Football and passion

The football season really warms up this week. The mighty Gators go to beard the Tigers in their den. Two years ago we were in Baton Rouge for the game and the crowd was unbelievable. Over twenty thousand people who were without tickets were there just to party. The Cajuns started drinking about nine in the morning for an eight PM kickoff. We rolled in about seven in the evening and walked around just observing the crowd. Lots of drunken revelers wearing the Purple and Gold, cooking gumbo and screaming various versions of their fight song, "Hold that Tiger." They have a huge Bengal Tiger as a mascot. They have constructed an elaborate facility for him that rivals any thing you would find in the San Diego Zoo or Busch Gardens. It is really first class. Mike the tiger lives well. When the game started, Florida won three and a half quarters of that game, we absolutely dominated them but the game is a full four quarters and when it mattered LSU delivered. On the final drive five times they went for it on fourth and short and all five times they made it work. Lucky or good? Doesn't matter they won, and went on to win the National Championship. After the game we got on the local "express bus" and it did not move for three hours. We reached our hotel room after four in the morning. Are these out of town football trips fun or what?

The plan is to leave Friday morning and drive to New Orleans. Dinner in the Crescent City is always a treat and we are looking forward to great food. New Orleans is a city in decay, Hurricane Katrina made it worse but the City has been caught in a downward spiral for several years. It is a truly dangerous place and you need to always be aware of your surroundings. Having said all of that, it is one of only a handful of cities that is truly distinctive. San Francisco, Key West, Santa Fe and one or two others are true "one of a kind places." Most American cities are so similar that if you unexpectedly woke up in most of them, you would have to ask where you were. New Orleans does not fit the category of cookie cutter towns, it has soul. It is a unique combination of cultures and people. New Orleans has always reminded me of an aging prostitute wearing heavy make up but with the age and mileage lines showing through. I began a love affair with New Orleans almost fifty years ago, but I have reluctantly concluded that I may love my memories of what she was more than the present reality. I hope not, I need my youthful view of "the City that Care Forgot." Just another romantic illusion? probably, but hey, I am full of those.

We are debating whether to remain in New Orleans for the weekend or to go deep into Cajun country over near New Iberia or Houma. We can stay in the city and take a bus with the New Orleans Gator club to and from the game. The other alternative is to get rooms further South into the bayous but closer to the stadium. If we had more time I would definitely spend it in the smaller Cajun towns. You have to experience them to believe it. The Zydeco music, Cajun food and the absolute devotion to having a good time is unmatched. There are many locations where people start cooking and drinking well before the noon hour. They have a band outdoors under giant oak trees and another group inside, all ages from the elderly to toddlers are up dancing to the music made by guitars, wash boards and squeeze boxes. Man do I love it! Those French descendants know something about the value of a good time that too many of us have forgotten.

No matter, you cannot go to that part of the world and not enjoy yourself. If you do, check your pulse.