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| Grambling Tigers head coach Ron Broadway |
Two great coaches, two great HBCU teams, and a city full of exuberant
fans met in a time-honored tradition on the football field at New
Orleans famed Superdome for the ultimate in college rivalries and to
decide who would take home the coveted Waterford crystal trophy awarded
to the victor. The State Farm Bayou Classic is more than just a
football game, the annual event is an unparallelled sporting mainstay
that combines cultural communing, fan fellowship and holiday
celebration in what amounts to the perfect sporting storm. The Bayou
Classic has inarguably become the greatest and most distinguishable
athletic event in all of Black America.
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| Grambling Tigers and Southern Jaguars on the field |
What may be most notable about this rivalry, though, is that no matter
what either team’s season record is, the Classic is the game that
determines a winning season psychologically. The game is always a
sell-out and attracts more than 70,000 fans, who this year looked on as
the Grambling Tigers defeated the Southern Jaguars in a final score of
29-14. The gridiron match-up between the two great Southwestern
Athletic Conference teams, represents the best that collegiate sports
has to offer — teamwork, tradition, passion and fierce
competition. The game’s long-standing success has inspired the
promotion of numerous other HBCU rivalries as “Classics,”
in locations around the nation.
The McDonald’s-sponsored Battle of the Bands competition
presented by Alltel, which was held the night before the big game,
attracts as many spectators as the game itself, as the world-famed HBCU
marching bands compete for much sought after bragging rights. The 2008
half-time band competition made history again, as both universities
added a special choreographic step — Southern’s band
spelled Barack in an on-field formation while Grambling’s band
formed Obama in honor of President-elect Barack Obama. Other weekend
highlights included a Greek step show, the annual Coaches Luncheon and
the State Farm Corporate Reception presented by Adams and Reese LLP,
which offered classic Crescent City cuisine and Bayou basics. –roz edward
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| Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band | Southern University Jaguar Marchin Band |
