(Photos: Emily Brauner, LSUNOW)
By: Jacob Longman
Some rivalries stretch across the ages. Invoking images of greatness, the rivals shine brightly, each comparing and contrasting with the other until it becomes impossible to define one without mentioning the other. Their names are legendary: Manning and Brady; Larry Bird and Magic Johnson; and Team Purple and Team Gold.
On Saturday, Feburary 7th, the Purple Perps and the Golden Generals took to the field, steeped in a rivalry that will surely go down in the annals of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Absent from the proceedings this year was long time attendee Interim Chancellor Cheney Joseph, who passed away from cancer last semester. All proceeds from the game were donated to the American Cancer Society in his honor.
Before descending on the field at 1 p.m. on February 20th, the players had been practicing for weeks. So had the Barrister Bowl Cheerleaders, who performed a half-time routine and cheered their team on from the sidelines. Beginning with t-shirts and exercise shorts, the practices – which took place inside the same practice facility used by the LSU Tiger football team – eventually evolved into full-pad contact practices.
No lawyer is content to look like a schlep, even when engaged in a violent contact sport, and the Barrister Bowl players were no exception. Uniforms for both teams consisted of a jersey in their respective team color, emblazoned with white block letters which spell “LSU LAW” worn with black athletic pants and football helmets.
This year, the Purple Team had a distinct advantage in veteran depth. In 2015, a lot of the Perps from the year before chose to pursue their athletic endeavors elsewhere. As a result, the 2015 1L draft class disproportionately filled out the roster of the Perps. Last year, that was a distinct disadvantage. This year it paid some serious dividends.
Now game-hardened and battle-tested, these 2Ls provided a core depth of leadership and experience that the Team Purple could rely on to move the chains and pound the rock. Though there are no official captains at this time, 3Ls Beau Bourgious and Colin Hotard stepped up, turning their experience into leadership. For the 2Ls, Gus Laggner, Chase Texhada, and Andrew Rabalais, like Bourgious and Hotard, turned their days of playing high school football into guidance, direction, and leadership on the gridiron. When the Perps hit the field, they did so with a group of players with decades of football experience between them.
Team Gold had its fair share of on field leadership as well. Captained by Taylor Crousillac and Chris Carter, the Golden Generals had an advantage in that their returning players remembered the victory of last year. Confidence is contagious, and the Generals had it in spades. When the game was on the line, the Generals knew they had history on their side.
Ultimately, despite Team Purple’s veteran line-up, Gold came out on top as the winners of Barrister’s Bowl XII. Congratulations to all who participated, and get ready for Part II of the celebration at Barrister’s Ball on March 5th!