Well that BLOWS

Ay yay yay!

Talk about going "cold turkey" after a high. We got blow-ed by the "Snow" birds (get it, ha ha). Yes, the drug jokes abounded yesterday. a 3rd and 1, was 3rd and a blunt. "Just Say No" etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

But lawd have mercy, I really did wake up this morning and last night really did happen. And I really did spend the night at my monster in law's to come see this. It was not a drug fueled nightmare.

Mrs. Hullabaloo's list of things that totally blow:

1. Being more specific when requesting a takeaway derby.

More takeaways by Lorenzo Doss, please.

....Oh, but for lack of clarification.

photo by Jon Way
2. Forgetting My Roll Wave Button. In my rush to get to the game, I left behind my Roll Wave button in our hotel room.

I coulda/shoulda dispatched Coach Hullabaloo back to get it. I even had the sinking feeling at tailgating that I didn't have it and bad things would happen and I tried to brush off the feeling. I should have known better! I'm going to get it permanently implanted onto my body. Or tattoo'd. Or both.

The one on the right I'ma tie to the back of my bumper and drag it all the way back to New Orleans, run over a few times in my driveway and then torch in a ceremonial ritual. My original plan was to wear it proudly to yesterday's game and to Rice in a few weeks. But evil is attached to it now so it must be destroyed.

3. EX-CUSA REFS!!!! Grrrr.....

photo by Steve Mitchell
You cannot not assess a penalty. Or review a review! Lawd have mercy do Ex-Cusa refs blow. Zach's daddy was yellin "HEY REFS, ARE YOU SMOKING SOMETHING!" .....har har

4. Tammy Nunez patronizing articles. Hula skirts and coconut dreams? Lorenzo Doss impersonator? I aint' sayin, but I am just sayin. She just loooooves all her witty little sayings she gets to come up with for when we lose. I still can't believe how awesomely funny she thought she was last year when she was caught off camera at the Coach's press conference bashing the Greenwave and giggling about how John Curtis could beat Tulane. She's just sooo funny y'all!

I'ma start calling her Sporty Nunez like that turd reporter from Cinderella Man. I can picture her writing "The only time the Wave was on it's feet was walking into the stadium...." this would so be something only Sporty Nunez could write.

4. Tropical Stadiums. Ok. weather patterns in tropical stadiums suck. I'd love to blame the weather on our interception rally, but I can still complain about it. It was absolutely sweltering and stagnant hot the first half, but nothing we aren't used to in September. And then just like that at the half it was like hurricane gale winds kicked in during the entire FAU momentum swing. Like weather was the FAU 12th man. Only to die down into a peaceful evening breeze as the final minutes ticked off the clock and our loss looming over us like a bad hangover. It was completely biblical. And reminiscent of that completely cray game we had in Hawaii.

Another thing like Hawaii was the FAU dance team. Lawd. Cover your husband's eyes.

The twerking they incorporated into their "Shake Your Groove Thang" halftime routine should have come with a "suitable for mature audiences only" warning. I am serious. Big Fredia woulda banned it for inappropriateness.

5. The demise of this game day maxi dress. The colors are so perfect. Now I can never wear it again.

This picture is at the mini "beach" that they have at FAU's stadium with a misting system. I was jealous. Oh, and those butt curved stadium bleachers that TPTB is carrying on about that's supposed to also be installed at Yulfogelmevlin: overrated. My ass still ends up sore even with ergonomic butt bleachers.
I wore this dress to the 2011 Hawaii game. And now I am definitively never wearing it again (well, ......maybe. but I would agree with Coach Jones on classifying it as "ineffective" and therefor banished from ever seeing the light of day ever again. Like the "Roll Wave Roll" cheer).

6. All Access and 106.1. Just sayin! I hope the Greenies don't give up on whining and complaining to TPTB. A proper football team deserves to meet at least minimal standards in the media/broadcast department. Enough with the mickey mouse operation with rabbit ears, chewing gum, and coffee cans tied with string to only then get cut out by a high school game, puh-lease. Or 50 minutes of commercials during a 60 minute radio show. THIS IS UNPROFESSIONAL.

For as small as a fan base as we are, we don't ask for much: a decent team, a decent broadcast. and a decent bowl game while we're aksin'. (ok. ok. I'm pushing it, I know.)

7. Homecoming "Miracles". I know that the team and the coaches are eager to accept blame and move on, but I need to work this out of my system a bit. BECAUSE I WAS THERE IN 2007 AT ARMY! Sitting in those crap seats in the endzone. Leading 17-7 and then losing!!!

This should be a glorious morning in South Florida, except that here we are. Reminiscing about how we managed to hand a downtrodden team a homecoming "miracle" at the end of the game. Coach L's wife and I were just so smug at tailgating laughing about that ruinous "Michie Miracle" officiating that handed Army that win (he was out of bounds!!!!). Clearly tempting fate and the impending doom that was to befall us in a few short hours. And against a team that didn't exist a few shorts years ago. We are getting good at that.

Now there's going to be all these "Miracle at FAU Homecoming" videos to look forward to for posterity. Yay!

.....Sigh.

A Feast For the Eyes

Our super cah-uuuuute tailgating. Ta Da!

Our theme was "Jamaican" in honor of Nico Marley (yes that Marley). "One Love": The Greenwave of course!

And what was super cool, was that Nico Marley's family came by to say hello before going in to the game. They were so tickled that we had red stripe beer and everything.

The menu (recipes below) was: jerk pineapple chicken wings, coconut shrimps (store bought frozen, I was lazy), cilantro lime rice (sooo delish), black bean salsa, plantain and yucca chips, pepper jelly and cream cheese, honeydew with kiwi & blackberries, brownies and a big ole chocolate cake for Mr. and Mrs. Koozie's anniversary. Everything was a hit. Oh, and Preacherman brought hurricanes to share in honor of the anniversary of Katrina as well.

Everything turned out beyond my expectations for tailgating. Especially for being midweek - we had tons of new hullabaloo huddlers come by, including many new female fans who have gotten swept up by our enthusiasm and have now paid dues to officially join our little well-behaved booster club. Even some MrsHullabaloo twitter followers came by to identify themselves. I was so delighted to meet y'all! Thanks for coming to introduce yourselves, please do drop by again and I mean that sincerely.

Our cutest little visitor though was the darling Kepa!

Kepa just came back from his first trip to Spain where he was one of the youngest peregrinos on the "Camino de Santiago" walking pilgrimage across Northern Spain. He has a blog about his adventures and everything. Kepa is our favorite-est little pelican!

So, oh yes. Post-tailgating there was a game.

And if you missed the Jackson State J-settes, word. Those girls are known as the "Feast of a Million Eyes" and they are not kidding. The J-settes held the entire Tulane Nation in complete rapture during their performance. Binoculars and Ipad videotaping was in full effect.



This video is not their performance from the game, but it gives you the idea. The J-settes actually danced to Blurred Lines (hey, hey, hey!) executed perfectly by the Sonic Boom marching band. The J-settes were as, if not more, impressive than the University of Hawaii Rainbow Dancers Dance Team that Coach Hullabaloo and I witnessed two seasons ago. And that left quite an impression on us, let me tell you.

Anyways, about the game itself.....I will be 100% honest that I was lax in the paying attention part. I was too distracted catching up with my peeps and players mommas that I have befriended. What was pretty funny was that when Koozie walked in at the beginning of the game he heard that there was an interception, but his immediate thought was, "We've been interception already dagnabbit!".....ha!

So Bandwagon Fans: please forgive us longtime fans for not immediately already assuming the worst. I do caution that I am purposely reserving any presumptive booty shaking until we can avenge Louisiana Tech and ULM, for reasons which I have discussed previously here. So after the Louisiana Tech game is when I feel that I can commence commenting upon this season for sure.

My favorite picture from the game yesterday. I love the unis, but our ancient fan base complained that nobody could read the numbers.

My favorite play of the game yesterday. Smackdown at the goal line.

(both pictures by Chris Granger, Times Pic photographer)

I do sincerely apologize though that I am unable, at this time, to revel in any post-win glow. And it's not for any lack of effort on the part of the team. I do fervently hope that the team enjoyed their win as they deserve every success for their effort every week and for enduring what the Greenwave Nation has had to endure. And most especially, I hope this guy enjoyed the win: Dante Butler

(Derick Hingle, USA Today)

Dante was a freshman during Toledo's last year. When I first met him in person, he assured me that he was there to help turn things around and that he would be satisfied if we went 10 and 3 that year. Son, if Tulane went 10 and 3, New Orleans would spin off the map or something. But it was a very endearing comment and I hope that he gets to see that this year.

My hangups, of which Coach Hullabaloo can attest that I have many, is that it was a big let down for me to have to observe us play a divison 2 school that was just not very good. Not that I'd want to revisit other D2 nail biters of our recent past like when we opened against McNeese or SLU. But one of our younger Hullabaloo-ettes started calling the JSU QB "groundcover" instead of his last name Ivy because of the amount of time they spent flat on the turf.

What is also nagging me is a very disturbing possibility that following a winning streak, our Athletic Department might seriously consider settling and make us participate in the New Orleans Bowl should we qualify. Oh girl - you know I'll be out there front and center with a tailgate party to end all tailgate parties since Coach Hullabaloo flatly refused to send us to Hawaii in 2003. A sin so egregious I have tortured him about it daily. However, after my misery over this season's schedule and after putting the kibosh on Fan Day, now we gotta get pumped up about more Superdome? Because we haven't seen enough of the Superdome. I mean, we'll be having to park here next season anyways, so we'll have plenty of opportunities to visit the dome and rekindle our fond memories. I get it that the Nola Bowl will be the easiest bowl for them to coordinate. But seriously, just kill me now, ok? So that's kind of zapped my bubble a bit.

But keeping us distracted and entertained in the interim was a gametruck that they booked for tailgating which I had to admit was preeeetty awesome. I know it was for the students, but I had a good time checking it out. This is a similar game truck to the one that was parked outside.

Ok, so down to business of recipes.


The inspiration for some of this was this ah-mazing lunch I enjoyed on a stormy day of shopping in downtown Hamilton, Bermuda last year. There was a food truck with an umbrella for the tiniest bit of shelter from the elements and I decided to give it a whirl. These jerk chicken wings were by far the best thing I ever ate. Made me forget I was eating them in the rain, sopping wet and completely ladled with shopping bags.

Mrs. Hullabaloo's Interpretation of Jerk Pineapple Wings
A bottle of Cattleman's Carolina tangy BBQ Sauce (Winn Dixie sells)
generous quarter cup of soy sauce (eyeball it)
dashes of paprika
dash of cumin
third cup brown sugar
generous dashes of ginger
2 stalks of chopped green onion (reserve half for garnish)
three quarters cup of crushed pineapple (strain some of the liquid)
3-4 lbs of drummettes and chicken wings
Jerk spice (I made my own)


Take the liquid ingredients, pineapple, spices, brown sugar and simmer until blended. Add the green onion. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile I brushed both sides of my chicken wings and drummettes with jerk seasoning and put them in the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes. I took out the pan and drained out all of the fat, turned the chickens to the other side and set them in the oven for another 10-15 minutes until they started to look golden. I took about a quarter to half cup of the sauce and brushed that on both sides of the chicken and then turned OFF the oven and left the rack of chicken to baste a little in the oven with the temperature dropping. I just coated the wings a touch, enough to give them a little something something. I garnished the top of the wings with chopped green onions and set out all of the sauce so that guests could add as much or as little as they wanted.

Mrs. Hullabaloo's jerk seasoning
ground onion
ground allspice
ground cloves
thyme
ground cinnamon
ground ginger
salt
ground cumin
tiniest sprinkle of celery salt
tiniest sprinkle of ground garlic
a quarter of a scotch bonnet de-seeded and minced
two tablespoons of canola oil


Now, I did not use measurements because I was crazy. I could not find store bought jerk seasoning mix anywhere. So I mixed a dash each of the dry spices first until I had a batch that I was happy with the combination. I can note that I added more onion though than the others, and was generous with the salt and with the thyme. Then I took the minced scotch bonnet and let it sit in the canola oil a spell and then added the mixed dry spices in pinch by pinch until I had a sludgy consistency that tasted jerk-ish.

Cilantro Lime Rice from Melissa D'Arabian

Cupnahalf of Louisiana Long Grain Jasmin Rice
half cup of Whole Foods 365 organic coconut milk (I opened several cans to try which one I liked best and this one won)
half cup of homemade chicken bone broth (because this is very healthy for you)
2 cups of water
tablespoon of extra virgin coconut oil
couple of cilantro leaves to keep things honest
zest from a lime
a couple tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
toasted shredded coconut


Add liquids and rice to your rice cooker. Voila, very easy. Once it's done, fluff in the lime zest and chopped cilantro. Garnish with the toasted coconut for a pretty presentation.

Ok, so September is a holy month, not just for Football, but for our Tulane Community as it is Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. So next week our tailgate will celebrate the New Year with a Jewish Menu. We are calling it Challah-Baloo (ray ray)!

Ciao my chamudis!

P.S. I am starting to give credence to this Gus Kattengell El Gato Negro thing. We almost had a shut out until he allegedly said something on air. lol!

It's Raining

We have arrived in Durham and it's raining.

and I found a penny. and the checkout at the drug store by our hotel was selling plush toy Pelicans. See Manhattan Penny and McNesse Penny stories.

I don't want to El Gato negro us, but our "thriller" game against UAB in '04 at Gormley was played outdoors in the rain. and we only had Lester Ricard under center then. Of course Roydell Williams was WR, but whatever. It was in the rain.

Coach Hullabaloo and I waited until the last possible moment to leave that game in the 4thQ for a party at a friend's that I would have lost a friendship over should I have not attended (and believe me, I considered it). Coach and I had driven separately for whatever reason and my car didn't pick up the radio station for the game. Lester Ricard kept airing out these bombs to Roydell Williams and UAB was top 25, fresh from having defeated LSU at The Outhouse. So it was back and forth, back and forth. Coach Hullabaloo was pulling over and getting out of the car to booty dance in the rain each time we got a touchdown so I would know. It was hilarious.

Anyways, Alex Carlton kicked wide right in the middle of the field at 37 yards (tee hee!) also an outdoor game, also in the rain. Well, a drizzle really. But it had rained earlier and it was dreary.

We had a tropical storm for Southeastern.....

Ok e-nough of this Mrs. Hullabaloo. (but I am awful glad we have statistically better running backs than Duke allegedly. according to the "experts". Because I feel with our butterfinger receiving corps and Toledo's West Coast bag of tricks, this will be a running game. Don't ask me technical questions while I feel this is so. I just do. Also Coach Hullabaloo ran into some of the players looking for white tape at the Westbank Academy yesterday. They have their Mojo routine also apparently with this white tape.)

OK. enough already Mrs. Hullabaloo!

Blaze of Glory

pictures from Jimmy Mitchell for Tulane, Linda Stetler for the Birmingham News and Coach Hullabaloo just for fun!

UAB went dooooown, in our Blaze of Glory, UAB went dooooown, in our Blaze of Glory!

and while I loved, loved it (!), I am not allowing myself to celebrate until exactly 7 days from now.

When the Saints had their magical season in 2009, I think it was about 10 undefeated games in when I finally said "OK, this is for real!" My friends thought I was so funny, because it wasn't until the Patriots game that I finally started having fun watching the games, instead of just expecting something horrible to happen.

Do any of yous remember the 2007 game vs. Les Tigres at the dome? (Yeah, that one. The last "home" game in a "Home and Away" contract that Joe Activia broke). Anyways, I sat there shocked the first half. Just stunned and I kept asking Coach Hullabaloo "Wait, LSU has GOT to be throwing this game on purpose. Is this for real?" I even turned around to one of Scott Holt's cousins and asked her, "Is this for real?!" and she nodded "Yes!"

I swear I was prolly the only Tulane fan in the stand at that '07 game who was convinced this was all a joke, Ha Ha and then the real Tulane team would stand up.

So this might be blasphemy to some of yous out there, but I think that our for real test will be next week against Duke. I think that our win yesterday was a combination of UAB being on a downturn and luck. Like how many times did #12 have to break tackles and outrun us for us to start keeping him in check? He was giving me heart palpitations.

Our special teams was also giving me heart palpitations. At first I was throwing daggers in my mind to Coach Toledo for calling for a fake punt instead of a field goal, but then I realized it was a botched snap. Sigh. And I am not knocking Derrick Strozier: but what exactly is happening at Special Teams practices. In the NCAA you cannot signal a fair catch and then go running. Hello, what was that story.

So you can understand that at 35-10 I refused to stop biting my nails as I tend to do when we are ahead. Just waiting for the hatchet to fall and for us to lose. I wasn't comfortable until the score got to 42-10 and the scorching sun was finally behind the west sideline boxes. Listen: I was THERE at Michie in '07 when we were up by 17 in the final minutes of the game and lost due to bullsh&t officiating. That quote/unquote "Miracle" was a farce, so there. (can you picture me doing air quotes on miracle? cause I am ha ha). The bottom line is Tulane has mastered the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for longer than I've been a Tulane fan.

Yesterday at UAB we got to sit with Mike Cammarata who was a guard for the Greenies from '65-69. His first college game was opening against Texas on the road. Da-um!

As Coach Hullabaloo likes to laugh about Nola locals: dang Messieur Cammarata could talk. New Orleaneans can talk to walls y'all. Anyways, Grandson Cammarata kept wanting to comment on the game and I kept shushing him. "SHHHHH! until the clocks says zero, zero, zero don't El Gato Negro us, this is a Tulane game!" You musn't comment while we are ahead and inadvertendly add some juju.

I even turned to one of the Greenbacker wives and said, Man I have so many comments in my head but I don't want to ruin everything by saying anything. And she agreed! "Don't! Rick Jones wouldn't want you to say anything either!" So I just zipped it.

The funniest comment though was Coach Hullabaloo bantering with the Greenbackers about the spread for the game. Coach admitted he had wanted to vote on the spread on Sportsbook, because he didn't feel that it would be 2 TD's. Now, y'all: I was confident we would pull this one out, just not by the margin that it was. I was expecting some crazy '07 SMU overtime situation. Big Mike chimed up and said "I bet on this game today too! I bet $10,000....Lira" LMAO, Lira.

Also my hesitation to start booty shaking about yesterday's win is that Duke just hung one on Boston College. Them devils gotta have some Mo happening to carry them into their own Homecoming. There is nothing more that I would love than to initiate a Homecoming Spanking Sweep TM. I am tired, tired of being everyone's homecoming bitches, time to feel like we did leaving the Mississippi State game in 2006 when State fans put "For Sale" signs up in Croomer's yard. tee hee!

So Mega props where Mega Props are due: 1. To the UAB Band for our awesome soundtrack throughout the game and playing the Darth Vader every time we made a first down.

2. Mega props to Wilson Van Hooser showing off to his family and friends by hanging on to catches and making a TD. Yaaay!


3. And Holy facundus on Trent Mackey's pick six, he is like the gift that keeps on giving.

4. and Mega props to the Running Back corps lead by Erleens.



Albert Williams leaps made me want to stand up and applaud, his backflips are starting to pay dividends. and Mrs. Hullabaloo can't wait to see Dante Butler unleashed, because he looks killer.

I was also pleasantly surprised how many Tulane fans and alumni showed up. Our player's families even showed up en masse. Here a picture of Flat Riptide with the LeBeau's (look at the little LeBeau's lmao)....


I am starting a Novena tomorrow, so I will include the Greenies to keep some of the Confidence and Swagger that they got from creaming UAB, showing up against Tulsa and having their way with Southeastern. And for Rick Dickson and Scott Cowen to finally just get over their myopia and just get us into the ACC already. Amen.