Jay's Blog: LIONHEARTED

[CajunRed]

Tremendous piece, Jay. This young man is truely amazing.


igeaux.mobi

[Turbine]

+21

After last night ... +22 igeaux.mobi

[Turbine]

Five-thousand-two-hundred plus heart tugging words there Jay.

Great read.

[geo_cajun]

Thanks Mr. Walker. That was an excellent read. Very emotional. I can only imagine how proud his mother was watching him walk at graduation, after having to see him go through all of that pain. Do you ever try to submit your better articles, like this one, to ESPN? I was thinking SVP would love the whole fear the beard thing. I frequently hang out after the games and talk with some people who know the student athletes, and I really believe we have you men we can be PROUD of representing our program and university. Thank you for highlighting the players Jay.

[johndeere]

Great read Jay. I was there when his injury happened and it was gruesome, but this guy is amazing. Congrats to Travis and Randall for their great turnaround this year but I have to especially thank LG, he is what the expression, "We are UL" is all about. True class. Thanks LG

[cajunfan32]

_ Great read! Well done Jay.

I have a new player in my top-5 all-time Cajun basketball players. I do, however, worry about how this warrior mentality as a player will affect his quality of life down the road.

Have a great Senior Night La'Ryan, you deserve every good thing that comes your way. _

from what I heard him playing means he will have to have a knee replacement in his 40s. He is aware of what this means for his leg down the road and I think he wanted just one more year of playing basketball.

Great article Jay!

[zephyr]

Great article. Before his time started here, I was told some things about Gary and that he was a risk for trouble off the court. I was told that he wasn't a good teammate. In the four years he's been here, not only has he proven that wrong but he's become, by far, my favorite player EVER to wear the cajun uniform. I don't know what I'd tell Gary if I saw him. Maybe Thank You. Maybe how proud I am to have him in the cajun family. Maybe both. I'd likely tell him that he's made such a positive mark on the program and the fans who follow it. I'm glad that person who told me those things was wrong. The interesting thing is that I'm prouder of two things that Gary has done in his time here over anything else. The first, that he sat next to Lee every game last year to just help out in any capacity he could. I watched this and couldn't believe what I saw every night. It was special. The other, was finding out some time back that he earned his degree in 3 years after being a non-qualifier entering college. I like to think I'm educated after having a couple of degrees and he finished his undergraduate work in about 2 years less time than I did while basically having a full-time job to work around. The kid is special. There's nothing else you can say.

[cajunfan32]

I definitely hope to see him on our sidelines as a coach one day.


igeaux.mobi

[BirdofParadise]

_ from what I heard him playing means he will have to have a knee replacement in his 40s. He is aware of what this means for his leg down the road and I think he wanted just one more year of playing basketball.

Great article Jay! _

he might have made it into his 40's with that knee if he had not played this year.

The knee replacement will come in his 30's...maybe sooner.

[BirdofParadise]

_ Great article. Before his time started here, I was told some things about Gary and that he was a risk for trouble off the court. I was told that he wasn't a good teammate. In the four years he's been here, not only has he proven that wrong but he's become, by far, my favorite player EVER to wear the cajun uniform. I don't know what I'd tell Gary if I saw him. Maybe Thank You. Maybe how proud I am to have him in the cajun family. Maybe both. I'd likely tell him that he's made such a positive mark on the program and the fans who follow it. I'm glad that person who told me those things was wrong. The interesting thing is that I'm prouder of two things that Gary has done in his time here over anything else. The first, that he sat next to Lee every game last year to just help out in any capacity he could. I watched this and couldn't believe what I saw every night. It was special. The other, was finding out some time back that he earned his degree in 3 years after being a non-qualifier entering college. I like to think I'm educated after having a couple of degrees and he finished his undergraduate work in about 2 years less time than I did while basically having a full-time job to work around. The kid is special. There's nothing else you can say. _

Zeph, I bet if you look back on what you heard way back then, you'll find a common denominator. There were a lot of local people that didn't want La'Ryan to have success. Those people said some things about him that weren't true. I also heard he'd never be eligible to play at UL. I bet it was from the same folks.

[Jumpman]

Remarkable piece of writing. Definitely have LG as one of my all-time faves.

[BeauCajun]

_ Great article. Before his time started here, I was told some things about Gary and that he was a risk for trouble off the court. I was told that he wasn't a good teammate. In the four years he's been here, not only has he proven that wrong but he's become, by far, my favorite player EVER to wear the cajun uniform. I don't know what I'd tell Gary if I saw him. Maybe Thank You. Maybe how proud I am to have him in the cajun family. Maybe both. I'd likely tell him that he's made such a positive mark on the program and the fans who follow it. I'm glad that person who told me those things was wrong. The interesting thing is that I'm prouder of two things that Gary has done in his time here over anything else. The first, that he sat next to Lee every game last year to just help out in any capacity he could. I watched this and couldn't believe what I saw every night. It was special. The other, was finding out some time back that he earned his degree in 3 years after being a non-qualifier entering college. I like to think I'm educated after having a couple of degrees and he finished his undergraduate work in about 2 years less time than I did while basically having a full-time job to work around. The kid is special. There's nothing else you can say. _

He actually finished school in 4 1/2 years and that is what I'm most proud of. What a warrior.