I don’t know why, but the past few years I’ve been trying harder to see more states and big cities in the U.S., instead of heading out of the country every time I travel somewhere new. I ended up in New Orleans for the last six days, and have to say that it was a very fun trip. If you’ve never been, you have to go there at some point even if you aren’t much of a partier it would still be a fun trip to make. I’m not sure where this post will take me, but I thought I should write about the trip since I haven’t been paying attention to the sports world as much as normal. Since I have family that reads the blog it will let them know about the trip as well.
My trip started with heading to the New Orleans Arena to watch the Bulls vs. Hornets. Rose vs. CP3 was quite the match up to see first-hand. I’m still not really sure who is better. It’s no secret that Rose has a much better team surrounding him. After watching them go at it, there’s no question in my mind that Paul was the better PG that night even though his team lost.
The main I came to that conclusion after watching them duel, is because Paul plays much better defense. Offensively I feel like they were equals, so defense was the tie breaker. The best guy on the floor that night was surprisingly, Marcus Thorton. He couldn’t miss, and was taking Bogans to school all game long! One of the coolest things they do there that I didn’t think I’d like was the “woooo” they scream after every free throw CP3 makes. I wonder if that will follow him to his next team when he leaves New Orleans? I was also wondering how the people there felt about Stern and Co. owning their team. Unsurprisingly, most the people I talked to seemed to just be happy they still have a team in their city.
Everything in Nawlins is old. I usually think of something as old when it’s from the 50’s or 60’s, but there, everything was built back in the 1800’s. The buildings are very close together, the roads are narrow, and if there weren’t cars everywhere you could fool me into thinking it was a time that my grandparents grew up in. Bourbon Street is a strange type of party scene, but VERY fun. It didn’t matter what night of the week it was, it was going off. I think I should’ve gone when I was in college. I really liked how nearly every bar had a courtyard in the back. The walk up bars were cool too, so if you just felt like walking the street with a drink you could. Live brass band music left and right is impossible to argue with as you stroll from one place to the next. Frenchman Street was amazing too. It’s where the locals hang out to see live Jazz every night in about 8 different bars scattered along the street. The food was nose sweat spicy, and lived up to all the hype. I’m also somewhat of an aquarium buff since I lived in Monterey for five years. The Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans was amazing, and had a wide array of displays, and some fish I’d never seen. It was easily one of the top two of the six I’ve been to.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are loved by everyone in New Orleans. We went on a couple of tours, and on both of them I think BraJolie were mentioned numerous times whenever they could be mentioned like where they lived, where their kids go to school, what their favorite bar was, and where they like to eat breakfast, etc. It was a semi-weird celebrity crush the city has going on with those two. Maybe it was all those houses that they built in the flooded areas that won them over. I was shocked to see how many vacant houses/lots there still are five years after Katrina. It’s truly sad, when we are wasting money overseas on wars and not helping our own citizens. I won’t beat that dead horse more than it already has been beaten though. Another thing I found interesting was I saw people wearing nearly as much LSU gear as Saints gear in the streets. I thought it was strange since Baton Rouge was an hour and a half away, and thought the Saints would at least rule New Orleans. I saw more LSU gear than Tulane and Layola gear which are the two colleges actually based in New Orleans. I tried to get into a few SEC sucks conversations, but nobody was having it. Probably a good thing.
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
February 18th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
chappy
I don’t think that there’s been a better time than not for PG’s in the NBA there’s an abundance of top class players at the position. Unfortunately when it comes to centers they’re no better than average at best !
tophatal ……………….
February 18th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
It’s basically comparing apples to oranges for point guards these days. They are all amazing in their own specific way, and can lead teams with that style of play. It is a shame there aren’t a lot of good big men out there. the PF position is stacked, but we’ve been lacking solid centers for awhile now. Hopefully one will come along soon to give Dwight a challenge!
February 21st, 2011 at 6:07 am
chappy
That’s so true but I’m not so sure that the situation at PF is that valid as of yet ! But in time we shall see how things pan out.
Speaking of the Big Easy it looks as if the Hornets will remain within the city although there’s no definite buyer for the team as of yet. However I’ve read that the Maloofs have a firm offer to relocate the Kings to Anaheim , California . All that’s needed is the board of governors approval by the NBA . The Pistons’ sale as well will soon be finalized to a local business entrepreneur.
The only challenge Dwight really needs is to improve his allround game .
tophatal …………………
February 21st, 2011 at 3:51 pm
I hear that Hornets have a shot at ending up in Canada. The rumors won’t make much sense until someone takes over the team, kinda like the Melo crap, I’ll believe it when I see it happen!
February 19th, 2011 at 3:01 am
You’re right. Even the pee smell in the Quarter is old.
Great town. Great food. Great music.
Let me know when you make it to Florida.
February 19th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Well, I guess I missed you, I was out there last year around Thanksgiving. Hit up Fort Lauderdale and South Beach while I was there…
I think the next trip is going to be Chicago…
February 21st, 2011 at 9:42 am
Sorry, but I have a rule on this: Anybody who thinks New Orleans is a “great place” should be forced to live there for two years. That will kill any love affair anyone has with this shithole. When I was a kid, my dad’s job was transferred there, and after two years he was ready to quit rather than stay there. I found it to be the dirtiest, sleaziest place in America; there’s a reason why I call it “America’s Rectum.” To this day, New Orleans is easily one of the three worst cities in this country. One of the great tragedies of our time is that Hurricane Katrina didn’t completely wipe that festering sewer off the face of the earth.
February 21st, 2011 at 10:02 am
So, just to be clear…you don’t like New Orleans?
February 21st, 2011 at 3:28 pm
I don’t disagree with that. I was not in favor of rebuilding the city at all, I think after the hurricane they just should have reolcated everything and started over.
I’m assuming the chris Paul thing is the Ric Flair noise?
Meehan
February 21st, 2011 at 3:46 pm
I can’t really disagree that it was the nicest place on earth, but think that it was pretty cool to visit. I don’t want to live there in any sense of the imagination, but being there for a week was fun.
February 21st, 2011 at 3:29 pm
I’ve also heard that the pickpockets on Bourbon Street can be awful
OK, that’s it man sorry no more complaining LOL
Meehan
February 21st, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I’m glad that wasn’t on the itinerary!
February 22nd, 2011 at 7:12 am
chappy
Traveled extensively around the US before actually coming here to live and given a choice ‘tween’ Nawlins and some other major cities I’d probably pick the ‘Crescent City’ ! That being said if the damn Army Corps of Engineers can’t even build and oversee a fu_cking levee system then what god-damn chance does the city actually have ? Hell the whole fu_cking country is a mess because of the political bickering and the fact that the politicians were never that damn smart to begin with . As Dubya said about the FEMA director at the time Michael Brown …………….”you’re doing a fine job Brownie’ . The fact that several hundred people had died and the city was completely underwater may well have escaped his notice . Much as in the same way he reacted after the 9/11 attacks …………… the mutha fu_ka ‘ was a like a deer caught in a set of headlights ! As Kanye said “George Bush hates black people ……” or to be more precise Bush simply hates people with more gonads and intelligence than he’s got ! Which by all accounts could well be the vast majority of the country’s population .
tophatal
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:40 am
Truly sad the way it’s been handled, and is still being handled. I would be scared to death of those levee’s if I lived there. I guess that’s why a lot of the houses are built on stilts now even though they look kinda funny. You know how bush took the most vacation time of any president? I think they should’ve made him take that time in New Orleans when it was flooded!
February 22nd, 2011 at 3:01 pm
chappy
The only thing sadder is the way this country treats its military vets ! Given the choice ‘tween Nawlins and places such as Port Au Prince , Legoane _Haiti, Kabul , Cairo , Sanaa and Baghdad I guess New Orleans seems like paradise ? Bush was on vacation while in office the same way he took fu_ked up the Rangers as an owner before Tom Hicks all but ruined the organization and then Ryan and Greenberg took over and turned things around.
At least with ‘Slick Willy’ while he was gettin’ his knob waxed he was actually doing something that benefited the country like creating 25 million jobs over his tenure and greatest economic growth of any US President over the last four decades. Not something that the Repubs’ would care to acknowledge ! I’ve no political axe to grind as I’m not a US citizen but I’ll give credit where it’s due and say fu_k you if I believe you’re a hypocrite and an ingrate no matter what side of the political aisle !
Consider this the memorial that’s supposed to have been built on the site of the Twin Towers well they’ve already burned through the donations of over $15 billion and all there is as of now is one big fu_king whole in the ground ! Who’s pocketed the vast majority of that money if not the developers ? NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the other hand says ….. things are going along splendidly . He makes Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa seem realy damn smart !
tophatal …………..
February 22nd, 2011 at 4:22 pm
I still wonder how much different things would’ve played out had Bush not won a re-election. I’m not a big politics guy, but our country is heading down a slippery slope that is definitely not Obama’s fault.
February 22nd, 2011 at 7:49 am
chappy
And we all know how baseball worked out in Canada for the Expos don’t we ? Shinn sells the team to the league and now they can’t find a definitive buyer . At the same time the Kings are losing money faster than GM ever did and the Pistons can’t find a buyer albeit that the Davidson family won’t be able to escape the estate taxes on the team’s eventual sale . Stern and the league hierarchy are in a real mess and the strange thing here is I don’t hold out much hope for a number of teams around the league ! Many of them are in a far worse off situation than the likes of the Hornets and Kings .
The Magic moved into their new plush abode (costing $300 million out of taxpayers’ monies and hotel taxes we’re led to believe – with little or nothing coming from the owners [not something that sportschump would let you know as he’s always been about the prima-facia of an incident rather than what goes on behind the scenes ]) but last season they received in excess of $25 million ( from the league ) merely to meet expenditure shortfalls .
Stern and the league hierarchy have dug a really deep hole for themselves which it’s going to take time to extricate and dig themselves out of .
tophatal ……………
February 23rd, 2011 at 11:43 am
chappy
As a non- resident I’m on the outside looking in but I can say this unequivocably the “voters” in Florida and the Justices of US Supreme Court were the dumbest SOB’s on the face of the planet ! And it didn’t help at the time the Florida Secretary of State during the of the ’00 elections Katherine Harris had the IQ of Paris Hlton and a grape combined !
And even with this state’s present governor things are about to get a whole lot worse !
tophatal ……………