Last Day In New Orleans! Unbelievable Game! and stupid long grind before heading home.

This is it. The game I have been waiting for all season, but before I even get to sniff the excitement, The record breaking numbers, the nonstop chatter and yelling, and the feeling of losing my voice for 3 days straight, I had to wait for my crew to arrive in New Orleans and around the Mercedes Benz Superdome. So what better way to kill time then to go grind 1 2 until they get into town.

I bought in for $150 and played with about 3 guys at the table earlier in the week and the rest, well, they were enjoying themselves, I'll just say that. I make some decent pots, double up once and hover around $350-500 when my friend finally starts to text me. I take a hit and get knocked down to about $80 when they were just pulling into the parking lot by the dome and I knew I wasn't going to end this session a loser and also promised some of the guys drinks since I was having a good trip. So I added $200 to my arsenal and continued to grind. I fought my way back to about $500 when I got involved in a good pot to out bluff this woman who was playing extremely timid the whole time we were at the table and she had about $330 in front of her at the time.

I had raised in Mid Pos with KhJh to $12 (My standard raise that would get multiple callers) Timid lady, Old man who called my all in light, and newer guy who played pretty good and great psychological player called. Flop Fell QJ8 and good player and myself check and the Timid lady bets $15 into a $50 pot. Old man calls, Good player calls, then I reraise to $60 thinking this would be the perfect squeeze to represent the flopped straight. Timid lady contemplates and nervous about committing the chips...(So I smell blood) and then calls. The other 2 players fold. The Turn comes a 10 with a rainbow board and I have a feeling she either has AK, AQ, KQ, or even as strong as two pair, but I don't see her being that afraid of me with a set. but then again its a very wet board and I am showing aggression so I can understand if she did. I bet $80 into a pot of about $210 and is a little bit under half her stack, but still pot committing her if she calls. She squirms, winces, peaks at her cards one last time, then throws her hand in the muck. I play for about 3 more revolutions before finally getting up from the table with a nice +200ish profit then go meet my friends at Walkons down Poydras St.

It was PACKED in this place, and pretty much everywhere we went.

As I am walking down Poydras from Harrah's Casino, The closer I get to the SuperDome, the more waves and flashes of people wearing Red are passing me by. I am loving the sight. Just the fact that so many Ragin Cajun fans are invading New Orleans for such an awesome event has me invigorated! There was a $10 charge to just get into Walk Ons but they also gave a $10 voucher for food or drinks so It wasnt that bad, just more to assure that you are going in there to buy something and not just use the bathroom. Well you could barely walk the place was flooded with Cajun fans, ESPN 1420 was doing their radio show inside and Everyone was having MORE than a good time before the game. I sat down with the guys, told everyone to order some beer and was just in time to order food with everyone else. The table had 3 draft taps that we could choose from and it charged by the ounce. So I told my buddies that I will put a $100 limit on 5 of us (The ones that wanted to drink) and we all got a glass, the waitress turned on the tap and we started filling up! It was pretty cool. We even created our own mixed brew that Jacob Viator and Brandon Menard named my creation the Hazel Moon! There was a tap for Blue Moon, a tap for Abita Purple Haze, and a tap for some other weird beer I never heard of and no one drank. Well at first I got just Blue Moon and the other guys and Tommy's Lady got Purple Haze. Then I remembered when my friend from Baton Rouge brought me to this place where they mixed Purple Haze with Andy Gator. It really wasnt that bad and got me feeling good quickly. So I got to thinking, and then the alcoholic light bulb lit and I said. What if I put half Blue Moon and Half Purple Haze. They were reluctant to try it but I went for it and It was amazingly good! just the right amount of Orange and just the right amount of Raspberry! I felt like the freaking Willy Wonka of Beer!! I said this is great, but its nothing without a name so we started brain storming. Blue Haze...nah, Purple Moon...nah, Indigo Harvest....close...getting warmer, Hazel Moon! Perfect. So yes, I recommend you go try that beer and Represent the new mix of deliciousness!!

We get our food and I asked for no red onions and instead get a Mountain of fried onions, laugh of how that happened, and devoured it since I didn't eat anything before hand since the previous night! I didn't wanna die of a heart attack, I guess cause I knew what the game had in store? so I ate most of it and barely any fries. We wrapped up, filled up one more time, paid for the food and drinks and bought a guy a beer for saving my buddies ass when he dropped his ticket in the bathroom. Cajun Nation watches out for each other. Waitress told the guy to sell it (Obviously from New Orleans) and the guy remembered walking into the bathroom after Jacob and Tommy and was nice enough to ask us what row we were on etc. to make sure we didn't drop our ticket. We were extremely grateful of his kindness, and he asked us to meet him across the street where a little tailgating party was going on so he can change his shirt and we met him after playing frogger from all the vehicles and congratulated him with his beer.

Standing on the balcony walkway near the SuperDome!

We made our way to Championship Square, where all UL fans were having a Tailgating party equipped with 8$ canned beer and a band for your enjoyment. When we arrive, It was unspeakable to how many people were there having a good time and reppin' the Ragin' Cajuns (so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. UL's Cajun Field's Max Capacity is 31,000. We eclipsed that number twice in the history of the program and it was due to the part that smaller state schools brought huge number of fans thinking they can upset us. One accomplished that feat (McNeese in 2007 attend. 33,828) but the other didn't come close (Southern in 2009 attend. 41,357) I would say both crowds had about 60% Cajun fans, But tonight, the ratio of Ragin' Cajun fans vs. SDSU fans had to have been 95:5. One of the records that were broken were the Attendance record thanks to the 40,000 fans (I predicted 35k) sporting that Ragin' Cajun Vermillion and White. The previous record was about 31,000 and this year the total attendance was 42,841 and after 41 years of waiting for this day, you could hear it everywhere, you could see it everywhere, It was such an awesome experience.

First arriving at Champion Square

The walk way up to the dome

We decide to walk into the dome cause the beer lines were ridiculous and we could barely hear ourselves talk. Once we get in, The team is already warming up, the crowd is already rowdy and not even half of them are in their seats, and the band is doing a great job pumping everyone up for game time. Our seats were 6 rows up from the feild and right on the Goal Line and there was a Microphone for espn right in front of our section (I was thinking it was for the band but noticed every chant we yelled you could hear perfectly in the broadcast). By Half Time I could barely yell but that wasn't going to stop me and I am pretty sure that the other 39,999 fans were thinking the same thing. The game started at 8pm so this was a late one and The game went down to the wire. I saw the Receivers make some of the craziest catches I have ever seen, Just left my jaw dropped for a couple of them, The one that took the cake was this amazing catch by Daryl Surgent (Who also had an awesome Punt Return for TD earlier in the first half)

If you thought that was Pass interference (Which it was, but who cares right?) then you should have seen the 2 in a row when Gauthier tossed it up for L. Green in the endzone and the SDSU corner basically dry humped him for both plays and got no call from the refs. It was sick how one sided so many calls were going all game, but the Cajuns didn't stop, They wanted it more. UL jumped to a 19-3 lead early. The fans were raging, the players were confident, and strength coach Whitt's head was dripping with blood from headbutting players like a boss. The Cajuns wanted it more. SDSU drove down and fought back and pulled within 2 points to get the score 17-19, but the Cajuns answered when Gauthier threw a quick pass across to allow Lawson to get his second score of the night and go along with his 193 yard performance. If you watch closely after this TD you will see me clapping my ass off when they go to the fans haha, 5 seconds of fame! Then SDSU came fighting back with 2 minutes left. Our secondary dropped about 5 or 6 interceptions all game and had trouble stopping the pass all together, but what they did do was hold the Leading rusher of the nation, Ronnie Hillman who averaged 139yds per game to only 55yds on 23 carries! An amazing job by the defense to shutdown their number one weapon and another huge key to the victory! But that didn't stop the insistent Aztecs to picking apart our secondary and Again, Scoring and making a field goal to take the lead with only :35 seconds left and The Cajuns having No time outs left 30-29. So many people thought the game was over (alot of the Cajun fans, and almost all of the SDSU fans. But for the fans that witnessed The greatest comeback in Cajun history, for the players that held on to the rope until the whistle ended the game, for those that believed until there was 00:00 time left on that clock, They knew the Cajuns had it in them, and that it was gonna be a fight until the finish.

Gauthier composed, leads his troops onto the field after the ball is returned to the Cajuns 35 yd line. I turn my hat inside out and yell, Remember ULM, Never Give Up!!!" Hear a chant of "Lets Go CAJUNS (clap clap, clap clap clap)" and Join in until the band drowns us out with the fight song and all the fans sing along. Gauthier methodically moves the ball down to the Aztec 40 yd line with only 4 seconds to go. It is time for Mr. Clutch, Baer Nation, Mr. Special Teams to take the feild and put all the weight on his shoulders to carry the team across the finish line. The crowd is quiet, (instead of the 2000 Aztec fans that can barely be heard) and then Yellow flags go flying in the air. Referees announce "Illegal Stemming" trying to get our players to jump off sides and then they move the ball up to the 35 yd line. The Crowd quiets once again, I have my rally cap on, everyone is tense with fear and excitement. and then it happens!


THE CROWD GOES WILD!!! Brett Baer hit his career long 50 yd field goal to win one of the biggest games in Ragin' Cajun football History. It Felt like the saints won the Superbowl vs. the Colts in 2009!!! I am hugging everyone in an arms length radius around me and the crowd is filled with a sense of Euphoria that you knew Bourbon was going to be filled with Ragin' Cajuns for the rest of the night! I didn't want this moment to end, and am so glad that I can say I was a part of that moment, I was there, yelling my ass off. I ended up staying up until 7am losing -300 at the poker table after the game with a few poker buddies but I can not put into words how great this night will be and hopefully this will be just the beginning to a new era of excitement and winning in Cajun Country!

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Matt Stroud

Cajuns to New Orleans Bowl, Hudspeth update

It's been a while since I wrote anything and unfortunately haven't been able to play much poker other than a .25 .50 cash game I hosted and had a bad session when I made 1 wrong decision that took away a profitable night in Omaha. Misread an aggressive opponent and had less outs than I though I would for a huge pot.

If you haven't noticed The UL Ragin' Cajuns accepted an invite to the R&L Carrier's New Orleans Bowl for their first bowl game in 41 years and First official bowl game since the creation of FBS and FCS rather than Div. I and Div II football! This is so awesome as the Cajuns finished the season with an 8-4 record (should have been 9-3 but the refs who officiated the Arizona game was truly giving the wildcats home field advantage by either blowing call after call on the Cajuns or making up bogus calls in key situations of the game to hand them the loss 45-37. If atleast two of those calls were taken back, then The Cajuns would have ended up with the win. But screw it. I can not describe how excited I am for this bowl game and cannot wait to be screaming in the stands. This will practically be a home game for UL as we are expecting atleast 25-30k to go watch the Cajuns take on the recently announced San Diego St. Aztecs who also finished 8-4 in the Mountain West Conference! It will be a really good match-up as they have a beast of a running back who has 1900ish total yards and almost 24 total TD's roughly. So this also means that they must have one hell of an offensive line as well. If you are wondering who the hell San Diego St. is, they recently started gaining more success in football again and some big name football alumni are Marshall Faulk and Kyle Turley, both of which have New Orleans ties.

For everyone who plans to attend, or at-least visit New Orleans, expect to see a sea of RED down Bourbon St. as the weekend approaches for Dec. 17th game! It will be some wild and crazy Cajun fans yelling and screaming for the Ragin' Cajuns on their way to a rapid growth in the UL Athletic community and Their first Cajun Bowl victory!! I expect there to be an awesome New Orleans Saints atmosphere in the Super Dome and if I would make a prediction on the game, I would say UL Ragin' Cajuns 35 San Diego St. Aztecs 32!

Other Sun Belt and Louisiana Match-ups
TCU vs. Louisiana Tech in the Poinsetta Bowl
...La Tech has done great this year but I Don't see them beating TCU
Arkansas St. vs. Northern Illinois in the Godaddy.com Bowl
This is the MAC champ vs. the Sun Belt champ and I think Ryan Aplin is a beast so I'm going with Ark St.
Florida International vs. Marshall in the Beef O' Brady's Bowl
This game is played in Florida so upside to FIU, who was the favorite to win the Sun Belt and Marshall has a good offense but I think FIU is the better team and will have no problem with the Thundering Herd.
LSU vs. Alabama in the BCS Championship
So this is what everyone is waiting for and honestly I think Alabama is extremely hungry for revenge but it wont be easy as LSU has one of the best defenses I have ever seen in college football (But I'm only 26). I am confident to say that Alabama, though it will be another nail biter, Will be Triumphant and piss off alot of Ok St. fans saying, "That should have been us" as the Crimson Tide will be the New #1 and get their revenge!! I can't wait to watch the rematch (The one the LSU Tiger fans didn't want cause honestly they're scared). Alabama FTW! Roll Tide...

So yes, Sunbelt....the conference everyone thinks they can walk allover will be 3-0 in Bowl games and Alabama will be the BCS Champs

More about College football, There have been alot of coaching changes and Rumors around Mississippi. Ole Miss HC Houston Nutt was fired, Southern Miss HC was a huge candidate, with all the controversy wrapped around Penn St., It was rumored Miss St. HC Mullen was a huge candidate for that job with the Nittany Lions but Mullen claimed to never get a call, happy where he is in the Sun Belt (Who would want to leave the best Conference in the Nation for that mess anyway?? Well With so many Job openings around Mississippi, or even the drama starters that wanna mention the job opening at Poo Lane University, There began to have talk with Mark Hudspeth as a huge candidate with all the sudden success he has been having at UL on the FBS level. He has had previous Head Coaching Experience at North Alabama and Delta St. but that is on lower college football levels and not the "Big Stage". Well If you are a Ragin' Cajun Die Hard this is a disaster, soap opera, and heart-breaker all wrapped up in one because We finally have an opportunity to turn the corner, possibly move up to a better conference with all the craziness going on with conference realignments, and be a huge competitor in Louisiana with the other Div I universities (ULM, La Tech, Tulane, LSU) Right now LSU is on top of a Mountain and looking down and laughing at UL with their big hopes, but They will start shitting bricks when we start competing with them athletically soon. By soon I say within 3 or 4 years soon.

Well after about a month of sweating rumors on Message Boards from Arizona, to South Louisiana, to Tennessee (Memphis), to Mississippi, Coach Mark Hudspeth Reassured his Fans and Ragin Cajun Community that he will DEFINITELY be a Ragin Cajun Next year and Scott Farmer, University Athletic Director, stated the goal is to make Hud the Highest paid Coach in Sun Belt Conference! I was so delighted to hear this news and hope Hud continues to Hold on to that Rope that he encouraged all his players, staff, and Fans to hold on to because he is one of the major contributors to the rapid growth of success and support in this community and an abrupt change in coaching position would mean a Train Wreck to the university and the momentum it has going for them. So thank you Coach for choosing Lafayette, LA to start a historical Career and I hope you fulfill every goal and dream you have with the University of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. Thank you for seeing the same potential in this Community and Fan base that many of the die hard's shared. Can't wait to see you and the rest of the Team in the SuperDome December 17th!!!

Well that's all I got for now but I'll have another update soon with details on my trip to New Orleans for the Tournaments at Harrah's and of course the New Orleans Bowl!!

Thanks for Reading,
Matt Stroud