Tuesday, December 29, 2009

What a Nightmare

The Saints are 13 and 2, have the best record in the NFC, have won the division and a first round bye but had get help to win home field advantage in the playoffs.

Some fans are upset that they lost two games. I don't know anyone who thought the Saints would win 13 games before the season started.

Of course if you listened to Fox announcers Sunday, you'd have thought the only reason Tampa didn't blow the Saints out was Tampa's mistakes, or that the Saints were the 2-12 team. I had much the same feeling last night. The announcers relentlessly criticized Jay Cutler and practically canonized Bret Favre. Funny thing is Cutler had a better QB rating and won the game he also didn't argue with his coach, although according to the "experts" Bret was right and the coach wrong. Favre seems to be reading his press clippings a little too much.

All this reminds me of the final scene from one of my favorite movies, My Cousin Vinny.


Vinny Gambini: My problem is, I wanted to win my first case without any help from anybody.
Mona Lisa Vito: Well, I guess that plan's moot.
Vinny Gambini: Yeah.
Mona Lisa Vito: You know, this could be a sign of things to come. You win all your cases, but with somebody else's help, right? You win case after case, and then afterwards you have to go up to somebody and you have to say, thank you.
[pause]
Mona Lisa Vito: Oh my God, what a FUCKING nightmare!

On WWL this morning some guy was hoping we didn't have to play the Colt's in the Super Bowl. I think we have a few other things to do first.

For example, Jeffrey over at the Yellow Blog has long noted the correlation between the Saints wearing black pants and poor on field performance. I suggest we have a public pants burning in Mid-City on New Years Eve. It might work as well as the trophy funeral they had a couple of years ago.

I suggest bringing back the Black Helmets.


The Saints wore black helmets during the 1969 preseason, but NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle barred the Saints from using the helmets during the regular season, since owner John Mecom*, Jr. did not notify the league office of the change.

I think I'm just going to enjoy the playoffs.

I wonder when my tickets will arrive.

*I also discovered that Wikipedia has no article on John Mecom Jr.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Life is a Bowl of Sugar

Is it a sign of the times or a sign of the future.



Sugar Bowl Ticket Sales are sagging They were advertising on the big screen on the side of the Arena yesterday.

With the Jan. 1 game against No. 4 Cincinnati (12-0) only two weeks away, No. 5 UF (12-1) is nowhere close to selling out the 17,500 tickets allotted to each school by the Sugar Bowl.

"We have about 5,000 to go (to sell out)," said Mark Gajda, UF's assistant athletic director of ticket operations.

Other BCS Bowl games were also having trouble.



Orange Bowl still had Tickets available at its website.
Fiesta Bowl Tickets were still available at their web site. Even though I sold some tickets for them. A friend of ours is a TCU alum. Earlier in the season it looked like TCU might end up in the Orange Bowl we invited them to join us for the game. He was incredulous that we could get tickets. Apparently we inspired him to go to the Fiesta Bowl and root for the Horny Toads.


The Rose Bowl has sold out.

There may be several reasons for this slump, first is the national economy but there are I believe other reasons. One is certainly the rise of ticket exchanges which make it possible for fans purchase legitimate tickets from other fans easily. Just a few years ago buying a ticket required that you "know somebody" or take a risk with a scalper of dubious antecedents. Another is moving the games out of the Holiday season making it more difficult for fans to travel. Finally game match ups are made according to political criteria. Does anyone except the alumni really believe that either TCU or Boise State are in the same league with Texas and Alabama? Would anyone in their right mind have invited Utah to New Orleans for a party?

In recent years the Sugar Bowl has suffered from the BCS arrangement that moved the game from its original New Years Day date and has also taken the SEC Champion out of the Sugar Bowl every year there has been a separate BSC Championship game. That is four years in a row, good for the SEC bad for the Sugar Bowl.

The Sugar Bowl game is in great shape due to the TV money. But I don't think the game is doing all it can to promote tourism in New Orleans, one of the original purposes of college bowl games.

Long time readers of my mutterings (thanks to both of you) might remember that each year we take a short vacation to south Florida and go to the Orange Bowl. We get our tickets through the Orange Bowl committee and we can renew them every year as long as we want to. We plan this trip well in advance and spent a good bit of money in the Miami / Fort Lauderdale Area.

I enjoy the spectacle and the enthusiasm of the fans. We meet people having a good time and since we know when the game is we can plan way ahead and not be rushed into making snap decisions. We know we will have good seats because we have the same seats every year.

The Fiesta Bowl has a similar policy. I don't know what the Rose Bowl does. On the other hand the Sugar Bowl goes out of its way to make it difficult. I have received several emails inviting me to buy tickets, but apparently purchasing tickets does not give you any assurance that you will be able to buy tickets next year. The website seems designed to randomly hand out the worst seats available.

The Sugar Bowl also does not seem to have done as much as the could to develop their relationship with the SEC. I don't understand why the SEC championship could not be held in New Orleans. I don't understand why the Superdome could not be the site of a pre-bowl. What are those games doing in Atlanta?

I'd like to suggest that since they are hosting the 2012 BCS Championship and since it has been past practice to require that people purchase Bowl Tickets to get BCS tickets that in the 2011 season the Sugar bowl initiate a 2 year package that includes a 2011 Sugar Bowl Tickets, 2012 Sugar Bowl and 2012 BCS Championship Tickets. Further that the Sugar Bowl initiate a series of public events in connection with these games including some kind of pregame party possibly a concert/fan party at Woldenberg Park and some kind of premium parking pass available to people attending the game. These packages would carry with them renewal and upgrade privileges, provided the tickets are renewed in July or something like that.

A lot of this is what the Orange Bowl does. They have what they call "Fan Fest" the day before in apark in Miami and a "Tailgate" party in the parking lot the day of the game. They attract corporate sponsors to underwrite the events and I think this allows them to keep demand and ticket prices up. A good idea is worth stealing.

If there were a consistent group well heeled of college football fans coming to New Orleans for the game and a vacation spending money in hotels and restaurants whether their team was in the game or not it would help the local economy. I imagine any number of Alabama, Georgia Auburn or Arkansas fans would purchase tickets on the chance that their team might make the game.

Monday, December 21, 2009

If I Had a Hammer

The old Pete Seeger song about changing society is one of his best known songs. It is about breaking with the past for freedom and justice.



New Orleans needs a BFH to break with the past. The entrenched interests have long held the citizens hostage, stealing the future from them with false promises of opportunity and prosperity, illusions of participation while jealously guarding their own position. Anyone who speaks out, if there is any possibility of someone listening, is viciously attacked and attention diverted.


On the Other hand Maslow's Law of the instrument, says "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." Every campaign seems to be under the impression if we simply do more of what we've already done perhaps it will get better.

Ed Murry wants to establish an Office of Education in the Mayor's office, as a solution to the Balkanized Education system in the city. That interesting because the mayor has no direct involvement in Public Education.

A Group of Social Advocacy group wants to establish an Office of Formerly Incarcerated Affairs in Mayor's Office. I imagine that they should be given additional contracts to work the the formerly incarcerated.

Every single candidate wants to conduct a national search for a new Police Chief, since that seems to have worked out fairly well once upon a time.


We got more candidates talking about transparency that 3M has Scotch Tape.

We're going to have to pick one of these guys to be our Mayor. So far I'm not impressed, although Manny Chevrolet and a couple of the other "minor candidates" are amusing. Maybe they have a chance.

"The nail that stands out will be hammered down." is a Japanese proverb ardently adhered to by our "elites" aka "The Usual Suspects". No one seems willing to be radical to offer truly new insights. I have long wondered at the remarkable timidity of our "reformers". They seem almost completely unwilling to really call anyone out. Perhaps it rooted in our colonial history or our culture that values relationships. Perhaps we are so ingrown and so insular that no one can think of anything truly new.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Candidate WebSite Roundup

As part of my research into the candidates who qualified for the upcoming election I decided to try to see what I could find out on the Internet. I copied the list of qualified candidate form the Louisana Secretary of State's Web Site and Googled each name. I was surprised at the number of candidates whose sites I couldn't find. I was also surprised by the lack of information on some of them. I may go into that later. James Perry has been accused of running an internet campaign, but some of thes candidates seem stuck in the nineteenth century.

There may be a number of reason for that including;
  • Operator Error (mine)
  • Lack of time to get a Site on line.
  • New Sites that were ranked very low by Google
It's highly probable that I missed a bunch of them, my search wasn't that extensive. If anyone is aware of any I did miss please let me know.

Judge Civil District Court, Division J
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Paula Brown 12/09/2009 Democrat
3724 Clermont Dr., New Orleans LA 70122 Black
504-473-4366
Female
Stephen Chesnut 12/11/2009 Republican
1413 Chartres St., New Orleans LA 70116 White
504-945-9000
Male
Morris Reed 12/11/2009 Democrat
4 Grand Teton Ct., New Orleans LA 70131 Black
504-392-7949
Male

Judge Juvenile Court, Section E
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Richard Exnicios 12/09/2009 Democrat
7916 Nelson St., New Orleans LA 70125 White
504-314-9888
Male
Tracey Flemings-Davillier 12/09/2009 Democrat
P.O. Box 740487, New Orleans LA 70174 Black
504-270-5258
Female
Marie Williams 12/10/2009 Democrat
P. O. Box 741904 , New Orleans LA 70131 Black
504-415-3647
Female

Sheriff
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Marlin N. Gusman 12/09/2009 Democrat
4478 Venus St., New Orleans LA 70122 Black
504-826-7034
Male
Pat M. Peyton 12/11/2009 Democrat
116 Egret St., New Orleans LA 70124 White
504-430-0182
Male

Clerk Civil District Court
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Dale Atkins 12/09/2009 Democrat
2411 Oriole St., New Orleans LA 70122 Black
504-286-0229 Unopposed Female

Clerk Criminal District Court
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Arthur A. Morrell 12/09/2009 Democrat
4925 Moore Drive, New Orleans LA 70122 Black
504-282-7812
Male
David G. Nowak 12/11/2009 Democrat
2210 Nashville Ave., New Orleans LA 70115 Other
504-861-7649
Male
Harold E. Weiser 12/11/2009 No Party
6051 Pratt Dr., New Orleans LA 70122 White
504-373-5203
Male

Assessor
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Andrew Gressett 12/09/2009 Republican
5225 Chestnut St. , New Orleans LA 70115 White
504-858-2200
Male
Janis Lemle 12/09/2009 Democrat
42 Yellowstone Dr., New Orleans LA 70131 Black
504-391-3594
Female
Claude Mauberret 12/09/2009 Democrat
441 Jewel St., New Orleans LA 70124 White
504-508-8644
Male
Erroll G. Williams 12/09/2009 Democrat
4741 Gen. Early Dr., New Orleans LA 70126 Black
504-283-9689
Male

Coroner
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Dwight McKenna 12/11/2009 Democrat
7136 Thornley Dr., New Orleans LA 70126 Black
504-943-1923
Male
Frank Minyard 12/09/2009 Democrat
1111 S. Peters St. #221, New Orleans LA 70130 White
504-658-9660
Male

Mayor City of New Orleans
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Jonah Bascle 12/10/2009 No Party
2406 Joseph St., New Orleans LA 70115 White
504-908-4360
Male
"Manny" Chevrolet-Bruno 12/09/2009 Other
1123 N. White St., New Orleans LA 70119 Other
504-482-1845
Male
Robert "Rob" Couhig 12/09/2009 Republican
6333 Prytania St., New Orleans LA 70118 White
504-588-1288
Male
John Georges 12/09/2009 Democrat
23 Audubon Pl., New Orleans LA 70118 White
504-865-0033
Male
Troy Henry 12/09/2009 Democrat
281 Oakmont Dr., New Orleans LA 70128 Black
504-248-4289
Male
"Jerry" Jacobs 12/09/2009 No Party
1205 N. Lopez St., New Orleans LA 70119 White
504-237-8710
Male
Leslie Jacobs 12/09/2009 Democrat
6038 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans LA 70118 White
504-895-2619
Female
Thomas A. Lambert 12/11/2009 Republican
12501 Willow Rd., New Orleans LA 70131 White
000-000-0000
Male
Mitchell "Mitch" Landrieu 12/09/2009 Democrat
2336 Octavia St., New Orleans LA 70115 White
000-000-0000
Male
Edwin R. "ED" Murray 12/09/2009 Democrat
4716 Paris Ave., New Orleans LA 70122 Black
504-286-8220
Male
James Perry 12/09/2009 Democrat
1507 N. Miro St., New Orleans LA 70119 Black
504-343-5009
Male
Nadine Ramsey 12/09/2009 Democrat
41 Grand Canyon Dr., New Orleans LA 70131 Black
504-858-7155
Female
Norbert P. Rome 12/11/2009 No Party
4338 Paris Ave., New Orleans LA 70122 Black
504-259-1855
Male

Councilmember(s) at Large
2 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson 12/09/2009 Democrat
2657 Danbury Dr., New Orleans LA 70131 White
504-392-2092
Female
"Arnie" D. Fielkow 12/11/2009 Democrat
2220 Palmer Ave., New Orleans LA 70118 White
504-905-9025
Male
William "Poppa" Gant 12/09/2009 No Party
1231 N. Villere, New Orleans LA 70116 Black
504-481-5194
Male
Nolan Marshall 12/09/2009 Democrat
121 N. Murat St., New Orleans LA 70119 Black
504-338-3823
Male
Darren Mire 12/11/2009 Democrat
1750 St. Charles Ave. Unit 337, New Orleans LA 70130 Black
504-522-0561
Male
Eddie L. Sapir 12/11/2009 Democrat
6315 Laurel St., New Orleans LA 70118 White
504-821-1010
Male
Gregory "Chef" Sonnier 12/11/2009 Republican
307 Henry Clay Ave., New Orleans LA 70118 White
504-899-6500
Male
"Lance" W. von Uhde III 12/11/2009 Republican
4030 Vendome Pl. , New Orleans LA 70125 White
000-000-0000
Male
Cynthia Willard-Lewis 12/09/2009 Democrat
10911 Willowbrae Dr., New Orleans LA 70127 Black
504-415-5886
Female

Councilmember District A
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
John "Jay" Batt 12/09/2009 Republican
411 Fairway Dr., New Orleans LA 70124 White
504-915-2807
Male
Virginia Blanque 12/11/2009 Republican
210 S. Pierce St., New Orleans LA 70119 White
504-488-6431
Female
Susan G. Guidry 12/09/2009 Democrat
963 Wilson Dr., New Orleans LA 70119 White
504-486-0440
Female
"Fred" Robertson 12/11/2009 No Party
7702 Plum St., New Orleans LA 70118 White
504-866-4140
Male

Councilmember District B
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Stacy Head 12/09/2009 Democrat
1675 Soniat St., New Orleans LA 70115 White
504-891-6957
Female
Corey Watson 12/11/2009 Democrat
3811 Napoleon Ave., New Orleans LA 70125 Black
504-309-9418
Male

Councilmember District C
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
"Tom" Arnold 12/09/2009 Republican
P.O. Box 741971, New Orleans LA 70174 White
504-782-9570
Male
Kristin Gisleson Palmer 12/09/2009 Democrat
119 Vallette Street, New Orleans LA 70114 White
504-361-4978
Female
Nathaniel Jones 12/09/2009 No Party
3726 Dauphine St., New Orleans LA 70117 Black
504-919-5367
Male
Carlos James Williams Jr. 12/11/2009 Democrat
3610 Lang St., New Orleans LA 70131 Black
504-392-5008
Male

Councilmember District D
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell 12/09/2009 Democrat
4925 Moore Dr., New Orleans LA 70122 Black
504-282-7812
Female
Denise Holden 12/11/2009 Democrat
2600 New Orleans St. , New Orleans LA 70119 Black
504-874-6865
Female

Councilmember District E
1 to be Elected
Name/Address/Phone Filed Date Party/Race/Gender
Austin Badon 12/09/2009 Democrat
P. O. Box 870936, New Orleans LA 70187 Black
504-241-5101
Male
Jerrelda Drummer-Sanders 12/09/2009 Democrat
7328 Beaconfield Dr., New Orleans LA 70128 Black
504-245-5844
Female
Jon Johnson 12/11/2009 Democrat
6001 Eastover Dr., New Orleans LA 70128 Black
504-231-5419
Male
Leonard Lucas Jr. 12/11/2009 Democrat
436 Flood St., New Orleans LA 70117 Black
504-908-0833
Male
Cyndi Nguyen 12/09/2009 Democrat
5401 Provincal Pl., New Orleans LA 70129 Asian
504-997-1057
Female
Alicia Plummer 12/11/2009 Democrat
11409 N. St. Andrews Cir., New Orleans LA 70128 Black
000-000-0000
Female