away from Little Rock?

In a Q&A that appears in today’s Arkansas-Democrat Gazette, outgoing Athletic Director Frank Broyles addresses the rumor that the day-after-Thanksgiving game against LSU may one day move from Little Rock to Fayetteville. “I’ve told people that if I were to remain as athletic director I would not move the LSU game out of Little Rock,” he says. “I just told that to the stadium commission down there. I told them the rumor was out there, and I said that is not in my plans at all. If the new athletic director would ask me, I would tell him I think that would be a mistake.”

Many may accuse Broyles of growing senile, but I think he’s definitely got his wits about him on this issue. Little Rock deserves this game. Plus, I’m worried that all of the liquor stores within the three-mile radius surrounding War Memorial may go belly up without the every-other-year infusion of LSU fans into the area.

In one way, it’s kind of amazing to me that the location of this event has become anything approaching a big deal. In 1994, John and I, along with our group of friends, attended Little Rock’s first Thanksgiving weekend tussle between these two teams, and it was a thoroughly depressing affair. Both teams were firmly in the doldrums (the Tigers brought a 3-7 record into the game, the Hogs a 4-6 mark). Furthermore, the weather stunk (chilly and rainy), and this horrible human tragedy had taken place the night before. Add it all up, and Razorback fans were in a noticeably apathetic mood. If I recall correctly, we snagged tickets for something like $2 apiece. The only way the afternoon could have been bleaker is if there had been an Emily Dickinson poetry reading at halftime.

Almost needless to say, the Hogs got throttled (30-12). But the day was not a total waste: We got our photos in a Sports Illustrated article about the game. And that’s not because we were particularly close to the action: The crowd was so sparse that you could clearly see us sitting in the upper reaches of the end zone. Alas, it was our first and only appearance in the magazine.

The Battle for the Boot has come a long way, baby.