title: LSU Tigers football

text: After nine straight losses to Steve Spurrier-led Florida, the No. 14 Tigers defeated the No. 1 ranked defending national champion Gators 28–21 in Tiger Stadium in 1997. LSU running back Kevin Faulk was featured on the following week's cover of "Sports Illustrated" with the title "See you later, Gators." In a game referred to as, "No. 1 Falls," it was the first time LSU defeated a No. 1 ranked team and the first time the goalposts were ever torn down in Tiger Stadium. In 1998, LSU started the season with a preseason ranking of No. 9. They climbed to No. 6 before losing to No. 12 Georgia on October 3. The next week the No. 11-ranked Tigers lost to the No. 6 Florida. After the loss to the Gators, LSU dropped 13 of the next 17 games, including losses to a No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 13 Arkansas later in the 1998 season. In 1999 LSU lost to No. 10 Georgia, No. 8 Florida, No. 12 Mississippi State, No. 25 Ole Miss, and No. 12 Alabama. On November 15, 1999, two days after the Tigers lost to unranked Houston at home, LSU chancellor Mark Emmert fired DiNardo with one game remaining in the season. DiNardo was given the option to coach the final game of the season against Arkansas, but DiNardo declined. Instead, offensive line coach Hal Hunter was named interim coach, leading LSU to a 35–10 victory over the Razorbacks.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: On December 1, 1999, LSU hired Michigan State head coach Nick Saban as DiNardo's replacement. In Saban's first season of 2000, LSU returned to national prominence by beating No. 11 Tennessee in overtime 38–31 on ESPN, after which the goal posts were torn down for only the 2nd time in the history of Tiger Stadium. The victory over Tennessee also marked the first time that LSU played in an overtime game at home. Just a few weeks later, the goal posts were again ripped down as LSU beat Alabama 30–28 on CBS in Baton Rouge for the first time in 31 years. This was the 3rd and final time that the goal posts came down in Death Valley. In 2001, No. 21 LSU staged an upset victory over No. 2 Tennessee in the SEC Championship, winning 31–20. The victory earned LSU a spot in its first Sugar Bowl since 1986, and knocked the Volunteers out of national title contention. No. 16 LSU survived an upset bid from unranked Kentucky in 2002 by winning the game 33–30 on a miraculous 75-yard Hail Mary pass as time expired known as the "Bluegrass Miracle". Kentucky coach Guy Morriss had received the traditional Gatorade bath right before the Hail Mary. Kentucky fans, believing they had won, had already rushed the field and torn down one goal post.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: In 2003, No. 11 LSU outlasted No. 7 Georgia, 17–10. With ESPN College Gameday on hand for the first time since 1997, Quarterback Matt Mauck found wide receiver Skyler Green for a 34-yard touchdown with 3:03 remaining in the game. All-American cornerback Corey Webster sealed the victory with an interception in the final minute. The contest dubbed the "Let the Valley Shake" Game is notable for LSU fans chanting LSU-LSU after a Georgia touchdown. Georgia head coach Mark Richt was quoted as saying, "Usually when the opposing team does well, the crowd quiets down. All I began to hear was a chant, 'L-S-U, L-S-U.' It got louder and louder and louder. It was the loudest I've ever heard a stadium." The win catapulted LSU onto the national scene. LSU won its second title and became the BCS national champion by defeating Oklahoma 21–14 in the 2004 Sugar Bowl (BCS National Championship Game).


title: LSU Tigers football

text: On January 4, 2005, Oklahoma State head coach Les Miles was named the new LSU head coach. In Miles's first season in 2005 at LSU was moved to Arizona State's Sun Devil Stadium due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. With one endzone painted with "www.KatrinaSRF.com" and the other with "Together We Stand" along with logos of the states of Louisiana and Arizona, LSU rallied in the fourth quarter for a 35-31 comeback victory. Trailing 17–7 in the fourth quarter, LSU returned a blocked field goal and punt for touchdowns to ignite the comeback. The lead went back-and-forth with Arizona State taking a 31–28 lead with 4:07 to play. Quarterback JaMarcus Russell then lead the Tigers on a 10-play, 91-yard drive capped with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Early Doucet on fourth-and-10 to give LSU a 35–31 lead. LSU's defense then stopped Arizona State on downs at the LSU 30-yard line to secure the victory. In 2006, Russell completed a touchdown pass to WR Early Doucet with 9 seconds to go to beat Tennessee in Neyland Stadium after a breakout performance by Tennessee backup QB Jonathan Crompton.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: No. 2 LSU played what was hyped as one of the most exciting games ever played in Tiger Stadium against No. 9 Florida in 2007. The game is also known for the LSU students leaving thousands of messages on the phone of Florida quarterback, Tim Tebow, prompting him to give a "telephone" hand gesture to the LSU student section following an early touchdown. Florida began the fourth quarter with a 24–14 lead, but behind solid defense and being a perfect 5 for 5 on fourth down conversions, the Tigers were able to take the lead 28–24 with 1:06 left in the game after a Jacob Hester touchdown to defeat the Gators. It was LSU's first national primetime game on CBS since 1981 and the game has been dubbed, "Primetime Drama." LSU went on to defeat No. 1 Ohio State in the BCS national championship 38–24, becoming the first school to win two BCS national championship titles and improving their BCS record to 4–0, the best of any team. They also became the first two loss team to ever play in the BCS national championship.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: In the 5th game of the 2010 season, undefeated No. 12 LSU trailed the Volunteers 14–10 with 0:04 left on the clock and the ball spotted on Tennessee's 2-yard line. On 3rd and goal, after a failed quarterback sneak attempt and with time disappearing off the clock, LSU attempted to send in several players for a substitution package. Seeing that the time was about to expire, center T-Bob Hebert snapped the ball before quarterback Jordan Jefferson was ready, the ball was fumbled, Jefferson was tackled, and the clock expired. On further review, Tennessee was penalized half the distance to the goalline for illegal participation. Amid the confusion in the waning seconds, Tennessee coaches sent 4 players onto the field when they saw LSU make a substitution. Only two players then left the field, leaving the Volunteers with 13 players lined up on defense. Due to the penalty, LSU got the ball back for a single untimed play on the 1-yard line. With the last play, running back Stevan Ridley received the toss sweep, charging forward, only to be hit near the line of scrimmage, but continued to drive forward through two Tennessee defenders and into the endzone for the game-winning score.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The ninth regulation game of the 2011 season for LSU found the No. 1 nationally ranked Tigers against the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide in a match called the "Game of the Century" or the "Matchup of the Year". Both teams were undefeated and both were also coming off a bye week; viewed as important to the BCS Championship game as the "inside track" by many of the sportswriters, the press built up the game in a Super Bowl-style atmosphere. Ultimately, the game came down to field position and a series of field goals as the top-ranked defense of both teams prevented any touchdowns. Alabama missed three field goals and a fourth was blocked during regulation, leading to a 6–6 tie heading into overtime. On the first possession of overtime, Alabama again missed a field goal from 52 yards out, only to watch LSU earn the win on the next possession with a chip-shot field goal. As a result, it was the second-lowest scoring matchup between No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the history of the NCAA, with a 9–6 decision. For the first time in BCS National Championship history, two SEC teams, the No. 1 LSU Tigers and the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide, again faced each other in the National Championship Game. Alabama won the game, 21–0. The SEC-only title game added impetus to the push for a national playoff system and hastened the death of the BCS system as implemented up to that time. Having lost three straight games after a 7–0 start into the season, rumors were floating that LSU would buy-out Miles' contract after the 2015 season. However, Miles was retained for the 2016 season. On September 25, 2016, LSU fired Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron after an 18–13 loss to Auburn the previous day and a 2–2 start to begin the season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: After the firing of Les Miles, defensive line coach Ed Orgeron became LSU's interim head coach. Orgeron stated that he was going to "flip the script". He promoted tight ends coach Steve Ensminger to offensive coordinator and brought back Pete Jenkins to take over as defensive line coach. Orgeron also decided to shorten practices and spend more time in the film room in order to keep players fresh. In addition, he brought the "theme of daily practices" he modeled from coach Pete Carroll during Orgeron's first stint as an assistant at USC. These practice days have descriptive nicknames like Tell the Truth Monday, Competition Tuesday, Turnover Wednesday, No Repeat Thursday, and Focus Friday. Under Orgeron's watch, LSU finished out the season with a 6–2 record. Later in 2016, he was hired as the full-time head coach.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The beginning of the 2017 season saw Orgeron hire Matt Canada to be the offensive coordinator. Canada was known for an offensive playbook that was heavily based on setting skilled positions in motion prior to the snap, thus using jet sweeps often. The season began with LSU ranked in the top 15, but early losses to Mississippi State and Troy quickly found LSU unranked. However, the team went 7–2 in their remaining games, finishing the year with a 9–4 record. The 2018 season began with a season opening upset of 8th-ranked Miami, followed by another upset of 7th-ranked Auburn. These victories helped LSU rise to 5th in the CFP rankings, but a loss to 25th-ranked Florida sent LSU tumbling back to 13th. In response, the Tigers pulled off a shocking upset of No. 2 Georgia. The Tigers then avenged the previous year's loss to Mississippi State. The victories over Georgia and Mississippi State propelled LSU to being ranked No. 3 by the CFP going into a game against top-ranked Alabama. The LSU offense that had seemed to turn around after Steve Ensminger took over the duties of offensive coordinator was unable to score against Alabama's defense. After the loss to Alabama, LSU was able to defeat Arkansas and Rice before falling to Texas A&M in a 7-overtime game. With a 9–3 record, LSU was invited to the Fiesta Bowl to play the University of Central Florida, who had not lost a game in the previous two seasons. On New Years Day 2019, LSU gave UCF their first loss since 2016. LSU finished the 2018 season with a record of 10–3 and were ranked sixth in the nation by the AP poll and seventh by the Coaches poll. LSU was not predicted to have a good season in 2018, and some, including SEC commentator Paul Finebaum, believed it would be Orgeron's last until he had a turnaround season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: After opening the season with a home win versus Georgia Southern, Orgeron's 2019 team recorded a statement road win over Texas in week two. The key play of the game was a third down pass needing seventeen yards for a first down late in the fourth quarter. The Joe Burrow to Justin Jefferson pass resulted in a 61-yard touchdown sealing the victory. That play led to the game being labeled the "3rd-and-17" Game. This game propelled the team to an undefeated regular season, including a 46–41 victory over Alabama in the 2019 version of the "Game of the Century" at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. A win over Arkansas in the penultimate game of the regular season clinched the SEC West division title and secured a berth in the 2019 SEC Championship Game against Georgia. This was their first appearance in the SEC Championship Game since 2011. The traditionally defensive-minded Tigers averaged over 48 points per game, led by quarterback Joe Burrow, Baton Rouge-native running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and star receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. Burrow set new LSU and SEC single-season records for passing yards with 4,366; his 44 touchdown passes set a new LSU record and tied the SEC mark. Orgeron's Tigers defeated the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game to win their first SEC title since 2011. On Sunday, December 8, 2019, they were named the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. They met the Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma Sooners in the semifinals in the Peach Bowl, defeating them by a score of 63–28. Following the regular season, Orgeron was named the winner of the 2019 AP College Football Coach of the Year Award and Home Depot Coach of the Year Award. Joe Burrow won the 2019 Heisman Trophy. On January 13, 2020, Orgeron won his first national championship as a head coach with a win over the unbeaten defending national champion Clemson Tigers, 42–25, finishing the season 15–0. Orgeron and the LSU Tigers won the national title in their home state at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU's 2020 season was shortened in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They played a ten-game, all-SEC schedule. LSU started the season ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll, but dropped out of the rankings after three games and finished the season with a record of 5–5. The Tigers had three different starting quarterbacks throughout the course of the season. Myles Brennan started the first three games, but was injured during the game against Missouri on October 10 and was lost for the season. T. J. Finley started the next five games. Max Johnson started the final two games of the season. He led the Tigers to an upset win over the No. 6 Florida Gators in Gainesville and a shootout win over Ole Miss in the season finale. In March 2021, a woman testifying in front of Louisiana state legislators claimed that she had reported an instance of sexual harassment by LSU running back Derrius Guice to Orgeron, but that the coach had taken no action against him, and in fact called the woman and asked her to forgive Guice. Despite high expectations and a favorable schedule, LSU stumbled to a 3–3 start in 2021, losing several games in which they were favored. Following the tumultuous start, Orgeron’s Tigers were able to upend the No. 20-ranked Florida Gators in a thrilling rivalry game matchup. Despite the victory, LSU administrators announced the following day, on October 17, 2021, that they had reached a mutual agreement for Orgeron to leave the program at the end of the 2021 season. Orgeron's last game was a last-second victory against Texas A&M at home, which allowed the Tigers to finish the season at 6–6 and become bowl eligible. Despite this, Orgeron announced shortly after the game that he would not coach in the bowl game, and that offensive line coach Brad Davis would be appointed interim coach.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: On November 30, 2021, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was named the 34th head coach at LSU, replacing Ed Orgeron. Kelly cited "wanting to be with the best" and "the commitment to excellence, rich traditions, and unrivaled pride and passion of LSU Football" for the move. His signed contract also more than triples his previous salary, from his 2021 salary of $2.67 million to $9 million in 2022 with the total deal being worth $95 million over ten years excluding incentives. His season started with a 24-23 loss to Florida State in the Allstate Louisiana Kickoff at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Florida State had a 24-10 lead, but LSU slowly chipped away at the Seminoles' lead and scored a last-second touchdown to make the game 24-23. The Tigers opted to kick the extra point to force overtime, but Florida State was able to successfully block the kick, and thus sealed the victory. Moving forward, the Tigers would win 4 straight against Southern, Mississippi State, New Mexico, and Auburn before eventually losing to Tennessee by a score of 13-40. The Tigers would then go on to beat Florida, upset #7 ranked Ole Miss, upset #6 ranked Alabama 32-31, beat unranked Arkansas 13-10, clinching the SEC West and earning a spot in the 2022 SEC Championship against #1 ranked Georgia. They would go on to win against UAB 41-10 but lose to Texas A&M 23-38.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU claims four national championships (1958, 2003, 2007, and 2019) and have been selected national champions in nine seasons (1908, 1935, 1936, 1958, 1962, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2019) by NCAA-designated major selectors. In 1958 they finished as the only undefeated team with a victory over in the Sugar Bowl, and were named the national champions by both major polls (AP and Coaches). In 2003, 2007, and 2019 LSU claimed the national championship after winning a postseason bowl national championship game.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: 1958 national championshipThe 1958 LSU Tigers football team under head coach Paul Dietzel, cruised to an undefeated season capped by a win over Clemson in the 1959 Sugar Bowl. LSU was named the national champion in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll prior to their 7-0 Sugar Bowl victory over Clemson. LSU's shutout victory over #12 Clemson was convincing and highlighted LSU as the only team in the country to go undefeated. Army, Auburn, and Air Force did not lose all season but they each had one game that ended in a tie. It was the first recognized national championship for LSU in the poll era. With a 10–0 regular season record, LSU was crowned national champion by the Associated Press and the Coaches' Poll (UPI), as well as by 37 other selectors. LSU's total first place votes was 130 to win the 1958 National Championship in the AP poll. LSU received 29 of the 35 first-place votes to win the #1 ranking in the Coaches poll. LSU earned the #1 rankings in the AP and Coaches poll during week 6 and held on to the #1 rankings for the rest of the year to win the 1958 National Championship in both major polls.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: 2003 national championshipThe 2003 LSU Tigers football team was coached by Nick Saban. LSU won the BCS National Championship, the first national championship for LSU since 1958. The Tigers battled for an 11–1 regular season record and then defeated Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. The LSU Tigers faced off against Oklahoma for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national title. LSU beat Oklahoma 21–14 in the 2004 Sugar Bowl designated as the BCS National Championship Game.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: 2007 national championshipThe 2007 LSU Tigers football team, coached by Les Miles, won the Southeastern Conference championship and the national championship with a 12–2 record. The LSU Tigers took on the top ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game defeating them 38–24. This win made the LSU Tigers the first team to win two BCS National Championships in its history. On their way to the BCS championship, the Tigers won their tenth Southeastern Conference championship by defeating Tennessee in the 2007 SEC Championship Game. LSU became the first program to win multiple BCS National Championship Games and the second program to win a national championship with multiple losses.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: 2019 national championshipThe 2019 LSU Tigers football team, coached by Ed Orgeron, won the Southeastern Conference championship and the national championship with a 15–0 record. The LSU Tigers defeated the Clemson Tigers in the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship defeating them 42–25. On their way to the College Football Playoff National Championship, the Tigers won their twelfth Southeastern Conference championship by defeating Georgia in the 2019 SEC Championship Game.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU has won a total of 16 conference championships in three different conferences. Since becoming a founding member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1933, LSU has won 12 SEC championships.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Since the SEC began divisional play in 1992, LSU has won or shared the SEC West title 9 times, and is 5–2 in the SEC Championship game.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Pre-1946, LSU wore leather helmets. From 1947 through 1955, LSU wore an old gold helmet. In 1956, head coach Paul Dietzel changed the color of the helmet to a yellow-gold similar to that of the Green Bay Packers. It featured a white one-inch center stripe with purple three-quarter inch flanking stripes. From 1957 through 1971, LSU added jersey numbers to the sides of the helmet. In 1972, the first logo was introduced, a tiger head inside a purple circle with LSU written underneath the tiger head. In 1977, LSU introduced its current helmet. The logo features curved LSU lettering written above the Tiger head logo. Purple face masks were introduced in 1980. In 2014, LSU introduced a new Tiger head logo.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The current style of jerseys were introduced by coach Paul Dietzel in 1957 with "TV" numerals on the shoulders. Those numbers were moved to the sleeves in 1959. LSU's white jerseys have purple numbers on the front, back and sleeves with a gold center stripe flanked by two purple stripes encircling the shoulders. LSU's purple jerseys have white numbers on the front, back and sleeves with a white center stripe flanked by two yellow stripes encircling the shoulders.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU has worn gold jerseys four times recently: vs. Vanderbilt in 1996, vs. Notre Dame in the 1997 Independence Bowl, at Florida in 1998 and throwbacks vs. Mississippi State in 2016. LSU also wore gold jerseys as their primary jerseys during the 1940s. Save for the throwback jerseys, LSU wore gold due to the intense dislike of purple exhibited by then-LSU coach Gerry DiNardo. DiNardo's successor, Nick Saban, resurrected purple jerseys for the second game of the 2000 season vs. Houston.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Since the wearing of white jerseys has become a tradition for LSU football, the white jerseys are typically worn for both home and away games. The exception is for non-SEC home games, other than the home opener, where LSU wears purple jerseys. Also, though rare, in the case of away games the home teams may choose to wear white, and if so, purple is the default for LSU; this occurred in the 2004 season opener vs. Oregon State, which did not want to wear its black jerseys in the intense Louisiana heat.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: In 2015, South Carolina was forced to move its scheduled home game vs. LSU to Baton Rouge due to severe flooding in Columbia, South Carolina. Prior to the site change, the Gamecocks declared they would wear white jerseys at Williams-Brice Stadium, so the Tigers wore purple jerseys for the first time for an SEC game in Tiger Stadium (South Carolina was the designated home team) since 1994 vs. Alabama.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: In 2019, LSU was asked by the Southeastern Conference to wear purple jerseys for its away game vs. Vanderbilt to provide sufficient contrast to the Commodores' gray jerseys.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: From 1983 through 1994, LSU was mandated to wear purple jerseys at home, due to an NCAA rule which required the visiting team to wear white jerseys (LSU wore white jerseys as the designated home team for the 1987 Sugar Bowl vs. Nebraska and 1987 Gator Bowl vs. South Carolina). In 1995, the NCAA changed the rule to allow the home team to wear white if it obtained prior approval of the visiting team. In 1997, the Southeastern Conference ruled the home team would have choice of jersey color without consent of the visitors for conference games.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The team traditionally wears one style of pants, which are gold with white and purple trim. For a 1995 game at Kentucky, the Tigers wore purple pants, which had no stripes and a tiger head logo on the left thigh. LSU lost to the Wildcats 24–16 and the pants were never worn again.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: 5-yard lines – Tiger Stadium is notable for putting all 5-yard line numbers on the field, not just those that are multiples of 10. However, the 10-yard line numbers are the only numbers that get directional arrows, as the rules make no provision for 5-yard line numbers.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: H-style goal posts – LSU's Tiger Stadium sports "H" style goal posts, as opposed to the more modern "Y" style used by most other schools today. This "H" style allows the team to run through the goal post in the north end zone when entering the field.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The crossbar from the goalposts which stood in the north end zone of Tiger Stadium from 1955 through 1984 is now mounted above the door which leads from LSU's locker room onto the playing field. The crossbar is painted with the word "WIN!", and superstition dictates every player entering the field touch the bar on his way out the door.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Night games in Tiger Stadium – The tradition of playing night games in Tiger Stadium began on October 3, 1931 when LSU defeated Spring Hill 35–0. Several reasons were cited for playing at night such as avoiding the heat and humidity of afternoon games, avoiding scheduling conflicts with Tulane and Loyola football and giving more fans the opportunity to see the Tigers play. Attendance increased and night football became an LSU tradition. LSU has also traditionally played better during night games based on winning percentage.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Pregame show – Louisiana State University Tiger Marching Band "pregame show" was created in 1964, and revised over the next nine years into its current format. The marching band lines up along the end zone shortly before kick off. Then the band strikes up a drum cadence and begins to spread out evenly across the field. When the front of the band reaches the center of the field, the band stops and begins to play an arrangement of "Pregame" (Hold That Tiger). While it does this, the band turns to salute the fans in all four corners of the stadium. Then the band, resuming its march across the field, begins playing "Touchdown for LSU".


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Tailgating – For home football games, thousands of LSU fans gather on the Baton Rouge campus. They set up motor homes and tents as early as Thursday before Saturday football games. Tailgating is found across the entire campus with many fans tailgating in the same spot year after year.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU has been consistently ranked as the top tailgating location in the country. The Sporting News proclaimed "Saturday Night in Death Valley" and Tiger tailgating as the top tradition in college football. Sports Illustrated said, "When It Comes To Great Tailgating, Nothing Compares To LSU." LSU's tailgating was named No. 1 in an Associated Press poll on top tailgating spots and by a CNN network survey on top tailgating locations.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Victory Gold – In 2012, a new tradition was established at Tiger Stadium. Following an LSU football victory, the lights that illuminate the upper arches on the north end of the stadium light up in LSU "Victory Gold".


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Victory Hill – The LSU football players, coaches, cheerleaders and Mike the Tiger in his cage, "Walk Down Victory Hill" on North Stadium Drive prior to each home game on their way to Tiger Stadium. Thousands of fans line both sides of the road to watch and cheer for the Tigers football team. The practice was started under head coach Gerry Dinardo and it endures today.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU Tiger Marching Band or The Golden Band from Tigerland, Golden Girls and Colorguard, "March Down Victory Hill" about an hour prior to each home game. Fans line both sides of the road and listen for the cadence of drums announcing the band's departure from the Greek Theatre and await the arrival of the band. The band stops on top of Victory Hill and begins to play their drum cadence while beginning to march down Victory Hill. The band then stops on Victory Hill and begins to play the opening strains of the "Pregame Salute." Then, while playing the introduction to "Touchdown for LSU," the band begins to run in tempo through the streets and down the hill amidst the crowd of cheering fans. From there, the band enters the PMAC and plays a pep rally for TAF members.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: White jerseys – LSU is notable as one of the few college football teams that wears white jerseys for home games as opposed to their darker jerseys (in their case, purple). Most other NCAA football teams wear their darker jerseys in home games, even though football is one of the few college sports that do not require a specific jersey type for each respective team (for instance, college basketball requires home teams to wear white or light-colored jerseys while the away team wears their darker jerseys), and is similar to the National Football League in letting the home team decide what to wear.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The tradition started in 1958, when Coach Paul Dietzel decided that LSU would wear white jerseys for home games. Another story is the tradition first started when Dietzel had LSU wear white at home for good luck against a ranked Georgia Tech team in 1957 because Georgia Tech's team had long been known for wearing white at home. LSU won the game and he continued that tradition for the 1958 season and LSU went on to win the national championship that year. Since the 1958 championship season, LSU continued to wear white jerseys at home games through the 18-year tenure of Charles McClendon. Then in 1983, new NCAA rules prohibited teams from wearing white jerseys at home. Because of this, LSU wore purple jerseys during home games from 1983 to 1994. The team's fans believed wearing purple jerseys were "bad luck" and often complained about being forced to wear purple jerseys at home.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: In 1995, LSU's new coach, Gerry DiNardo, was determined to restore LSU's tradition of white home jerseys. DiNardo personally met with each member of the NCAA Football Rules Committee, lobbying LSU's case. DiNardo was successful, and LSU again began wearing white jerseys at home when the 1995 season began. In LSU's first home game with the white jerseys, unranked LSU prevailed in a 12–6 upset victory over No. 6 Auburn.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The 1995 rule allowing LSU to wear white at home had one stipulation: the visiting team must agree for conference and non-conference games. In 1997, the SEC amended its rule to allow the home team its choice of jersey color for conference games without prior approval of the visiting team. Therefore, only for non-conference home games does the home team seek permission to wear white jerseys at home. In 2009, the NCAA further relaxed the previous rule that required most away teams to wear white. The rule now states that teams must simply wear contrasting colors.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: After the 1995 rule change, on three occasions LSU was forced to wear colored jerseys at Tiger Stadium. The first time was in 1996 against Vanderbilt, who was still angry at LSU for hiring Gerry DiNardo, who left Vanderbilt to become LSU's head coach after the 1994 season. LSU wore gold jerseys for that game (a 35–0 LSU victory), and fans were encouraged to wear white in an effort to "white out" the Commodores. The other was in 2004 when Oregon State did not want to suffer in its black jerseys due to the humid weather of Louisiana in late summer, thus forcing LSU to wear its purple jerseys for a nationally televised game on ESPN. On October 10, 2015, LSU was scheduled to play a road conference game at South Carolina, but due to massive flooding in the state of South Carolina, the game was relocated from Columbia to Baton Rouge. Despite the game being played at Tiger Stadium, South Carolina was still the designated home team and had first choice of jersey selection. South Carolina chose to wear white as they had originally planned, forcing LSU to wear their purple jerseys at Tiger Stadium for an SEC game for the first time since 1994.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: After the 1995 rule change, LSU was forced to wear colored jerseys on the road on four occasions. In 1998 and 2000, Florida coach Steve Spurrier exercised this option and forced LSU to don a colored jersey at Gainesville. The Tigers wore gold in 1998 under Gerry DiNardo (lost 22–10) and purple in 2000 under Nick Saban (lost 41–9). In 2007 and 2009, LSU also wore its purple jerseys on the road at Mississippi State, but the Tigers emerged victorious both times (45–0 in 2007 and 30–26 in 2009).


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Callin' Baton Rouge – The Garth Brooks song "Callin' Baton Rouge" is played over the PA system in Tiger Stadium prior to kickoff for each game.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: First, second, and third-down cheers – When the Tigers are on offense and earn a first down, the fans perform the "First Down Cheer". It includes the "Hold that Tiger" musical phrase from "Tiger Rag" played by the LSU band and the fans shout "Geaux Tigers" at the end of each phrase. The "Second Down Cheer" is a musical selection that is followed by the crowd chanting L-S-U! The "Third Down Cheer" is based on the song "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Geaux Tigers – A common cheer for all LSU athletics, Geaux Tigers, pronounced "Go Tigers", is derived from a common ending in Cajun French names, -eaux. Fans began using this spelling in the 1990s to add local flavor to the standard cheer. The phrase was trademarked by the university in 2005.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Hot Boudin – A cheer before and during games about famous food in Louisiana. It goes "Hot boudin, cold coush-coush, come on tigers, push push push." Push is pronounced poosh to rhyme with coush-coush [koosh-koosh]. Coush-coush is a Cajun dish generally served for breakfast.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Tiger Bandits – Whenever LSU forces a turnover or gets the ball back via a defensive stop, the LSU band plays the "Tiger Bandits" song and LSU fans bow in respect to the defensive stop. The original title of the song was called "Chinese Bandits", but the title was eventually changed to "Tiger Bandits" (or just simply "Bandits") to make the tradition more inclusive. The term "Chinese Bandits" originated as the nickname that LSU Coach Paul Dietzel gave to the defensive unit he organized in 1958, which helped LSU to win its first national championship. The next season, the 1959 Chinese Bandit defense held their opponents to an average of only 143.2 yards per game. No LSU defense since has done better.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Jersey No. 18 is an LSU tradition established in 2003 when quarterback Matt Mauck guided LSU to a national championship. After Mauck's final season, he passed jersey No. 18 to running back Jacob Hester, who helped LSU win the 2007 national championship. The jersey became synonymous with success on and off the field as well as having a selfless attitude. Each season, a player is chosen by the coaching staff to wear the No. 18 jersey. In 2017, it was the first year LSU awarded the jersey to two players, one each on offense and defense.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Beginning in 2012, LSU had a high number of defensive backs earn recognition for their play, leading to both current and former players to refer to the school as "Defensive Back University", or "DBU". This has led to a sense of pride among LSU defensive backs, who strive to continue the tradition of excellence at the position. Since 2005, 28 LSU defensive backs have been drafted into the NFL, including seven in the first round: LaRon Landry (6th pick in 2007), Patrick Peterson (5th pick in 2011), Morris Claiborne (6th pick in 2012), Eric Reid (18th pick in 2013), Jamal Adams (6th pick in 2017), Tre'Davious White (27th pick in 2017), and Derek Stingley Jr. (3rd pick in 2022).


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU and Alabama have played every year since the 1960s. It has been mentioned by the LSU fan base, the origins of the rivalry date back to a 15-game undefeated streak Alabama had in Tiger Stadium, which is generally considered to be one of the most hostile atmospheres in college football. While the Alabama rivalries against Auburn and Tennessee may overshadow their rivalry with LSU, the significance of this annual rivalry increased after Alabama hired former LSU coach Nick Saban in 2007. The LSU-Alabama rivalry continued after the November 5, 2011 game and the 2012 National Championship where the two teams faced off. Alabama leads the series 55-27-5 through the 2022 season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Prior to Arkansas joining LSU in the Southeastern Conference, the two programs met a total of 36 times, including the famed Ice Bowl. The schools played against each other for the first time in 1901 in Baton Rouge, a 15-0 LSU victory. The rivalry grew while it was played annually from 1906 to 1936, with 1918 being the only year the game was not played between those dates. The series was contested in Shreveport from 1913 to 1936.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: After the Razorbacks left the Southwest Conference in 1990, Arkansas joined the SEC in 1991 and rekindled the rivalry with LSU. During their first year in the SEC, Arkansas would defeat the Tigers in the Razorbacks' first game against LSU in Fayetteville, 30–6; their first victory against LSU since the Razorbacks' 32–0 shutout of the Tigers in 1929. The winner takes home the Golden Boot, a 175-pound, four foot tall, 24-karat gold trophy in the shape of the states of Arkansas and Louisiana that resembles a boot. The game, played the day after Thanksgiving until the 2010 season, was usually the last regular season game for each team and is broadcast on CBS. LSU and Arkansas now close their respective seasons against the SEC's newest members, the Tigers vs. Texas A&M and the Razorbacks vs. Missouri.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: In 2002, the rivalry gained momentum as the game winner would represent the Western Division of the SEC in the SEC Championship Game. Arkansas won on a last-second touchdown pass by Matt Jones. In 2006, the Razorbacks, who had already clinched the SEC Western Division and were on a 10-game winning streak, were beaten by LSU in Little Rock. In 2007, Arkansas defeated top-ranked LSU in triple overtime, giving them their first win in Baton Rouge since 1993, and again defended the Golden Boot trophy with a last-minute touchdown drive in 2008. Fifteenth-ranked LSU won back the trophy for the first time in two years in 2009 after Razorback kicker Alex Tejada missed a field goal that would have sent the game into a second overtime, and LSU went on to lose the Capitol One Bowl. In 2011, with both teams ranked in the top 3 in the AP Poll, No. 1 LSU prevailed over No. 3 Arkansas by a score of 41–17, sending LSU to the SEC title game en route to being shutout in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game. LSU rode the momentum from the 2011 win by grinding out back-to-back one-possession wins in 2012 and 2013 against Arkansas teams that won four and three games, respectively. Arkansas returned the favor with consecutive 17-point victories in 2014 (breaking a 17-game SEC losing streak for the Hogs while pitching a 17–0 shutout against the No. 17 Tigers; Arkansas's tenth time holding LSU to 0 points and the only shutout in the series since 1995) and 2015 (a 31-14 romp in Baton Rouge which saw the unranked Razorbacks lead the No. 9 Tigers the whole game). LSU lost against Arkansas in overtime in 2021, but rebounded in 2022 to win 13-10 in Fayetteville. LSU leads the series 43-23–2 through the 2022 season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: While Auburn's rivalries against Alabama and Georgia may overshadow its rivalry with LSU, in the 2000s, LSU had a heated rivalry with the Auburn Tigers. LSU and Auburn were not yearly rivals until the SEC's 1992 expansion placed both Tiger teams in the Western Division.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The two share more than just a nickname, as they have both enjoyed success in the SEC West and plenty of memorable match ups. The home team won every game from 2000 through 2007. LSU leads the series 32-24-1 through the 2022 season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Although both universities were founding members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in December 1932, the Florida Gators and Tigers did not meet on the gridiron for the first time until 1937. LSU is Florida's permanent inter-divisional rival. LSU has played Florida every year since 1971. The longest winning streak in the LSU–Florida series is held by Florida, with nine victories from 1988 to 1996. LSU's longest winning streak is four, from 1977 to 1980. The winner of the Florida-LSU game went on to win the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national championship game from 2006 to 2008. Some of the notable games in this rivalry include the 1960: Wristband Robbery, 1964: Hurricane Delay, 1972: Flooded Swamp, 1989: College Football's First Overtime Game, 1997: LSU's Revenge, 2006: Tebow Domination, 2007: 5 for 5 on fourth down, and 2016: Hurricane Delay Pt 2.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: With a few exceptions, mostly during Spurrier's coaching tenure when the Gators routinely won by large margins, this rivalry has been known for close games in recent years, with both teams usually coming into the match-up highly ranked. The Gators and Tigers have combined to win five national championships and eleven SEC titles over the past two decades. The series is tied 33–33-3 through the 2022 season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU–Mississippi State rivalry, is an annual football game between the Louisiana State Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs. Both universities are founding members of the Southeastern Conference, as well as the Western Division. This rivalry is LSU's longest rivalry with 108 meetings. LSU is second only to Ole Miss (3 games behind) on Mississippi St.’s list of most-commonly played opponents.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Mississippi State's 34–29 victory on September 20, 2014, engineered by quarterback Dak Prescott, a Louisiana native, was the Bulldogs' first over LSU since 1999, their first in Baton Rouge since 1991, and just their fourth overall since 1985. State defeated LSU 37-7 in 2017 for their first win in the series at Starkville since 1999. The Tigers lead the series 78-36-3 through the 2022 season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU's traditional SEC rival is Ole Miss. Throughout the 50's and 60's, games between the two schools featured highly ranked squads on both sides and seemingly every contest had conference, and at times national, title implications. The Magnolia Bowl Trophy is now awarded to the winner of the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry now known as the "Magnolia Bowl". Recently, the second to last regular season game has been between these two colleges. There is still a strong rivalry between both schools.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: From 1961 through 1988, LSU did not play on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, Mississippi. Instead, all of the Rebels' home dates in the series were contested at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. LSU and Ole Miss played at Oxford in 1989 for the first time in 29 seasons, then moved the series permanently to Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in 1994 after the 1991 and 1992 contests returned to Jackson. LSU leads the series 65-41-4 through the 2022 season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU and Texas A&M began play in 1899. Since then, there have been four distinct eras; 1899 to 1923, 1942 to 1975, 1986 to 1995, and the current SEC era beginning in 2011. A&M took that first matchup over LSU, 52-0. The Aggies claimed the 1899 to 1923 era with 7 wins to LSU's 3, with two tie games. LSU took the 1942 to 1975 era winning 19 to A&M's 7, with one tie game. The 1986 to 1995 era belonged again to A&M, with the Aggies winning 6 games to LSU's 4. The current era began with A&M entering the SEC in 2011. LSU claimed victory 8 times in the first 10 meetings. In 2018, the Tigers lost at home 74-72 in a game with 7 overtimes, the most overtimes in one game in FBS history. During the series, the two teams have meet in two bowl games. LSU won in the 1944 Orange Bowl 19–14 and prevailed 41–24 in the 2011 Cotton Bowl Classic. LSU leads the series 35–23-3 through the 2022 season.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU's oldest rival is Tulane; the first LSU-Tulane football game was played in 1893 and for the first 50 or so years of Tiger football, no team was more hated by LSU fans than the Green Wave. The series, in which they battle for the Tiger Rag, was played continuously from 1919 to 1994. The intrastate rivalry featured two teams which were geographically close (Baton Rouge and New Orleans are roughly apart) and drew on socio-political tensions between the state's capital and seat of government and its biggest and most culturally important city. As opponents in the SIAA, Southern Conference and SEC, the Tulane rivalry flourished for many years but slowly declined after Tulane left the SEC and de-emphasized athletics. Until 1949, the series was very competitive, with LSU leading 23–18–5; since 1949, LSU has dominated, going 45–4–2. The two teams renewed the annual series in 2006 and ended it again after the 2009 meeting with LSU leading 69–23–7.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU Tigers football team finished in the Top 25 in the first College Football Playoff ranking. The Tigers finished No. 1 in the final ranking in 2019.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU Tigers football team has been ranked No. 1 in the Pre-season Associated Press Poll (AP Poll) in 1959 and the Pre-season Coaches' Poll in 2012.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU Tigers football team finished the season ranked No. 1 in the Final Associated Press Poll (AP Poll) in 1958, 2007, and 2019. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the Final Coaches' Poll in 1958, 2003, 2007, and 2019. The Tigers also finished No. 2 in the Final AP Poll in 1936, 2003, and 2011 and the Final Coaches Poll in 2011.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU has played in 52 bowl games, compiling a record of 28–23–1. The Tigers have played in 20 straight bowl games since 2000, the fourth longest active streak in the NCAA and second longest in the Southeastern Conference.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU players have been selected as consensus All-Americans on 38 occasions through the 2019 season, with 12 selections being unanimous.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Starting in 1994, the Southeastern Conference has annually honored one former football player from each of the member schools as an "SEC Legend".


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU Tigers football team has had 319 players drafted into the National Football League (NFL). This includes 39 players taken in the first round and three overall number one picks: Billy Cannon in the 1960 NFL Draft and 1960 AFL Draft, Jamarcus Russell in the 2007 NFL Draft and Joe Burrow in the 2020 NFL Draft.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Tiger Stadium is the 102,321 capacity home of the LSU Tigers football team. The stadium is the sixth largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA and the ninth largest stadium in the world. The current record attendance of 102,321 was set on September 20, 2014 when LSU played host to Mississippi State.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Tiger Stadium contains 70 skyboxes, called "Tiger Den" suites and a 3,200 seat club level named "The Stadium Club". The Paul Manasseh Press Box is located in the west upper-deck. On April 27, 2012, the LSU Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of an $80 million south end-zone upper deck expansion that added approximately 60 "Tiger Den" suites, 3,000 club seats and 1,500 general public seats to bring the total capacity of Tiger Stadium to 102,321, making it the 6th-largest college football stadium in the country.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: Tiger Stadium first opened its gates in the fall of 1924 with a seating capacity of 12,000. In the season finale, LSU hosted Tulane in the first game. As of the 2021 season, LSU has gone on to post a 439-154-18 (.733) mark in Tiger Stadium. Moreover, Tiger Stadium is also known for night games, an idea that was first introduced in 1931 against Spring Hill (a 35-0 LSU victory). In 2006, LSU celebrated its 75th year of playing night football in Tiger Stadium. LSU has played the majority of its games at night, and the Tigers have fared better under the lights than during the day. From 1960 to 2021, LSU is 232–68–4 (.773) at night in Tiger Stadium compared to a 25–26–3 (.491) record during the day over that span. 439-154-18 (.733)


title: LSU Tigers football

text: State Field was the former home stadium of the LSU Tigers football team from 1893 to 1923. The field was located on the old downtown Baton Rouge campus of LSU.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The Charles McClendon Practice Facility is the name of the LSU Tigers football practice facility. The facility features the LSU Football Operations Center, the Tigers Indoor Practice Facility and four outdoor 100-yard football practice fields. In 2002, it was named after former LSU head coach and College Football Hall of Fame member, Charles McClendon.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU Football Operations Center, built in 2006, is an all-in-one facility that includes the Tigers locker room, players' lounge, Peterson-Roberts weight room, training room, equipment room, video operations center and coaches offices. The operations center atrium holds team displays and graphics, trophy cases and memorabilia of LSU football.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The LSU Indoor Practice Facility, built in 1991, is a climate-controlled 82,500 square feet facility connected to the Football Operations Center. It holds the 100-yd Anderson-Feazel LSU indoor field with Momentum Field Turf by SportExe. The indoor practice facility is located behind the football operations center.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: The four outdoor practice fields are directly adjacent to the football operations center and indoor practice facility. Three of the fields are natural grass, while the fourth, The Scott & Espe Moran Outdoor Turf Field has a Momentum Field Turf by SportExe playing surface.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU has had 32 head coaches since organized football began in 1893. In that time, 11 coaches have led the Tigers in postseason bowl games: Bernie Moore, Gus Tinsley, Paul Dietzel, Charles McClendon, Jerry Stovall, Bill Arnsparger, Mike Archer, Gerry DiNardo, Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron. Six of those coaches also won conference championships after LSU left the Southern Conference to join the SEC: Moore, Dietzel, McClendon, Arnsparger, Archer, Saban, Miles, and Orgeron won a combined 12 as a member of the SEC. During their tenures, Dietzel, Saban, Miles, and most recently Orgeron, each won national championships awarded by major selectors while with the Tigers. Of the 32 different head coaches who have led the Tigers, Dana X. Bible, Michael Donahue, Lawrence "Biff" Jones, Moore and McClendon have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.


title: LSU Tigers football

text: LSU plays Florida as a permanent non-division opponent annually and rotates around the "East" division among the other six schools.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy (8 July 1949 – 2 September 2009), popularly known as YSR, was the 14th chief minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, serving from 2004 to 2009.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy was elected to the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Lok Sabha from the Kadapa constituency for four terms and to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for five terms from the Pulivendula constituency. He won every election he contested. In 2003 he undertook a three-month-long padayatra, or walking tour, of during the very hot summer months, across several districts in Andhra Pradesh as a part of his election campaign. He led his party to victory in the following general and assembly elections held in 2004, and did the same in 2009.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: On 2 September 2009, a helicopter carrying Reddy went missing in the Nallamala Forest area. The next morning media reported that the helicopter wreckage had been found on top of Rudrakonda Hill, from Kurnool. The five people aboard were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Over a hundred people were reported to have committed suicide on hearing the news of his death.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy was born on 8 July 1949 into a Christian Reddy middle class family as eldest of five sons for Y. S. Raja Reddy at Pulivendula. Rajasekhara Reddy completed his medical studies in Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, Gulbarga, Karnataka and served as medical officer at CSI-Campbell Mission Hospital, Jammalamadugu, Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh after completing his studies. In 1973, he established a 70-bed charitable hospital before entering politics. His father Raja Reddy was killed in a bomb attack on 23 May 1998.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy was married to Vijaya Lakshmi. They had one son, politician Y. S. Jagan Mohan, and one daughter, Y. S. Sharmila. Reddy's younger brother Y. S. Vivekananda is also a Congress politician.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy's parents were devout Christians, as was Reddy, who was buried according to Christian rites. Reddy visited Bethlehem and other historically important Christian places in Israel twice. He also visited the Hindu temple of Tirupati regularly.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy entered active politics in 1978 and won the Pulivendula constituency same year and became Minister of State for Rural Development (1980–82), and later shifted to Excise Minister (1982) and Education Minister (1982–83). He continued to retain the same constituency in 1983 and 1985, even when Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao swept to power and the party fared badly in the latter, which saw Indira Gandhi making him State president of the party. He even continued the winning streak for Kadapa constituency for four terms in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Lok Sabha. His return to state politics saw him winning 1999 Assembly elections from same Pulivendula constituency during which he served as Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh State Assembly (1999–2004), but his subsequent winning in 2004 Assembly elections saw him sworn in as 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh serving full-term. He won 2009 Assembly elections and continued his tenure as 15th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, which was abruptly cut short by his death on 2 September 2009.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: During his tenure as Chief Minister, the government of Andhra Pradesh undertook the following projects:


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: He commenced the Jala Yagnam project to irrigate of land through the construction of major, medium and minor irrigation projects. It helped Andhra Pradesh make significant progress in sustainable agriculture by making wastelands cultivatable.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy's major campaign slogan for the 2009 election was "Development and Credibility". He sought a mandate based on past performance, making no new election promises but vowing to continue and extend ongoing schemes. The opposition parties formed a 'Grand Alliance' ("mahakootami") made up of all the major opposition parties including, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the communist parties. The TDP promised numerous inducements including free color televisions and a unique cash transfer scheme (CTS). There was also a new party, Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), floated by a popular film star Chiranjeevi.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: The Congress Party under the leadership of Reddy won the contest and came to power for a second time, winning 156 seats in the assembly (148 would be a simple majority). Reddy's party also won 33 seats in parliament out of a total of 42 seats. This feat was seen as a significant victory for Reddy, since he was able to earn a second consecutive term against the odds of anti-incumbency. He became the Congress party's first incumbent chief minister since 1969 to win based on his performance.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the term of 2009–2014 on 20 May 2009. The ceremony was held in Hyderabad's Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and was attended by a crowd of about 20,000 people.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy was accused of amassing large amounts of money during his tenure as the Chief Minister. He is said to have used populist schemes like irrigation projects and housing schemes to his advantage and earn huge profits through them. In a leaked United States diplomatic cable, the American Consul General quotes that there was "widespread corruption that was beyond the pale even for India".


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: The surrender of more than of personal land by Reddy to the government to be compliant with the law in December 2006 was criticised by opposition parties. The opposition parties demanded his resignation for owning the land in violation of the law. N. Chandrababu Naidu also called for Reddy's resignation after a 2007 Khammam police shooting resulted in eight deaths. Despite criticism, he won general and assembly elections and sworn in as Chief Minister again in 2009.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: A federal probe of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was also launched to investigate disproportionate assets acquired by his son, Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, in return for favours his father made to the industrialists. In May 2012, the CBI arrested Mopidevi Venkataramana, the then Infrastructure Minister in Reddy's cabinet, who was responsible for unduly assigning the land to a private organisation called VANPIC. This incident called the credibility of Reddy's entire cabinet into question.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy's Bell 430 helicopter went missing on Wednesday, 2 September 2009 at 9:35 am. Begumpet and Shamshabad air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 10:02 am while it was passing through the dense Nallamala forest area. The Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, P. Ramakanth Reddy, said that inclement weather had forced the helicopter off course. Although the sparsely populated forest area is considered to be a stronghold of the outlawed Naxal communist insurgents, the National Security Advisor of India ruled out the possibility of the Naxals bringing down the helicopter.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: The Indian Prime Minister's Office confirmed the helicopter's crash on the morning of 3 September, Thursday, and the death of all aboard, namely Reddy, his Special Secretary P. Subrahmanyam, Chief Security Officer A. S. C. Wesley, Group Captain S. K. Bhatia and Captain M. S. Reddy. The Director General of Police said that the bodies were charred beyond recognition and had to be identified on the basis of clothing. The autopsy of all the bodies was carried out at Kurnool Medical College.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: An investigation eventually concluded that the factors that caused that crash included a problem with the transmission oil pressure system that distracted the crew from the worsening weather for more than six minutes. It was also noted that the pilots of the helicopter never discussed the bad weather, diverting, or returning to base.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Reddy's body was buried on 4 September at Idupulapai in Kadapa district with full state honours in accordance with Christian rites by the Church of South India clergy.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: A Telugu television station, NTV, reported that as many as 122 people died of shock or committed suicide upon hearing the news of Reddy's death, many of whom were young supporters or those who benefited from his social welfare schemes. This was not, however, independently confirmed.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Six months after his death, Reddy's son, Jagan, began a condolence tour ("Odarpu Yatra") to meet the families of those who either allegedly committed suicide or died of shock after hearing the death of his father. The Congress party's central leadership directed Jagan to call off the Odarpu Yatra, but he refused. The tour was successful and established Jagan as a major political force in state politics. He resigned from the Congress party on 29 November 2010 and announced on 7 December 2010 from Pulivendula that he would be starting a new party within 45 days. On 16 February the YSR Congress Party came into existence with Jagan as its president.


title: Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

text: Elections for the seats left vacant due to the resignations of Jagan and Y. S. Vijayamma (Reddy's wife) were held on 8 May 2011. Contesting on behalf of the newly formed YSR Congress Party, Jagan and Vijayamma both won easily.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel "The Corrections", a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. His novel "Freedom" (2010) garnered similar praise and led to an appearance on the cover of "Time" magazine alongside the headline "Great American Novelist". Franzen's latest novel "Crossroads" was published in 2021, and is the first in a projected trilogy.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Franzen has contributed to "The New Yorker" magazine since 1994. His 1996 "Harper's" essay "Perchance to Dream" bemoaned the state of contemporary literature. Oprah Winfrey's book club selection in 2001 of "The Corrections" led to a much publicized feud with the talk show host. In recent years, Franzen has become recognized for his opinions on everything from social networking services such as Twitter ("What happens to the people who want to communicate in depth, individual to individual, in the quiet and permanence of the printed word?"; "the actual substance of our daily lives is total electronic distraction") to the impermanence of e-books ("All the real things, the authentic things, the honest things, are dying off") and the self-destruction of America.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Franzen was born in Western Springs, Illinois, the son of Irene (née Super) and Earl T. Franzen. His father, raised in Minnesota, was the son of an immigrant from Sweden; his mother's ancestry was Eastern European. Franzen grew up in an affluent neighborhood, on 83 Webster Woods Drive in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, and graduated with high honors from Swarthmore College, receiving a degree in German in 1981. As part of his undergraduate education, he studied abroad in Germany during the 1979–80 academic year with Wayne State University's Junior Year in Munich program. While there, he met Michael A. Martone, on whom he would later base the character Walter Berglund in "Freedom". He also studied on a Fulbright Scholarship at Freie Universität Berlin in Berlin in 1981–82; he speaks fluent German. Franzen was married in 1982 and moved with his wife to Somerville, Massachusetts to pursue a career as a novelist. While writing his first novel, "The Twenty-Seventh City", he worked as a research assistant at Harvard University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, coauthoring several dozen papers. In September 1987, a month after he and his wife moved to New York City, Franzen sold "The Twenty-Seventh City" to Farrar Straus & Giroux.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: "The Twenty-Seventh City", published in 1988, is set in Franzen's hometown, St. Louis, and deals with the city's fall from grace, St. Louis having been the "fourth city" in the 1870s. This sprawling novel was warmly received and established Franzen as an author to watch. In a conversation with novelist Donald Antrim for "Bomb Magazine", Franzen described "The Twenty-Seventh City" as "a conversation with the literary figures of my parents' generation[,] the great sixties and seventies Postmoderns.", adding in a later interview "I was a skinny, scared kid trying to write a big novel. The mask I donned was that of a rhetorically airtight, extremely smart, extremely knowledgeable middle-aged writer."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: "Strong Motion" (1992) focuses mainly on a dysfunctional family, the Hollands, and uses seismic events on the American East Coast as a metaphor for the quakes that occur in family life (as Franzen put it, "I imagined static lives being disrupted from without—literally shaken. I imagined violent scenes that would strip away the veneer and get people shouting angry moral truths at each other."). A 'systems novel', the key 'systems' of "Strong Motion" according to Franzen are "... the systems of science and religion—two violently opposing systems of making sense in the world." The novel was not a financial success at the time of its publication. Franzen subsequently defended the novel in his 2010 Paris Review interview, remarking "I think they [critics and readers] may be overlooking "Strong Motion" a little bit."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Franzen's "The Corrections", a novel of social criticism, garnered considerable critical acclaim in the United States, winning both the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: and the 2002 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The novel was also a finalist for the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award, and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (won by Richard Russo for "Empire Falls").


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In September 2001, "The Corrections" was selected for Oprah Winfrey's book club. Franzen initially participated in the selection, sitting down for a lengthy interview with Oprah and appearing in B-roll footage in his hometown of St. Louis (described in an essay in "How To Be Alone" titled "Meet Me In St. Louis"). In October 2001, however, "The Oregonian" printed an article in which Franzen expressed unease with the selection. In an interview on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air", he expressed his worry that the Oprah logo on the cover dissuaded men from reading the book:


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Soon afterward, Franzen's invitation to appear on Oprah's show was rescinded. Winfrey announced, "Jonathan Franzen will not be on the Oprah Winfrey show because he is seemingly uncomfortable and conflicted about being chosen as a book club selection. It is never my intention to make anyone uncomfortable or cause anyone conflict. We have decided to skip the dinner and we're moving on to the next book."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: These events gained Franzen and his novel widespread media attention. "The Corrections" soon became one of the decade's best-selling works of literary fiction. At the National Book Award ceremony, Franzen said "I'd also like to thank Oprah Winfrey for her enthusiasm and advocacy on behalf of "The Corrections"."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Following the success of "The Corrections" and the publication of "The Discomfort Zone" and "How to Be Alone", Franzen began work on his next novel. In the interim, he published two short stories in "The New Yorker": "Breakup Stories", published November 8, 2004, concerned the disintegration of four relationships; and "Two's Company", published May 23, 2005, concerned a couple who write for TV, then split up.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 2011, it was announced that Franzen would write a multi-part television adaptation of "The Corrections" in collaboration with "The Squid and the Whale" director Noah Baumbach for HBO. HBO has since passed on "Corrections", citing "difficulty" in "adapting the book's challenging narrative, which moves through time and cuts forwards and back": that would be "difficult to sustain in a series and challenging for viewers to follow, hampering the potential show's accessibility."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In September 2019, "The Corrections" was voted sixteenth in a list of the 100 best books of the twenty-first century so far by writers and critics of the "Guardian" newspaper.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: On June 8, 2009, Franzen published an excerpt from "Freedom", his novel in progress, in "The New Yorker". The excerpt, titled "Good Neighbors", concerned the trials and tribulations of a couple in St. Paul, Minnesota. On May 31, 2010, a second excerpt — titled "Agreeable" — was published, also in "The New Yorker".


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: On October 16, 2009, Franzen made an appearance alongside David Bezmozgis at the "New Yorker Festival" at the Cedar Lake Theatre, reading a portion of his forthcoming novel. Sam Allard, writing for North By Northwestern about the event, said that the "...material from his new (reportedly massive) novel" was "as buoyant and compelling as ever" and "marked by his familiar undercurrent of tragedy". Franzen read "an extended clip from the second chapter."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: On September 9, 2010, Franzen appeared on "Fresh Air" to discuss "Freedom" in the wake of its release. Franzen has drawn what he describes as a "feminist critique" for the attention that male authors receive over female authors—a critique he supports. Franzen also discussed his friendship with David Foster Wallace and the impact of Wallace's suicide on his writing process.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: "Freedom" was the subject of a highly unusual "recall" in the United Kingdom starting in early October 2010. An earlier draft of the manuscript, to which Franzen had made over 200 changes, had been published by mistake. The publisher, HarperCollins, initiated an exchange program, but thousands of books had been distributed by that time.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: While promoting the book, Franzen became the first American author to appear on the cover of "Time" magazine since Stephen King in 2000. Franzen appeared alongside the headline "Great American Novelist". He discussed the implications of the "Time" coverage, and the reasoning behind the title of "Freedom" in an interview in Manchester, England, in October 2010.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: On September 17, 2010, Oprah Winfrey announced that Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom" would be an Oprah book club selection, the first of the last season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show". On December 6, 2010, he appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to promote "Freedom" where they discussed that book and the controversy over his reservations about her picking "The Corrections" and what that would entail.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Franzen has stated the writing of "Freedom" was influenced by the death of his close friend and fellow novelist David Foster Wallace.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In an interview with "Portland Monthly" on December 18, 2012, Franzen revealed that he currently had "a four-page, single-spaced proposal" for a fifth novel he was currently working on, although he went on to suggest that while he had a proposal there was no guarantee that what was proposed would make the final cut, saying of similar proposals for previous novels, "I look at the old proposals now, and I see the one part of them that actually got made into a book, and I think, 'How come I couldn't see that? What is all this other stuff?'". Franzen also hinted that the new novel would probably also be long, adding "I've let go of any illusion that I'm a writer of 150-page novels. I need room to let things turn around over time and see them from the whole lives of other characters, not just the single character. For better or worse, one point of view never seems to do it for me." In October 2014, during a discussion at Colgate University, Franzen read a "self-contained first-person narrative" that is part of a novel that he hoped will be out in the summer of 2015.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: On November 17, 2014, "The New York Times" Artsbeat Blog reported that the novel, titled "Purity", would be out in September. Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, described "Purity" as a multigenerational American epic that spans decades and continents. The story centers on a young woman named Purity Tyler, or Pip, who doesn't know who her father is and sets out to uncover his identity. The narrative stretches from contemporary America to South America to East Germany before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and hinges on the mystery of Pip's family history and her relationship with a charismatic


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 2016, "Daily Variety" reported that the novel was in the process of being adapted into a 20-hour limited series for Showtime by Todd Field who would share writing duties with Franzen and the playwright Sir David Hare. It would star Daniel Craig as Andreas Wolf and be executive produced by Field, Franzen, Craig, Hare & Scott Rudin.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: However, in a February 2018 interview with "The Times" London, Hare said that, given the budget for Field's adaptation (170 million), he doubted it would ever be made, but added "It was one of the richest and most interesting six weeks of my life, sitting in a room with Todd Field, Jonathan Franzen and Daniel Craig bashing out the story. They're extremely interesting people."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: "Purity" was a relative commercial disappointment compared to Franzen's two previous novels, selling only 255,476 copies, compared to 1.15 million copies of "Freedom" and 1.6 million copies of "The Corrections".


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: On November 13, 2020, Franzen's publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux announced the publication of Franzen's new novel, "Crossroads", the first volume in a trilogy titled "A Key to All Mythologies."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: The novel received favorable reviews, with a cumulative "Positive" rating at the review aggregator website Book Marks, based on 48 book reviews from mainstream literary critics. "Bookforum" called it Franzen's "finest novel yet," his "greatest and most perfect novel," and Dwight Garner of the "New York Times" said it was "warmer than anything he's yet written, wider in its human sympathies, weightier of image and intellect." According to the "Times Literary Supplement":"Crossroads" is largely free from the vices to which Franzen's previous work has been addicted: the self-conscious topicality; the show-off sophistication; the formal heavy-handedness. It retains many of his familiar virtues: the robust characterization; the escalating comedy; the virtuosic command of narrative rhythm.Critics especially praised the character of Marion, whom Garner called "one of the glorious characters in recent American fiction."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 1996, while still working on "The Corrections", Franzen published a literary manifesto in Harper's Magazine entitled "Perchance to Dream". Referencing manifestos written by Philip Roth and Tom Wolfe, among others, Franzen grappled with the novelist's role in an advanced media culture which seemed to no longer need the novel. In the end, Franzen rejects the goal of writing a great social novel about issues and ideas, in favor of focusing on the internal lives of characters and their emotions. Given the huge success of "The Corrections", this essay offers a prescient look into Franzen's goals as both a literary and commercially minded author.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 2002, Franzen published a critique of the novels of William Gaddis, entitled "Mr. Difficult", in "The New Yorker". He begins by recounting how some readers felt "The Corrections" was spoiled by being too high-brow in parts, and summarizes his own views of reading difficult fiction. He proposes a "Status model", whereby the point of fiction is to be Art, and also a "Contract model", whereby the point of fiction is to be Entertainment, and finds that he subscribes to both models. He praises "The Recognitions", admits that he only got halfway through "J R", and explains why he does not like the rest of Gaddis's novels.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 2004 Franzen published "The Discomfort Zone", a personal essay about his childhood and family life in Missouri and his love of Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts", in "The New Yorker". Susan Orlean selected it for the subsequent volume of "The Best American Essays".


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Since "The Corrections" Franzen has published "How to Be Alone" (2002), a collection of essays including "Perchance To Dream", and "The Discomfort Zone" (2006), a memoir. "How To Be Alone" is essentially an apologia for reading, articulating Franzen's uncomfortable relationship with the place of fiction in contemporary society. It also probes the influence of his childhood and adolescence on his creative life, which is then further explored in "The Discomfort Zone".


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In September 2007, Franzen's translation of Frank Wedekind's play "Spring Awakening" () was published. In his introduction, Franzen describes the Broadway musical version as "insipid" and "overpraised." In an interview with "New York" magazine, Franzen stated that he had in fact made the translation for Swarthmore College's theater department for $50 in 1986 and that it had sat in a drawer for 20 years since. After the Broadway show stirred up so much interest, Franzen said he was inspired to publish it because "I knew it was a good translation, better than anything else out there."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Franzen published a social commentary on cell phones, sentimentality, and the decline of public space, "I Just Called To Say I Love You" (2008), in the September/October 2008 issue of "MIT Technology Review".


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 2012 he published "Farther Away", a collection of essays dealing with such topics as his love of birds, his friendship with David Foster Wallace, and his thoughts on technology.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 2013, Franzen published "The Kraus Project". It consists of three major essays by the "Perennially ... impossible to translate" Austrian "playwright, poet, social commentator and satirical genius" Karl Kraus – ""Heine and the Consequences" a takedown of the beloved German poet, "Nestroy and Posterity" which established that playwright's reputation in Austria to this day, and "Afterword to Heine and the Consequences"". The essays are accompanied by "Franzen's [own] plentiful, trenchant yet off-beat annotations" taking on "... Kraus' mantle-commenting on what Kraus would say (and what Franzen's opinion is) about Macs and PCs; decrying Twitter's claim of credit for the Arab Spring; and unfurling how media conglomerates influence politics in their quest for profits."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Franzen published his third essay collection, "The End of the End of the Earth: Essays", in November 2018. According to advance press for the book, the collection "gathers essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, [and] Jonathan Franzen returns with renewed vigor to the themes—both human and literary—that have long preoccupied him. Whether exploring his complex relationship with his uncle, recounting his young adulthood in New York, or offering an illuminating look at the global seabird crisis, these pieces contain all the wit and disabused realism that we've come to expect from Franzen.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Taken together, these essays trace the progress of a unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day, made more pressing by the current political milieu. The End of the End of the Earth is remarkable, provocative, and necessary."


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In September 2019, Franzen published an essay on climate change in "The New Yorker" entitled "What If We Stopped Pretending?", which generated controversy among scientists and online pundits because of its alleged pessimism. The term "doomerism" became popular amid the response to the piece. A Sierra Club interview with Franzen, from January 2019 further explores Franzen's feelings about climate change and action.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In an interview with "Transatlantica" conducted in March 2018, Franzen mentioned that he had just started work on a new novel, having recently sold it to publishers on the basis of a three-page proposal. Later that year in a profile piece for "The New York Times Magazine" in June 2018, Franzen confirmed that he was currently at work on the early stages of his sixth novel, which he speculated could be his last. "So, I may be wrong ... But somehow this new one really does feel like my last.". Subsequently, in an interview reproduced on "The Millions" website in April 2020, Franzen mentioned that he was "almost done" with writing this sixth novel. "Crossroads: A Novel" was published on October 5, 2021.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: During a lecture on autobiography and fiction, Franzen discussed four perennial questions often asked of him by audiences, all of which annoy or bother him in some way. They are:


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In the lecture he said of the third question in particular "This one always raises my blood pressure" and quoted Nabokov in response.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In February 2010, Franzen (along with writers such as Richard Ford, Margaret Atwood, and Anne Enright) was asked by "The Guardian" to contribute what he believed were ten serious rules to abide by for aspiring writers.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In his early twenties, Franzen was married to fellow writer Valerie Cornell. They lived in New York City and were married for fourteen years. His marriage and divorce are mentioned in some of his essays in the collection "Farther Away".


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: As first reported in his essay "My Bird Problem," Franzen is well known as a serious birdwatcher. He appeared on CBS Sunday Morning in March 2018 to discuss his love of birds and birdwatching. Franzen served for nine years on the board of the American Bird Conservancy. A feature-length documentary based on Franzen's reported essay "Emptying the Skies" was released in 2013.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: Franzen is a longtime fan of the punk-rock collective The Mekons; he appeared in the 2014 documentary "Revenge of the Mekons" to discuss the group's importance to him.


title: Jonathan Franzen

text: In 2010, at an event at the Serpentine Pavilion in London celebrating the launch of "Freedom", Franzen's glasses were stolen from his face by a gate-crasher, who jokingly attempted to ransom them for $100,000 before being apprehended by police elsewhere in Hyde Park.


title: Orion Pictures

text: Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing LLC) is an American motion picture producer owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films from 1978 until 1999 and was also involved in television production and syndication throughout the 1980s until the early 1990s. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former senior executives at United Artists. During this early period, Orion was considered a mini-major studio.


title: Orion Pictures

text: Woody Allen, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Oliver Stone, and several other prominent directors worked with Orion during its most successful years from 1978 to 1992. Of the films distributed by Orion, four won Academy Awards for Best Picture: "Amadeus" (1984), "Platoon" (1986), "Dances with Wolves" (1990), and "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991). Two other Orion films, "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986) and "Mississippi Burning" (1988), were nominated for that same category.


title: Orion Pictures

text: Since 1997, Orion has been owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). In 2013, MGM revived the Orion name for television; a year later, Orion Pictures was relaunched by the studio.


title: Orion Pictures

text: In January 1978, three executives of Transamerica (TA)-owned studio United Artists (UA)—Arthur B. Krim (chairman), Eric Pleskow (president and chief executive officer), and Robert S. Benjamin (chairman of the finance committee)—quit their jobs. Krim and Benjamin had headed UA since 1951 and subsequently turned around the then-flailing studio with a number of critical and commercial successes. Change had begun once Transamerica purchased UA in 1967 and, within a decade, a rift formed between Krim and Transamerica chairman John R. Beckett concerning the studio's operations. Krim suggested spinning off United Artists into a separate company which was rejected by Beckett.


title: Orion Pictures

text: The last straw came for Pleskow when he refused to collect and deliver the medical records of UA department heads to Transamerica's offices in San Francisco for the sake of confidentiality. The tensions only worsened when "Fortune" magazine reported an article on the clash between UA and TA in which Beckett had stated that, if the executives disliked the parent company's treatment of them, they should resign. Krim, Benjamin and Pleskow quit United Artists on January 13, 1978, followed by the exits of senior vice presidents William Bernstein and Mike Medavoy three days later. The week following the resignations, according to the website "Reference for Business", 63 important Hollywood figures took out an advertisement in a trade paper warning UA that it had made a fatal mistake in letting the five men leave. The 'fatal mistake' came true following the box-office disaster of "Heaven's Gate" in 1980 which led to Transamerica selling UA to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


title: Orion Pictures

text: In February 1978, the five men forged a deal with Warner Bros. The executives formed Orion Pictures Company, named after the constellation which they claimed had five main stars (it actually has seven or eight). The new company intended only to finance projects, giving the filmmakers complete creative autonomy; this ideal had been successfully implemented at United Artists. Orion held a $100 million line of credit and its films would be distributed by the Warner Bros. studio. Orion, however, was contractually given free rein over distribution and advertising as well as the number and type of films the executives chose to invest in.


title: Orion Pictures

text: In late March 1978, Orion signed its first contract, a two-picture deal with John Travolta's production company. Contracts with actress and director Barbra Streisand; actors James Caan, Jane Fonda, Peter Sellers, Jon Voight, and Burt Reynolds; directors Francis Ford Coppola and Blake Edwards; writer/director John Milius; singer Peter Frampton; and producer Ray Stark soon materialized. Orion also developed a co-financing and distribution deal with EMI Films. In its first year, Orion had fifteen films in production and had a dozen more actors, directors and producers lining up to sign with them.


title: Orion Pictures

text: In 1979, Benjamin died. Orion's first film, "A Little Romance", was released in April that year. Later that year, Orion released Blake Edwards' "10" which became a commercial success, the first for Edwards in over a decade (aside from installments of "The Pink Panther" franchise). Other films released by Orion over the next two years included a few successes such as "Caddyshack" (1980) and "Arthur" (1981); critically praised but underperforming films such as "The Great Santini" (1979), an adaptation of a Pat Conroy novel, and Sidney Lumet's "Prince of the City" (1981); and pictures by young writer-directors such as Philip Kaufman's "The Wanderers" (1979) and Nicholas Meyer's debut "Time After Time" (1979); plus "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979) which Orion only distributed in the United States. Out of the 23 films Orion released between April 1979 and December 1981, only a third of them made a profit. Orion executives were conflicted over financing big-budgeted films and passed on "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) for that reason.


title: Orion Pictures

text: By early 1982, Orion had severed its distribution ties with Warner. As part of the deal, the rights to Orion's films made up to that point were sold to Warner. Orion was now looking to have its own distribution network by acquiring another company with such capabilities. The four partners looked into Allied Artists and Embassy Pictures before settling on Filmways. Orion subsequently purchased Filmways and reorganized the flailing company. New employees were hired and all of Filmways' non-entertainment assets (Grosset & Dunlap and Broadcast Electronics) were sold off.


title: Orion Pictures

text: Another result of the merger was that Orion entered television production. Orion's biggest TV hit was "Cagney & Lacey" which lasted seven seasons on CBS. In 1983, Orion Pictures introduced art-house division Orion Classics with executives who had previously run United Artists Classics.


title: Orion Pictures

text: According to "Reference for Business": "Of the first 18 movies the company had released as Orion Pictures Corporation, ten had been profitable, five had broken even, and three had losses of less than $2 million." One such film, Francis Ford Coppola's "The Cotton Club", was mired in legal troubles and Orion lost $3 million of its investment. "We've had some singles and doubles [but haven't] had any home runs," lamented Krim. In September 1984, Orion distributed "Amadeus", which garnered many accolades, winning eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. That year, on April 3, 1984, Orion Pictures launched Orion Entertainment Group, that would consist of four groups, Orion Television, Orion Home Video, Orion Pay Television and Orion Television Syndication, and the new organization would produce and distribute product for television, home video, pay and syndicated markets, with Jamie Kellner serving as president.


title: Orion Pictures

text: For Orion, 1985 was a dismal year. All but two films, "Desperately Seeking Susan" and "Code of Silence", made less than $10 million in the United States box office, including an unsuccessful attempt at a James Bond–type franchise, "". Orion's haphazard distribution channels and unsuccessful advertising campaigns made it impossible to achieve a hit. Another factor was that Orion was about to venture into the video business and stopped selling off home use rights to its films. Furthermore, production of the Rodney Dangerfield comedy "Back to School" was put on hold when a co-producer died, taking the film off of its Christmas 1985 release slate.


title: Orion Pictures

text: In January 1986, Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna, producers of the "Rambo" films (the first film, "First Blood", was distributed by Orion) attempted to buy $55 million worth of the studio's stock through the duo's company, Anabasis. Had they succeeded, Kassar and Vajna would have controlled the board and laid off every executive save for Krim. Warburg Pincus subsequently limited its 20% stake in Orion to 5%; the remaining stock was acquired by Viacom International. Viacom hoped to use Orion's product for its pay-TV channel Showtime. Orion expanded into home video distribution with the formation of Orion Home Entertainment Corporation in 1985, which began distributing videos under the Orion Home Video label in 1987 (prior to OHV's formation, HBO Video and their predecessors, as well as Vestron Video and Embassy Home Entertainment, had been responsible for home media releases of Orion product).


title: Orion Pictures

text: On May 22, 1986, Metromedia, a television and communications company controlled by billionaire (and a friend of Krim's) John Kluge, which had just divested of its television station group to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (which would form what is now the Fox network), purchased a 6.5% stake in Orion. Kluge's investment in the company came at the right time- "Back to School" was a success and ultimately earned $90 million at the box office. By March 1987, the studio's fortunes increased dramatically with a succession of critical and commercial hits, including "Platoon" (which ultimately won a Best Picture Oscar), Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters", and the sports film "Hoosiers". Orion's 1986 offerings totaled 18 Academy Award nominations, more than any other studio. In 1987, Orion achieved further success with "RoboCop" and "No Way Out". By this time, Orion's television division had expanded into the lucrative syndicated game show market under the name Century Towers Productions, in reference to Orion's street address at the time. It produced revivals of format inherited from Heatter-Quigley Productions after the Filmways merger (as Filmways had previously acquired HQ in the late 1960s); this included "The New Hollywood Squares", which ran from 1986 to 1989, and a revival of "High Rollers" which aired in the 1987–88 season. That year, former CBS/Fox Video executive Len White joined Orion Home Video, in order to become president and CEO of the home video division, in order to oversee home video technology, and Orion had excepted to release its first home video titles to be out in the third or fourth quarter of that year, and reported to Larry Hilford, who joined the home video division two years earlier.


title: Orion Pictures

text: In late November 1987, Orion Home Video, the home video division of Orion Pictures, had inked a deal with upstart distributor Orange Entertainment, a group headed by Leland Nolan and Eric Van Ginkle to distribute a dozen of made-for-video comedy films that were produced by the film studio, which included "Dr. Dub's Mangled Movies: Volume I: Crocodile Gandhi" and "Father Guido Sarducci's Ninja Summer Camp".


title: Orion Pictures

text: In January 1987, Kluge faced big competition with the arrival of Sumner Redstone. His theater chain, National Amusements, purchased 6.42 percent of the company's stock. National Amusements later acquired Viacom, increasing their Orion stake at 21%, then 26%. Soon Kluge started buying more Orion stock, leading to his and Redstone's battling it out to take over the company. Kluge ultimately succeeded when Metromedia took over approximately 67% of Orion on May 20, 1988, effectively giving him control of the studio. One analyst commented on the takeover to "The Wall Street Journal": "This amount is probably so small to Kluge it doesn't matter. He probably burns that up in a weekend."


title: Orion Pictures

text: In 1989, Orion suffered from a disastrous slate of films, placing themselves dead last among the larger Hollywood studios in terms of box office revenue. Among its biggest flops that year were "Great Balls of Fire!", the biography of Jerry Lee Lewis starring Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder; "She-Devil", a dark comedy starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr; "Speed Zone", an action comedy vehicle for "SCTV" alumni John Candy, Joe Flaherty, and Eugene Levy; and Miloš Forman's adaptation of "Les Liaisons dangereuses", "Valmont", which competed with "Dangerous Liaisons", also based on the same source material. Test screenings of the "Weird Al" Yankovic comedy "UHF" were so strong that Orion had high expectations for it. It flopped at first, but it has since attained a strong cult following. Also that year, it inked a deal with Nelson Entertainment to distribute titles on videocassette and theatrically.


title: Orion Pictures

text: In February 1990, Orion signed a deal with Columbia Pictures Entertainment in which the much larger studio would pay Orion $175 million to distribute Orion's movies and television programs overseas. Orion had previously licensed its films to individual distributors territory by territory. That same month, Mike Medavoy left Orion and became head of Tri-Star Pictures.


title: Orion Pictures

text: The box-office returns for Orion's 1990 releases were just as dismal as the previous year, with such failures as "The Hot Spot" and "State of Grace". The only bright spot that year was Kevin Costner's western epic "Dances with Wolves". It won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and grossed $400 million worldwide. A few months later, Orion garnered another winner with "The Silence of the Lambs", but these two films could not make up for years of losses. Only Kluge's continued infusions of cash were enough to keep the company afloat, but soon he had enough.


title: Orion Pictures

text: After failing to sell Orion to businessman (and former 20th Century Fox owner) Marvin Davis (Sony, which had recently purchased Columbia Pictures, was also interested), Kluge took drastic steps. First, Orion shut down production. Second, Kluge ordered the sale of several projects, such as "The Addams Family" (which went to Paramount, though the international rights to the film were retained by Orion), in order to accumulate much-needed cash. Finally, in the spring of 1991, Kluge's people took over the company, leading to the departure of Arthur Krim. Orion's financial problems were so severe, that at the 63rd Annual Academy Awards in March 1991, host Billy Crystal made reference to the studio's debt in his opening monologue, joking that ""Reversal of Fortune" [is] about a woman in a coma, "Awakenings" [is] about a man in a coma; and "Dances with Wolves" [was] released by Orion, a studio in a coma."