BATON ROUGE — A 52-minute highlight video and DVD recapping LSU’s run to the 2003 BCS National Championship is currently on sale in stores throughout the state of Louisiana.
To view the trailer of this video, using Real Player, please click here.
LSU coach Nick Saban and his coaching staff along with members of the media watched a special screening of the video on Wednesday at the Bill Lawton Room on the LSU campus.
“That’s the first time I’ve gone back and watched a video that recaps our season from beginning to end,” Saban said after Wednesday’s screening. “”I had forgotten about some of the tough situations that we had to overcome during the season.
“I thought it was a great production and something that really makes you realize just how special a team we had.”
“Victory for LSU” includes highlights from all 14 games, interviews with Saban and his players, and behind the scenes footage and Sugar Bowl festivities.
“This is isn’t just a national championship, it’s a championship that was done perfectly in every way,” LSU Director of Athletics Skip Bertman said. “We’re all proud to capture it on film and to put it into 52-minute DVD is something that, I think, will be an item of great sales and ultimately a cherished piece of LSU history. I’m very, very proud.”
LSU fans can purchase copies of the film at www.lsusports.net or by calling toll free, 1-800-324-3875. The video and DVD is also available at Tiger Mania, Sam’s Club, Napa Auto Parts, and Hibbett Sports stores in the state of Louisiana. Both DVD and VHS copies are priced at $19.95 each.
ISP Sports, headquartered in Winston Salem, N.C., and Innovision Film and Video Productions in Fayetteville, N.Y., have teamed to produce and market the video. Collegiate Images, located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., manages the video licensing rights on behalf of LSU. Emmy Award winning filmmaker Roger Springfield, president of Innovision wrote and produced the film. Jim Birdsall, one of the voices of NFL Films, serves as the narrator for the production.
Springfield also created and was executive producer of “Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football”, a ten-part ESPN documentary about the history of college football. Springfield and his company have also completed work for the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, the Big East Conference, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Cornell and Colgate Universities.
ISP Sports is the largest collegiate multi-media rights holder in the country. The company manages multi-media rights for 18 major collegiate athletic programs, including SEC schools Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
“We’re just privileged to be associated with this great school and Coach Saban and the outstanding LSU football program,” President of ISP Sports Ben Sutton said. “We already have sold 15,000 copies on the pre-order. Nobody has even seen it yet and there are 15,000 people out there have orders for this and we’re excited about that.”
In addition to the national championship season video and DVD, LSU is also offering the official radio play-by-play CD from the national championship game, which features the Voice of the Tigers Jim Hawthorne. The two-disc CD set is priced at $15 and can be purchased on www.lsusports.net as well as other retail sites across Louisiana.
Other items on sale include the ABC Sports telecast of the game ($22), the official book “Return to Glory” by the New Orleans Times-Picayune ($19.95), the official poster “One Moment In Time”, which is a panoramic photo of the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl ($39 print, $109 framed, $159 framed and matted), and the 2003 LSU football season ticket stock ($10 or $20 personalized). All of these items can be purchased on LSU’s website, www.lsusports.net.