The Daily Reveille, LSU’s student-run newspaper, is my primary source for news about the state’s flagship university. It’s an extremely well-written, thoroughly investigated newspaper that employs budding journalists who know how to present a story with well-vetted sources. Sure, it’s not New York Times quality, but it definitely deserves to be in the top 10 college newspapers in the country—which it has been for several years now. They get exclusives that no one else can and are constantly updating their site with the latest news, sometimes even beating out all other Baton Rouge media outlets (except us, of course). It’s so good, in fact, that the Baton Rougean often links to articles they’ve published in our own reports.

It’s a fixture on campus, almost as much a part of our community as Mike or the campanile and almost as illustrious as our top-ranked Tigers. It accompanies me everyday as I walk campus, distracting me from the otherwise inane gossip of the other pedestrians and the intense walk that all engineers must endure to get to Patrick F. Taylor Hall.

But as awesome The Reveille is, it has one glaring flaw. Its one caveat—the Achilles’ Heal that just ruins the paper—is the opinion section. Filled with utterly vapid articles, the opinion section is routinely awful. When I read an opinion article, I want to be enlightened, challenged, debated, or just totally pissed off, but the only thing that The Reveille’s opinion section seems to do is make me angry. And not the good kind of angry that you want to be after an opinion article either; it’s more of a frustrated anger. The writing just isn’t becoming of an otherwise stellar paper.

I keep hoping, though, that I’ll be surprised. With the beginning of each new year, I hope that the new writers will be awesome and worthy of The Reveille’s name. But each year I’m disappointed. And what’s the worst is that sometimes the articles start off very well. Sometimes I get interested in what’s being said and read the whole thing. But every time the writer somehow seems to demolish any sort of intellectual thesis, in most of the times only within a paragraph or two!

To illustrate this, let me rehash the gist of some of my favorite columns. Last year, a black LSU student took a trip to another SEC school and was outraged by the racism that still persists in the South. OK, there’s not that much racism, more than other parts of America, sure, but I’ll stay with you because you can make a good social commentary about this, because it is an issue. Half way into the column, the student degenerates into a ranting and angry racist. He literally saves no face.

And then today, the editor of the opinion section published a piece calling on people in “real majors” to stop making fun of those in “inferior majors.” He starts off making good points about the uselessness of some basic humanities classes for people in engineering degrees and how each major operates within different domains, but then totally makes some ridiculous points all while totally missing some huge facts. For example, there really are some impractical degrees. You can’t ignore this fact. You also can’t even begin to assert that the importance of a foreign language degree is for worldwide communication. Seriously, that’s not even the issue. If you look at serious liberal arts schools, a majority of students double, even triple, major because, simply, those degrees are significantly less arduous. Engineers are so smug about their major precisely because it is so difficult and the work they’ve put into it is seemingly monumental compared to their classmates in the humanities and social sciences. Could you be more wrong?

It’s outrageous and I’ve had enough. I want to read a good article. From this day forward, I refuse to read any opinion article to avoid being frustrated anymore—they’ve finally pushed me over the edge.

The LSU Tigers traveled almost 2,600 miles, across nine states and two time zones, to meet up with the University of Washington Huskies for college football’s season opening weekend. Traveling with almost 10,000 fans, this game was one of firsts for both teams. LSU debuted true sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson coming off a stellar performance in last season’s bowl game and for the first time will be donning ‘LSU’ on the chest of their jersey. The Huskies are playing under the leadership of a new head coach as well as celebrating the return of legendary quarterback Jake Locker fresh from injury.

In the first half, the Huskies kept up with the Tigers. In the first score of the game, the Huskies quarterback Locker connected with receiver James Johnson after a 51-yard run by Johri Fogerson. Soon after, LSU put up three points on the board after a 62-yard drive, making the score 7-3. On the very next play, LSU linebacker Jacob Cutera tipped the ball in the air to make a beautiful interception and 29 yard run for LSU’s first touchdown, making the score 10-7. Opening the second quarter, Huskies kicker Erik Folk tied the game 10-10 with a 34-yard field goal after an unsuccessful drive. In the next possession, the Huskies had two consecutive personal fouls which gave LSU an additional 30 yards and a first down. However, during the next play LSU legendary player Charles Scott had his first ever forced fumble, returning the ball to the Huskies’ possession. LSU’s first drive touchdown came late in the half after Jefferson connected with Terrance Toliver for a career long touchdown pass of 45 yards. The Huskies next possession ended in a 37-yard field goal after a 46-yard pass to Devin Aguilar. This ended the half with LSU in the lead 17-13.

At the beginning of the second half, LSU entered with another touchdown play from Jefferson and Toliver. Leading at 24-13, LSU continued to put up points for the remainder of the quarter. The Huskies put up a 32-yard field goal, but LSU immediately answered with yet another touchdown reception by Toliver. This put the Tigers in the lead 31-16 with a minute left on the clock. The Huskies ended the game with a touchdown as time expired, ending the game 31-23.

LSU was a trending topic for most of the evening. College football's best fans in the world in action again.

The game didn’t end in a blow out that most fans had expected, but then again traveling a couple thousand miles and playing after midnight in your home time zone doesn’t really lend towards stellar athletic performance. Notwithstanding these factors, LSU’s opening game went fairly smoothly. Jefferson did well, connecting with his money man Chris Toliver for a few touchdowns. Of course, new defensive coordinator John Chavis leaves a lot to be desired. Coming from nearly two decades of coaching at the University of Tennessee, Chavis, who commands of a salary of nearly half a million dollars a year, was expected to turn the defense that gave up 50+ points to both Florida and Georgia last year completely around. Instead of doing a complete 180, the defense gave up three touchdowns to a team that hits a lot softer than one like Florida, who many expect will continue on to win the national championship.

The Tigers still put a hurting on the Huskies, though, and played with the fierce determination that we expect from our Bayou Bengals. It’s still unclear if this game portends a successful season or not. Really, any accurate prediction can’t be made until the Tigers get back into Death Valley, which they will when they face conference opponent Vanderbilt next week, where they perform much better. If anything, this game really only reaffirmed one thing: LSU really is a second-half ball club.

The LSU Tigers are on the road for their season opener against the University of Washington in Seattle. The game is to be broadcasted on ESPN at 9:30 PM local time. It’s the furthest away game LSU has ever played. An estimated 2,550 miles, the Tigers will pass through nine states, two time zones on a trip with an estimated drive time of 44 hours.

I don’t know about you, but that seems an awful long way to drive to win a football game.

…and then realizes that it will never win anything else.

Tomorrow, September 4, is College Colors Day. Sponsored by the Collegiate Licensing Company and the NCAA, College Colors Day is an annual celebration of collegiate athletics by encouraging fans to wear the colors of their favorite collegiate athletic team. It’s also a great excuse to break out that tacky purple and gold Hawaiian shirt you have. So join in the fun tomorrow as we gear up for the Tigers’ first win at the Huskies this weekend in Seattle.

[Thanks to the ever-lovely Tyne for reminding me about tomorrow.]

Today I got an invitation to join a group on Facebook called “MGMT For LSU Groovin’ on the Grounds Spring 2010″. For those uninitiated, Groovin’ on the Grounds is a special outdoor concert held each spring by the LSU Student Government. It’s a student-planned, student-funded Spring spectacular. In the past, headliners have included Akon, Wyclef Jean, Better than Erza and Three-Six Mafia. This group, started by LSU students Ryan Smith and Lu Seka, was formed in an attempt to get the alternative/indie band MGMT to headline the 2010 event, happening this March. “If we have enough ’signatures’, we will send the names to our [student] government to have our voice heard. Help us help you,” says the group.

I talked with cofounder Lu Seka, who told me that he and cofounder Ryan Smith are “avid fans of their music and wanted to bring a good show to Baton Rouge. The student body pays for the show, so we figured why not have a voice in who shows up to the concert?” The group only started recently, and while serious in their endeavors, Seka told me that they were “surprised that the group grew as quickly as it did.” As of this writing, the group has 1,746 members, growing about 80 members every hour just today. But they’re not letting the success get to their head: “We still have much work to do, such as getting these names to the student government and contacting an MGMT representative, but as of now, we’re staying optimistic.”

The group is indeed growing fast—nearly 26 of my friends joined just in the time I’ve been writing this article. But, they’re not the only ones campaigning for their favorite artist: a Lady Gaga group also has been formed, and has just over 600 members at the time of this writing. In either case, the Baton Rougean supports this initiative by the students to get their Student Government working for them. If they succeed, I’d say this could be one of the biggest wins in LSUSG history. As the group says, “invite everyone you’ve ever known.”

You can join the group here →

And while you’re at it, fan us on Facebook →

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article detailing measures some coffee shops are taking to prevent abuse to their complimentary wireless. This free commodity is practically standard in coffee shops across America, and they have since become yet another place of business for most Americans. That some shops would be discouraging extended customer stays to use this service is beyond me: I would think it lends towards higher profits. However, some local shops—presumably because of the recent economic slump—are encouraging customers to move along.

ControlAltTv’s Gregory Schultz got on the beat to interview some local coffee shops to get their take on the whole issue. Soon after, The Reveille also published a full-length article concerning the matter.

Both articles are thorough, so any repetition here is unnecessary. However, it’s clear from both articles that complimentary wireless is here to stay—which is what I’d expect—but shop owners do get fairly upset when they see non-patrons leeching off their wireless. It really all boils down to just showing a little respect: don’t take what you didn’t pay for.

Forbes is reporting that an analyst at J.P. Morgan has downgraded Shaw Group, a Baton Rouge-based Fortune 500 company, and cut the 2010 earnings estimate due to reduced demand in a few of their numerous industries. However, Shaw Group still remains strong in many areas, including their commercial nuclear construction divisions, which was recently given a contract to build a nuclear power plant in China. Such industries as this strengthen the durability of a conglomerate despite other weakening industries because the market is limited and the scope of the contracts is enormous. Shaw’s stock dropped about 5.5% at the time of publication because of this.