By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers

My biggest question is this — only $20 million?

Congrats to LSU for building the Taj Mahal of locker rooms to the tune of 20 (very) large. Good for them. Could have gone to $200 million and I’d still be applauding. Obviously, they are using the build-it-and-they-will come philosophy, without the cornfield, in search of 5-star athletes as far as the eye can see.

All privately funded — some by large checks written by former players — so let’s start cranking up the iPods from our personal charging station.

The outrage has been predictable. Every nay-sayer has an response that falls into two or three categories. Leading the charge has LSU school of mass communications professor Robert Mann, who once upon a time was a light-hitting pitcher on the Shreveport Journal softball team (as well as editorial writer). Bob made a snarky comment about the new locker room and caught hell about it. “Meanwhile, across campus, I vacuum my faculty office with a Dust Devil I bought at Walmart,” he tweeted.

(Quick point for Professor Bob — I believe it’s a “Dirt Devil.” A “dust devil” are those tornado-looking spirals that move across dry areas of land. We are taking off points for that on your next quiz grade.)

Actually, the negative comments, though many are misinformed, are fine. Hating things in the Comments section has become the national pasttime. It’s OK to point out that there aren’t a lot of “sleeping pods” on Louisiana’s college campuses these days, except for those in the LSU locker room.

“Our facilities are disintegrating from the inside out,” said University of Louisiana System President (and personal friend of Designated Writers) Jim Henderson said when he first got the job.

So instead of pushing back on the LSU locker room, how about pushing the state’s lawmakers to do something about it? There’s that cash cow known as legalized sports betting that is voter approved and ready to roll out. But our boys (and girls) in Baton Rouge put the kibosh on that.

You’re talking to a guy who has no interest on betting on the Mariners-Royals game, but there are plenty of people in this state who do. And you’d be amazed how many Dirt Devils that could pay for.