Oh What Could Have Been

Let's see....

With Jordy Joseph in to play this week we had 25 first downs (! a veritable Tsunami of first downs if you ask little ole moi), 23 of 41 (10 of 13 in the first half) and had 4 passing touchdowns.

What the hades has he been doing with a clipboard the past four years?!

This was legitimately the only "Moral Victory" of the CJ Johnson era that I could get behind and not be gnashing my jaws over. The team played with guts I haven't seen since the Bowl Wave season. I was SO proud of my Greenwave! Aaaand we didn't have officiating that sucked! Hallelu, thank you sweet baby Yahweh.

Most of all, THANK YOU for finally giving us our All American Tight End back!


CHA-Ching!

Although some thanks can go to the refs for blocking for us on that Charles Jones touchdown lol. That's right! We finally got us some home cooking.

I can get used to this.

And how about them tackles by Marshall Wadleigh? I'm telling you: Beware the Hair! And along those lines of scratching our heads over the all of the sudden/out of nowhere spark on our team, Coach Hullabaloo wants to know why we've been sitting on Devin Glenn this whole time on the kick returns. Photeaux by Nola Dave.

We got us a little Thunder n Lightning with our Greenwave, Wham Pow!

And then I just loved, loved this sack for a 30 yard loss. Ha ha!



Anyways, on to the more important topics of why you read my blog: For my gameday atmosphere color announcing.

We finally won Coca Cola's Tailgaters of the Game. How do you like us now, huh?!

Of course there were only like 100 people tailgating on the quad. And it was literally our most slacker tailgate ever.

Everyone brought leftovers from Thanksgiving, I had no cute centerpieces or tablescaping theme. Thank goodness for my girl I'm calling Jessie's Mom for picking up my slack and bringing all of the nice tailgating refreshments. Everything was crammed onto one folding table in haphazard fashion which normally drives me totally nuts because I am too OCD and need everything to be cute and perfect. But I was so exhausted from cooking and entertaining all week at Chateau Hullabaloo that I just didn't care. I didn't even plan an outfit, I just tossed together whatever and went out the door.

It was all so un-MrsHullabaloo-worthy that I didn't even take photos to save for posterity, save this cute one with my Football Mommas. But Coca Cola gave us a really cute new folding tailgating bench with cup holders and a nice tailgating table with a Tulane greenwave logo on it. I shall display it with pride at our future tailgating. Thank you Coca Cola!

So Perry Mason changed his mind and joined us for tailgating and for the game and I am so glad he did, because I hadn't laughed like that at a Tulane game in I can't even remember how long. First Coach Hullabaloo got us totally in trouble because he drove our car onto the grass to our tailgate to load back up after tailgating was over and so of course security came over to arrest us. Not really, but Perry Mason being our official General Counsel of Hullabaloo Huddle Tailgating had wandered away, seen the Police march over to us, and in his haste to save us from certain doom in Central Lockup, he tripped over the unmarked concrete steps coming off the quad and landed toe up.

Luckily we just got a stern warning, we apologized and so I hope we can get forgiveness for that terrible lapse of judgement.

Then we were walking to the stadium and there were some little kids playing catch with football on the intramural field in front of Reily Center. The ball came sailing towards us, spiked on the grass and in order to save us from certain injury Perry Mason deflected the ball with his hand and as physics seems to work the way it does, the ball spiked right back into the little boy's face! Poor little guy was grabbing his face in pain.

I turned to Perry Mason and ask him what he was going to do next. And then he promptly started waving his windbreaker and the knots to tighten the elastic popped him in the forehead, broke the skin, and so the rest of the night he looked like an Indian with a red scab on his forehead. LMAO

And did I mention how the sprinkler system on the LBC Quad turned on in the middle of tailgating? All 100 of us out there got soaked. Oy only at Tulane. I wish I were making this up!

And then to put the cherry on top of the hilarity, Tulsa's coaches went completely ghetto on us. There's a reason I call them "Aslut" (Tulsa backwards if you are not fluent in Pig Latin: Aslut-ay). Here's the story.

Coach Hullabaloo and I have yet to sit in our seats in Westfeldt for the duration of a game. While it's a better view, only just a few of our peeps are up there, and plus it's extra windy and cold, and the rain, and so we have therefor migrated at will and sat all over the place. So this game we went and sat with Perry Mason at his seats in mid-field on the Press Box side behind the Tulsa bench.

After halftime, we kept noticing that the Aslut equipment people were taking their hurry up sideline boards (you know the big ones with the pictures to signal the plays?) and making a little tent with them for their players to urinate on our sideline. !! Directly in front of us! Like I could have reached over and lifted one of the signs and had us a show. A group of guys a bit further down took their plastic megaphones and started mouting off at the Tulsa peeps. I don't really know what they said, but security escorted them away. A lady next to us who works in public health had some serious commentary to give to the Tulsa Sideline Monitor Guy.

His name is Chad Cain. He is officially in charge of monitoring Aslut's sideline. And he is a fool.

Mr. Cain and his foul mouth yelled back at Public Health Lady to "Shut the Fuck Up" - YES! He said the F word! I am not making that up or being a whiny drama queen. I swear on my cats. Public Health Lady was saying "Take it to the Tunnel!" I mean it's not like Yulman is this expansive stadium and besides halftime had just happened. And lawd, we could catch the clap if some of it splashed up at us. Mr. Cain and his potty mouth wasn't having it and so he threatened to come in the stands and beat us up!

What is this? The Malice in the Palice? The Detroit NBA where the opposing team went in the stands and beat up the fans?! Seriously, and then another Aslut coach with cauliflower ears came over and mouthed off at us too. I couldn't find his name and matching photo so that I could out him on the interwebs for his irresponsible and unprofessional behavior, but the rest of the night we made pissing jokes at them, asking them if they'd eaten asparagus and about how they still have outhouses in Tulsa, instead of indoor plumbing, and such.

Unbelievable.

Police came over to interrogate Public Health Lady and were equally appalled. Next thing you know, Barbara Burke and Vince Granito marched over to have a stern, hand gesture-full discussion with the Aslut PTB/Brass on the sidelines about their completely inappropriate urinating on Benson Field at Yulman stadium. And so then I guess it was agreed that Aslut graciously move their urination station a few feet forward to in front of their equipment box which was still between us and the sideline marker, but not directly attached to our handrail. And they politely had the players urinate inside gatorade bottles which they flung into the garbage cans within whiffing distance of us.

Anyways, I hope they choke at their bowl game now. But you know that Tulane PTB is smacking their foreheads now that where there's drama I happen to somehow be involved or in the area. Mrs. Hullabaloo is just a whole lot of trouble. In my defense, I cannot be held responsible for urinate-gate!

Sigh, so you are also probably wondering about my take on "The News". Leave it to Rick Dickson and Tulane to take something routine and simple in the football world and making it completely ridiculous. Rick Dickson has been AWOL since graciously announcing his retirement 2 games into the fall season, but yet piped up with his "No Decision" press release like if a national publication like USA Today were into running breaking stories full of inuendo and unsubstantiated gossip. And then today Dickson went on to made sure to make it was properly noted that his decision to fire was done on Saturday morning and not a minute earlier. Eye roll.

In his effort to be all gentlemanly about letting CJ bleed out via a zillion papercut, he left our program twisting in the wind and recruits prime for the picking with all of the uncertainty. Rick Dickson just really sucked at strategy thing and this was just frustratingly handled in such a Rick Dickson manner. Anyways, good riddance Rick Dickson.

Despite my snarky commentary, I do feel terrible that this didn't work out for CJ to be here. I saw the trainwreck coming the moment CJ opened up his mouth 4 years ago at his Wilson Center press conference. I am not pleased about that. Trust me, I would rather be eating crow and have my beloved Greenwave with a winning record, locking up local recruiting, and planning my bowl game tailgating instead of chewing my fingernails about what is going to happen next. CJ was always friendly to me in person, more than I deserve for my insufferable behavior, and lawd I have always been in love with his wife Angel. She was the classiest, most stylish woman in all of Greenwave Nation and there won't be another like her.

Here is a parting photeaux of me before the season started with Angel. I will always admire her sparkly personality, her sensational sense of style, and her positive, cheerful attitude. And her adorable mom Mildred and all the cute hats Mrs. Mildred would wear to our annual Pre Season Teas.

Another thing that I will miss of the CJ Johnson Era is how the team does this wave thing before running on to the field and before kick offs. Don't you just love this? I watch this and it's like we are a real team with swagger ready to just kill it.


So cheers to new traditions my Greenies. Let's get us some wins to go along with them. Roll Wave!

Triple Coverage!

photo borrowed from the new orleans advocate newspaper
Thank goodness Perry Mason was with us last night, because we ended up popping the cherry on Uptown tailgating celebrations. We got ourselves towed! LOL

It's officially a party now when the law gets involved! ha ha!

Coach Hullabaloo is SO pissed. He has been a complete bear about it. All I can do is giggle. We have a selection of parking at our disposal - a paid lot, a generous friend's driveway situated on Broadway, other driveway invitations from other nearby friends. But Coach Hullabaloo wanted to tempt fate and got burned.

I will keep you aprised of his legal manuevers on the situation because after rescuing our car from the impound lot over by the cemetaries, he drove back to the ill-fated parking spot and took copious photographic evidence of the curbs, the signage, the parking striping, etc. He spent 3 hours going over all of the parking communiques from Tulane about gameday parking and reading the agreement with the city. He'll be representing his own defense.

Hopefully after his expertise at defending himself to the city, he can go represent this guy who's parents probably want to kill him anyways. Coach Hullabaloo caught one of the streakers on video as he taped the final play of the game.



Coach Hullabaloo can also maybe go try his hand at representing all of the fans leaving the game who got snared in the checkpoint on Earhart. Now that the city of New Orleans has decided what a moneymaker Yulman is for them after that IZD business. Mothercluckers.

So, speaking of defense.....

I missed the heart attack portion of the game last night. Leftover popeyes and my super boss spinach dip were calling out to me and I had to get back to our post game tailgating. I left we were 28-3, but as you know this is Tulane and that's never a sure thing. Listen, in 2011 we beat UAB 49-10 and I was still having heart palpitations going into the 4th quarter.

Tyrone did his best to try to keep me abreast via text, but my phone soon died so all I could go by was the cheering and the announcer's calls from the stadium (omg on the Nimbys! ha!). Tyrone was certain we were going to lose the game, he could taste the loss. Coach Hullabaloo concurred that we were trying to give it away. Tequila said that the players were all dancing and laughing on our sideline in the 4th quarter like this was all a done deal. Oh but noooooo.

I am such a terrible very bad Tulane fan that I went into the game last night convinced we were going to lose another one. Straight out the gate. Speaking of which, I did love how the team ran out on to the field by swinging over to the student section first for some high fives to get them pumped.

We are so prejudiced about how the season is going to go that Coach Hullabaloo and I had already decided we are skipping traveling to the Duke game to witness a potential loss (Well Coach Hullabaloo decided, and I decided not to fight him on it).

Also, I totally fell for all of the pre-game hype about Southeastern being another McNeese or Appalachian State. I had heard so much fabulosity about Bryan Bennett that I have been following him on social media for a year. So I was actually eager to finally see some of this Bennett gunslinging live and in person. Quelle disappointment, Mr. Bennett..... The first half I was like, is there a replacement QB out there? How come we aren't seeing any of this amazeballs quarterbacking I have been hearing so much about. Are you sure this is the right person?

The gunslinging which DID occur was Tanner Lee going all Brett Favre out there throwing into double and triple coverage and Justyn Shackleford coming up with the ball. TWICE into triple coverage. Like Whaaaat?!

Here's one of the "General Lee" to Shackleford connections that got us a touchdown



Peggy and I were screaming "duh nuh nuh! duh nuh nuh!" for our version of SportsCenter play of the day.

I hope that the Greenies don't get all over confident on us about throwing into triple coverage now and decide that we can henceforth commence to do that against Houston or Rutgers. Please Sweet Baby Jesus, No!

So Play of the Day was our tailgating. Look how cute.

I draped seersucker fabric underneath, repurposed an old homecoming tablecloth with a new trim, and topped the table with my tried and true fleur de lis vase which I tucked some cattails into for a Louisiana flair. Our menu theme was Strawberryganza.

We had a ponchatoula spinach salad, strawberry guac, some of Covington Brewery's Strawberry Ale and then South Louisiana favorites: stuffed artichokes, mini muffulettas, crawfish pies. I made some divine spinach crab and artichoke dip which was delicious.

BOSS SPINACH DIP
Package of chopped frozen spinach, fully thawed and drained
Pound of crabmeat, also drained
14 oz can of quartered artichoke hearts, drained
cup of mayo
cup of sour cream
cup and half of shredded parmesan
cup, plus a quarter cup reserved, of shredded jack cheese
4 stalks of green onions, chopped
tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
half tsp white pepper
half tsp cayenne
half tablespoon hot sauce
dashes of worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, pressed
an extra dash of creole seasoning for fun

Preheat oven to 350. Mix everything, except the spinach and crab, until combined. Fold in the spinach and crab and then pour into a baking dish. Top with the reserved quarter cup of shredded jack cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-40 mins until the top is golden.

Make ahead tips for gameday: mix the liquid ingredients, vegs, and the seasonings and refrigerate. Then before baking you can add the shellfish in fresh and top with the reserved jack cheese, etc. Another tip: make sure you squeeze all of the liquid out of the spinach and the crab. The extra liquid will make the dip watery and running and aint nobody likes watery dip.

I also got one of my chickadees who bakes, to make me these fab Louisiana boot shaped cookies and kingcake praline cookies. They taste even better than they look.

So my chamudis, unless Coach Hullabaloo has a change of heart, buys me a private plane, or instant time travel gets invented I shall be homegating or at a watch party next week for the Duke game. I'm somewhat conflicted on not traveling as that is "our thing" - to follow the wave wherever they go. Durham is a fine town and I was glad I got to see Ryan Travis get that pick 6 in 2011 when we played Duke last. But I hope that we aren't at the back end of a lopsided score this go round tho, because that game we didn't score an offensive touchdown until the 4th quarter when the game was already way past saving.

Cheers and prayers for a strong road swing! Hullabaloo ray ray!

Well That Stung

The more things change, the more they stay the same....

Special Teams, Referees, and Penalties, oh my! Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Only difference is we just got a new stadium to do it in. sigh........ Peggy is going to be talking about Picarelli just standing there after that blocked punt for a while. Coach Hullabaloo and I still talking about how Devin Powell does not get the recognition he deserves for managing a game and not making major mistakes. He's our trusty old faithful.

Anyways, I blame our parking passes.

And did I mention that Schott Cowen was there to try and steal more thunder? Bringing his suspect juju to the new stadium. I spied some peeps in the stands "saluting" Cowen with one finger when he took the field to be clapped at. Hopefully that was enough clawing for attention on his behalf and he can be on his merry way now.

So the photo above was me and our friend Baldboy comiserating postgame as we have always done. A Tulane Tradition.

The day started out well. Everyone seemed to be having a ball. I loved my Tulane dress I had made.



Two of my chickadees came by to our tent to say hello. They are so cute, I'm such a lucky Town Mom.

A major highlight is I got to meet Taylor and Gabby who were the Tulane co-eds who got first in line at 4am in order to get student tickets for the game. They contributed these goey frito peanut butter bars to add to our tailgating and they were SO good!! (thanks y'all!!)

I got interviewed by the NY Times who were in town for an upcoming article about the Tulane-Uconn game in October. My friend Tyronne Power jokes that I need to hire his friend Babelicious as my agent after being on TV this week and now the NY Times. .....mmmmkay!

Did you hear I was on TV? WUPL-TV My 54 called up and asked to tape me for a segment of their "The 504 Show" hosted by Sheba Turk. Here is a link of the segment in case you missed it. What fun!

So at tailgating I unfortunately did not get to walk around at all, I didn't get any free giveaways, or see anything other than what was in front of me because as mistress of ceremonies at our tent I didn't even barely get a bite of food. Coach Hullabaloo sez that being the spouse of Mrs Hullabaloo is like having a receiving line at a wedding. a social whirlwind. But Coach Hullabaloo did get to sneak away and went and dove into the mosh pit which was the LBC Quad and reported that it was like being in the infield at the Preakness. Good Times.

Our tailgate set up actually came together better than I expected. Not sure who to send a thank you note to for the mixup, but one of the rare times I was happy when something goes awry at my alma mater. This was our fancy pants tent that literally landed in our lap at the last minute because of some snafu with someone else.

We got a sign and everything!

With work, life, and everything going on this past month I had honestly given the most minimal thought to the actual tablescaping than what I normally expect of myself. My original idea was to theme it "Something Old, Something New, Something Olive, Something Blue" in a nod to our return to campus.

I had ordered the endzone-like fabric over the summer with intentions of glamming it up into a truly fabulous tablecloth. The vintage pennants were supposed to be a breathtaking garland. But I found myself on Friday afternoon with none of it done and no overall tablescaping "concept" - so I was just pulling whatever from my tailgating stash and hope that it was worthy of our first ever on campus tailgating.

I ended up zigzag cutting the fabric right there during set up and ordered Coach Hullabaloo to toss the pennants up onto the tent frame with fishing wire I keep in my tailgating emergency kit. Grabbed our old trusty tailgating banner from throwback days at the Dome, the VW bus, and the leftover napkins from our Pre-Season Tea and I called it a day.

Some tailgating highlights:

We were next to the Glazers in our fancy pants location and Momma Glazer gifted me this! And I absolutely love it. So perfect for tailgate decorating.

Nell brought these cutest cookie cake pops. Seriously, how cute!!

Raven! Don't you just love? She is an adorable Pugle and if I have any say, our future tailgating mascot. How cute is she?

and look, Chardonnay made these adorable condiment dispensers for our tailgating!

and look at these totally caaaah-uuuuute cups from the Scofields. Some of our booster club wave mommas had set up a few spaces over from us for the Football parents to finally have tailgate real estate of their own.

Perry Mason's wife whom I'll call Tequila made the best vidalia onion dip for our "Georgia" themed Peaches, Peanuts and Sweet Tea themed menu and here it is. So easy and really delish.

HOT VIDALIA ONION DIP
2 Vidalia Onions, chopped
2 cups of blended grated cheese mix (like colby/jack)
1 teaspoon of hot sauce
1/2 cup of mayo

Mix ingredients until blended and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

So next up we finally made our way to the stadium. I ended up missing the entire opening, the team running on to the field, and the video intro which I had really wanted to see.

My girl, Lucy's Mom, posted this great photo of the entrance and one of my sweet sorority sisters texted me this video of the team running out which I uploaded for posterity.

I also missed the fumble and touchdown. Which my friend Tyronne said he thought the stadium was simply going to explode. I would have loved for that to have happened and then rained our happiness all over the NIMBYs. ha.

I did get to partake in a few hullabaloos which was fun.



One thing I absolutely loved was these peeps at the stadium. They were engineering alumni and so they started making these hats for people out of the Advocate newspapers and selling them for $5. How hilarious. It was so blazing hot and this was so enterprising. So very Tulane.

So in the time since we received the hard hat tour of the stadium they made a few changes. I'm neutral on the fabulosity of the stadium. And that's ok y'all. I have high and unreasonable expectations. We ended up with completely covered seats, thank goodness. So that's a plus. But OMG on the Advocate's plastic bags bleeding green all over the seats and onto people's behinds. Talk about snafu.

One glaring thing we noticed - other than the lack of soap dispensers in the bathrooms and warm $5 bottled water - is that the access which the booster section was supposed to have to the "beer garden" appears to have been taken over by a glass enclosed private suite. How awesome. So when those fancy pants people stop coming to games and all of us who normally do, and stay for the duration, will no longer have access to anything fun.

Don't get me wrong: I had fun on Saturday, I loved seeing all of our friends and breaking bread and making friends with new ones. I was glad that out of all of the bandwagon peeps that showed up Saturday there might be a new generation of superfans in the making to carry the torch for us diehards.

And speaking of diehards, I compiled a list of favorite memories from some of my favorite greenies of their opening day at Yulman

Lil General said that she wanted to be the very first person to enter the stadium and she was! "I was first in line to enter in the bag check. Security used my bag to demonstrate to the helpers what to look for and looking ! LOL!! My old Tulane Bag that I decorated many, many years ago and still use it !!"

My girl Luscious and her mom went to visit her daddy's grave to say a prayer before the game. She's had her own season tickets since she was 5 years old. Her dad had been a monster superfan and even wrote a newsletter and co-hosted a radio show. Luscious said that her favorite memory was when the team ran out, she cheered and cried and video taped it.

Tyronne said he loved waiting at the light with Riptide to cross Willow. And of course Tech's first play from scrimmage and the aforementioned explosion of spirit in the stadium.

Prof said his favorite was walking from tailgating to the stadium. And the students chanting/taunting Tech after their fumble. ha.

AJ said "those first 10 minutes right before kickoff. I was just standing there with my friend and we looked at each other and it just hit us that all of it was actually happening. Then of course we had my personal favorite part of every Tulane sporting event, everyone yelling "home of the WAVE!" at the end of the national anthem."

Big Mac said that when he made it out of the tunnel on to the field he realized he "was a part of long and storied history. When Brian Batt sang the anthem, I looked at the flag, looked down to the field, and looked back to the flag and cried. And this coming from someone who opposed the stadium: it's nicer than I ever expected"

Babelicous said that her favorite moment was looking around at the new stadium, she and her dad "smiled at each other and hugged. It was priceless."

StPeteWave said his favorite memory was "Bodies! Many Bodies, students, simply the newness of TU football Uptown. Greatest day for a diehard. What my heart felt: peace and joy."

What was my favorite memory? Doing postgame sitting on our ice chests afterwards, nibbling at leftover tailgating food, and laughing with Perry Mason and Baldboy. The best part of football season, other than the touchdowns and turnovers, is the comraderie with our tailgating peeps.

P.S. wasn't there supposed to be a float? and I remember there was supposed to be a blow up spinning jester for touchdowns....no?

Happy Happy Happy

Hilarious picture of one of my Hullabaloo-ettes taken during the Ruston game weekend.

So yes, friends, that game made me Happy, Happy, Happy.

I hadn't enjoyed a win like that since we put the pedal to the metal on UAB back during the final days of the Toledo Error.

Coach Hullabaloo called this the Amnesty Game, in that I behaved myself as a civil person (mostly) at the official Tulane tailgating at the ULM game.

It was hosted by the Tulane government affairs office in an effort to maintain connections to North Louisiana important people. TPTB were in attendance and I was cordial to them.

The North Louisiana Tulane alumni had this super cute centerpiece and these adorable cups. And chargrilled oysters.

Also, my cute shoes and my suuuuper cute one shoulder gameday dress made the broadcast.

Anyways, despite my best efforts, I couldn't resist and I did inflict my thoughts about the absurd auction item on the Hullabaloo Auction onto some new, and of course young, and unsuspecting Wilson Center staff members. I've been getting messages from all manner of Tulane peeps who are some kinda irate about this. Like I got any more pull to do anything about it other than just complaining on the interwebs. But seriouuuuusly y'all .... Benny Ellender and Vince Gibson totally facepalmed in their graves.

So that totally made me UNhappy, UNhappy, UNhappy. The very least, they could have used an Arkansas picture hoisting the boot, right? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot are they thinking? I told Coach Hullabaloo I had half a thought to outbid everyone on it and then use it as tinder to start a bonfire pep rally in the UC Quad. You think I'm joking? I was a Girl Scout, I know how to start a proper bonfire. Watch me. But it just goes to show that it's totally true though: Tulane can't even manage to get out of its way even if it tried. Quelle Embarrassing!!!!

And speaking of getting out of our way.... The kick off return by Rashon Ceasar? At first I was shaking my head that we go late into the third quarter with a shut out and blow it, and then laughed it off when I read a comment that Richard Carthon had an angle on Ceaser, but then Picarelli took out Carthon. Oh hilarious! Totally a signature Tulane move, just making sure to put our mark on that win and keepin' it real. Ha ha!

Anyways, the game was otherwise fantastic from beginning to end. Montana is getting MUCH better at predicting where to pluck erratic snaps from and juggling the ball quicker before getting off the play. This is a valuable skill to learn, people. Just look at Tim Tebow. Perfectly executed shot gun all five years and look at him now. Washed up in the NFL. Now if he'd had a Tulane center hiking him the ball, he'd a been trained and prepared for all matter of calamities and eventualities. Just no telling where he'd be now. Straight to the top!

So mainly the gameplan was Hand it to Darkwa (picture from Monroe Star).

Followed by some Hand it to Kelley action (picture from Monroe Star).

Mixed in with some absolutely g-e-n-i-u-s defense by Jordan Batiste & Company for good measure. You know, just to keep things interesting and keep Graff on the edge of his seat. The fumble/takeaway that Batiste orchestrated that ended with a Dominique Robertson touchdown was truly epic and definitely makes the top of Mrs. Hullabaloo's Top 10 list.

Genius moment captured by Parker Waters.

What a play. Reminded me of Robert Meachem stealing back the interception in the 2009 Saints vs Redskins game.

Oh, and this pick up of a fumble by Matt Bailey was totally Hashtag Awesome! Also captured by Mr. Parker.

We also got to meet some super sweet Tulane peeps who live up in North Louisiana. Their little club is called the Strawberry Club or something like that because they used to get together to tailgate up there and they usually ate or had strawberries and that's what people called them and the name stuck.

And so now they wear these cute ribbons with a TU tie tack. She and I totally chatted about how absurd the elimination of Newcomb College was.

The most memorable part of our sojourn in Monroe though had to be all of the Monroe peeps who thought Coach Hullabaloo was Nick's Daddy. Talk about lol. As you could see in the previous picture of my cute shoes up earlier in this post, we actually were sitting nearby, but Nick's Daddy got tired of being continually approached and skipped out before the fourth quarter. And then it wasn't too long before Coach Hullabaloo started getting taps on the shoulder and people coming up to him, groups of little kids showing up with their programs and sharpies, "Mr. Montana, will you sign this for me?"

Ha!

Coach Hullabaloo used to get mistaken for Sean Payton, and before that some pro golfer Preston something or another. Anyways, I think he just looks like Coach Hullabaloo, if you ask me. Maybe I'll wear a blonde wig at the next game and we can be a decoy couple.

These are some pictures of Malone Stadium.

I liked the Touchdown Terrace they had. I wasn't so much a fan of the tents on the opposite endzone because there wasn't any cute tablescaping, but I give them props for taking care of their donors nicely

I do have to commend the Monroe peeps on their impeccable manners. Everybody was absolutely lovely. We even had fans say to us "Congratulations, Good luck the rest of the stretch." It was very similar to how we left the Mississippi State game in 2006 after totally winning there and embarrassing them. Of course then afterwards they put a for sale sign in Sylvester Croom's yard. But at least they waited until Tulane fans went home to air their disagreements.

Unfortunately, ULM Coach Todd Berry, decided to act all a fool and gave a very unfortunate post-game interview wherein he completely threw his team and us under an Interstate 20 sized Semi. I was so embarrassed for these poor people in Monroe to have such an unfortunate coach representing them like that in the media. What an idiot.

Anyways, be that as it may, I have put it out of my mind and I am now in the throes of Homecoming preprations. I got mums to make and tablescapes to plan.

See y'all back here in a week!

That Gathering Formerly Known As Homecoming

Thank you very much to everybody who organized Champions Square, put up with my flagrant violation of "the rules," tried to iron out some major kinks and not only brought us chairs to replace our confiscated ones, but also offered to bring us tables even though we did successfully manage to get those past the very vigilant guards.

But, here's the deal. The Greenies haven't won a homecoming game in one of my cat's lifetimes. I am therefor o-fficially cancelling "Homecoming." Throwing my lot in with the Greeks and "boycot it" (in air quotes) like they did this year.

I commissioned these candy jars from Coach Hullabaloo. Via my new obsession: pintrest.

Y'all, Tulane enforcing the unbeknowst to everybody "rules" of Papa Benson's Champions Square went over as well as a fart in a synagogue. And add our having to contemplate a moral victory against Rice, just has me out of sorts!

Or at the very least we shall rename this tradition. Nell and I decided we are henceforth calling it: "A Gathering"

Change the name like they changed Airline Highway to Airline Drive.....Everybody knows it's still Airline Highway, but we're giving it a different spin, put our minds off the additional pressure.

Perhaps change the dynamic of the unsavory elements who may sashay in and ruin our gameday. And, hopefully rob Tammy Nunez of the opportunity to pen yet another one of her simply awful articles that she just relishes to write. Cause lawd, she's just awful. and did I mention patronizing (if she has such disdain, why doesn't she go find a more pleasant team to cover?)

Anyways, yes, I was ever proud of the Olive+Blue's effort in the second half, turning it into an exciting and winnable game. But lawd we tried just as hard to give the game away as well. I quit counting how many TD interceptions and fumbles we had that produced points for Rice. So maybe if we enact this name thing, it will take the pressure off.

Le Sigh...
this mascot planter, another pintrest inspiration

Well, one thing I do look forward to as the Coach Curtis Johnson Era continues to unfold is whipping up a Brazilian Themed tailgate for senior day 2013 in honor of Cairo Santos! Caipirinhas and all, y'all.

Cairo is all of 4 inches taller than me, y'all it was so cute and funny to see him tossed in the air like a rag doll in celebration when he kicked that monster field goal just before the half. (picture from Times Pic)

Oh Happy Moment!

Of course, I can't neglect to mention Ryan Travis genius interception giving us our 3rd Q Mo. Cause that was some kind of awesome reminiscent of our Days of Yore at Tad Gormley Homecomings. Oh if only Griff had seen the open lane for him to run in the 2 point conversion on his own. And if only at least a half a dozen other things, like me remembering to take a friggin picture with the Monday Night Football cameraman to have proof of my hospitality in offering him a free plate of food.

Coach Hullabaloo made me these too. Cute serving stands from spray painted terra cotta planters. Love, right? Totally inspired from pintrest.

But yes, Oh for the days of Yore....or days of the future if we manage to get ESPN gameday to The Y in 2014, but that marketing coup might just be too high to aim for our "right for Tulane's situation" mentality that TPTB insists on. I could have used my aforementioned photograph with their MNF camera person as evidence that my tailgates are not to be missed and deserve ESPN Gameday treatment all. on. their. own.

Here a rogue Tulane fan in Baton Rouge. My new favorite person in the universe. He says he is not an LSU Fan. At All. He begrudgingly goes there because it was the cheapest place he could go to school. I knew I'd found a kindred spirit when he tweeted today "LSU fans are a little mad #ha" (genius, a hashtag for "ha" lol).

Anyways, I just LOVE his irreverent humor, especially as it pertains to Red Stick. Follow him for genius commentary.

So bouquet of roses to my new twitter crush Cal for representing at Gameday. And Bouquet of roses to Alabama for silencing Baton Rouge for the weekend. Yes, Indeed. And bouquets of something to them classy tigah fans for their equally classy chant emanating from their student section. For real, it's not an Urban Legend. Because me, in my naive-tay thought, no...this couldn't have possibly! but no - they even have a whole twitter account for it! Oh, dare to dream y'all!

Next Week: Memphis!