Sitting in a case right in the middle of the restaurant are signed helmets, programs, and the 1959 Heisman Trophy, won by LSU's Billy Cannon, who was best known for his punt return against Ole Miss that catapaulted him into the national spotlight.

"Just about everyone has seen that game now," said Moran. "Billy's an icon around here. LSU sports rallied around him. He was the icon of football. Of course, LSU rallied around Pete Maravich in basketball, but Billy even outshadowed Maravich. That basically shows that football is the crown prince of athletics here at LSU."

Moran, who spent most of his life in Chicago and Madison, Wisc., chose Baton Rouge as his new home, and becoming a LSU fan followed soon after his move.

"I became a Tiger fan the moment I moved to Baton Rouge," said Moran. "After five years, collecting memorabilia just came naturally. I was a big fan of Dale Brown and the basketball team, so I traveled a bit with them. Dale's one of my dearest friends. We had collected so much memorbilia that when I decided to build a restaurant here, we just decided to hang all of it up. Then, Billy Cannon was in here and I asked him if I could borrow his Heisman, and he found it and gave it to us."

The reaction was immensely popular, a natural reaction for a football-crazed town.

"We've had it for 18,19 years now," Moran said. "It's really a thrill for kids. We don't publicize it much though. We used to have it on billboards, but the Downtown Athletic Club asked us not to publicize the fact that we have the Heisman, and we agreed."

The 1959 Heisman also is unique in that it is different from all other Heisman trophies.

"The '59 Heisman is made of solid silver," said Moran. "It was silver to represent the 25th year of the Heisman Trophy. There's no other Heisman that is made of solid silver, just this one."

Surprisingly enough, this is not the first Heisman trophy that Moran has featured in one of his restaurants.

"We had Johnny Lattner's Heisman in our Chicago restaurant for a year," Moran said. "And Alan Ameche and I were in the same class at Wisconsin."

Everywhere you look, there is a piece of Tiger history on the walls.

"We used to have Pete Maravich's warmups," said Moran. "We have Shaq's first uniform from LSU, and shoes from LSU players that they wore in the '86 Final Four. We've got a pair of Shaquille's shoes as well, and the rim from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center that Shaq broke from the backboard. We've had someone offer $15,000 for the rim, and for Shaq's uniform, we've had offers well around $25,000. Nothing is for sale, though."

There have been other famous momentos at TJ Ribs as well.

"We had the 1958 national championship trophy here as well," said Moran. "Dale Brown found it and wanted to know if we wanted to display it here. Of course, we said yes. We had it here for awhile, and then the athletic director came to get it. He said they'd been looking all over for it, and how on Earth did we get it? I just simply told them that Dale Brown found it under a stairwell in the Maravich Assembly Center."

For Moran, the momentos are symbols of what makes Baton Rouge such a special place to live.

"Football and LSU mean so much to the morale of the community," Moran said. "You know, when Katrina happened, it was football and LSU that kept this town together. Out of adversity, great things happen, and LSU really helped save this town. LSU is everything to Baton Rouge."

"Everything in Baton Rouge revolves around the LSU and the state government," said Moran. "LSU has been great to Baton Rouge, and we've been great to LSU as well. The energy from LSU sparks this whole town. I don't know another school in America...well, maybe Notre Dame, whose fans are so fierce that they expect a national championship from every sport, every year."

So far, LSU's athletic teams are working hard to fulfill those goals, with national titles in several sports, and basketball teams who both reached the Final Four last year.

However, for Moran, whether win or lose, LSU has a special place in his heart.

"I love LSU," Moran said. "I have five children with nine degrees from LSU. If you've ever touched Baton Rouge, you've been touched as well by LSU."

And if LSU touches you, you'll be touched by TJ Ribs.