When Louisiana State completed a rare victory over Alabama in November, my sister, Irene Cloud, kissed her tiger-striped fingernails. Coach Ed Orgeron’s face on her television, which had been sprinkled with holy water for good luck. “He’s so cute; I love him so much,” Melissa Landry, a family friend, said in a video of the victory celebration at Irene’s home in Lafayette, La. “The Cajun Cookie Monster!” yelled Sarah Davenport, Irene’s daughter and my niece. Orgeron’s raspy voice is similar to bayou voices they have heard their entire lives but more gravelly, like the sound of tires on an oyster shell parking lot.

Source: New York Times January 09, 2020 07:52 UTC