Archive for the ‘NCAA’ Category
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“Gin Blossoms? I thought that guy committed suicide or something. And you can quote me on that.”
I’m fascinated with the ’90s. Yet I somehow missed this bit of sad, flannel-waisted news. To my chagrin, yes, Gambit’s first banana music guru Napoleon Bonaparte Pais is right. Blossoms’ guitarist Doug Hopkins, who penned hits like “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You,” died Dec. 4, 1993 following label pressures and his firing from the band. Nevertheless, the band soldiered on through the ’90s to mild acclaim and plenty of airtime, and now it meets New Orleans at the Allstate Fan Fest, a two-day music, footballin’ and tailgatin’ preamble to Friday’s Sugar Bowl.
In a year where listeners stop at nothing to worship the church of 1993 (read: Pains of Being Blah Blah Blah, Pixies and Pavement reunions, “lo-fi”), these former kings of ’90s rock radio, those jangly, “alt-rocking” Arizonans, have relegated to the party circuit. Chances are if you’re driver’s license is horizontal, you will know the words to these songs.
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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.
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by Clay A. Smith
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Photograph by Jonathan Bachman
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Two disappointing seasons from the Hornets and the Saints have had New Orleans fans pining for the sweet release of the off season. Between the Saints farcically inept defense and the historical dismantling of the undermanned Hornets in the first round of the playoffs, its been a: remote throwing, hair pulling, head hanging, yell at the TV until the neighbors call the cops kind of year. Well New Orleans fans, you can rest easy. Mean old Chauncey Billups can’t hurt you anymore, and neither can the Saints horrific defense.
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One person who assuredly welcomed the off season was Hornets point guard Chris Paul . The Hornets’ work horse came up lame in the post season-stung by the injury bug. When Paul wasn’t winning gold medals in Bejing, he was grinding out an 82 game season that ended disastrously in a 63-121 point shellacking at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. For a season in which he averaged 22 points and lead the league in assists, with 11, and steals (2.8) Paul was named to 1st Team All Defense. The Hornets’ early exit from this years’ palyoffs prompted questions about head coach Btron Scott’s ability to effectively lead his team. But the Hornets are stand standing by Scott who will return for his sixth season with the team.
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The Saints have made it a priority to patch up a secondary that has been the joke of the NFL for years now and a short yardage running game that was instrumental in shortening their 08-09 campaign. The Saints got their first look at top draft pick Malcom Jenkins. The rookie saftey out of Ohio State stood out in his first minicamp practice and impressed the Saints coaching staff. Paired with recently acquired veterans Darren Sharper and Dan Morgan the Saints new look defense could do a complete 180.
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Conversely, with the leagues top offense there wasn’t much the Saints needed to tinker with offensively this offseason. But with two under-sized running backs in Piere Thomas and Reggie Bush New Orleans was in dire need of a short yardage back. So in addition to revamping their “D” the Saints picked up two undrafted rookie power backs with the hopes that they would compete to fill the void left by Deuce McAllister. Bruiser P.J. Hill is hoping to make big impact in Saints backfield along with fellow rookie Herb Donaldson. Hill, signed out of the University of Wisconsin, averaged over 1,000 yards in his three seasons in cheese country and Donaldson set a Missouri Valley Conference record with 23 100-yard rushing games.
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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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Photo by Jonathan Bachman
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Well National College Football Signing day is upon us and there were plenty of kids signing their names to commitment letters at the New Orleans Saints practice facility. This is the third year that the Saints have hosted this signing day event and this year it included some speeches from Saints’ players Jon Stinchcomb and Mike McKenzie.
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Stinchcomb gave the players practical advice along the lines of “work hard, be coachable and get an education” while McKenzie related a story about how he entered college at Memphis with “a swagger” and ended up being a red-shirt freshman because he was too stubborn to change positions his first year.
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All in all, though, it was a day for all the kids and their parents to relish in the glory of a free college education. After the opening comments by Stinchcomb, McKenzie and Saints’ owner Tom Benson, players lined up and took turns stating their names and what schools they will be attending in the fall. It went as well as you’d expect a row of 25 high school seniors saying their names would go — that is, quickly and awkwardly. Though we’re lucky no one interrupted the ceremonies to do a speech.
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Hit the jump for a complete list of players, their high school and where they will go to college (in no particular order).
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Read the rest of this entry »
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