Today is International Joke Day.
No, seriously.
July 1 … every year. We have a day for everything, don’t we?
So, make sure you find some humor in something during the course of today. Maybe you can take a little from this tongue-in-cheek effort that you are hopefully about to consume.
For Louisiana Tech fans, this year’s version of International Joke Day has even greater meaning. It’s the first official day of the school’s membership in the Sun Belt Conference.
And that’s no joking matter.
For the first time since the 1986-87 season — yes, four decades — Louisiana Tech and ULM are conference foes. For the first time since 2000-01 — yes, a quarter of a century — the Bulldogs and Lady Techsters are league opponents with those dirty Cajuns of UL-Lafayette.
The gloves officially come off today, and I couldn’t be more excited.
I grew up hating — strong word, but probably accurate — both NLU (now ULM) and USL (now ULL).
The first Louisiana Tech sporting event I ever attended was a Bulldog homecoming football game in 1979 against USL (now ULL) at Joe Aillet Stadium. For some reason, my dad thought it would be a good idea to sit us right next to the LA Tech student section on the east side.
The good guys won that day, 17-0. And by the time I got home, I was running around the house chanting, “Go to hell, USL! Go to hell, USL!”
Mom wasn’t very happy, but I was hooked. That was the day my Tech fandom began, and it’s only grown over the past four-plus decades of wearing the ole red and blue.
Although my hate for ULL began that day, it didn’t stop there. It grew in intensity and magnitude the older I got (the more wise I became) and the more I watched my beloved Bulldogs and Lady Techsters.
It was a hate that was almost unmatched. Almost.
That is until I was introduced to the maroon and yellow of the school 30 miles east on I-20. I had a new love (to hate). I stood in line outside of the Thomas Assembly Center for three hours in 1984 to get in and watch both the Lady Techsters and Bulldogs defeat NLU (now ULM) in a basketball doubleheader.
Sold out. More than 8,500 fans that night. It was an atmosphere that I wish every current Tech student could experience. Two fan bases that loved their schools and loved to hate the other.
That’s one of the great things about reuniting with these two schools (and Southern Miss and Arkansas State), calling the Sun Belt Conference home.
It won’t matter the sport. We could be playing in dominoes, and I would be table-side pulling for the Bulldogs. Tiddlywinks? Go Dogs. Thumb wrestling? Go Dogs.
Rivalries Renewed is how Louisiana Tech has marketed the move since last July when it was announced. Well put. It’s not a coincidence that the LA Tech home attendance record for a football game was in 1997 vs ULM. The home attendance record for a men’s and women’s basketball game was in 1984 vs. ULM.
And although the two programs have met an assortment of times in different sports (some more regularly then others), the rivalry begins on the gridiron.
I have plenty of good friends who are ULM and ULL fans and/or employees and/or alums. I try not to hold it against them. That is until gameday.
Then I will “hate” them too until the game is over. And I know the feeling will be mutual.
Rejoining the Sun Belt is a full circle moment for Tech fans. It’s been a quarter of a century for us. It’s also been that long since the Bulldogs and the Warhawks have met on the gridiron, something which will change Oct. 17 at Malone Stadium in Monroe — one week after Tech hosts the Ragin Cajuns at The Joe.
I’m going to have to build my hate stamina quickly. Outside of a few “rivalries” within a few sports with a very few teams over the last 25 years, there hasn’t been this level of despise in a while.
I sure am looking forward to it.
Heck, who knows. Maybe I won’t hate them nearly as much as I did growing up. I may even like them.
That was a joke, folks. Remember, it’s International Joke Day.
So let the good old fashion hate begin.
