How Demeaning

Last night I went to see the UL Ragin’ Cajun basketball team play the McNeese State Cowboys. The game was hyped as a throwback game because they were playing in historic Blackham Coliseum, where the likes of Bo Lamar and Andrew Toney played, and because the rivalry stretched from the days that UL played in Blackham on a regular basis.

My dad and I arrived while the Cajuns were completing their pre-game warm-ups and there were a few McNeese players on the floor; however, they were not wearing matching warm-ups. After a few minutes, my dad, who was listening to the pre-game show on the Radio said that the McNeese had forgotten their uniforms at home—this was now less than fifteen minutes to game time.

The solution: they played in UL’s practice uniforms. Instead of having a throwback feel, the game seemed like an intra-squad scrimmage with the varsity team wearing the “real” uniforms. As the game continued, I began to think about how difficult it must be to wear the opposing team’s uniforms. It was apparent that some uniforms did not fit very well (some shorts were way too long for the player) and just having their colors on your body must take some of the fight out of the player. Also, they were wearing blue shoes which totally did not go with the vermillion uniforms.

Here is a picture in case you do not believe me.

Brad Kemp/bkemp@theadvertiser.com

Louisiana's Michael Southall, right, goes hard to

the basket against McNeese State's Jarvis Bradley (3)

on Thursday at Blackham Coliseum.