Why one LSU fan brought a 30-foot Tiger float to the MCWS - ESPN

Editor's note: A version of this story ran before the semifinal round of the Men's College World Series. It has been updated to reflect LSU advancing the championship series against Coastal Carolina.

OMAHA, Neb. — Rush hour hits different when you're towing a 30-foot-long tiger.

There's no road rage — you're driving 15 mph — and no rush to get anywhere, just around and around the streets near Charles Schwab Field, home of the Men's College World Series.

Zane Greene fidgeted with his phone in the passenger seat early Tuesday evening, tapped the screen and started a playlist that blasted over four speakers in the back. «LSU Pregame» was the first song, and Greene's uncle, Jacob Stone, steered the 15,000-pound fiberglass tiger around traffic. A man in a Jeep sidled up beside them and rolled down his window.

«It sure is an eye-catcher,» he told them.

Mardi Gras Mike, an homage to LSU's mascot, is a creation of Kern Studios. Fitz Kern, CEO of the company that produces the majority of the floats at Mardi Gras, was inspired to make the float after watching the Tiger Walk before last fall's LSU-Ole Miss football game. He wanted to create something that LSU fans could rally around.

«We wanted Mardi Gras Mike to channel the spirit of LSU fans,» Kern said, «and the spirit of Louisiana.»

The float was unveiled last week at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as fans sent off the MCWS-bound LSU baseball team to Omaha. From there, Mardi Gras Mike went on a 900-plus-mile journey to Omaha that was chronicled on social media. There was a snapshot of Mike at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, and a little troll photo of the float parked in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at Arkansas' football stadium.

The Razorbacks — SEC