Nothing a Bad Attitude Can't Fix Y'all

Oh, what are you all worked up over?

So we got run ruled at home last week, followed by losing a meaningless midweek game. What's the big deal?

At least our cookie cake was cute. See.

also the pictures interspersed here are of Mrs Hullabaloo modeling a costume change with an unknown Tulane fan. Yes, I undressed in front of my husband with a complete stranger and switched shirts for a photo op. This bowling shirt is on my bucket list of Greenwave lore to own. Norby's was a tradition between Outhouse fans and Greenies that whoever won a game had to wheelbarrow the other team's fans. This all took place somewhere down in the bayou. Not sure if you can see the wheelbarrow drawing on the back of the bowling shirt that is on the other pictures that follow below. It hasn't been done in a zillion years because, well, our record and also since they refuse to play us (do you blame them, would you play us?). But unknown fan loved my "Hey Tigahs, Bleaux Me" shirt so much that he asked to wear mine for the picture I wanted to take and well there you have it, we were all undressing in Rosen.


So chin up greenwave fans, nothing a little bad attitude can't fix. Or a chipper Wave Chat in your inbox to spin any bad news into being just part of "the plan". Everything is rolling along according to plan, so just turn that frown upside down ya heard!

So yes, as you can see Coach and Mrs. Hullabaloo were at "the game." I stayed until I literally could feel the wind penetrating my brain it was so flippin cold. (I can't believe they had Devon Walker out with us in that weather!)

Coach and Mrs. Hullabaloo ducked out with Mr. and Mrs. Baldboy about the 5th or 6th inning, but not before I got to sing our one and only round of Hullabaloo AND watch a double play. and all of four hits. Yes. See: there is a silver lining in everything! Even in sub-Arctic temperatures. Hoo-ray!


Mr. and Mrs. Baldboy are our new fun couple that also enjoy subjecting themselves to the humiliation that comes with being a Tulane fan. Yay, kindred spirits! Although today Mr. Baldboy had it up to here (lawd, he's been a fan longer than me if you can believe it) and he finally put his foot down. Mrs. Baldboy was just hilarious recounting her husband's ire, cause ooooh noooo, now they'd gone and done it.

You see, it's not enough that we have to watch the unwatchable, but then we are also forced to follow absurd parking and tailgating "rules" on top of it. Mr. Baldboy was so worked up over his absurd parking situation that he demanded they come pick him up in a golf cart with all of his tailgate crap, and Mrs. Baldboy sat there laughing taking this all in (she is so cute). Luckily they produced a good enough parking space closer to Rosen to satisfy Mr. Baldboy. When I told him the Rosen parking passes were $5, Mr. Baldboy went through the roof.


Honest to Yahweh I believe that somewhere in the nether recesses of Wilson Center there's a secret committee that meets to figure out what are the most absurd and arcane situations they can dream up to put Tulane Fans in, not tell anybody about or announce in any normal way and then sit back, watch and see how many more of us they can chase off. Like we are laboratory mice or something. I swear, it must also be on their employee reviews as well. How many season tickets did you sell...mmm I see. Well how many fans did you piss off?...mmmm, excellent! Oh, and can your father declare in national interviews that we were the reason College Athletic Conferences fell apart? Smashing! You are Hired!


This here is the recovering foot of a fan I'll call Cute As a Button. Cute As a Button's dad is a trip. We just love him in section 110. And his seriously awesome meatballs he sells. Anyways, here Cute As a Button is modeling all the signatures she's collecting from New Orleans athletes, including Thomas Morstead! fer real!

In all fairness, Mrs. Hullabaloo has a very lovely connection inside the office who was totally awesome and secured me parking passes without a single solitary obstacle, who was ever sweet and even came over to check up on us and make sure that everything went smoothly. So grateful for that. But not every fan has a Bat Line. Mrs. Hullabaloo worked in Washington DC after college for the Ana Wintour of DC Lobbyists. So I am battle trained to deal with shit hitting a fan and how to head it off in advance. Man, I tell you that man I worked for was c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y cray. He'd call up out of the blue "Miss Hullabaloo! Go find me that and get it to me in 5 minutes. By the way I'm on the Hill" and hang up. Pre-cell phone days I'd have to figure out what "that" was and where exactly on the Hill he was (senate side? house side? which office building? or Hill adjacent having lunch?). I had a rolodex the size of an airplane engine. And he would call me on Friday nights while I was at post-Happy Hour asking if I would drive to Maryland to babysit his kids. Lawd - I once ran out onto the runway at a fedex facility at Dulles Airport to get a fedex package onto a plane for that man.

Yes this is the bat that almost took out Carthon last nite.
I don't think we even made contact with the ball.


Captured by Parker Waters.

So I'm used to crazy. I can laugh about it. But your average fan can only put up with so much crazy. Add finding new ways to lose games or witnessing how the sausage is made at Wilson Center and well that's just a recipe for bad news to the average fan. But don't worry, TPTB will just zip out a new Wave Chat and explain it all away. And don't you know that Cal State Fullerton turned it all around once 20 years ago? The laws of probability on that happening again makes it very very plausible we can whip up a miracle at Turchin. What with the transfer+scholarship rules, our intimidating tuition, and our strength and conditioning program that always somehow results in the decimation of our depth chart. Other teams play on a regulation field, with NCAA equipment and follow NCAA rules and yet somehow there's always a convenient excuse to bail us out.

Listen y'all - I have the utmost respect for Coach Rick Jones. I do! I love him and all his crazy. Like outlawing "Green! Wave!" chanting because it is "ineffective." Or threatening to cut down our tree in Peggy's Patio because it causes undue juju for being the only mulberry bush amongst the palms in the outfield.

Mrs. Hullabaloo the tree hugger. Save the Tree!

But having being run-ruled Saturday at home for the Memphis series as all part of our grand plan to eek out a series win on Sunday is suspect, IMHO. At one point during the Run Ruling Strategery, we were down 10-0 and finally Rick Jones stomps out to the mound. Coach Jones had been violently ill on Friday night and you know it had to be bad because he didn't go to the game. That happens like never. Oh but we had us a grand ole time cheering "Green! Wave!" to our heart's content. The marketing peeps even put the cheer on the scoreboard (!). Yes! Shhh, don't tell Jones about it tho. Anyways, Coach Jones stomped out to the mound at 10-0 and I thought out loud, Wow, here I thought this a redo on Weekend at Bernie's down in the dugout. The Greenies tossed ourselves down a black hole at this game and our dugout was completely silent and nobody rustling about. Like this is how we were supposed to roll now. What the Facundus is what I have to say about that.

So anyways, Coach Hullabaloo is licking his wounds this morning as he just seeths at Outhouse and their awful fans. Wants desperately to put them in their place. As do I, but ya know what exactly can we do as a collective? Protest and stop going to games? Did you see the vast swaths of purple engulfing Turchin last night? It was enough to make you ill. We know how to beat these people, remember this? the last time they were numbah two?

April 1, 2009


When LSU lost like fools on April fools 2009

It leaves us all with the unanswered question that I have yet to hear a straight "Yes" or "No" answer from TPTB......

Do. You. Want. Tulane. To. Win? question mark question mark exclamation point

Sure TPTB has perfected the response that Athletics is basically a glorified academic program for gifted student athletes and yada yada yada "right for our situation" yada yada. But if Florida Gulf Coast University (who the facundus has ever even heard of that school before?) can figure it out, what with our legions of Freeman business and Tulane Law graduates haven't been able to figure out how to run a department properly. As Big Mike so eloquently said once, We have an entire law school of Jewish lawyers at our disposal here. What is the point of operating at a loss and/or with a losing record for decades? To bring new coaches here so that they can gain 50 pounds and then graveyard their careers? We done wrote the playbook on "let's play not to lose" perspective. Been doing that since Yahweh was a boy and look where it's gotten us: humiliating trips to Thibodaux!

Anyways, I leave you with this: Middleton was Safe and here's photographic proof.



And that's all there is to it. Ciao my chamudis!

The Karma of a Football Fan

So just wouldn’t you know it!?

Last week Mrs. Hullabaloo and some awesome Tulane fan-ettes got together and put us together a rockin’ afternoon tea to welcome the wives of the new football staff to New Orleans.

I’ll post more pictures soon, I promise!

It was an absolutely dee-lightful afternoon, a “great success”, with much merriment enjoyed by all.  Funnily, one of the wives mentioned that she knew when she walked in that she would just loooove us because we served Sweet Tea Vodka right alongside actual Earl Grey tea.  We love traditions and all here, but who doesn’t want to kick things up a notch?

I loved, loved meeting all of the wives, but wouldn’t ya know that I particularly enjoyed having the pleasure of meeting the daughter-in-law/wife of a coaching family I had mentally and in writing ripped to shreds for embarrassing us. And whose husband I have held minimal expectations in potentially leading us out of our Football Egypt.  I completely admit that I have prematurely arrived at this infantile opinion, without actually knowing a thing about his coaching philosphy, his body of work and based solely on where his stops have been prior to Tulane.

Anyways, I was all prepared to have this preconception of her based solely on marital affiliation, but she was simply just the awesomest, and genuinely seemed like someone that I would befriend immediately in real life.

Sigh, just my karma!

So I stand (or write ...oh, whatever) before you as a fallible human being with opinions who may be proved wrong, incomplete, controversial, what have you.  There. I have heaved this boulder off of my chest.

What’s more: in addition to having this karmic intervention, G-d also sent down another calamity to offset the loss (sniff! There just aren't enough tissues for my purple and gold tears!) of TAFKATHB. TAFKATHB?  The Athlete Formerly Known As The Honey Badger. He’s unfortunately got all up in the weeds ya know. har har!

Lawd, I just laughed and laughed in the Clearview Bed, Bath and Beyond last week.  Now stuck with all their displays of skunk pillows, skunk decor and skunk plastic crap from China.  Talk about one upping Les Miles’ grass eatin’ ways.  Peggy even came up with the most hilarious and clever of all retorts on TAFKATHB if there ever was one:  Cause Honey Badger TOKES What He Wants! Get it? Ha! genius, right?!

Well, now we, in the Greenie Dat Nation, are in mourning and eating our words.

 

Lawd. Trent Mackey, done got himself wrapped up in an entire heap of unbelievable crud right off the heels of TAFKATHB coming back down to reality that he cannot even have the option of going to McNeese. As a failed drug test in the NCAA means you can’t play nowhere. For a year. Of course that now means that Glenn Guilbeau and whatsit other commentators are breathlessly speculating/pressuring that Les Miles now has to take TAFKATHB back in a year because just what kind of message is this signaling to other New Orleans area recruits that if they break NCAA rules, Red Stick will just turn their back on them and choose instead to uphold the spirit of the rules and collegiate sportsmanship.  The nerve(!) of Les Miles for having a modicum of responsibility. (I swear on my cats this line of reasoning was expounded post-mortem on WWL for hours upon hours).

Anyways, so back at our glass ranch: I preface my discussion of Trent Mackey’s tribulation by saying that I don’t know nothing other than what is being generated in the gossip mill. That and what is being reported on breathlessly by Miz Nunez in the Sometimes Picayune.  But believe you me, I tried.  I worked all kinds of angles on getting the nitty gritty on that burglary.   I pressed every single one of my contacts in the undergraduate population at Tulane, including some who are friends with players.  I even know a work study student worker at TUPD. and No Ma’am, there was just no cracking that burglary story at any level.

I guess, um, spouting off the way I do on this blog would um limit my access to insider information, ha! Quelle dommage....

And ya know, it was some kinda top secret situation going on because I even had players’ moms ask me what I knew.  Information about the incident was just sketchy at first because the robbery was believed to allegedly be targeted at a “football player” and instead this poor co-ed got picked on instead, but there was not a peep out of anybody about any further details.

Meanwhile, everybody in Uptown is scared out of their wits, new students are twittering their concerns, etcetera, etcetera.  So of course, the players mommas panic about their children being potential targets and with kids these days who never answer their phones, return voicemails or generally keep in touch with their parents just results in parents then panicking even more.  And unfortunately, #1 gossip queen here, had nothing.

So. I really have nothing to add to the discussion on Trent Mackey other than I hope and pray that this is some messed up situation of the alleged perpetrator just talking out his mouth to take the heat off himself and that Trent Mackey has indeed not just thrown away an NFL career and a Tulane degree for $500 or whatever it is that this senseless stupid burglary netted.  And if it is the other way around, I hope and pray that some maturity is rained down onto his misguided soul pronto in order to move on with his life in a successful and peaceful manner. Amen.

Which to all of you haters who may bring up Toney Converse, or Lawrence Burl or Ray Boudreaux – here’s the deal.  Toney Converse, from what I have been told, had a pretty crappy home life and when Tommy Bowden left, he lost his support system at Tulane and just fell into a spiral, left school all together and then got caught up.  He used his time in the penitentary wisely and has, as far as I know, used his time constructively and even had a work out with the VooDoo recently to resurrect his athletic promise.  Much love and angels to Toney .

Ray Boudreaux was defending himself and his cousins from a group of bully gangbangers who were harassing them.  He sought help from law enforcement and bouncers and nobody would pay no mind to what was happening to him and his family.  So he did what I think probably 99% of the male population would have done under similar circumstances. or At least what the bumper stickers on the trucks of certain haters say they would do (see “Peace The Old Fashioned Way” or “We Don’t Dial 911”).

 

What’s more, Ray didn’t drag a U.S. Marine out of a car for honking at him in a parking lot and beat in his head with his foot.  The worst thing about the Ray Boudreaux situation was that he had a completely incompetent lawyer who somehow managed to have the actual footage of the entire ordeal tossed out of evidence on a technicality.  Because if you actually watch everything, and not just the tragic ending, you can see plain as day what the situation was. So much love and angels to Ray.

Lawrence Burl on the otherhand – I just roll my eyes at this and whisper a prayer for his guidance to the straight and narrow.  Here’s the son of a former New Orleans Chief of Police (yes, indeed. the top dog at NOPD), who was on the National Honor Society (my chickens, even I didn’t attain this lofty goal), who had a full ride to an elite Southern Ivy, and athletic promise, who allegedly decided to drive around Uptown, under the influence, in a busted up truck without plates, proper headlights, a dirty scale, a gun, and bags of cannibis.  Now that is what you call serious lack of judgment.  So, “next man up!” is what I gots to say here. And please, use your time wisely to hopefully get it together in the future.

As a side note: Do y’all know that I’ve had to bail Coach Hullabaloo out of O.P.P. twice?! Well, I’m being overly dramatic here.  No bail was actually ever needed or necessary.  Coach Hullabaloo had stupid outstanding traffic infractions that for whatever reason were deemed to be on the level of high crimes and misdemeanors by NOPD. But which, nonetheless, scared me to no end and caused me to place hysterical sobbing phone calls to well-placed friends who then placed additional phone calls to the levers of power in order to arrange for Coach Hullabaloo to be released before he was ever even processed.  Yes, I went through this twice and more than enough embarrassment for this lifetime, thank you very much.  Coach Hullabaloo does indeed have some hilarious stories (which are funny now) about characters he encountered during his sojourns at the O.P.P.  And as a seasoned professional of incarceration, he even figured out how “not” to get processed by pretending to go to the bathroom while they were moving groups along from the general intake holding area into processing.  So he was always cycled back in with a “fresh batch”, if you will, until he got fetched to be brought out to liberty. This knowledge came in quite handy for the second time he got picked up.  Y’all this is not a joke, I am serious!

Anyways, this “next man up!” attitude is sadly, kinda like our mantra in the Greenie Dat Nation these days: Erleens Darkwa has a high ankle sprain, Michael Pierce didn’t make grades, and we practically have to pull some random peoples off the street to play Center because we can’t seem to keep nobody on the offensive line.  or Defensive line neither. Lawd, let us pray.

Y’all such is the hand which G-d is dealing us.  It’s none different or worse than what other gridiron calamities we’ve had to trudge through. Same thing, different season.  But at least we can have ourselves some cocktails, some good friends, and y’all ..... I have to tell you that Angel and CJ Johnson are the most chipper peoples on this good Earth.  They are just delightful people! Angel Johnson’s  mom came to our tea in the most a-dorable white church outfit with this gorgeous white hat.  It was the cutest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of admiring!  So I, thankfully, do not envision Coach Johnson turning around and shifting blame to the fans for our losses.

My biggest beef about our personal tragedies, though, is that the ULL chickens are all justa high fiving themselves and heaving sighs of relief that they have dodged a bullet with Mackey out.

Because ya know they just wanna make the following results a distant and hazy memory:

1997: 56-0, The Greenies. yes ma’am. fifty-six to nothin. at their house.

1998: 72-20, The Greenies.  At this game, Coach Hullabaloo and I started chanting “We Want 80!  We Want 80!” har har!

1999: 48-32. The Greenies.  Now y’all. I am positive that I was fully lubricated with Superdome Bloody Marys for this game, but I honestly can’t remember how this score got so close.  I do remember throwing Mardi Gras beads after each touchdown, or maybe that was the year before?

Anyways, I am fully prepared for the bullying that will inevitably ensue at ULL tailgates because you know with their "epic" bowl win, they’re now like a completely unstoppable juggernaut. or something. The House of Hudspeth. As a matter of fact, I think we should just not even bother showing up and give all them cajuns little tiaras for being so awesome in every way.

Not.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

One of my favorite football movie characters of the 80’s were the cheerleaders from the Goldie Hawn movie Wildcats. “U-G-L-Y! You ain’t got no alibi! You ugly! You! You! You ugly!”



From time to time when I get in the zone at games I start cheering that to opposing teams for giggles. Such a fantastic cheer! And plus the lyrics about alibis are just so appropriate for them fighting tigahs. ha.

Which I just have to address this: OMG about their incessant whining from the Championship to National Signing Day. Talk about u-g-l-y.

Silly me, I thought that Alabama completely embarrassing les tigres live on National Television would be the end of it. But no. When one feels entitled, then it’s imperative to complain, complain, complain (and it made me wonder which would have been worse: the gloating if they’d won or the never ending whining which ensued).

I just knew G-d would punish me somehow for gloating about this most awesome smack down in the history of America. And for laughing about the “Mantrums” (yes Peggy christened this word) which Peggy and Koozie witnessed. The complainers took it to the airwaves. and in the paper. and on the news. By air, land and sea. Oy! Enough Already!!!

About midway through football season, Peggy and Koozie took up the hobby of working Sundays at the Superdome for the Saints games which meant they got to work the BCS game. and Lawd did they have some stories about the complainers upriver.

At the end of the game, Peggy got to greet people as they left (which they did in droves). “Hope y’all have a great night! Thank you for coming!” "Enjoy your evening!" and she drolled this out there layered on REAL thick just because she could. ha ha! I love her!

Which by the way, I don’t think I can mention enough that their fans a) left in the third quarter and b) boo’d the players! Yes, they boo’d at children who play for free, don’t get an actual education and yet undertake this all for their selfish entertainment. Koozie had to work security on the field and was in front of the Golden Girls who were all forced to sit and watch the meltdown with mascara streaming down their faces.

Isn’t that fantastic?! Just enough to tide me over til September. Or this spring if we manage to beat them in Baseball.

Anyways, I just have to also point out that these quote/unquote “Fans" had the nerve to gasp and clutch their pearls when an Alabama fan went rogue and acted a fool in the Krystal’s on Bourbon. Because really, there isn’t a single solitary classless fan in the history of Louisiana A+M. That doesn’t excuse Mr. Downing for his behavior, but when you lower the bar for acceptable behavior, this is what can happen.

And then, for the cherry on top: les tigres went into a complete tailspin all the way through to signing day when their recruits started bailing on em. Because would you want to go before a sports tribunal for going 13-1? And Sweet Baby Jesus, if there is one thing I am grateful for in being mostly ignored by the media is that we don’t have whack moms, whack fathers or whack coaches who then go viral for talking out their mouths and looking like maroons. (or for that matter fans piling on by verbally lynching the high school coaches!)

So, now, meanwhile at OUR Glass House:

The Good: Tulane got it’s first four star recruit in a decade and we stole not 1, but a total of 3 recruits from the SEC. Yes indeed.


Fudge Van Hooser - turned down offers from Alabama, Auburn, Oregon, Stanford.


Kedrick Banks


Darion Monroe(!) - our twelfth hour 4 star coup, who switched his commitment from Texas A&M to the Wave and teared up explaining his decision. Holy Facundus, right?!


Joshua Rounds and Royce LaFrance, some more local kids for good measure. Shown here representing The Wave at Manning's

And there was gossip that there was – gasp- an LSU recruit who was wavering on his decision up until 7am that morning about jumping ship to come to Tulane. Could you have imagined? It’s actually a scary thought because since these people are in some kind of mood, they might have marched down and torched Tulane down to smoldering embers.

The Bad: I honestly don’t know if I should feel exhilarated or more tepid in my emotions about our Legendary Signing Day due to the impending fracas which is "Conference WTF"* that was birthed via negotiations by our very own Scott Cowen. The new conference name I am using is, of course, a joke since the conference has yet to be named. But I think it frames the situation perfectly.

How low our situation has sunk over the past decade is such a nightmare of epic proportions – and the fact that TPTB just allowed this slide down while every Greenie Dat could see it from light years away and yet were powerless in the situation – makes me really need to talk about food to push it aside and pretend it’s just not happening for the time being.**

So I won't think about Conference WTF right now. I'll think about it....in a year when I have to.

*I totally stole this from somewhere I can't remember, but if it belongs to you please let me know and I will happily give you proper credit

** yes, yes I know I just finished penning that it would be cool to have Hawaii in our conference. But I didn’t mean for an implosion to happen first for this to conveniently take place.

So now to items of real importance. Yes, my brothers and sisters: The 2012 Tulane Greenwave Fall Schedule was released and I promptly decided on our tailgating menus. I call it my swan song for the “Ex-CUSA” of a situation Tulane Football finds itself in.

Rutgers: Cheesesteaks and trimmings!

Ole Miss:  Shrimp n Grits brunch

ULM: Louisiana favorites

SMU: Chicken n Waffles, oh yeah!

UAB: BBQ

Rice: Greek-Mex!

ECU: Cochon du Lait

My friend Jack says that Cheesesteaks aren’t really NJ food, even though I’ve had delicious ones in NJ. But whatever – I think it will be delish, so I’ll just consider it a Rutgers-Adjacent themed menu.

As you can see I am going though serious football withdrawals. For my final hurrah of football season I had put together a totally cute par-tay for the Saints play offs hoping that I could extend tailgating festivities until the beginning of February. Alas it was not meant to be. Mr. Roman Harper. (yes I'm calling him out).

I admit I do have some residual bitterness and spent Superbowl Sunday shopping until I was kicked out of stores when they closed for the day. But as a more well-adjusted fan used to losing, I will only lash out about it on occasion. Besides, the last time I went to San Fran I was completely underwhelmed so I’m already on record about hating on it. and Jim Harbaugh can't touch Sean Payton with a ten foot pole in the class department.

For my partay I did a whole San Francisco Menu that came out really cute and delicious: Rice-A-Roni salad, Asian BBQ Spare Ribs (recipe below), California Rolls, Clam Chowder and Irish Coffee Cheesecake (recipe below). Nell brought Fruit (get it?) Salad and Peggy brought egg rolls and her awesome Sonoma Chicken Salad. FF brought a bunch of California artisanal beer and Coach Hullabaloo went nuts with the California wines at World Market.

My tablescaping was so cute, I loved it.


We even put bunting on the house and I made this fab wreath for the front door.


So I hope you enjoy these recipes. Now, onto planning our final hurrah in Ex-CUSA....

ASIAN BBQ SPARE RIBS
2 lbs pork spare ribs or baby back ribs
2 tbs hoisin sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp five spice powder
3 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs sambal oelek (asian crushed chili pepper)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbs honey

Cut ribs in serving pieces, one or two ribs per cut. Wash and pat dry with paper towel. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. This will yield a wet mixture, not saucy. Rub onto the ribs and cook in a slow cooker overnight. Before ready to serve, broil them in an oven for 15 minutes on each side until brown and seared.

IRISH COFFEE CHEESECAKE
22 crisp oatmeal cookies
3 tbsp of cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp of brown sugar
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
3 tbsp of coffee liqueur or milk
1/2 tsp of vanilla
2 tbsp of instant espresso coffee powder
1/3 cup of Irish whiskey or milk
1 tsp of instant espresso coffee powder
1 tsp of granulated sugar
1 tbsp of whipping cream
1 1/2 cups of whipping cream
2 tbsp of granulated sugar

Butter a spring-form pan. Rough crush the cookies in a food processor. Add tbsp of brown sugar, butter and cinnamon to processor to combine. Mush it into the pan into a thin crust. Bake at 375 for 8 minutes and then let cool completely.

Beat cream cheese with a cup of brown sugar, add eggs until smooth. Add vanilla and the coffee liqueur. Dissolve the 2tbsp of espresso coffee powder in Irish whiskey. Add this into the cream cheese mixture and pour into crust. Bake at 350F degrees for 50 minutes and then let cool.

Dissolve 1tbsp of whipping cream with 1tsp of espresso coffee and 1tsp of granulated sugar. Separately, beat 1 1/2 cup of whipping cream with 2tbsp of granulated sugar until the mixture become stiff, and then fold in espresso mixture. Spread as garnish on top of cheesecake.

Proud Member of the Greenie Dat Nation

and representin'!

I can't WAIT until this is over and I can reclaim my city. These sheeple are crampin my style here. Geaux Home....

I'm glad that the Tulane banners are hanging in the Superdome if only just to annoy the crap out of all them.

Peace out....

Battle For The Bong

Yes, this is what I'm calling the Alabama game next week. Can you be-lieve that Southeastern re-arranged their own homecoming festivities AND game so as to not interrupt people from ditching it for what's happening in Baton Rouge? Y'all that would just be my darkest day as a Tulane fan if that should come to pass in New Orleans. Really.

Anyways, I heard this clip on the radio on the way to work, and while I have some kinda words for Gus Kattengell, Larry Holder, Kaare Johnson AND most certainly with Eric Asher for their incessant infantile discussion of anything related to the Tulane Greenwave*; I AM giving WIST props for their commentary today by Joe Cardosi. I simply loved, loved what Signore Cardosi had to say and had to give it a hell yeah! mais oui!

*With a "flagship" station like THIS who needs friends?! Seriously, is it THAT hard to present Tulane's side of the story? Piggy-backing on Ed freakin-wears-purple-to-pressconferences Daniels for "insight"? and WHAT is exactly the hot potato deal with Frank Wilson? NO, WE DON'T WANT HIM! GET A FRIGGIN' CLUE! It's like these people refuse to believe that YES the Chancellor of Texas and the Chancellor of OU called our Old Man, who is now Vice Chairman of the entire AAU, and said: We Want to Play B12 Championships in the Superdome. We Want Access to Your Recruiting Pool. Manhattan, Kansas Sucks and Our Fans Would Rather Be Toe Up on Bourbon Street Than Drinking Decaf Sugar Free Sprite at a No-Dancing Allowed Wacky Waco....but I digress....

Click on this link to listen to Joe read his commentary. Transcript is below:

"Yeah lsu! Yeah Alabama!"
"Yeah! My teams gonna beat your team!"
"No! My teams gonna beat your team!"

We have about a week and a half left of this. I'm not gonna lie...It's exhausting.

Leading up the event? -Okay.

But two weeks, a week and a half out?

I've got no interest in smack talk. Honestly, I've never been a big smack talker when it comes to sports, when it comes to politics, even person to person relations.

All this back and forth sniping between lsu and alabama reminds me of when kids would get into a fight in grade school and they would spend ten minutes going:

"Yeah? why don't you swing?"

"Yeah? why don't you swing if you're feeling tough!"

"Well, c' c'mon then!"

"Well, if you're feeling froggy, jump!" (lmao! good one Joe!)

At what point do you just shut your mouth and punch a guy in the face? Let's be clear, one of these teams is gonna punch the other team in the face.*

* (oh! remind me to tell you about the woman who got into a fist fight with Comedian Al at the TU-lsu baseball game at the Dome. I swear this is a true story.)

I'll let you in on another secret. I don't win or die by the wins or losses of any team. I'm a much bigger Saints fan, than I am an "Alabama" fan. I'm an Alabama fan by de-fault. I was born in Alabama and I was raised for about the first half of my life in Alabama. If they win, I'll be happy. I won't talk that much about it. If they lose, I'll be bummed out.

Not so much for the team but just for the fact that I'll have to hear from a bunch of goons (yes! excellent description they are so totally goons!) who take this waaay too seriously.

Let's not lose sight of a very important fact: Sports are fun. They're still a game. Trash talk is one of the elements that helps fans participate in that game. You're on a team by extension.

At this point, the smack talk by lsu fans AND Alabama fans is only slightly more elevated than the vomit and drool freckled babbling of an infant. But, because I have had to deal with quite a bit of abuse this week: ROLL TIDE!

(woot!)

Thank you Messieur Joe Cardosi for your very refreshing insight! And please tell Gus Kattengell and Larry Holder to KNOCK OFF the ridiculous suggestion about Tulane in the Sunbelt. Puh-lease. That is the sorry-est piece of analysis ever. A founding member of the SEC goes to the Sunbelt. Get OUTTA here!

My four cents

I think I may already have a "My .02" post - heck my entire blog is what goes on in my brain, so whatever: I'm writing and you're reading, so my legal disclaimer is that this is for entertainment purposes only. Do not let the chirrens play with this while unattended. Do not leave near open flame. Professional gossipers have contributed this so do not attempt to do this at home without proper training by a professional gossiper. and do not follow without advice and consent of a medical professional. and heaven forbid: be wary of LSU fans whose feelings could get hurt. sniff!

Okay, now.....

So I wrote (dern I do a lot of writing) to WaveProf from yogwf, because after I took a nap (YES! when I nap during Saints Games, they win. So I am keeping up the mojo) I woke up to my facebook messages all blown up by people sayin' there's talk over at yogwf about little ole me. Lawd!

So this is what I said to WaveProf and I'm sticking to it:

Anyways, The person mentioned didn't think anything of my post and then they decided they didn't want it up, they were over it and asked me to to take it down after they read people's comments on it on yogwf. It's a good friend, so I obliged.

BUT I will tell you the truth after reading people's comments. It wasn't about the folks in question having another team to cheer for, because there are plenty who do and that's their prerogative. Look at Mr. Fancy Pants. Cheering for his War Chicken while he's got one son playing in olive-n-blue and another on the way (Coach Hullabaloo teases that it was really a chicken and they're just in denial - lol!).

Also, one of my favorite-est Greenie Dats is an Alabama alum and she cheers for both. RIPTIDE is a good friend and she spent 7 years at LSU (I'm not kidding! She's so cute about it too!).

This particular situation I blogged about was very unfortunate because these people were indeed meanspirited about the olive and blue. To OTHER members of the Greenie Dat Nation!

So this is my opinion: if you didn't want reaction to how you truly feel, don't be spouting off in public. It's out in the domain at that point and fair game for Mrs. Hullabaloo.

PreacherMan is always a wonder how I know so much dirt. Dern it. People just spout off to me. If I wrote HALF of what people share in confidence this would be out of control here in Hullabaloo Huddle. For reals.

(plus, I shant let an opportunity pass to poke fun at Tigahs, so there.)

Second, how can you expect the team to play with pride, when your family isn't even behind the team? (or even come break bread at our tailgates!) Nobody is happy with this season, starting right here with me, but there's disgruntled and then there's disparaging.

and third: Don't tell Mrs. Hullabaloo something you may not want commented upon :0)

and fourth: I assure you that Mrs. Hullabaloo tailgates will run circles around anything happening upriver. Bring it: Game on.

And fifth: Roll Wave!

PPS. My final comment (for today anyways). Nobody is holding a gun to anybody and forcing them to accept the honor of a scholarship at our fine institution. You can spend the time of your child's eligibility making new life-long friends, enjoying new traditions, having our wonderful tailgate grub or you can spend 4 or 5 years resisting that and wishing they were somewhere else. Luckily I've met plenty of wonderful peeps who chose the former rather than the latter.

Yes, We're All Sinners Get Over It

Boo the drama’s over. Nothing to see here anymore. Except that I wish that they would show Imelda Jefferson’s collection of shoes. Coach Hullabaloo is fierce in the shoe shopping department and he doesn’t own 50 pairs of shoes. I don’t think I even own 50 pairs of shoes. I heard that the Jefferson Shoes deserved their own episode of Crib’s.

How exactly does a scholarship student from rural Louisiana afford 50 pairs of $100 sneakers. Oh the spin doctors on WWL just turned themselves into pretzels explaining how since U-BR had done some sort of favor to Nike, now their players could order shoes at deep discounts thru Nike. And all is kosher with this improper benefit NCAA regulations thingy. Dontcha just love it?

Well, so now enough with them and on with Us.


Casey Robottom doing the Heisman at last year's game. Photo taken by the Commercial Appeal.

In seven short days we got ourselves the Ham-land, as Coach likes to call it, coming into our decaying city. Our City which these visitors claim/disown in the same breath. When asked where they are from, I promise you that these individuals would all chrip out “New Orleans!” yet then they turn around and say how they could never possibly live here with all the colorfulness that is here. Mrs. Hullabaloo rolls her eyes at you! While I acknowledge that The Hamland is quaint in that Mayberry kind of way, I could never actually live there either. I’m too much of a sinner and I do quite enjoy my mixed-race/mixed-income neighborhood thank you very much. So there, we're even.

Koozie, Peggy, Coach and I drove to The Hamland a year or so ago for a Tulane baseball game. One of our former players is now a coach there, which causes us much distress. On a previous occasion, Peggy and I went alone and had life changing pizza at Tommy's Pizzeria. Tommy's Pizzeria might make me pause to say I could never live in The Hamland because it is the best kept secret out of there. Anyways, with our bellies full of this divine pizza, Peggy and I kept cheering something silly between innings which made us laugh like silly teenagers because at the end of our made-up cheer another Greenie Dat would chime in “and Take #23 with you!” (or whatever our former player/their current coach’s jersey number was). Every single time. We just laughed ourselves silly. Lawd we have to have a sense of humor here in Greenie Dat Nation.

So anyways, on this particular trip with Koozie, Peggy, Coach, we met up with FF Jim and his wife, Red, and perched ourselves on their precarious splinter-ridden rightfield bleechers. Section 110 on the Road kinda like. Well, we somehow got onto the topic about how Jews don’t say G-d’s name. Jews and Tulane just go with the territory, so it wasn’t a stretch to get on this topic. Jews don’t say “Yahweh” “Jehovah” none of that, they don’t even write it. It’s too sacred to even say his name (notice how I omit the “o” in deference to my proper Tulane upbringing). So then Peggy, with her endless sense of humor, starts joking about some Christian hymn that includes his name and starts asking aloud “Well what do they do when they get to that part of the song? Do they hum instead?” So the silly season started and we just took off doing all kinds of funny versions of said hymn. Very reminiscent of our banter in Section 110 at Turchin.

And then have you ever had that sneaking feeling when everyone around you is silent and watching you? Well we collectively got that feeling and looked around us to find that the Hammond-ites were none to pleased with us sinners and giving us the sideways glance stares. Clearly, we were no longer getting the pass we normally enjoy in Section 110 which has given us much acclaim and fame.

They are just so uptight and Christian up there.

And copy-cats too. Greenwave Marketing had some videos done for football season with individual players saying “Get your football tickets and come watch me do this” and then there would be a clip of some spectacular play from last season. Like Orleans Darkwa bulldozing Ole Miss, Joe Kemp catching a long bomb v. Ole Miss, Ryan Griffin airing one out to Ryan Grant for Rice.

And so Southeastern had to do that same thing with them showing clips of an interception against us. Ha ha ha – sooo funny! ha ha ha!


Well, let’s just see who has the last laugh y’all.

Okay my Chamudi's: Tulane v. SLU Gameday Menu – please sign up Hullabaloo Tailgaters

Muffalettas
BBQ Shrimp
Stuffed Artichokes
Fruit Salad
Robert’s Shrimp Dip
Rouse’s Crawfish Dip
Mother’s Jambalaya
Popeye’s
Vodka for Bloody Marys

....and then I think I might bring some Creole Tea Sandwiches (biscuits with turkey or ham, tomato and LeRuth’s Green Goddess Meynez)

Mazel Tov!

If The Tennis Shoe Does Not Fit, You Must Acquit!

OK, so this is all rumors and inuendo until proven guilty, etcetera, etcetera.

Apparently the Red Stick Police are waving a white flag and crying that they need a Third Party independent investigator. They even had to conduct the interviews at the State Police office instead of at BRPD. As we speak, Jordan Jefferson's Tennis Shoes have been admitted into evidence and possible DNA testng. LMAO.

Mrs. Hullabaloo shant pass an opportunity to just laugh myself silly, point fingers and grab some popcorn to watch the drama unfold in Red Stick. Yes. I am immature and petty. Especially in light that fall practice reports all agree that The Wave's OL is just dismal this season. On top of that the ticket office has cloaked the package info and pricing for the Hawaii trip in secrecy. Something about needing the right code to unlock the Cryptix so that the papyrus the Hawaii trip package is written on doesn't disintegrate in vinegar. (I mean, isn't that how any other normal college would advertise a Big Trip to it's fans? By not telling you a word and then asking you to email a black hole with your social security number and rights to your first unborn?).

So as to take my mind off such dreariness, Mrs. Hullabaloo has been breathlessly following the developments in BR. Down to watching the grainy youtube versions of The Fight that were bound to make their way to Youtube no matter how much money was spread around and how many threats were dispensed. You knew that there had to be a Ragin Cajun in the crowd or another contrarian soul who couldn't wait to capture photographic proof of LSU showing their drawers. Although the video clips all look like they were filmed while sliding down the Azuka at Blue Bayou waterpark. Maybe after tossing back a few shots the video might begin to look clear, but stone sober it's just a mishmash.

Listen, I never can stomach visitng Tiggerdroppings or duddy-Don or whatever his name is. But it's just been sooooo much fun to suck time away at work by perusing the musings of the Tigah Faithful over the past week. Even at the expense of overlooking Shopping Alert posts that need to be tended to on here. (Dontcha agree?)

I mean we even have the ancient Peter Finney in full spin doctor-mode at the Times Picayune digging his brain for examples of alumni previous thug players and all of their silly escapades and who didn't get caught/punished/what have you. This is what is passing for "serious" journalism at the Times Picayune this week!

I think one of the funniest angles to this story is that they are in just SUCH a pickle up there! The police, the DA, the university, Les Miles, Messieur Jefferson: Everybody is just damned if they do or damned if they don't. In one corner you have Team ABBJ (anybody but Jefferson) who are allegedly fundraising for a legal fund for the victims to pursue the charges. Team ABBJ has had it up to here with JJ's inconsistent performance and want the women-gropping/Rothlisberger-in-training Zach Mettenberger at the helm.

Then you have Grass Eatin' Miles who has the pressures of an unhinged fan base who will cause bodily harm should he even dare to look at a player sideways. Already you have players involved screaming that this was all a set up. Miles already made them run 40 yards. So what's left is to take away ALL the scholarships, and I mean every. last. one. (!) that belonged to members of the practice team. That'll learn 'em.

The police don't know which way to turn. They're trying to reconstruct a scenario where the victim's head was clearly a concealed weapon just waiting to cause severe injury to Jarvis Landry and Jordan Jefferson's feet. These fools are fearing for their lives should they like try to do their jobs and police thugs discipline players serve and protect.

And probably the juiciest detail to come out of all of this is that Team Sweep TM (I can't take credit for this genius terminology, it goes to posters on Tigah Rant/Droppings) has met it's match. In your garden variety crime committed by a Fightin Tigah this is what would happen: Red Stick just rolls out Team Sweep TM whereby Nathan Fischer is called upon, The police are given their marching orders, a checkbook is opened, The Advocate and Times Picayune write their spin that all is fabulous and besides the victim asked for it, all is forgotten and on to the next game.

Well, this time things are little more interesting: Somebody's cousin's boyfriend's next door neighbor allegedly did a summer internship at either the DA's office or at a law firm involved with the victims. Allegedly one of the said victims has relatives in high places at the District Attorney's office. Because it wasn't enough that one of the victims was a US Marine and there's just not enough shame in that, but these idiot players have unknowingly messed with their own among the powers that be in Red Stick. So now it's like a pissing contest between the Capulets and the Montagues. Delicious, right?! Couldn't have happened to a better set of peeps in Mrs. Hullabaloo's opinion.

When the Oregon player got caught allegedgly smoking weed and speeding in a vehicle suspiciously rented by someone in the athletic department, all of Red Stick clutched their pearls. Oh My Lord and Savior. Is That How They Behave in Oh-ree-Gone? Then Red Stick collectively raised their pitchforks and stormed the internets to demand that Oregon suspend, tar and feather said individual. Oregon had some nerve trying to pretend this was much ado about nothing.

And well now the mental acrobatics to justify last week's behavior at Shady's has given way to a circling firing squad and I. just. LOVE. it!

Who's gonna win? The barbaric hordes of man eating fans? The police too scared to do their job? The shadowy hand at the DA office?

Fun times y'all! Enjoy it while you can, Asult will be here before we know it.

Stay Classy Red Stick

Note: Mrs. Hullabaloo does not claim ownership of the original article. This is a satircal remake. So that's my legal disclaimer and I'm sticking to it.


Fightin Tigahs Ain’t Got Nothing to Worry ‘Bout
Jim Kleinpeter, Times Pick-a-sheet Hack Writer

Red Stick -- A meeting between Baton Rouge police and five four LSU football players accused of beating the crap out of a U.S. Marine involvement in a bar fight has been postponed indefinitely until Tuesday, Baton Rouge Police public information officer Sgt. Don Stone was paid off to say said Sunday.

Jordan Jefferson is one of four LSU football players scheduled to chill out for a while, just for appearances meet with the Baton Rouge Police Department for questioning in a bar fight early Friday morning off campus.

The meeting was scheduled for Monday morning. ,but was quickly kiboshed until they can all agree which one, other than T Bob and Jefferson, to pin the head kicking felony on.

Gloria Allred Nathan Fisher, who is a donor and SuperFan has represented LSU thugs athletes in legal matters in the past and successfully skirting NCAA improper benefit rules, requested more time to rehearse and get everyone's stories straight, pay off the laundromat to ditch the videotapes prepare with the four five players -- senior quarterback Jordan Jefferson, sophomore lineman Chris Davenport, sophomore linebacker Josh Johns and freshman wide receiver Jarvis Landry, and T Bob Hebert, son of Bobby Hebert, but he was protected yet again.

"We just got the case at 8 a.m. today (Sunday)," Fisher said. "I just met with the kids this morning, we're talking about players here, we got to rehearse real slow like and need more time."

Baton Rouge Police have no plans to made no arrests or specified charges. Police wanted to meet with the players to take some group pictures, run through some cheers together get "their side of the story," according to Stone.

Fisher said he has spoken to witnesses who will change their stories to support the LSU players' account. Fisher also said that these players aren't gonna talk anyways even if they do go to this so called "meeting."

Attorney Michael Bienvenu is representing the four injured men, who received treatment at two area hospitals after the fight, which occurred about 1:30 a.m. Friday morning at Shady's, an off-campus bar south of LSU. One of the victims had a serious injury and the others had minor injuries, police said.

Bienvenu would not release the names of the victims because fans of the outhouse are completely nuts and can't be trusted to act civil but said they plan to press charges. Andrew Lowery of Baton Rouge confirmed to The Daily Reveille that he was one of the four involved. He has declined comment and is receiving death threats as we speak should he open his mouth in public again cause that's how they roll in Red Stick, just ask Jonathan McKnight's family when he turned down a scholly offer.

A Baton Rouge TV station that is now being picketed and boycotted because they are THAT immature and petty in Red Stick reported Sunday that witnesses who've now been paid off to change their story said Jefferson kicked one of the victims in the head. Stone confirmed the accusation that one of the players kicked one of the victims in the head but has been paid off to conveniently not recall could not identify who it was.

Stone said at least one of the four players will be just fine, don't y'all worry could be charged with second degreee battery, which is a felony and entails serious bodily injury. If convicted, the crime carries a maximum five-year jail sentence and up to a $2,000 fine. But Les Miles REALLY put his foot down and scared the crap out of everyone already by making them RUN on Friday, so that's punishment enough Simple battery is a misdemeanor and carries no jail sentence.

The incident began after the driver of a truck honked his horn at a group of people blocking his way in the parking lot, according to Stone. The driver was one of the injured.

LSU Coach Les Miles ,in an Oscar-worthy performance, angrily denounced the incident in a Saturday press conference and has begun disciplinary measures for players breaking curfew, calling it "a team violation." Players were forced to run (!) (oh gawd, no!!) as punishment when they returned to practice Saturday. See, this running this was punishment enough. Scare em straight.

Neither Miles nor police care to know the number of players present when the fight occurred, but a source close to the team who's now clammed up said as many as 50 players had gone out Thursday night to celebrate the end of two-a-days practice.

The source said it was a tradition since the players had Friday off and school begins today. He said had there not been a fight, there wouldn't have been any running or other discipline. Party Poopers

Jefferson's father, John, changed his story YET again said his son told him he left the scene shortly before the fight started. Jefferson is a two-year starter from St. Rose who has a 20-7 record as a starting quarterback. His availability for No. 4 LSU in the season opener against No. 3 Oregon in the Cowboy Classic in Arlington, Texas, could be in jeopardy. So we have GOT to tie this up in a neat bow pronto

Davenport from Mansfield, Johns of Baton Rouge and Landry of Lutcher are reserves and are not likely to play, although Landry is a highly touted newcomer and is expected to see playing time this season. And T Bob Hebert is getting yet another stern lecture from his Dad to quit getting caught.

CANNONBALL!!!!

Let's Digress

Yes, Let's Digress!

Orlando is boring and pristine. New Orleans is scuzzy (but we love it so!). UCF fans are an embarassment. UCF marked their only top 25 appearance by promptly losing to USM (snicker!). Shasta is a silly mascot name. Crazy Ole Miss Fanettes dress and apply makeup in the dark. Tulsans eat corn. Yes, these are things we know....

But seriously, I do want to digress. I want digress all the way back to Mrs. Hullabaloo's favorite moments in Tulane Athletics ....

Enjoy! (thank you to Noladave and FanBase for the photos)

Baby Cuteness

Nothing special to write today, just finding some cute stuff online and sharing with you.

Inspired somewhat by an online petition circulating by SLU. Apparently, Hammondites are simply outraged, just outraged, that on gameday the local Albertson's instructed the cashiers and workers to wear -gasp- purple. I'm with my brothers and sisters in Hammond to STAND UP against such tyranny!

About time there's somebody else other than just us Greenies complaining about this inequity.

GEAUX GREEN!

So, to show your support to the cause and begin indoctrinating the chillens at an early age, this cute outfit may be purchased online at Etsy



I think it's double entrendre, doubly cute. Is it "Green Wave, BABY" or "Green Wave Baby" ? Either way it's making a statement.

We're #1

Well not really. But we were on Friday when all other CUSA teams swirled in the toilet for their home openers.

UCF, ECU, UTEP and the Cooters now join us in the "W" column in the conference after week 1.

I am sorry that Mrs. Hullabaloo has very little to report about our home opener. I was literally physically detained for the days leading up to gameday in another city, unable to hostess tailgating. But I made it just in time to grab a bite of stuffed artichokes and then "sit", as instructed, for the game. and We won. yay!

Our favorite tailgating beau, Jim, made us a cute sign for our new booster club. I hope to have pictures to post of that soon.

I do have pictures of this adorable shirt by one of the fans. I told her she needed to be careful because there might be a mugging of her shirt.



So post-game Coach and Mrs. Hullabaloo were again called out of town. to Atlanta.

Of all the cities in the country to have to be Labor Day weekend, we just had to be in Atlanta. They hosted a chicken bowl and invited the Tarholes and the Tiggers to play.

Half way to Atlanta I realized the occasion and then remembered that I had a Tarheel shirt sitting in my closet. Missed opportunity, oh well.

So we pulled up to our hotel and it turned out we were staying in the same hotel as the Tarheel band. and assorted purple people. ugh.

Gameday some of the purple people decided to smoke cigars in their hotel rooms, stank up the entire hotel. So gauche they are.

Later that evening, about kick off time, Coach H and I are driving back to our hotel and the street is blocked because a cab has stopped in the middle of a very busy road so that a purple undergrad and his minder could throw up on the curb. We pulled up to the scene when the Minder was holding up Lightweight and steadying him.

Lightweight kept trying to grab at a street pole that was not within reach and swaying over. Minder finally had enough and steared him over to climb back in the cab, which took for-ev-err. Come on: one foot up, next foot, and shove him in already!

Go all that way just to over do it before kick off and then make a fool of yourself in public like that.

The next day I had wanted to get up and go so that we avoided sharing the road and annoying me further than I was already annoyed, but no such luck. It was a caravan heading back to Louisiana.

At one point we ran over a Tigger car flag that was in the middle of the highway. It made me feel so much better.

Gameday Breakfast

Mrs. Hullabaloo loves waking up on gameday. So much excitement to look forward to. One tip: it's best to just get your arguments with your husbands out of the way early. Then have a Zing Zang bloody mary with pickled asparagus and have fun!

Anyways, one of my favorite "go to" breakfasts for gameday is Savory Bread Pudding. Mrs. Hullabaloo makes a whole batch of these a day or two in advance, they keep beautifully in the fridge. Pop a couple in the oven at 200 degrees to reheat while your coffee is abrewin' and you have yourself a veritable feast.

When Joe Activia, the new athletic dictator in Baton Rouge, took over from Skip Bertmen (who sent his kids to Tulane); Joe's first order of business was to renege on the home and away agreement made with Tulane in a 10 year deal. So for 2 years in a row we had to drag ourselves to Baton Rouge. When Mr. Activia asked for a third variance on the agreement we thankfully finally said "No. So pay up." Shows why Tulane ranks #1 in the state as the highest income generating degree. Graduate from Tulane, make more money. and get everything in writing. So if they break a contract, they pay up. Very simple.

Honestly, the only thing I'll miss about those trips to Baton Rouge is stopping for breakfast on the way there. We had a delightful breakfast at Dot's Diner of all places. They have a delicious egg and biscuit dish that is topped with crawfish etouffee. What is not to love about that?

Here's a photo of Peggy in one of the fine academic buildings in Baton Rouge. Could you imagine this display in Uptown? ha!


And right out side this building was a tailgating group who had set up their grills next to a station of propane tanks. Just waiting for trouble. For real y'all!

So on this farewell tour of Baton Rouge, Koozie had made these hilarious million dollar bills with Billy Cannon's picture on it. See that day was special. Billy Cannon taking time away from his gambling and counterfitting career to participate in another activity other than pawning his heisman trophy for BBQ ribs. (You think I'm kidding? go google it yourself). This "university" actually honored a convicted felon at halftime as "Alumnus of the Year."

Friends, I use the term "university" in this situation very loosely. Can you call yourself a university and cut classics from your curriculum? forget it, they can't even spell curriculum...

... wait, I think conventional wisdom was that we were supposed to shed a tear over terminating one of the longest football rivalries in history here. I mean, after all they honor convicted felons as "Alumnus of the Year"!!!

Anyways, so we had a ball pulling out these bills and asking some very confused people for change. Peggy and I had to educate a very irate purple fan sitting next to us who was completely in the dark about Mr. Cannon's legacy. Apparently she had wanted us to stand up and clap.

a gratuitous photo of the ingenuity on display in Baton Rouge.


They totally failed in the wooden cut-out shape games most of us played with as children.

Well, let me tell you: your tailgating crowd will give you a standing ovation with this breakfast bread pudding.

SAVORY BREAD PUDDING


Nonstick cooking spray
Canola oil or a few pats of butter
half medium sized onion chopped
1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms
6 or so breakfast sausage links
4 eggs
2 cups milk
dash mustard
dash hot sauce, like Tabasco or Crystal
dash worcestershire sauce
dash Italian seasoning
dash chopped fresh sage
(it won't hurt to add pinch of any other fresh herbs you might have)
stalk or two green onions, chopped
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 long french baguette*, or 2 or 3 smaller pistoletes

*At the Vietnamese groceries, they sell amazing french baguettes usually 3 for $1. So I stock up and freeze them. If you take them out as you start assembling your ingredients, they are soft enough to tear when you need to add them in the recipe.

So spray a 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray and set that aside.

Saute your onions in the canola oil or butter for a bit until softened, then add sliced mushrooms. Once mushrooms are brown, add your chopped fresh sage and herbs (leave italian seasoning for later). once combined, set pan to the side to cool off. Meanwhile cook your sausage links to your preferred method (I toss mine in a toaster oven). Once cooked, slice up the links and add to onion mixture.

Preheat your oven to 325. Prepare yourself a cup of coffee.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, Italian seasoning, hot sauce, worcestershire, mustard and salt and pepper. Add in onion, mushroom mixture. Add in the chopped green onions. Now take your french bread and start tearing off bits and toss them into the egg mixture. Keep tossing torn bits in until the liquid is absorbed, but still juicy and soft. Turn the ingredients around a touch to distribute the onions, mushrooms, etc. Put the bowl in the fridge while you enjoy your coffee and peruse the newspaper for a few minutes.

If your mixture is super runny, add some more torn bits of bread. You want the pudding mixture to still be moist.

Now take your muffin pan and put batches about 3/4 way up in each crevice. Set your oven timer to 30 minutes. (If you want, you could add a dash of shredded cheese on top of each: cheddar, gruyere, whatever you like). Change into your cute gameday outfit, set your breakfast table and pack up one of your ice chests with tailgating grub.

Remove the puddings from the muffin tins and place on a serving platter. Take your place and wait to receive a rain of applause from your breakfast guests.

Mazel Tov!