The University of Louisiana football team plays the Texas Longhorns today.

Just in case you've forgotten.

With the ravages of Hurricane Katrina not too far to the east, it's been easy for a football game to slip through the cracks.

With most of south Louisiana rapidly becoming a refugee state, even a season opener against the No. 2 ranked team in the nation takes a back seat. There's a bigger game going on, and Katrina's pushed us all over the field on the way to a big halftime lead.

There's no doubt that we'll bandage our wounds in the locker room and rally in the second half. That's what we do.

But it won't happen quickly, and it will take a long time before, when we close our eyes, we won't see the photos and the news footage from a devastated Gulf Coast.

Even the most die-hard football fans aren't focused on their teams. So how hard do you think it's been for the UL kids to prepare themselves for what is probably the toughest team most will face in their lifetimes?

Twenty-two Cajun players hail from New Orleans and its suburbs, and that doesn't include the ones from nearby areas that shared the devastation.

Many of their families evacuated to Lafayette and are squeezing in with their offspring in dorm rooms and apartments. They're the lucky ones. Some are in emergency shelters scattered across the region, with only the barest of essentials and little hope of returning to whatever is left of home.

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Dan McDonald
Second Wind