I guess there’s just the one, in Baton Rouge.

The first college game I ever went to was when I was 8 or 9 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, when the Tigers and the South Carolinas hooked up in the mid-60s. That stadium is the real and original Death Valley but it’s not Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, which is also Death Valley. Talk amongst yourselves…

My first time in Tiger Stadium was 1977 with West Monroe High buddies Clint and Ken. We wanted to see Charles Alexander, No. 4, on his way to becoming the SEC Player of the Year and a two-time consensus All-American. He ran for two million yards that night and the Tigers beat Wyoming, 66-7. We were milling around (whatever that means) outside the stadium afterward and Alexander came walking by in is letter sweater — almost didn’t recognize him since he wasn’t running over anybody.

Then we three guys saw the Saints lose to the Cowboys in New Orleans the next day. Big weekend.

The first time I covered a game in Tiger Stadium was September 15, 1984. The newspaper gave me a Radio Shack computer I didn’t know how to work and a pat on the back and said they’d see me after the game. LSU beat Wichita State 44-7, which meant some of my sportswriting friends had time to help show me how to use the computer and where things were and I wrote a story that sang. I remember it was something like, “LSU beat Wichita State 44-7 Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.”

You can’t coach writing like that.

That old pressbox is gone now and a big new one, I guess 15 or so years old now, is in its place. The most recent time I was in it was the day after Thanksgiving, 2007. LSU lost to Arkansas in triple OT, 50-48, but the pieces fell right and the Tigers beat Ohio State about six weeks later to win their second national championship of the decade.

Saturday night, the Designated Writers staff is supposed to be in Tiger Stadium for the first time together in decades, as odd as that is to write. I will be sweeping up on the radio, JJ Marshall will be typing about pomp pageantry, and we will have you covered on the Louisiana Tech vs. LSU scrap. Kick is 6 p.m.

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