As an avid SEC football fan, I would like to dedicate this commentary to the LSU Tiger. I did say Tiger, singular not plural. And it’s not because LSU has some kind of witty singular moniker, like the Stanford Cardinal or the Tulane Green Wave. It’s because I’m not talking about the football team. I’m talking about an actual tiger, not the guy who shows up in a tiger suit every week to distract the opposing kicker, but the live tiger that’s embolic of the actual team mascot.
Fans of the Tigers got an actual look at a live tiger last weekend at their highly anticipated night game against Alabama. Because for the first time since 2016, LSU decided to resuscitate the tradition of bringing a live tiger on the field at its home football games, a pastime that was suspended after the death of Mike VI, a previous mascot in the lineage of the LSU Tiger kingdom. That Mike attended over half the home games over an eight-year stretch. But what better time to bring back Mike the Tiger that at your nationally televised game against Alabama.
One quick point. The Tiger you saw on the field at Baton Rouge was not actually the current LSU Tiger. That tiger is Mike VII, who came in 2017 from a sanctuary and lives in a 15,000 sq foot on campus enclosure. But since the University decided that their tigers would no longer go on field at games for health and humanitarian reasons, and because Louisiana governor Jeff Landry said that he wanted to bring back the tiger tradition for the Alabama game, the University shipped a tiger from Florida over to Baton Rouge to be carted out on the field in a cage for a few minutes before the Tigers football team proceeded to get blown out by the Crimson Tide.
Not lost in this story is that the stand-in tiger, named Omar Bradley, came by way of Exotic Animal Talent Agency run by someone named Mitchel Kalmanson. Of note of Kalmanson’s history is that twice tigers have escaped under his watch, including once when it attacked an elephant. He’s been given a bunch of USDA violations for things like enabling preventable and fatal diseases. Also of note, it’s quite likely this whole charade broke the law because of the 2022 Public Safety Act, which Governor Landry referred to as “some crazy act” while assuring us this traveling zoo was completely legal. He also said that people who criticized are “woke people” trying to take away important traditions on which this nation was founded. Like bringing a live tiger to a football game. Landry also said no state funds were used in hiring Omar the tiger, although I imagine there’s more slush money in Louisiana than there is swamp land.
We tolerate a fair amount in the name of sports. And to be honest, sports allow us to suspend disbelief around behaviors that would otherwise be untoward, if not completely obscene. Many of those involve alcohol. Some involve ignoring academic standards. There are cases of mis-prioritization of funds and poor use of public resource. It gets worse, of course, including head trauma, and behaviors afoul of the law. And since I firmly believe that sport brings greater good than evil, I accept that my favorite pastimes are an imperfect artform.
I’m not suggesting that what amounts to animal abuse – and that’s what this is – is by any means the most egregious of these ills. In fact, it’s probably not in the top 10. But I do find something grotesque about carting in a caged wild animal from another state for the pleasures of 100,000 football fans, especially under the guise of higher education. I’m fairly comfortable with the dramatic spectacle that is major college football. I’ve made my peace with that. But for some reason, the tiger stunt seemed to cross a line – metaphorically perhaps, because by all accounts, the tiger went home just fine. But maybe the fact that against the better judgement of the actual LSU Tiger veterinarians, the Governor wanted his literal dog and pony show – and fans we’re just fine with it. Maybe it’s because I’m a big animal supporter. Or maybe it’s just the moment were in. But whatever it was, I didn’t think it was okay. And for one moment, I was less than proud to be a fan of the SEC.
I’m sure that will pass given the intoxication of SEC football. And maybe the next commentary can be dedicated to the sport itself.
Keith Strudler is the Dean of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him at @KeithStrudler
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