Read all about it

My former employer in New Orleans has been doing a fantastic job covering the build-up to tonight's national championship game between LSU (the virtual home team) and Ohio State.

This was the front of Sunday morning's newspaper. Times-Picayune writers have been particularly deft in their explorations of the cultural aspects of the game (yes, in places like Louisiana and Ohio, college football is culture). The paper even sent writers up north to find out what makes a Buckeye tick.

Here are links to a few of my favorite stories:

- Ron Thibodeaux wrote about displaced Tiger fans, a Cajun's trek through the heart of Buckeye country and LSU head coach Les Miles' hometown of Elyria, Ohio. James Varney, one of the paper's top writers who covers LSU and graduated from Ohio State, penned another piece on Elyria.

- Then there's this article by Varney that explains why the marching bands from LSU and Ohio State are cultural icons in their home states and essentials parts of the great football traditions that both schools share.

- Here's why game day in New Orleans will be a holiday for much of the city.

- The game blog features videos of fans in the French Quarter, clips of school bands and an interview with a Bourbon Street sex-shop operator who complained that LSU and Ohio State fans don't hold a candle to Virginia Tech fans when it comes to kink and erotica.