So LSU is tired of being a third-tier university.

Somehow, I just do not believe that we are really tired of having at least 126 schools rank higher than us. [Yeah, yeah, this should be "we." But Travis isn't writing for people like UD.]

As I walked the soggy grounds of our campus Saturday through the debauchery of tailgating, I was not hit with the aroma of academic excellence. It smelled more like Keystone Light. ["Aroma of academic excellence." See the alliteration? Very nice. "Soggy... debauchery" is also poetic.]

On game days the University lacks the responsibility needed to be respected by the rest of the country.

I am proud to be a University student most of the time. I think our school has made great advances as a state university; I think Sean O'Keefe has done a good job as chancellor. I feel that the Manship School is an incredible institution.

But on game days I am disgusted by what I see.

There is nothing wrong with tailgating. I enjoy it. But when we begin to ignore our responsibilities as a community, it is no longer innocent fun.

Saturday before our Homecoming game, I walked around all the campsites looking for friends.

As I was walking, I noticed a girl no more than 4 years old playing in the middle of the street with a pick-up truck speeding toward her, the driver distracted by the rows of tents.

The girl's parents were beneath a tent set up next to the street, both apparently drunk.

Two police officers were on the sidewalk, staring at the plate of boiled shrimp between them as they munched away. [The plate of boiled shrimp is a terrific regional detail.]

It was a horrible sight.

I managed to get the girl out of the street before any real damage was done, but after that moment I began to look around with a different perspective.

I saw open fires underneath paper tents in order to stay out of the rain, obscenely drunken adults who probably never attended our University, students climbing into the driver's seats of cars with beers in hand, fans urinating on our buildings and trash strewn everywhere.

What is wrong with us?

How does the University expect to be a pinnacle of higher education and a well-respected institution when every Saturday for a few months we act like drunken animals with reckless abandon with the excuse of supporting our football team?

I do not think there is anything wrong with hanging out, listening to music while grilling burgers with some beer in the ice chest. Tailgating is and hopefully always will be an essential part of the LSU experience. It sets us apart from many other universities across the country.

But I am sure we can manage to do it in a way that does not involve a little girl almost being hit by a truck. I am sure we can manage to do it in a way that does not involve urinating on the institution that we pay for. That I will never understand. We pay for this school, and then we piss on it.

So LSU is tired of being a third-tier university?

Then we better grow up.