Festivals abound in October
October 19, 2011
Grand Réveil Acadien!
October 19, 2011Honey badger gets what he wants.
In the wild, everything is ripe for the picking for this brownish-black animal with a golden streak across the middle of its body.
Exotic birds, rats, all no match for the animal scientists say is the most aggressive in the world.
Heck, even the mighty king cobra isn’t a worthy foe. The snake strikes and smacks its venom-filled fangs against the small mammal’s skin.
It does no good. The honey badger’s skin is too tough. The cobra’s fangs never penetrate the surface. The poison never gets into the bloodstream and is now useless.
The honey badger gets what he wants. In this particular battle, a king cobra sandwich is just that, no contest. What a good source of protein for the pound-for-pound toughest animal in the wild.
No challenge is too big for this runt-like mammal that calls the gruff and sandy plains of West Africa home. He is truly the Chuck Norris of the African wild.
Check that, he’s better than Chuck Norris. Studies show his dominance is equivalent to a Norris, Zack Morris, Hulk Hogan and Jack Bauer all wrapped into one with the intellect of Charlie Sheen.
How can an animal that powerful not get what it wants?
Somewhere in the intricate process of evolution, the animal got tired of its dominance and decided it was time to move onto a new challenge.
It packed its honey badger bags and swam across the Atlantic Ocean and landed on the fertile banks of Louisiana.
Enter LSU sophomore defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, the human honey badger.
Enter the best defensive player in college football.
Honey badger jokes aside for a minute, Mathieu landed at LSU after a decorated playing career at St. Augustine High School.
The New Orleans native was not a highly touted prospect coming out of the prep level, but earned a scholarship offer from the Tigers after his performance at an LSU elite camp.
For those not familiar with the structure of these camps, the format is simple.
The nation’s best wide receivers join the nation’s best cornerbacks and they all compete to earn the attention of coaches.
At most camps, the top offensive players nudge and push their way around the line to avoid matchups with the best defensive players.
Legend has it, one player at this particular camp shied away from no one, Mathieu.
By day’s end, he had a scholarship offer from LSU coach Les Miles, who took note of the human honey badger’s aggressiveness and fearless mentality, despite standing just 5-feet, 9-inches off the ground.
It will go down as one of the best decisions Miles has made in recent memory.
Mathieu is now a two-year starter for the Tigers as a base nickel cornerback.
But very rarely does the honey badger streak down the field in coverage like a stereotypical defensive back.
Mathieu’s primary defensive value is through blitzes.
For most, the object of a blitz is to force an errant throw. If you’re lucky, you might even get a sack.
Mathieu’s goal is quite a bit different.
Honey badger gets what he wants. More often than not, he wants chaos.
After that panic is in place, he then wants the football.
Through one and a half seasons, Mathieu already owns the LSU school record for forced fumbles for a career, breaking Ali Highsmith’s mark of seven.
Mathieu’s LSU career is just 20 games old and one and a half years young. Highsmith played in Baton Rouge for four full seasons.
What the honey badger does once the fumble is on the ground, that’s the most amazing part.
Of the four forced fumbles Mathieu has already recorded in his sophomore season, he has recovered three on his own.
Once he gets the ball in his hands, he has a knack for finding the end zone.
Mathieu has scored two defensive touchdowns this season, including one on a special teams play against Oregon when he stripped the football from the Ducks’ punt returner and still had the presence of mind to remain on his feet, scoop up the football and waltz into the end zone.
Honey badger gets what he wants. On that play, he wanted a touchdown.
With Mathieu wowing the rest of the country with his ability to create havoc, many are using the ‘H’ word around the LSU sophomore’s play.
That word, of course is Heisman, as in Heisman Trophy, which is the most prestigious award in all of college football.
But instead of giving the award to the nation’s best player (which is what the award’s guidelines state), the award has become a beauty pageant annually given to the best quarterback in the country. Heck, defensive players are usually excluded from even being considered.
That needs to be changed.
No one in America causes more good things for his own team, while creating more bad situations for the opponent than Mathieu.
If he’s not the most feared player and the biggest game changer in all of college football, then I challenge someone to tell me who is.
Honey badger gets what he wants.
Right now, he seems to want the Heisman Trophy.
The voters need to not stand in his way.
There is no one more deserving.
