Memories of '98

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Fan Since '54
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Memories of '98

Post by Fan Since '54 »

We are 4 weeks out from going to to see the game which will celebrate our 12-0 season of '98. Give us some of your thoughts about that season and how you felt as it progressed. I'll start.

1. It didn't surprise me. I know some of you have read about my prediction but for those of you who havn't: A friend asked me before the season how many games I thought Tulane would win. My answer "All of them". Looking at the number of contrubuters we had coming back from '97 and our schedule, I just felt like "Who is gonna beat us?"
2. Game one: @ Cincy. We started fast and didn't let up. Crushed them.
3. Louisville @ Home. When a team goes undefeated there is going to be at least one game where it is touch and go whether you win or lose. This was that game. And we didn't pull it out until the last play of the game.
4. @ Army. Knock down, drag out game. but King was the difference in this one.
5. LaTech @ Home...last regular season game on Thanksgiving night. Never seen so many walkups at a Tulane game ever. We just had too much offense for them.
6. Night before the Liberty Bowl. I had to work, but managed to get off about 11:30. My wife was waiting for me with the car and we hopped in and headed toward Memphis. No easy chore in the middle of the night with little sleep. Checked into our hotel early about 8AM and got a little (very little) sleep before going to the game. BYU looked like a quality oponent but like their LB said after the game was over and TU had prevailed "We were out of our element." Well Tulane had a way of doing that to teams in '98. We had finished 12-0 and ended up #7 in the final poll, but were probably better than that.
7. Partied that night and rang in The New Year on Beale with thousands of TU fans.
8. The next morning we went out to get some supplies for the drive home. It was a cold windy day. We went to a Walmart and when my wife opened her door there was a $100 lying on the ground. Don't know how that bill was just lying there because the wind had probably pushed it all over from wherever it was lost, but there it was. Nice way to end the "Perfect Wave" season.

Okay, your turn. Tell us your story and make us smile.

Editing here: something extra I found on FB.

https://www.facebook.com/GreenWaveFootb ... 042180340/

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Last edited by Fan Since '54 on Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by TUPF »

I’ll add the Tulane @ Rutgers game during that season. I was there with a few hundred Tulanians in the stands with maybe a couple of hundred at the Tulane pregame. I’d say the mood was one of quiet optimism...more of “I can’t believe we have this juggernaut” than anything.

We had to take shuttle buses from the tailgate area to the stadium and there were only a couple of us on each bus in a sea of Rutgers red. Small talk was cordial—most had no clue about us. The game was only in doubt for the first quarter or so. By halftime we were scoring in bunches and I wish I could reproduce the shocked looked on Rutgers fans’ faces at the concession stands. The ride back to the parking area on shuttle buses was priceless. Folks were absolutely silent. We kicked the cr@p out of them.

Of course in years later we were not on the same page as Rutgers but in 1998 Tulane schooled them.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by Fan Since '54 »

The Rutgers game was probably the most lopsided game of the season. From what I understand the Rutgers fans were in total disbelief about how their team was getting schooled that day. It was all over but the shouting (TU fans) and crying (RU fans) before halftime. They had no clue how to stop us.

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Re: Memories of '98

Post by Cheerleader »

I was there, too. Several of us from the Washington DC area rented an RV and a driver and partied all the way up and all the way back. I expected the win because I had been at the Cincinnati game and saw what we had and knew that no one could stop it. I remember most the comments of the Rutgers fans when we left the stadium...."Where is Tulane, anyway?"
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Re: Memories of '98

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Cheerleader wrote: I remember most the comments of the Rutgers fans when we left the stadium...."Where is Tulane, anyway?"
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Re: Memories of '98

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I wish I had thought of that answer at the time.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by sr »

As mentioned many times before - '98 Homecoming with my 12 year old son. Drove in from Texas. From the Homecoming Parade to the Bonfire on the UC Quad that wouldn't light. Shaun and a couple of other players address the crowd. Met with the Coach and he signed a hat for my son. The game was great, tough and when it was over we all knew it was going to be a special season.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by CT Wave »

Living in CT in 1998, I was able to make three games: Rutgers, Army, and the Liberty Bowl.

Drove down to Rutgers with visitors from MN on a gorgeous afternoon. Excited about the team's performance so far, but nervous as a long-time Tulane fan should be! Well, the offense was everything I could have hoped for -- just racing up and down the field. The MN friends were not much of FB fans, but recognized our team's excellence and noted now different the names on the jerseys were compared to those in MN.

At Army is always a struggle. My experience is we play them tough, but nothing comes easy and nothing is ever given. I remember this being a chilly day. And Tulane going for it on fourth and one, but faked a run and threw a long pass. Later Army has a fourth and one, goes for it, and fakes a run and throws a long pass -- taking a play out of our playbook. We used the play of lining up and then in the last few seconds sending a squad of substitutes into the game to run a specific play. The defense had no time to react, and now that is illegal. A very tense and tight game overall.

Of course we had to go to the Liberty Bowl. Frankly, that game brought tears to my eyes. A glorious end to a fabulous season that all Tulane fans will treasure in their hearts forever!
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by Roller »

Spent that fall house-bound, recovering from quintuple bypass surgery in September. That was early in our Internet presence, so fortunately, I was able to keep tabs on most of the season, but I missed out on a lot since all of our games were not on TV.
I did make it to Memphis for New Year's, though.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by windywave »

I remember some gymnastics meets that were interrupted by away games which caused some consternation. Does that count?
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by Luvs da Wave »

Magic.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by OGSB »

CT Wave wrote:
At Army is always a struggle. My experience is we play them tough, but nothing comes easy and nothing is ever given. I remember this being a chilly day. And Tulane going for it on fourth and one, but faked a run and threw a long pass. Later Army has a fourth and one, goes for it, and fakes a run and throws a long pass -- taking a play out of our playbook. We used the play of lining up and then in the last few seconds sending a squad of substitutes into the game to run a specific play. The defense had no time to react, and now that is illegal. A very tense and tight game overall.
Back and forth all game until we got a stop and a score to follow. When they scored again we were still up 7 and able to hold on (by 14 if I recall). In ‘97 at home we won 41-0. One of the few times Bowden trotted out the first string D late in a blowout game. He thought it was important to get the shutout.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by waverider »

If you want to relive the moments, Tulane a Football is doing a series of its own with Graf and Bertholot. I just saw the first one this morning. If you haven’t listened to fearthewave’s series, I would recommend it. The first two parts have been really good.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by PeteRasche »

waverider wrote:If you want to relive the moments, Tulane a Football is doing a series of its own with Graf and Bertholot. I just saw the first one this morning.
You mean the one linked in the OP? :razz: :razz: :razz:
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by PeteRasche »

I'm far from the green glasses type and often (especially back in those days) called out folks who seemed too much so, but going into that year I actually told some friends that we had a legit shot at going undefeated. We'd shown significant improvement the year before and basically returned everyone, plus our schedule lined up as pretty darn cupcake-y.

I was living in Birmingham, AL, where college football is king, and the basic cable package at the apartment complex where I lived had a couple of channels which, between them, often gave me the Tulane game that year. I believe CUSA had a deal with one of them (something-southeast, I think) where they covered the CUSA game of the week, and after about halfway through the season, we started becoming that game almost weekly. Up until that point, we still had probably 2/3 of or games shown somehow (Ray-Com or one of those outlets). I was happy to get to watch so much in such a great year.

I remember everyone pretty much knew the game of the year - the game that would likely be our toughest opponent and the barrier to potentially being undefeated - was USM, so I made plans to drive down for the game. I went with friends and was not disappointed. One of the few photos I have from that year that I took the time to scan and have digital is one my friends and I took on our way back to the car after the game - we came across a bus stop with a Tulane football advertisement covering the side, with Shaun King on it, and we all posed in front of it. The looks on our faces were pure joy (possibly somewhat alcohol-fueled joy, but the game certainly was a large part of it!).

My small group of Tulane friends in Alabama began planning weekly get-togethers to watch the games. During the Army game, one of them brought a college friend of his, who he'd been telling me about for a while. She patiently watched that tense game with us, and we all hung out for the rest of the night... I now call her my wife.

I came home to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving that year and after a big feast at my grandma's house, I excused myself up to her finished attic bedroom and tuned into WWL from 800 miles away. Kenny Berthelot never sounded so good! It seemed like Tulane scored on every possession.

After the whole Bowden departure shook out and the Bowl situation was solidified, I put out a mass email to every Tulane friend with whom I was in contact, saying I'd get tickets together. 53 people responded that they were in. I called up my old buddy Vince Granito in the ticket office and he set up a block of 54 tickets, 6 rows of 9 seats, so we could all be in a relatively-close arrangement. Then came asking all of them to (snail-)mail me a check. 54 folks x $40 each was a big hit on my just-starting-work-in-the-real-world credit card. But within two weeks, 51 of the 53 were paid off. Impressive. (I collected the final two in Memphis the night before the game.)

I drove to Memphis from Birmingham (a horribly-boring 4 hours up state route 78) the evening before. One friend with me was from Birmingham, one had come over from Atlanta that afternoon, and the third had flown in from Tampa that morning. I picked him up at the airport at 7 am, took him to my apartment, and then worked a half-day while he hung out alone at my apartment. We got into Memphis around 9 pm, checked into the hotel, and then walked to Beale Street and found Silky O'Sullivan's. The rest of the night is a bit hazy... I remember Graf - pretty sure it was Graf - getting a hold of the mic from the piano guy and leading the crowd in some cheers and songs. A guy who was a huge basketball fan tried to get me to go up onstage and sing the alma mater, because "we sing it at every game so I know you know it!"... until I reminded him I was in the locker room when that occurred. He apologized. :lol: That night we had about 8 people sleeping in a single hotel room. I think I spent part of the night in the bathroom thanks to Silky's drinks. :oops: The morning of the game was rough. Thankfully the bright sunshine, crisp cold air, and a huge stadium soft drink helped me shake off the hangover. I remember being really glad we were on the sunny side of the stadium though, as it started getting really cold near the end of the game as the sun was setting.

That night we headed to Beale Street, but no one was prepared for how cold it was. We checked out the free concert at the outdoor stage (Martha and the Vandellas) a while, but since every bar was already full, we decided to head back to the hotel shortly after midnight. About 25 of my best friends and I ended up pulling chairs and sofas into a big circle in the hotel lobby and just telling stories, reminiscing, and shooting the bull until about 3 am. Probably a better time than if we'd waited to get into a bar.

Seriously, how do I remember this stuff 20 years later? The human brain is pretty amazing, eh?
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by TUPF »

Now THAT’s a memory, Pete!
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Re: Memories of '98

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"This one belongs to the Wave"
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by tjtlja »

Pete, what a great story and you met your wife during the run.

I have something similar. Me and my wife have been happily married for 32 years. We broke up one time for a one month period in 1982. We happen to run into each other in the Ski Lodge bar in Fat City on one beautiful night where we ruined lsu’s season. We have been by each other’s side ever since!
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by Fan Since '54 »

Wow, we even got Graff to post. Nice to see him join in. :-)

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Re: Memories of '98

Post by PeteRasche »

Fan Since '54 wrote:Wow, we even got Graff to post. Nice to see him join in. :-)

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Even if he linked something that was in the original post and another post duplicated as well... :lol:
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by sprout1550 »

I know I've told this story before, but 1998 was the first year I ever bought season tickets, and I've had them since. I met Tommy Bowden at the Spring Coaches' Tour on the Coast. He told me that it would be a good year to buy tickets. I did right then and there. They had the old carbon credit card swiper and someone from the ticket office was at the event selling tickets.

I was a less than casual fan before 1998. I made two games in 1997 and knew we had potential to be pretty good. Tommy Bowden knew it too. I'm glad I made it to the Spring tour. 1998 was magical and a college football fan's dream. 1998 is what keeps me coming back. The memories, knowing Tulane can be THAT good....I hope it happens again so those that didn't get to experience it can see why we remember the season so fondly.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by Baywave1 »

All the above brings back happy memories but the greatest moment of 1998 and one of the highlights of the history of Tulane and, yea even humanity, was undoubtedly the Tulane student, one Mike Tiger from Baton Rouge, LA, being crowned Tulane Homecoming King.


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Re: Memories of '98

Post by GretnaGrn »

That Louisiana Tech crowd is probably the strongest memory for me, even over the Liberty Bowl. Having a crowd like that at home was so amazing.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by OGSB »

GretnaGrn wrote:That Louisiana Tech crowd is probably the strongest memory for me, even over the Liberty Bowl. Having a crowd like that at home was so amazing.
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Re: Memories of '98

Post by fearthewave »

waverider wrote:If you want to relive the moments, Tulane a Football is doing a series of its own with Graf and Bertholot. I just saw the first one this morning. If you haven’t listened to fearthewave’s series, I would recommend it. The first two parts have been really good.
Thanks for listening, man! Really stoked about this series. The next one comes out on Thursday but for anyone who hasn't listened yet, here's our episode on how critical 1997 was in changing the culture of the program:

https://soundcloud.com/user-774038550/t ... -to-bowden

Got to talk to Bowden, Rich Rod, Shaun, and many more for the project, and I learned a ton about this team.
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