Over 1,000 people paraded Monday for the resurrection of their beloved Charity Hospital. Although someone did lean over at one point and say to me, “those second liners will follow the brass bands off the plank of a ship!” HA! And you know it’s true! But it’s also true that New Orleanians love them some Charity Hospital.

Organizer’s of the Save Charity Campaign say that rebuilding Charity would take less time, less money and is less destructive than leveling Lower Midcity to build a parking lot for LSU’s midlife-crisis Hummer of a hospital complex. And I believe them. Times are hard and they wanna spend tax dollars like it grows on trees when there’s a perfectly good building right there on Tulane and Perdido that can be restored. Phft. We’ll see what happens with that arbitration over the extra 300 mil LSU wants FEMA to pay to cover their documented post-storm neglect of the Charity building. I predict judgment coming down on the side of HELL NAW!

Now if you didn’t make Monday’s rally, you can get a taste of what you missed by checking out these vids. I’ll also throw in the City Council form letter the organizers passed out so you can get in on the action.

New Orleans City Council,

I want you to:

____ Order an Independent Cost-benefit Analysis of the two plans for new hospitals

____ Hold Public hearings

____ Include the hospitals in the city’s Master Plan

Name ________________________________

Address ______________________________

Oh yeah – and I VOTE _____

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Photo lifted from The Advocate

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You’ll have to forgive me for not jumping on the LSU baseball bandwagon earlier but, for someone who was never a fan of college baseball, it didn’t seem right to crash the festivities. (I would’ve felt like the one person at a Halloween party not wearing a costume.)

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But now the Tigers face off against the Texas Longhorns in a deciding third game and in a few hours we’ll know if Baton Rouge will celebrate yet another sports title or if college baseball will fall back into the blissful obscurity.

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In any event, if you’re like me and have absolutely no idea what’s going on, there are several places where you can read up on tonight’s game so you can show up to your local drinking tavern and yellow and purple with the best of ‘em. There is one thing I know about baseball, though, and that’s when a team has had hot bats for weeks and are piling up the runs and then suddenly only score once in a losing effort, well, that’s not good.

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Also, someone contact the LSU writing and English departments about this lady. Really, she’s bringing shame to you all.

By Clay A. Smith

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Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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The New Orleans Hornets won their sixth consecutive game as the weary Dallas Mavericks were no match for New Orleans. But the Hornets didn’t just beat the Mavericks, 104-88, they showed the swagger that you would expect out of a team that prior to the season was projected to go deep into the playoffs.

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Dallas was no match for streaking Hornet led by point guard Chris Paul and power forward David West.  Against Dallas Both All-Stars posted double-doubles. Paul had 27 points and 15 assists and West had 19 points and 10 assists. Since February West has averaged over twenty two points a game and has had four thirty point games. Paul has averaged a double-double-posting over twenty one points a game and over eleven assists.

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The New Orleans Saints said hi and bye to both old and new players as they continue with their off season overhaul. After cutting veteran fullback Mike Karney New Orleans added Heath Evnas who spent his last four seasons as a lead blocker in New England. They also  retained their top deep threat in Devery Henderson.

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Still, even though Saints’ fans are excited to see Henderson and the New Orleans’ offense continue their air assault from the 2008-09 season, they are all too familiar with the ongoing saga of the New Orleans’ secondary. But the Saints are trying to get the help they need. They signed corner back Jabari Greer from the Buffalo Billsand if that weren’t enough they’ve been in talks with Vikings veteran safety Darren Sharper, Jacksonville safety Gerald Sensabaugh, and the Rams’ cornerback Ron Bartell.

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Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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Boy, oh boy, what a two-week stretch it’s been. Apologies to anyone that wanted an in-depth report on what happened to Melvin Ely’s hair or if that French Quarter Flyer survived to live another day (my money is on he’s just fine, it wasn’t his first mid-air mishap, after all), but you can thank the mess that is Mardi Gras and corresponding horde of out-of-town visitors for the absence.

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No matter, we got a lot of catching up to do. After all, the Saints reached a 5-year deal with Jonathan Vilma (he of the many languages and dropped gun charges) and re-signed center Jon Stinchcomb. Both are favorites in the locker room and with the media, so at least we know next season will be entertaining. But aside from Vilma, Stinchcomb and Gregg “The Extra G is for Genius” Williams, what do the Saints have in store for the rest of the offseason? Apparently, the Saints are ‘courting’ a number of valued free agents, with WIlliams speaheading much of the search on the defensive side. But how much is a courtship worth if it doesn’t end in marriage? Current Saints defenders should be wary, though.

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But ofcourse, the story of the past 10+ days has been the departure and immediate return of the Hornets’ Tyson Chandler. I was starting to worry that every Hornet that was in a “Best of” video would be traded. Luckily, that’s not the case (for now, at least). The Hornets are indeed riding high on a four-game win streak thanks in no small-way to Chandler’s efforts on the glass.

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Speaking of win streaks, how ’bout them Tigers? LSU is in the top-25 for the first time since they made it to the Final Four with “Big Baby” Glen Davis in 2006. That seems like a lifetime ago but thanks to Trent Johnson, these Tigers are looking for another post-season run. They clinched at least a share of the SEC title after beating Florida on Mardi Gras day and are now posed to make a sleeper run on many an office bracket pool.

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Oh, and pink dolphins! It’s good to be back.

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Yet another reason why Nick Saban’s 2009 is off to a bad start: Les Miles. Sure, LSU went 7–5 during the regular season (including a dismal 3–5 SEC record), but just look at how the Tigers finished their season compared to Alabama. First, a dominating win in the Chik-Fil-A Bowl (as compared to Alabama’s embarrassment in the Sugar Bowl) and now it’s looking like LSU is poised for a great 2009, leading the college football recruiting rankings.

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Now whether or not ESPN really needs Les Miles in order to recruit talent is still up for debate.