Nobody tells LSU's live mascot, Mike the Tiger, when or where he'll be showing up to support LSU home games.
Mike handles his own arrangements, and woe to anyone who questions his school spirit. Mike VI must have figured LSU would whallop UAB in a non-conference home opener this past Saturday, so according to nola.com, he skipped the game. And nobody was about to tell him he couldn't.
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Ginger Guttner, the media relations director for the LSU vet school, told the outlet that Mike declined to load into his trailer before the game, perhaps because of the threat of inclement weather, which delayed kickoff for more than half an hour. Mike's handler, in essence, said Mike does what Mike wants.
"His veterinary student caretakers have been loading Mike VI into his trailer this summer to get him ready for the LSU home games; however, he doesn't always cooperate," said Dr. David Baker, the attending veterinarian. "We know how important it is to the fans that he be in the stadium, but we can't force him to do so, and we absolutely would never do that even if we could."
Now in his seventh season as LSU's mascot, Mike no doubt can smell a blowout coming. Few fans were still sitting in Tiger Stadium in the fourth quarter of LSU's 56-17 throttling of UAB, so why should Mike bother to be there for the opening kickoff? Don't be surprised if Mike is surly once again when he's asked this Saturday to sit in a cage while LSU manhandles Kent State. But when LSU hosts Auburn for a night game on Sept. 21?
Count on him. We think.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
