a first and goal. The next play Reggie Arnold bounced around the left end on an option carry to cut the ULL lead to 21-10 with 12:39 left in the game.

On the very next drive it only took Aplin and the rejuvenated offense two plays to cover 69 yards. The redshirt freshman scrambled left and found Stockemer running free up the sideline for 64 yards, the last ten of which Stockemer dragged defenders with him. Arnold scored again on the very next play from five yards out, and Aplin scrambled in for the two-point conversion to pull the Red Wolves within three at 21-18 with just over 10 minutes left.

“I just wanted to go in and do my job and get the ball to the playmakers,” Aplin said. “We all started to click and get it in gear around the same time.”

ASU (2-6, 1-3 SBC) halted the next ULL drive at the ASU 33-yard line with 5:07 left in the game. Aplin led the team into Cajun territory again, but ULL defensive back safety Lance Kelley stepped in front of a sideline route and came away with his first interception of the season to preserve the Cajuns’ victory.

The Cajuns (5-4, 3-2 SBC) could have put the game out of reach earlier if not for two ULL fumbles inside ASU territory, halting possible scoring drives.

Aplin finished the game 8-of-14 for 147 yards and one interception, while leading the only two ASU touchdown drives of the game in the fourth quarter. “He played extremely hard and threw the football well,” Roberts said. “When things weren’t there he made things happen.”

Trailing 14-3 at halftime, ASU turned the ball over on both of their first two second-half possessions. After ULL jarred the football loose from senior Corey Leonard and recovered at the ASU 20-yard line, six plays later the Cajuns stretched their lead to 21-3 on a 2-yard touchdown run on fourth down from Cajuns quarterback Chris Masson.

On their third possession of the half, ASU went three and out, including a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Leonard that stretched what would have been a 3rd and 6 play out to 3rd and 21. Ryan Aplin was inserted in the game at quarterback on the next possession.

Roberts was asked after the game if he’d have to make a decision on a starting quarterback for next week’s game at Florida Atlantic.

“Too early to tell,” Roberts said shortly.

Leonard finished the night 3-of-10 through the air for just 35 yards, along with one interception and one fumble.

The Cajuns used an effective short passing game all night to move the ball and control the clock against the Red Wolves. ULL kept possession for 10 minutes more than ASU and started the game 8-of-9 on third down conversions. “That’s the story of the game defensively,” Roberts said.

Masson had a very effective day for ULL. At one stretch in the second quarter the sophomore had a string of 11 consecutive completions, covering over 90 yards. Masson was 16-of-19 in the half for 137 yards and finished the game 28-of-40 for 229 yards.

ULL took their first possession of the game 56 yards in 11 plays and punctuated the drive with a one-yard quarterback plunge from backup quarterback Blaine Gautier to take a 7-0 lead.

The Cajuns scored again after a thorough 8-play drive covering 51 yards in 3:24 to take a 14-0 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the first half.

ASU was able to get on the board just before the break on a 36-yard field goal from Josh Arauco. The left-footed kicker was set up with the opportunity after Brandon Thompkins returned a short ULL kickoff to midfield to start the drive. The first play from scrimmage, Leonard found Taylor Clements for 24 yards down the field to put the team in field goal range, but three plays later ASU had to settle for the points from Arauco.

Reggie Arnold had another tough game on the ground. The senior running back gained just 38 yards on 10 carries, but did find the endzone on both of ASU’s scoring drives in the final quarter.

ASU will travel to face Florida Atlantic next week.

ASU (2-5, 1-2 SBC) will look to build some momentum for the stretch run while the Ragin’ Cajuns (4-4, 2-2 SBC) look to win their fifth game of the season.

“We have talked about playing one game at a time and doing everything you can to make that play successful,”ASU head coach Steve Roberts said. “That is what we are about as a team and the rest of the season.”

Kickoff is set for 2:30 at ASU Stadium.

Scouting the Cajuns: Louisiana-Lafayette has a big non-conference win to their credit this season, after upsetting Big XII North Division-leading Kansas State 17-15 at home. Since that game, however, the team is just 2-4 with their victories coming over North Texas and Western Kentucky.

The Cajuns are lead at quarterback by sophomore Chris Masson. The first-year starter has started all eight games this season, throwing for 1,518 yards and eight touchdowns against just six interceptions.

“They are going to try and establish the run and do some play action and bootleg plays,” Roberts said.  “They have two really big targets at tight end.”

The Cajuns’ two talented tight ends, Luke Aubrey and Ladarius Green,  rank first and third respectively on the team in receptions this season. “We have to be very conscious of where they are and get big bodies on those guys,” Roberts said.

The Cajuns will have to turn to redshirt freshman Yobes Walker  in the backfield after their starting tailback Undrea Sails went down in mid-October with a season ending injury. Since taking over the starting job, Walker has rushed for 145 yards on 39 carries over the last two games.

Fact for the Game: The home team has won each game in this series during Roberts’ career at ASU. The teams are 18-18-1 against each other all-time.

Key Battle: ASU’s injury depleted offensive line against the Cajuns’ pass rush. If the line can give Corey Leonard enough time to throw and make plays, things will bode well for the Red Wolves. ASU has given up 18 sacks in the last six games. If Leonard is pressure though, it may jeopardize some of his throws into a dangerous Cajuns’ secondary. Louisiana-Lafayette already has 11 interceptions this season.

Steve Roberts Speaking: “Their defense is as good as we have seen them in the past couple of years.  I thought last year they were really good … Their downfall has been in not tackling.  They’ve had plays in which they have had players there, but failed to make the tackle.  A lot of that is coming from the younger players who are replacing the players who are out due to injury.” – on the Louisiana-Lafayette defense.

Milestone Tracker: Entering the season, senior running back Reggie Arnold had a fourth consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season amongst his 2009 goals. If he accomplishes the feat he will be only the eighth player in NCAA history to do so, but after a difficult first seven games, Arnold is still a ways away from the mark. The senior has carried the ball 95 times this year for 454 yards, but only 245 yards of that has come in the last five games.  Arnold has five games left this season and needs 546 more yards to set the mark, or an average of 109.2 yards per contest.

Senior quarterback Corey Leonard will move into first-place past Cleo Lemon on the all-time ASU of passing touchdowns with just two more aerial strikes.

Around the Sun Belt: Conference play kicks into high gear with four conference match-ups on Saturday. In addition to the ASU game, ULM will travel to North Texas, FIU visits Middle Tennessee, and conference-leading Troy will take their show on the road against WKU. The Trojans have a two-game lead over their nearest chaser, and essentially a three-game cushion since they already have victories over both Middle Tennessee and ULM. In the lone non-conference game this week, Florida Atlantic travels to Birmingham to face UAB.

I am planning to buy a ticket to my alma mater’s homecoming football game more or less as soon as I get finished with my blog post.  I will be buyuing it with my mother’s credit card. I sometimes do this and pay her back with cash but in this case she is giving it to me as a gift. I feel a sense of obligation to be there and I have often been to Homecoming games over the years. But I have not gotten an invitation to anything except those sent out to all University students and have not had the resources to  initiate much organization although I did start a Facebook group for my classmates nobody joined it. Nonetheless, it discharged another sense of obligation. I do love my school and watching football. However, I certainly am not proud or happy to be going alone and in many other ways in the situation I am currently in at this time.

The bulk of this post is a Facebook note I wrote a while back. I had a really miserable time copying it in here (a process which is often very easy). That means I had more of a chance to correct spelling, mechanical and minor factual errors than usual because I spent longer reworking it. However, I know from experience that there may be a gross error of continuity from pasting parts together and have lots of irritating glitches. I hope not. If you read it and wish to comment I will try to address errors and questions.

I graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in May of 1989 with a degree in English and the honor of a latin phrase after the designation of a bachelors degree. There have been many days since mid May of 1989. Each of them was a bit different from the others. Suddenly I am coming up on 20 years. Sooner or later it had to happen. Actually it had to happen exactly 20 years after I graduated unless I died. It was always likely to make me feel that my life was not exactly where I had hoped it would be. Twenty years ago was a rather high mark in my life. But not a perfect time at all.

In the years since then there have been opportunities to do things that I had not done. Perhaps I resemble some huge portion of the human species in that I would define the last twenty years as having been much better and much worse than I would have predicted. However as a generalization I would describe my last twenty years as being profoundly different from any plan I could have made or discussed in those days. First of all the most important person in my life in those days was Michelle Denise Broussard Summers and I have not seen or spoken with her since about 1995. We had gotten married in December of 1987 while still in college. I graduated in May of 1989 and she graduated in December of 1989.

I think both that we always had our problems and that when I graduated our best years were still ahead of us. But the time of my graduation was a more difficult time than most of our time together up to that point. In those days I still had high hopes for many things that no longer draw forth that response from me. What Michelle’s hopes were becomes less clear to me with each passing day and month and year. I do know that we were very much together at that time. Her support meant a great deal to me. On the day of the Blue Key reception for the Outstanding Graduate award for their colleges and were nominated for the overall award only one person had no guests for company — I was that nominee. I did win the award however. That of course makes the approach of the 20th year anniversary even more ominous somehow. It is harder to measure up to expectations announced in those days. Of course, no matter what I had that happy summer when I had been so honored and before a life I would often categorize as horrible reverted more to the norm and became fairly horrible again. In the years since there have been lots of good and bad times. I have ended up with more self-respect than I would have ever imagined possible and very little else in many ways. Yet also blessed to have lots of people in my life and memory who have meant something to me. The journey has had its surprising joys. Instead of only following a chronology  only I wanted  to kind of set this up as journey story — because it is.

Mary graduates from UL L as I did. A young mom who does not make time for Facebook yet.

Watching one brother Joseph and one sister Mary graduate with higher Latin honors than I earned from my college alma mater has been a joy and a blessing. It has been a joy to see another sister Sarah graduate with a perfect GPA from Louisiana State University where I got my masters degree. It has been a joy to have my middle sister Susanna graduate with honors from the Franciscan University of Steubenville where I won one of two Sophomore Class Awards (one for men and one for women) in 1985. I look forward to having my youngest brother graduate from UL-L which is my renamed alma mater this May. My handicapped brother Simon received his certificate of Academic completion of merit from Abbeville High School when I was working for the school board in which they are located and which administers them. All of those were joyous milestones. But Michelle was not around for any of those events. After my Bachelor’s ceremonies, hers and my Master of Arts Degree graduation we were not to be together much longer.

Michelle and I lived in Abbeville, Lafayette, Kenner, New Orleans and Baton Rouge  all in Louisiana when we were married. We traveled to Mexico but otherwise never left the country together. We did make trips to Arizona, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee,  and Illinois. But all though we were not absolute cave-dwellers we traveled less together than has been typical of my life. In this post I have included pictures of places I have been since. I had many pictures of Michelle and I together and would put some up but they have been among the many casualties of my trips and dislocations. I do not have access to a single image of her and I together or of her as I type this.

These are some of my students and advisees graduating two years after I left.

Front page of an article I wrote about my journey to China and time there. The top photograph is of English Corner which was largely organized and facilitated by Lu Ting ting who is on my Friends List although her name appears in characters I cannot reproduce.

 Soren, Alyse and Anika in Zacatecas, Mexico in the center of town.

Alyse in the mines which were the source of wealth for Zacatecas as a Spanish Colonial City and in the precolumbian days as well.

 

I have also been a bit below the surface of the planet a few times. Mammoth Caves is one of my favorite US National parks and I have enjoyed visiting mines like those in the beautiful Mexican city of Zacatecas. Michelle was not a great outdoors woman and now I seldom participate in the outdoors in Louisiana which were such a huge part of my life before because I have had a lot of bad experiences and am not very happy here in any way but Michelle and I once camped at Mammoth Caves in a very happy exception to the rule of our time together. 

On days when cool weather will usually mark if not the day then at least the night.

Lots of folks are hunting and more watch American, National and World too,

Loving to see bats and leather do what they so beautifully in a series can do.

Even so in this land Cowboys, Demons, Indians, Cajuns and the Green Wave rise

Getting gridiron views more on weeks when Tigers play football out of view.  

Everyone in the stadia as the Greeks would say wants a coach who is wise.

“Florida beat LSU last week. How is the PAC Ten shaking out for USC?”

“Oregon looks strong, but Washington may be the one to watch out there.”

Ohio and the Big Ten feel defensive about this year and some recent games.

There is always talk of reforming the BCS . It is still good to be the SEC.

But whether your team plays for the whole thing or mostly goes down in flames,

America knows that pigskin and gridiron and tailgates in autumn’s  air

Link us to a sport we love and which we tie to our education’s temple.

Lord of college athletics is football, this old Harvard Game is never simple.

Michigan’s Big House or the fabulously feted and festooned freeways far

Entering near the proud Rose Bowl where USC oft avenges fallen Troy,

Do not have an equal even in the round ball’s Final Four wood floored war.

I mean no disrespect to the Diamond in October and the Yankee’s joy.

This is a land of sport and contest which cannot choose just one game.

All of us know that there will be interest in the Bowl Games of fame.

There are millions now who watch the young men in plastic helmets fight.

In the midst of pretty cheering girls, bad seats and glaring white light.

Our marriages, careers, friends from college days long past and not lost

Nudge us towards a ticket, tv party or the tailgate parties of real cost.

Senior pitcher Jett Jones gave up two runs on five hits in five innings of work, while walking one batter and striking out three.

Over the weekend, I went to my first ASU baseball game of the season. I was there about thirty minutes and took some pictures of ASU senior pitcher Jett Jones.

I thought the pictures turned out pretty well, so I thought I would put one of them on here. Let me know what you think of it by leaving your comment below.

ASU defeated the Ragin Cajuns two games to one over the weekend by winning 3-2 on Sunday, 2-0 on Friday and losing 3-2 on Saturday.

The two wins give them two wins in the Sun Belt Conference which is always good. I thought it was a pretty good outing by the Red Wolves for an opening conference weekend.

The Red Wolves will be back in action on Tuesday beginning at 3 p.m

Today was my first day of law school orientation. Because of my last name, I was scheduled to pick up my orientation packet between 8:30 and 9:30. Last night, my roommates got home from a pre-orientation bowling party and told me, “Since we can get our packets between 8:30 and 9:30, we’re thinking we’ll get there right at 9:30.” “Oh,” I said, “okay.” My parents were picking me up right at 8:30. So I guessed I’d see my roommates there.

For the entire three days I’ve spent in New Orleans, I’ve had no qualms about spending most of my time with my parents. I’ve been thanking goodness that I’m not the same girl who showed up at South Orange Middle School on September 2nd, 1994, or the same girl who showed up at camp during summers in the nineties, or really the same girl as any other time.

There’s something about moving to New Orleans that has liberated me from most of my social anxieties about not being well liked, about not being cool enough or ever being right about anything about which cool people had an opinion. During the recent years I spent in New York, I wound up understanding most of those things, or, at least, my aesthetics and politics and sensibilities meshed well enough with those of people I liked, and all was harmony. Most of the time.

Because I believed so thoroughly in that New York which I inhabited, because I felt like it was the norm, rather than the exception, to step into a place and feel like it made sense, I have been largely ambivalent about pleasing New Orleans. I don’t think this is a sustainable existence, and I don’t think it is nice, but as I sit here with an earplug in my right ear, ignoring the dips and squeals coming from the dining room where my roommates, Rachel and Kit, and Kit’s mother, Bettina, are eating falafel and talking about rainstorms in kindergarten, I feel more peaceful than anxious. I am petrified of Bettina, and I really want Kit and Rachel to like me, but it’s okay. I’ll have time to spend with them, and Bettina will go back to Cajun country and to watching my father on the television, and I won’t have worry.

We met Bettina yesterday, when my parents and I were looking at a map in the living room. First Kit’s father banged in, carrying something heavy and yelling to Kit, I’ll get this stuff out of the car, but then I’ve got to get back. Bettina came sauntering in moments later, her shocking orange hair up tight and to the side, wearing flared jeans, platform sandals, and a long lace tunic with bell sleeves. She was carrying a gigantic fast-food Styrofoam soda cup, and I mentioned this to my mother later, when my mother called her slick.

What did you think of Bettina? I’d asked.

I think she’s very slick, said my mother. I had never heard my mother use the word “slick” before.

I didn’t think that giant soda was very slick, I offered, and grinned at my father in the rearview mirror.

Well, said my mother, I just think she’s very Southern. Like, beautiful smiles, but then, if you cross her— and then that was it. I thought that was a kind of antiquated way of judging your modern Southern lady, but then my mother told me Bettina was very racist. That made me sad. I hadn’t thought Kit was. I asked my parents what they and Bettina had been talking about while the girls were cleaning and straightening and sorting out the mail.

Did she recognize Daddy? Bettina had seemed to take strongly to my father, although most women do, star struck or no. My mother said no, Bettina hadn’t said anything, but that, she might have, and just been slick enough not to.

I love when my mother is catty, but this time, I wished everyone could just be friends. I didn’t want any Cajun lady in flip-flops to perturb my mother.

It turned out Bettina had recognized my father, but she didn’t say anything until they left tonight. She recognized him from Guiding Light, a soap opera he was on in the mid-eighties. He played a child molester. I am a standoffish Yankee, in here typing madly while there’s dining going on, and my father is Bradley Raines, child molester. I think that, even though I am not the same sweaty, skinny kneed, anxiety-ridden girl who I was, I should go sit with Bettina and my roommates. Oh! And now they’re talking about the Superdome. This is something I will want to hear.

—–

It was, or wasn’t. When I sat down at the dinner table, Abita in hand, Bettina was talking about the evacuations after Katrina, and the subsequent rising crime rates in Houston, Baton Rouge and Layfayette, where she lives. She had brought this up the day before with my father, too. This is a common trait of people who are trying to historicize a recent wound; the telling and retelling of stories so that they become sociological myth.

To illustrate her point, Beyrl said, And after they closed our stadium, kicked New Orleans refugees out of Cajun Stadium, in Lafayette, after they closed our stadium, the twenty four hour Wal Mart was closed! All the stores that used to be twenty-four hour just started closing, at, like, ten!

Rachel said something about displaced people coming from neighborhoods where homes had been in the family for generations, where people hadn’t been accustomed to providing for their families very much in the first place. The day before, my father had talked about reconstruction companies only hiring undocumented immigrants, about the fact that unemployment rates among native New Orleanians had skyrocketed after the storm, even though there were many jobs to be had.

Bettina shook her head regretfully and said, It was like they opened the zoo.

I drank more beer. I was not going to change Kit’s mother’s mind in one conversation, and if I’d wanted to, I didn’t know where to start. Bettina continued ranting about the refugees, talked about the atrocious things that happened inside the Superdome—did not mention the atrocities that happened outside it—and then came back to Cajun Stadium, home of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns.

And the price they quoted after those people left, Bettina started, even though I hadn’t realized we were talking about budgetary concerns, was not even to repair the stadium. It was to sanitize it.

So the lesson of my first day of law school is that my mother was right, about that one thing.

So one of the things that I love about the Internet is that you can find information on any topic. I am a total trivia junkie – I’m often called the “King of Useless Trivia” by friends/coworkers. Therefore, the Internet is the perfect resource for someone like me because somebody, somewhere has compiled the “useless” information that I am looking for already. One such example is The Helmet Project. For 9 years this site has been collecting images of every football helmet ever – pro or college. They have rare  USFL helmets and obscure helmets worn in one bowl game by a college team, etc. I pulled an example image for the two schools I attended for undergrad – LSU (above) and ULL (formerly USL below)

It’s actually a pretty cool site for a sports junkie like myself. It actually reminded me of a very cool story. The helmet below was the helmet worn by the Boston/New Orleans/Portland Breakers of the USFL.

You can read the history of the Breakers here, but we were living in a suburb of Portland (Lake Oswego, OR) when the team went defunct. My sister’s high school (Lakeridge High) was a football powerhouse in the area and someone had a connection to the Breakers and somehow managed to get most of the pro team’s equipment for the high school – including the helmets. So the helmet you see above was the helmet for the Boston/New Orleans/Portland Breakers and the Lakeridge Pacers. Like I said, I love the Internet – guess that’s why I’ve worked for iChoose, JCPenney.com, Blockbuster Online and ThinkCash!