Football: Cajun Nation shows its pride before big game + Fan Fest Video 12/22/12

Football: Cajun Nation shows its pride before big game &#434343434343; Fan Fest Video 12/22/12

Claire Taylor, Daily Advertiser, Dec. 22, 2012

UL fan Natalie Breaux makes the UL hand gesture during Friday during the UL Fan Fest at the Marriott hotel in New Orleans. UL will play East Carolina University in the R?L Carriers New Orleans Bowl game Saturday. By Leslie Westbrook December 21, 2012

NEW ORLEANS — The purple, green and gold of Mardi Gras and the black and gold of the Saints gave way Friday afternoon to a tidal wave of vermilion red and white as Ragin’ Cajuns fans swept into this city for the second consecutive year.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette faces East Carolina this morning in the New Orleans Bowl. The Cajuns are hoping for a repeat of last year’s thrilling win, the team’s first bowl appearance in a long, long time.

Hundreds of fans packed a ballroom at The Marriott on Canal Street on Friday afternoon for Fan Fest, a pep rally and party all wrapped into one. They wore their colors on their sleeves, hats, feet, faces and more.U.S. District Court Judge Richard Haik traded his black robe for a red-and-white Santa coat.

Lafayette firefighter Doyle Boudreaux looked ready to douse any hopes East Carolina has of winning today. He donned a red Cajuns shirt with black suspenders holding up black pants, a UL firefighters helmet atop his head and a rope hanging loosely from his neck. He ain’t letting go of the rope, coach!Red, white and black balloons decorated the ballroom, and the crowd went wild as the Cajuns football team led by second-year head coach Mark Hudspeth paraded into the room.

"I want you to remember how good this feels," Hudspeth told the crowd, challenging everyone to work the next 364 days to make Cajun Nation even stronger."We’re going to the top," he said.

Last year, UL fans broke the attendance record for the New Orleans Bowl. This year, an even bigger fan base scooped up 23,000 tickets. That didn’t go unnoticed by UL President E. Joseph Savoie."We need to keep that enthusiasm going," Savoie said. "We might have to find a bigger hotel."As special as this weekend is to fans and the football team, it’s one Kourtni Bourque and Scott Hayes won’t forget. The two have been dating five years. They met while attending UL. He was a football player. She was a cheerleader.

Friday’s Fan Fest was "the perfect moment" for a proposal, Hayes said.

While fans sang the school’s fight song, cheerleaders held up posters that asked, "Will you marry me, Kourtni?"

She said yes.

Dana Pellerin of Lafayette knows a little something about marrying a huge UL fan. When she married Burley "Joey" Pellerin in October a few years back, they had to plan the wedding around UL’s home game schedule to avoid a conflict."It’s my school. It’s my home town. It’s my community," he said.

While Burley doesn’t think a UL win today could be as exciting as the last-minute kick that sealed the team’s victory last year, "to be able to say we won a repeat, that would be awesome."Boudreaux, the firefighter, said he’s been waiting 40 years for UL’s football team to get to this point."My dad had tickets since they played in McNaspy Stadium. I’ve been coming to their games since I was born," he said.As Fan Fest ended, the sea of red dispersed. Many Cajuns fans headed to Champion Square outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for a free concert Friday night. Bad Company got fans singing, dancing and cheering, warming them up for the headliner, The Beach Boys.Some Cajuns fans partied into the wee hours this morning, showing the folks on Bourbon Street how the Cajun Nation celebrates. Others called it an early night, resting up for the big game today.Karren Hays, a past president of the UL Alumni Association, said a few years ago she never would have imagined UL’s football team would be playing in back-to-back bowl games. But times have changed.

"We booked our rooms a couple of weeks before we even got the (bowl game) invitation," she said. "It’s just so good to be a part of Cajun Nation."

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for Ragin’ Cajuns Fan Fest.