The Regal Beagle Jinx

College baseball for LSU finished up yesterday, ending college sports for the year (sorry Track and Field -- I just don't care), and starting the long, hot countdown to football season.

Hopefully, the end of the school year takes with it the Regal Beagle LSU Jinx.

If you aren't up to speed, last summer, we built an outdoor grill and patio with a cement bar and some aluminum bar stools. Its rigged with some rudimentary luxuries like fans and a built in beer cooler. One of the last additions was a TV, mounted up high. It is the perfect place to watch a game.

Unfortunately, LSU is oh-for when someone watches them play out there. And unlike the good luck talisman (my old hat), it seems to apply across sports. A quick rundown:

• Football: LSU gets clobbered by Georgia for their first loss of the season.
• Football: LSU loses a close game against Auburn that they should have won. I go outside to watch the end of the game at the beagle, costing LSU the win.
• Football: After avioding watching the tigers outside for the rest of the season, my Mom turns on the Citrus Bowl out there on New Years day. New Years day is often a rough one for me, and I had to take a nap at halftime. I intended to get up and shoo her out of there once the game started, but I only woke up in time to see LSU lose the game on the last play.
• Basketball: I watched one regular season basketball loss out there all by myself.
• Basketball: A yard full of people were there for a crawfish boil as LSU got eliminated from the SEC tournament in a good game.
• Women's basketball: I went home at lunch and watched LSU give up a huge lead to Alabama during the SEC tournament. Went back to work, and LSU pulled ahead and won.
• Baseball: Rice beats LSU Saturday night while we cooked out.

I'm not slanting the story, either. I have never watched the Tigers win anything from my back yard.

Summer is always rough as far as sports to watch. I can't seem to get interested in car races. I can nap to golf tournaments, but don't really want to watch one hour after hour. Major League Baseball is a snooze, and I don't have a team to pull for in those meaningless regular season games anyway. If Miami and Phoenix had made the NBA finals, I would watch those games, but for San Antonio and Detriot, I'll take the highlights only, please.

That leaves me with Wimbledon and the Tour de France as the only events where I have a passing interest.

It's going to be a long, hot summer.