[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 21, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S5553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SALUTING LOUISIANA'S COLLEGE ATHLETES

 Mr. BREAUX. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
baseball teams at Louisiana State University, LSU, and the University 
of Louisiana-Lafayette, ULL, the LSU women's track team and all 
Louisiana student-athletes.
  If there is one thing Louisianians take as seriously as our politics 
and cooking, it is our athletics. In fact, Louisiana has an excellent 
tradition when it comes to producing great athletes. This is easily 
demonstrated in the number of athletes from Louisiana who have played 
or currently play professional sports.
  Sports teaches us the importance of teamwork, goal-setting and 
determination. It also teaches us to never give up, even when faced 
with seemingly insurmountable odds.
  No one has to tell the University of Louisiana-Lafayette's baseball 
team about perseverance and defying the odds. They had to defeat the 
nation's number one ranked team twice in one day to get to the College 
World Series. But once there, they defied expectations by posting a 
respectable two wins and two losses, and etched the mascot ``Ragin' 
Cajuns'' into the vocabulary of every college baseball fan.
  Teams at LSU have also applied the lessons taught in athletics, as 
well as Yogi Berra's oft-repeated truism ``it ain't over till it's 
over,'' to become one of the finest athletic programs in the country.
  The LSU baseball team, after starting the season 6-0, struggled to a 
6-5 record in their first 11 games. But, with the help of tremendous 
senior leadership, self-confidence and the will to win, LSU finished 
strong by ending the season with an outstanding 52-17 record and their 
fifth national championship in nine years.
  And the LSU women's track team is no stranger to dramatic finishes, 
either. Down 46 points on the final day of competition, they scored 
just enough points on a winning performance in the final event to win 
their 12th NCAA outdoor championship in 14 years.
  In all, LSU had one of its finest athletic years ever during the 
1999-2000 season. Outside of these two national titles, a total of 11 
teams finished in the nation's top 10 in their respective sports.
  This year's two national championships gives LSU a total of 35 
national championships, the most of any school in the Southeastern 
Conference. And of the 20 sports LSU sponsors on the varsity level, 14 
finished the year in the nation's top 25 and participated in NCAA 
championship events.
  I salute the student-athletes who have helped make Louisiana one of 
the finest states for collegiate athletics in the country. And I 
especially congratulate the LSU baseball and women's track teams who 
have proved once again it isn't how you start the game that matters, 
but how you finish. It is this value that will transcend the playing 
field to make Louisiana's student-athletes champions in the biggest 
game of all--the game of life.

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