This is primarily a Tulane football blog, although I do occasionally comment on all matters Tulane that may or may not be any of my business. I love following Tulane Greenwave football, zing-zang Bloody Marys, hostessing cute tailgating parties, and life in New Orleans. It's fabulous. oh and I adore Mr. Hullabaloo. PS This blog is not affiliated in any way "officially" with Tulane University or Tulane Athletics. It is purely the crazy antics and obsessions of Mr. and Mrs. Hullabaloo who love them some greenwave (I say tee-ay (!) y'all).

Friday, September 2, 2016

Dumpster Fire No Mo'


That was so weird yesterday!  A loss that was actually encouraging.  That ridiculous excuse/prediction that Toledo kept promising would happen where we would start losing better actually happened.

And the weather held out for the game too! #Winning

I have decided that Moral Victories of the Coach Fritz Era are vastly superior to being completely despondent over the hopeless haplessness of the Days That Are Behind Us.


Yes, indeed Coach! We are loving you!

Anyways, leaving the game last night the Wake Forest peeps were all trying to convince themselves to enjoy their victory, but they all sort of just shuffled out of there. No like HELL YEA or Rebel Yells, or WaaaHooo's!  Y'all Houston would have kicked their ass into the next millenium and they would probably still be trying to figure out what the heck happened.

All the dozens of them that were there anyways.

Listen up members of the Greenwave Nation hereby reading this blog.  I do not want anybody complaining to us again or thinking outloud about our attendance or the size of our band.  Because Wake Forest was so sad.  It was sad sad.  Like really sad.


I don't know if it was because it was a Thursday game, or the sketchy area that BB&T Stadium is located, but that was by far the most depressing P5 conference team and stadium I have visited. Although the people of Wake Forest are all lovely. I must preface by saying that we did not encounter a single solitary idiot fan.  They were very well behaved. They were pleasant. and they kept to themselves.  Well, they reminded us of us honestly.

People were telling me that Wake Forest is the most spectacular campus ever, but I did not get to see that.  I was picturing in my head something similar to Duke's lovely and delightful gameday atmosphere and stadium. But this was nowhere near that.



I would describe the environment as, well, Listless.  Their mascot even stalled his motorcycle at the 50 yard line and had to scoot it off the field.




Embarrassing! Speaking of Mascots and being embarrassed, ours was actually in attendance! Oh thank you Sweet Yahweh for all your gifts you are raining down on us!

What! Yes, it's true! Not an impostor.  The actual Riptide (and I think they fixed his eyes too so he's not like a scary clown.)  I even took this photo to document it because if I hadn't seen it you wouldn't believe me.


Ok, so the band....The Wake Forest band had less members than ours and what was more sad was that they were in T-shirts and shorts. For an ESPN televised game.

I don't know if we just get all excited about even just having a band that we go all out the box with putting ours into actual uniforms, but Wake Forest Band's sad little shorts reminded me of the post-Katrina years when our cheerleaders wore shorts because...well, I don't know why exactly our cheerleaders didn't get to have proper uniforms.  Because if someone had asked me for funds we would have certainly gotten them proper uniforms somehow someway.

Before the game, I don't know who decides their music line up, it was this endless stream of totally random rap/hip hop mishmash.  Like as if Wake Forest was trying to prove their street cred. Child, please. Wake Forest pregame << FAU.

The Wake Forest students line up on the grassy knoll and then they all run over across the stadium to the gates where they let the team run out and they form these messy lines to cheer the team through. I mean look at that Green jacket?  Could you imagine someone wearing a purple jacket on the field at a Tulane game?



It reminded me of the Rice Marching Owl Band running around doing their haphazard routines.  I way much prefer our blow up air tunnel with the sparklers and the team running over to the student section before going to the home sideline.  One thing I do wish is that Riptide would go back to leading the team out in the SeaDoo just like how their Demon Deacon does here on his motorcycle.  Except not the stalling out in the middle of the field part.

The Wake Forest dance team - who don't even have a cute Southern name, like the Tempting Tartlets or something cleverly related to their mascot - dances on the dugouts (not really dugouts, but it looks like dugouts), which was really cute.


And at the end of the game they do a super cute performance while the jumbotron exclaims "WAKE FOREST WINS!".  We so need to copy that victory dance for Shockwave.  But again - the Wake Forest dance team outfits were absolute yawners. They might as well have been in nun habits out there.

Wake Forest in general is just screaming for a makeover. Especially in the food and drink department.

At Wake they do an "Alcohol Check" when you walk in so that you can purchase "alcohol".  Some adults with a card table and a stack of purple wrist bands, they look at your ID (yes mister! I am 40somethingish! Don't look at me sideways) and then they mark you as a sinner around your wrist.  Except that was major false advertising because all we ever found was beer, and it was being sold by the good Catholics with the local Knights of Columbus chapter as their fundraiser. Hurray for Catholics!

Maybe an enterprising person brings their own so that they can spruce up the smoothies from the Coffee Truck for a tasty daiquiri.

So there was dipping dots, some horrid funnel cakes, a gyro cart, a burger food truck, and the interesting coffee truck with smoothies and lattes, and then blah popcorn and pepsi products. No barbecue!  Not even barbecue flavored chips. In a state known world over for their barbecue! And I barely saw any tailgating.  No cute tailgating decorations for me to ooh and ahh over, no yummy grilled goodness for me to sniff on vicariously like at University of Hawaii with their huli huli chicken and paper boats of pineapple fried rice. No walking from fraternity row to sorority row like at Georgia Tech or the cute booster tents like at Duke. Nothing.

And they can't say "but Thursday game" because we played Louisiana Tech on a Thursday and it was on ESPN too and they totally turned out in Ruston.

And no gameday dresses! Not one.  I was like, we are in (north) Carolina, right?  We didn't take a wrong turn off the interstate and wander over north of the Mason Dixon line or something?  I mean at Georgia Tech I was just in h-e-a-v-e-n admiring all the spirit, and the pomp, and the circumstance and then in Winston-Salem it's like the Witch landed on the house at Oz instead of the other way around.



Anyways, the game.

We will get better, and that makes me okay with the outcome.  I was vastly impressed with the improvements in instilling discipline in the team.  

The twister mat thingie, the grad assistants in color coordinating outfits so that they were easily identifiable on the sidelines.


People be eye rolling at me that these additions are high school things, but whatever.  I'm not knocking it.  CJ Johnson seemed to prefer playing with 9 players on the field, so if the twister mat fixes that bad habit then I'm behind it.

Should we have gone for the field goal on 4th down?  Should Cuillette have incorporated hand offs to our stable of running backs instead of Up The Middle (or what's it actually called with the option?). Coulda woulda shoulda.


But if you had told me on Wednesday that we would have been up on Wake and then held them to one score the whole game I woulda said "Get Outta Here! You Lyin!" and laughed.

I know that our new powers that be are upset that we didn't take that win away from Wake Forest because they hate losing and expect to win.  But that just makes me even more happy.  Because it means we are finally finally FINALLY governed by winners and that should make everyone in Greenwave Nation proud.

No more BS press conferences, no more putting lipstick on a pig and trying to sell us waterfront property in Arizona.  It's over, it's finally over.


Saturday, April 2, 2016

Krewe of Cleopatra

It's April and you know what that means around New Orleans:  Mardi Gras Krewe Dues are Due!

So yes, y'all! A Bucket List item got crossed off my list....

Meet this one year veteran member of Krewe of Cleopatra!


I've lived in New Orleans for what, two and a half decades and just finally got around to joining a krewe this past year. I am totally smitten with riding in Mardi Gras now!


It is very random to be talking about Mardi Gras in April and with all of the exciting news of the new coaching hires in Greenwave Nation, the win against the Corndogs out at the Litter Box, etcetera... but I really loved everything about my riding experience and wanted to share since this is the time to join if you wanted to join.

So here it is My Top 10 list about why I loved riding in Cleo:

1. Westbank - holla!  Proud bestbanker here.  I saw a few "I heart the westbank!" signs on the parade route - thank you for the love, Eastbank Americans! Cleo started out as a Westbank krewe, and lots of Cleo girls (like me) are Westbank-American Princesses.

Call us "WAPs" ha ha!.


My beautiful friend Kimberly was Queen in 2012 in this photo.  But anyways, Cleo also has women from all over now.  I met some lovely ladies who come in from Mobile, women who reside in Uptown and Metry, and River Parishes.

Our Den is in St. Rose.  But I just love that it's origins are from the Wank.  See look, at the bridge in this photo during our float load up.


2. The Pre-Party!  Our pre-party is at Generations Hall, and it was off. the. chain!  The DJ was so super fun, and everyone is care-free and just enjoying the moment.  Dancing like nobody cares in the middle of the day.




These days we are all so over scheduled and busy, and multi-tasking, and rushing around, and honestly I had forgotten how it's like to just "be". It was so fun to shake my tush and sing and dance with 700 other fun ladies.

We also had a ball two weeks before the ride and another ball in the fall when they picked the court. And those were all about the fun too.




3. Some of my Greenie Gals ride in Cleo too! Enough said, love my Tulane fans! It's how I decided that this was the krewe for me.  My peoples.




4. We're first!  I like that we ride first at the beginning of Mardi Gras, like the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Yeah Krewe du Vieux blah blah, but this is the very first night of the Uptown route.  This is when shit gets real.






Riding the Friday before the second weekend, means that I got to rest and enjoy the more hectic final weekend of Mardi Gras as a spectator without being completely spent and exhausted.  Coach Hullabaloo and I went a little crazy this Mardi Gras season and made three balls (Cleo's, Extravaganza, and Orpheuscapade).

This is me lying on the ground at the end of the night.  I could barely move.  I was in so much pain, but it was so worth it.  All of it.


Don't know what we were thinking, but we were troopers getting through Mardi Gras.  If I had riden just days before our marathon of balls I would be in traction or something.  Next year, I am booking a massage for the next day.

5. Cleopatra is such a cool and beautiful icon.  Really, I have been having SO much fun finding Ancient Egyptian themed "stuff".  Come follow my pinterest board!




Coach Hullabaloo even had this beautiful charm made for me for Christmas and I love it.  #RideCleo!


Totally love all the cute finds! More excuses for shopping!

6. The cups!  So every krewe has a signature "throw" now.  And as much as it stressed me out to be racing to make these - I really did enjoy being creative for creative's sake and not just because I was under pressure to make a deadline for a client.  It was fun coming up with ideas and figuring out how to attach things to the cups.


I did two day long marathon cup making sessions, and even enlisted my trusted and favorite intern, Coach Hullabaloo, to help me finish hot gluing and bag them up the week before.

7. The RIDE! I was exhausted and ached from every muscle and joint in my body, but it was so worth it!



Our float had it's own DJ and the music was fun, the people we rode with were fun. We laughed and danced and shared snacks and drinks during stops.  It was amazing to be able to see my friends on the route with signs, and screaming for me. This year I rode with my mom who loves Mardi Gras more than me!


Yes!  That's Barry Manilow watching our parade!

8. We make it rain! I should have taken a photo, but the ladies who rode next to us on our float had throws for days.  I calculated pretty well and ran out in front of the Marriott on Canal, but the ladies by us probably had enough more stuff to throw for an entire other parade.




And yes, I have already started the purchasing of throws for next season. I can't wait til they announce the theme so I can start being all theme-y with my throws!

9. Miss Tuttie - she is the cutest Krewe founder in all of New Orleans. Seriously how precious is she?


10. It's such an honor. I loved making little kids happy and being an actual part of "the show" that thousands of people enjoy.  It totally made me appreciate Mardi Gras so much more when you are actually the rider and not just a spectator.  What an honor it was!  There was an adorable little girl on the route that was all dressed up in a Cleopatra costume screaming for us to throw her things and I wished I'd had my phone handy to snap shot it, because I just loved that!


So Save the Date y'all: Next year's ride is February 17th!

Or if you want to be part of all the fun - sign up to be a member!  www.kreweofcleopatra.org


Monday, March 21, 2016

The Eyes of Texas Were Upon Us


The Wave Gigged Texas, yes indeedy!

I can't wait til we are formally invited to the Big 12 (ha, sooo still dreaming). What fun! And other than Mr Annoying Man in the section over from us, I very much enjoyed mingling with my people from Texas.

Mrs. Hullabaloo is Texan, you know.



 All the Longhorn Fans were mostly pleasant. AND generous - we got us free tickets to both games as we walked up from very nice strangers, plus we got a golf cart ride to the stadium, and because God is Good: their ice cream stand in the stadium had Reese's Pieces, and they were selling hot chocolate like all normal college stadiums tend to do. Winning!



Their stadium UFCU Disch Falk Field was beautiful. And by the way ... UFCU stands for University Federal Credit Union. I know - I wondered about that a little. Especially with Furman having had "FU" emblazoned on their ball caps last week. Lawd did Big Mike make me laugh with his inappropriate commentary about that! ha!


Isn't that a beautiful ballpark?  UFCU >> Litter Box .  Anyways, so Friday's game washed out after 2 innings unfortunately. But not before we got to show up in our cute outfits. I got this dress online at Loft. Get yours.


Saturday's weather was beautiful, but we only stayed for the remainder of the rescheduled first game and then half of the second game. It got cold and I got hangry again so we had to leave to go stuff my face. My sorority sister whom I'll call Dulcecita brought her precious boys on Saturday. They got to get a baseball signed by Jake Rogers and Lex Kaplan. So cute.


Evan is holding Mr. Pickle in the bottom right which was our lucky charm. #winning

I cant stress enough how much I enjoyed UFCU Field! Before the game Texas shows a video of a former player singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame - I love love love this tradition. Can we please do this at Turchin? Like with Coach Brockhoff and his precious grandsons while he's still alive and we can?


Please excuse Coach Hullabaloo rudely interrupting this video.  I gave him a major eyeroll as these Longhorn fans were all so nice and Coach Hullabaloo was being silly.

So now Mr Annoying Man.  I was having a splendid time until this happened: in the first game on Saturday he got up half way through one of the middle innings, very rudely interrupted my pleasant conversation with a Longhorn fan about Mack Brown and the 2005 CWS, and he screamed at us "HEEEYYYY!!!!! TULANE FANS! Thats how you catch a ball!!" Of course, the other Longhorns in our section sat there embarrassed and silent. I wanted to get up and do something to him. What, I don't know, but it woulda been lights out. Maybe go stomp on his toe with my cute boots.


To be fair, their outfield was boss. They totally shut us down mostly. I am completely shocked we won because we are playing all out position, and Texas really IS that awesome and their players were amazing. Anyways after Mr. Big Mouth opened his pecan pie hole, Richard Carthon outran a throw to first and then Hope got a homerun. I felt like screaming back at him "HEY! Did you see THAT?! That's how you run on base and get a homerun!"



Another funny was that during one of our many Hullabaloos, the Longhorn Fans commented, well Gee all we do is clap.  And my friend whom I'll call Pete said, well our athletic department budget doesn't allow for cannons. ha!  Those cannons, omg.  Probably my least favorite portion of our visit to UFCU Field.

Earlier before the game, Coach and I hit up Stitch Switch BBQ and I fell in love with their Green Bean salad. That is my new favorite BBQ side, so below is a recipe.

GREEN BEAN SALAD
Lemon vinaigrette
Steamed green beans
Chopped red bell peppers 
Toasted pecans

Use pre-made lemon vinaigrette like this or whisk together lemon juice, dijon mustard, dill (or other tasty herb like tarragon), walnut+canola oil, garlic powder, salt/pepper to taste. DE-RIB your green beans (or just use frozen chopped) and steam them with salt pepper and onion/garlic powder. Toast chopped up pecans with butter (either on a baking sheet in the oven or in a pan over the stove). Chop up your red bellpepper. Ok, this is when we get to the hard part: toss everything together and refrigerate.

So thank Yahweh for this series win in Austin because it helps make our losses to Nicholls, SLU, and UNO a fainter memory. Shaa! Meaningless Midweek Games. I am seaux seaux seaux glad I skipped SLU and UNO. Because suffering through that loss at Didier Field at Harvard on the Bayou is about as much as I can deal with at this point in time.  I haven't quite licked my bruised ego from the last time we lost there. Them Cajuns went totally out the box with their victory lap after the game. They had fireworks and Hooters girls and everything. I am serious. Peggy and I laughed and laughed about that on our way home from Thibovegas.

So yes, so totally glad for this win! Hullabaloo Ray Ray!!