If the participant numbers in Thursday night's "We're Back" street parade is any indication, there's little doubt that last year's bowl-record 42,841 attendance at the New Orleans Bowl won't just be broken, it'll be shattered when UL takes on East Carolina at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Including the UL Pride of Acadiana marching band that led the way, the crowd that left the headquarters New Orleans Marriott wasn't far from the 1,000 mark ... and it might have hit that figure as more and more people joined the fray. By the time the parade turned right off Canal Street and headed up Bourbon Street, Cajun and non-Cajun fans were falling into the "second line."
"Who are all these people?" one bewildered onlooker and likely New Orleans tourist was heard to say on the parade route.
"There are a lot more people here than last year," said UL athletics director Scott Farmer, who was in the banner-waving and loudly-screaming pack.
"That was pretty special to see," said Cajun coach Mark Hudspeth, who watched the parade depart the Marriott before returning to his team-preparation duties. "I tell people all the time how special our fans are and how great they support us, and they're showing it down here."
It wasn't just the parade participants who were into the spirit of the New Orleans Bowl. Onlookers from Bourbon Street balconies had red UL-logo flags hanging from the wrought iron and waved "Geaux Cajuns" signs, and several French Quarter establishments were bedecked with the same decorative scheme.
 |
|
| Photo by Dan McDonald |
Reportedly, the UL band made several other stops for impromptu concerts for much of the evening. Can't say that for sure, since Pat O'Brien's brought a premature end to the parade for at least a couple of participants.
Pat O'Brien's iconic piano bar was awash in Cajun supporters, and UL's fight song roared out of that site on a regular basis — especially when Lafayette's Michael McGehee took his turn in the rotation on one of the bar's pianos.
Locals wanting to hear something similar Friday night can join Michael and the rest of the Mageez group performing at 10 p.m. at the House of Blues, an easy walk from the Marriott.
That, of course, will follow up the New Orleans Bowl's Friday night concert, one that features musical icons the Beach Boys and Bad Company and gets underway at 5:30 at Champions Square next to the Superdome. The free concert is open to any and all ... even the outnumbered East Carolina fans, and especially the ones who had to suffer through the Louisiana and Cajun-related playlist at Pat O'Brien's before departing into the breezy Thursday night air.
It's a good thing that the Cajun players got their free time in New Orleans early in the week, because the distraction of the hordes of UL followers became a reality in the Marriott lobby on Thursday. What was a small group of supporters turned into a packed house even before Thursday's walking parade, and it will likely be greater by Friday afternoon when UL hosts a FanFest from 3-5 p.m. in the Marriott's main ballroom. Roddy Romero and the Hub City All-Stars will perform there.
The musical entertainment never seems to stop. Even at Saturday's three tailgate party locations — the RCAF/Alumni Association gathering inside the 'Dome, the party at Rouse's supermarket parking lot not far from the 'Dome, and the bowl's official tailgate gathering at Champions Square — there will be performances by Krossfyre, Sammy Kershaw and Band Camp beginning not long after 8 a.m.
As Hudspeth might say, everyone should be juiced and ready to go for the 11 a.m. kickoff.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
Most Read
in case you missed it