Laughyette!

I see you Mildly Aggravated Bellpeppers!  We beat you ugly, so who cares! Series is now 22-6! p.s. I took these photeauxs from Nola Dave and Parker Waters and Steven Lewis

What! That was so exhausting yesterday (never mind the Corndog's Lost Touchdown lol and the ensuing firings elle eaux elle).  This emotional cycle was totally me from the first to fourth quarter:

When the game started I was blissfully ignorantly and just sashayed on up to Westfeldt all smug and ready for the winning to commence. And then slowly realized that no, things were indeed going to go sideways, and omg Toledo would have called that, and is that really gato negro Rick Dickson on the field, and what OMG a punted ball just hit one of our special teams players on the head, wait wait hold on 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9, NINE! THERE'S NINE PLAYERS ON THAT PLAY! what the Facundus is going on! where did the twister mat go!  omg HE DROPPED THE BALL, HE REALLY DROPPED THAT BALL! This Shit Show Continues!

I was so thoroughly aggravated that I left in the middle of the 4th Quarter. I walked a friend to their car on Broadway, wandered around campus, got more aggravated by that stupid loud speaker barking at people incessantly, and then when I realized it was like major overtime situation happening I came back to bite my nails some more for that fourth overtime. Coach Hullabaloo was still right where I left him standing in our section and screaming down at the field. Oh Coach Hullabaloo how I love you so!

When we got that first field goal during the first half of the game, I was so disgusted we couldn't manage a touchdown I didn't hullabaloo.  Yes, I am definitively the most cynical fan ever.  Here I've been dying sick the past two games unable to speak from some monster awful sore throat for two whole games.  Me, of all people! I could not hullabaloo for the Southern game when there was much hullabaloo-ing to be done. It was devastating.  And now here for the USL game I was so peturbed by our performance, it was like when Scelfo punted on 3rd down. I deemed it unhullabaloo-worthy.  0 for 13 in third down conversions!

Anyways, my beloved Greenies pulled out a win and I was much relieved.

Tanzel Smart! Beast!!

Andrew Dirocco! 48 yards where have you been all my life?! Clutch City!

Glen Cuiellette! Comeback Kid!!! We found our passing game finally!

Nicoooooo!!

When Richard Allen got that tackle to stop their attempt at 2 point conversion (quintuple overtime, omg) it was hilarious to see the explosion of spirit rain all over Yulman.  I giggled watching Perry Mason with his popcorn megaphone over on the press box side directing chants or whatever he was cheering.  Those students who bolted for their busy sidewalk flailing appointments outside of the Boot missed out on an EPIC celebration.  Years from now when fans talk about the almost quintuple overtime, they'll all be like well you must understand. loitering outside the Boot was just super important. #EyeRoll

I witnessed powerade bottles fly up into the Westfeldt stands, blue powerade shower for everyone! Huzzah!  Players were doing somersaults across the field. And the Yulman Leaps my goodness!  Oh it was awesome! That ending was worth the wait and aggravation of playing like fools for 4 quarters.

One thing - when watching the replay how funny is it that ESPN for the FOURTH GAME in a ROW has no friggin clue who the hades Willie Fritz is (or Tulane! Hello...they called us Tulsa, Troy, ITT Tech, Tazmania U, practically every T institute of higher education in the free world).  So yeah, ESPN pans their cameras to the sidelines and picks out whatever random person and coronates them as Willie Fritz. Every grad assistant, water boy, position coach, service personnel wandering the sidelines, has been identified as Coach Fritz.  I say, that instead of a ball cap, we should put a crown on Willie Fritz and give him a sash.

I'd be embarrassed about ESPNs faux pas, except that I want Willie Fritz to be ours a bit longer so if nobody knows what he looks like, they can't find him.  Kinda like a witness protection. So it's win-win situation.  He's hiding in plain sight just for us.

So anyways after the game, Coach Hullabaloo and I went and celebrated with Boot Pizza because it was the only thing I could think of still open.  Except that now it's "Broadway Pizza" and they have fancy options now. We ordered the Margherita pizza and waited.

My lord, what happened to the Boot.  There's a line to get in to the Boot. A line with metal barricades. For what reason or purpose I failed to see. Honestly, even in the throes of the hey dey at AT's or Rendon, did you ever remember metal barricades?

Except that now the students just mill about around in the street like burner homeless people with their pot vapers, drug vials, drinking straight from bottles (not even with a proper brown paper bag even!), falling all over grimmy sidewalks, and Holy Jamie Garza the crude and vile behavior of the little boys (because there weren't any gentlemen that I saw) towards the women.  And some of these young ladies were undergarment optional! My eyes!

Of course there's an NOPD officer in his cruiser that is parked right there on the corner to make sure that the drug fueled whatever could carry on without people's children getting mugged.  Because losing their wallets (and not their dignity) is of primary concern.  Those Jesus people on Bourbon Street are missing out on some prime opportunity here.

Out of the sea of horrendous behavior, there was one very sweet student who confidently walked up to Coach Hullabaloo and me to introduce himself and chat. He was so cute!  In addition to asking if we were students (lol), he invited us to party with him because it was his birthday and his friends were lost in the crowd.  Henry you were a doll!  Thank you for complimenting my cute gameday dress!  And I promise, if I smoked pot I totes would have accepted your offer to share a joint and get tokked up with you in honor of your birthday! Thanks for offering us a swing of your Boones Farm too!  Cheers!

Speaking of good dranks, we had us some at tailgating! Woot!  Our Greenie Gal whom I'm calling Queen of the Nile made some blueberry lemonade rum punch.  And it was deeeelicious.  Here are some of us drinking it in our cute tailgating cups.

Also deeelicious was the gumbo made by the Greenie Gent of my girl I'm calling Sarah Jane (because she loves Doctor Who).  We also had boudin, dirty rice, this yummy copy cat of the "cajun dip" from Texas Roadhouse, mini muffs, and y'all....these Butter Pecan Blondies. omg.

These Butter Pecan Blondies were off. the. chain. And Coach Hullabaloo and I totally invented them standing there at Rouse's on Saturday morning perplexed why nobody has boxed blondie mix. So we decided to make something up. Ingenuity.

Off The Chain Butter Pecan Blondies
Betty Crocker Butter Pecan Cake Mix
Water
Butter
Eggs
Pam Spray
Heath Bar crumbles
Tub of Caramel icing

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix the cake mix sans the oil listed in the instructions (apparently omitting oil makes cake mix become brownies). Mix in a half a cup of crumbled up Heath bar (buy the bag). Spray pam real good all over a 13 x 9 cake pan.  Sprinkle another quarter to half a cup of crushed up Heath bar over the top.  Bake for 21 minutes and then let cool.  Warm up a womp of the Caramel icing in the microwave for 20 seconds or so and then drizzle over the cooled blondies. Cut into small squares and then eat up all the random side pieces that nobody would have wanted at tailgating anyways.

To balance out the blondies and the other high carb food offerings, I also made roasted brussel sprouts with homemade creole honeymustard dip which I can attest was yumm-o.  And so easy!  I put toothpicks in the brussels at tailgating for easy snacking.

Slap Ya Mamma Brussels
Half pound of brussels sprout halves
Slap Ya Mamma cajun seasoning
Olive errl
Half red onion
Creole mustard
Balsamic vinaigrette
Honey
Powdered chicken bouillon

Preheat oven to 350. Slice the red onion, toss with the brussels sprouts halves, and a table spoon or so of olive oil.  Sprinkle with seasoning and then spread out on a roasting pan. Spray with extra olive oil to make sure that it doesn't burn or stick to the pan.  Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes or so until starting to brown, but tender.  Meanwhile mix up a few whomps or creole mustard, about a tablespoon or so of balsamic, a generous squeeze or so of honey mustard, half a packet or cube of chicken boullion cube and quarter cup or so of olive oil.  I whizzed up the dressing in a bullet blender to emulsify. Bring the sprouts to tailgate dry with the dressing in a side container so that people can dip or drizzle as they chose.

Ok y'all.  I'm resting from tailgating for a few.  We may not make it to UMASS because life is crazy. And then we shant be going to UCF this year because, yawn, Orlando.  But I would like to take this moment to thank all of the Cajuns reading this post.  Because we beat you with 9 players on the field. I laughyette you!

Happy Dance

I is so happy, I may actually forget how much next year's schedule sucks and how furious I was that they cancelled our away game to Starkvegas to play Mississippi State. Or was it Ole Miss that they cancelled?

Anyways, today was like the first time in like ever, that Tulane managed to put out the announcement of our future opponents prior to the celebration of Purim. And they also actually included the date of the American Conference championship game on the list of games, omg ha!

This is no longer your same ole Greenwave y'all!

My WAY too early predictions? Southern, UL (please let it be a humiliating payback, puh-leeze!), Massachusetts, SMU, UConn, and Tulsa. Go out and buy a powerball ticket y'all.

So yes! We had a press conference announcement today over in the Glazer Club. Hullabaloo Ray Ray!

Coach Fritz went all ARGGG! on us tossing a ROLL WAVE into his introduction speech. Most of us Greenies are still so shellshocked by all the losing from the Dickson Era that we didn't quite know how to respond and just gave him our polite golf claps in response. The moment captured by the Times Pic. Look at President Fitts. lmao. He's so cute.

LOL. I wish that Buggy lived in Nola so that he could have stood up and lead a spontaneous round of Hullabaloo for the occasion.

It was a decent crowd, Gail Benson was there and she looked fabulous. Another photeaux by the Times Pic.

They had cake and cookies again, and the infamous Sodexo fudge brownies and lemon bars.

Another neat thing is that I got to finally meet and chat with Glenn Cuillette.

And I got a photo with Coach Pierce's wife who I have such a crush on.

She is the cutest wife ever. I told her she needed to come watch me ride in Cleopatra since Mardi Gras is early this year and baseball doesn't start til later in February.

And I got to steal Coach Fritz' wife for a second and chit chat with her.

We chatted shopping since she admired my sweater and phone case. Lawd, she has no idea. Mrs. Hullabaloo shopping for Greenwave outfits is like a full time gig. I have a whole pinterest board for Tulane outfit shopping and everything. If you perused the board you can probably tell I have a Greenwave Mobile (VW combi truck) thing going on right now.

Anyways, I thought the #1 Jersey thing that they did was such a cute touch. First photeaux by Times Pic, second by Parker Waters.

The #1 Fritz

So, can I tell you I just cannot wait for the winning portion of my Greenwave career to begin? It's like the last 17 years were a dark nightmare and we are finally seeing sunshine.

Before the announcement that Coach Fritz was our guy I was getting umpteen texts about the pending Optioncapolypse that could potentially befall Greenwave Nation. I did stop and hesitate about that for like not at all, because we lose to the Option regularly so I wouldn't mind being the one embarrassing an opponent for a change. It is refreshing that we are hiring a guy who has a football philosophy from this century and he knows how to coach his scheme and has a staff that potentially would include a special teams specialist among them. There's not like a question mark that he maybe may have to go dig around amongst the Grad Assistants to paper scissor rocks it on who gets to coach things. No, those days are O-V-E-R.

Hallelu! I foresee lots of Booty Shaking by Mrs. Hullabaloo next fall. Woo hoo!

Our Noffensive Juggernaut

Sigh....and just like that, our "bowl season" is over.

Boo Hiss.

Back to our comfort zone: losing our homecoming game and finishing out just playing for pride.

So thank goodness for the rain, right?! I mean we ran Scelfo off and he actually won us some games in the rain. and on real grass fields. But we have been running out of what else to say to defend why our non-existant offense (henceforth "Noffense") isn't working.

Our Noffensive playbook is so square that even UConn has it figured out. Which will make the Army game at West Point even more intolerable, Oy. So thank you rain for your timely appearance.

So yes, it was homecoming this weekend as well as my reunion year. I got to see some of my friends from my freshman dorm. Yes! Our dorm had a reunion at the reunion. Not everyone came, which made me sad, but I was glad to see some of my girls.

Me in 19ninety-something

and Now. Look at us old ladies!

But anyways, on gameday, after fervently praying novenas all week, the weather mercifully held out just long enough to enjoy tailgating with our peeps. I got these new table toppers (from a designer on redbubble) to debut for homecoming. and I just love love l-o-v-e them. I can't wait to tablescape with them again.

We had tailgating classics: burgers, tater salad, cole slaw. Perry Mason grilled for us. I had these adorable cookies made for Mr. and Mrs. Buggy who are in our tailgating group, in honor of their VW Combi truck that they drive to lead the Tulane Marching Band.

Shannon's cousin started a new jello shot business in Metry called Wasted Fruit and they made us these custom jello shots she called The Greenie. They were blueberry something in green and blue, and quite tasty. Go check their facebook page out: Wasted Fruit

As you can imagine, it's usually a little hectic at tailgating for us, but I was able to steal a few seconds with Coach Hullabaloo to take this cute picture.

I love my Coach Hullabaloo.

So sighhhhhhh, the game. What more can be said? At least the Homecoming Court presentations were cute. This is Tulane's official photo of the moment captured by Paula Burch.

Peggy and I lol'd and lol'd during the presentation at halftime. First, our adorbs new Queen immediately started bawling when her name was called like she just won Miss America or something. And then her King ran over and threw himself on her, practically attacking her when he was announced. It was hilarious and just lacking a teeny little bit of decorum, enough to say ermagerd, what is he doing to her?! And then the rest of the Court proceeded to stand there with their umbrellas and left her getting drenched in the rain like they wanted her tiara to rust and mascara to streak.

Peggy and I were hooting with laughter.

So Coach Hullabaloo and I stayed until the very end of the game, just like some of our favorite students!

We stayed, because we are nuts, but also because Coach Hullabaloo was hoping upon hope that they would pull Tanner and put in Jordy Joseph. Jordy knocked our socks off for the Memphis game. Where has he been all of our life?! As Peggy was sayin - we weren't playing a defensive juggernaut in UConn and so even if just for giggles we should have put him in there to see if we could give them just a different read or something.

Nope. denied..... If only the staff took requests from the sidelines, right?

Our fake punt play is still paying dividends though. It accounted for one of the 10 first downs of the game. So there's that positive.

But anyways, Greenies: The writing is on the wall. Not only has Goldring said "No" to upping the ante and Greenbaum wants to re-up Dickson again, but President Fitts went and said at his Town Hall on Friday that he wants to observe this fiasco for yet another year (!) before making any hasty decisions.

So check back at the end of 2016 to find out if something may be amiss with our football program.

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?