B-Rich

All seven of these are TERRRRIBBBLLLLE! Let's go through each of them: New Orleans Baby Cakes: A tribute to the Mardi Gras king cakes where small plastic babies are sought after, the Baby Cakes celebrates a unique Louisiana tradition. "Baby Cakes?" This is just STUPID and shows that whoever is running this renaming effort has NO CLUE about New Orleans. The term is "King Cake Babies" not "Baby Cakes". And they are not "sought after"; you don't want to get the baby in your piece of cake; that means you have to buy the next cake at your office or for your classroom.... "Baby Cakes" is a freakin' term of endearment, fer cryin' out loud, not a baseball team name. Even if it were "King Cake Babies"; yeah let's name the team after a cheap plastic thing that's like a booby prize... New Orleans Crawfish: Pays tribute to those lovable and tasty critters we hold festivals for, and who call New Orleans home. Knew this one would be in there. When did it become popular to name a team after something harmless that you EAT as opposed to something intimidating that may eat YOU (Tigers, for example)? New Orleans King Cakes: The King Cake tradition bring families and community members together to celebrate the joyous season of Mardi Gras, just like Minor League Baseball draws families together. Again with the food? And it's a seasonal thing, to boot-- with that season being NOWHERE near baseball season. New Orleans Night Owls: Both a play on words and an alliteration, Night Owls celebrates the New Orleans nightlife and a night out at the ballpark. No it's not really a play on words; only a few types of owls are diurnal, and nearly all owls are nocturnal and thus automatically "night owls". So you are naming a team after bar-hoppers and people who stay out late. Fantastic. Can't wait to see Brandiose or whoever make a drawing of a drunken owl holding a beer bottle, go-cup or Styrofoam daiquiri cup. New Orleans Po’boys: A tribute to the culinary capital of the Gulf Cost, this fun name falls in line with other wacky names Minor League Baseball is known for. Again with the food... Oh yeah, let's have a "wacky, fun" team name. Not to mention there's even a discussion among locals as to whether the sandwich even should be called "Po' Boy" or "Poor Boy". New Orleans Red Eyes: New Orleans Red Eyes honors Louisiana’s crawfish festivals, and the bright red crawfish New Orleans love. Still, no clue. How in the hell does "Red Eyes" honor crawfish festivals and crawfish, when NO ONE EVER has called crawfish "red eyes"? THEY DON"T EVEN HAVE RED EYES!! Just beady black ones. New Orleans Tailgators: Alligators are synonymous with Louisiana, and tailgating is synonymous with baseball. What a forced contrivance. While gators are common here, tailgating is not "synonymous with baseball", and certainly not around here. It's more like, 'park the car and get inside in the concourse under the shade and ceiling fans, to alleviate the 95 degree heat and humidity-- at sunset'.

Cool idea/gimmick. I sure hope for that night they switch to the iconic Green and Yellow (maybe with a touch of red) color scheme of Nathan's.

It wasn't a record for Mumford and Sons, it was a Zephyr Field stadium attendance record. Also, Ad, although Metairie (actual site of Zephyr Field) is a suburb of New Orleans, and thus has backyard crawfish boils, drive-thru daiquiri stands, parades for any and all reasons, and lots of great little food joints, it is still a suburb filled with suburbanites and their middle-class America pop culture tastes (although they definitely like jazz, zydeco, funk, and R&B more than your usual American suburbanite). Me? I didn't go near that place that evening...

Re: The Zephyrs name change, here is a local's point of view.... This is a bunch of stupidity, BS, and to be blunt, a cash grab by new owners. As they put it in their announcement, "After nearly a quarter of a century".. with more than a generation growing up with the name and older locals clearly used to it... why change now? Not true. If you are New Orleanian, it fit quite well, and the whole deal about "a name that finally reflects the city it represents, as the "Zephyrs" name carried over with the franchise when it arrived from Denver in 1993" is BS. Anyone who was around back in 1993 when the team was moved from Denver remembers that this was discussed back then, and the fact that we had a beloved and iconic roller coaster with the same name made the "Zephyrs" name fit perfectly. Not without imitators, either-- the Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn name adopted that name (in honor of the roller coaster nearby at Coney Island) in 2001. Frankly, the whole image/ mascot thing took a wrong turn with the addition of the Boudreaux/nutria thing back when they moved into the new stadium. For awhile there, Boudreaux was even in the actual logo, taking a bite out of the wordmark.... In the early days they had a mustachoied big-head mascot called "Zydeco Zeke" which was much better. Then, the new owners have the gall to say, "It will also serve as a continuation of the momentum the franchise has built in recent months, including a record-setting attendance for the Mumford & Sons concert. How does a concert crowd at the stadium have anything to do with the franchise's momentum? Did the Saints experience momentum after the Rolling Stones' largest indoor concert in the Superdome back in 1981? The name-the-team campaign is supposed to run for not even two weeks-- from April 25th to May 6? Sounds like a set-up, and a new name is already lined up... And they've got the Brandiose firm working on it, so you can expect something stupid and cutesy like the Biloxi Shuckers, Montgomery Biscuits, Lansing Lugnuts, or Omaha Storm Chasers... Take an inanimate object or concept and anthropomorphize it by putting eyes on it... I can see it now, freakin' beignets with eyes on them: And again, those in charge have even admitted it's essentially a quick cash grab, with money to be made off the sale of new merch. From an Article in The New Orleans Advocate: “It’s nothing new to baseball,” said Pete Barrouquere, who covered the team as a sportswriter and now is a fan who will be on the panel. “It’s a merchandizing thing, probably." (owner) "Schwechheimer said the sale of new team apparel will bring a much-needed infusion of cash."

Laughed so hard at this, tears came out of my eyes.

No, depends on what kind of shorts, and no. There's no rule for most courses that say you can't wear shorts, it's just that the pros choose not to wear them The PGA has a dress code that mandates pants so the pros don't choose to wear pants. Your average schlub can wear whatever they want when they play. Nobody's stopping anyone from wearing shorts on the course. I see it more frequently than I see pants in fact. With colors and patterned pants coming back into fashion and new golf shoes that actually look like athletic footwear I'd say golf looks better now than it did 20 or 10 years ago. "Dress code" depends on the course: Publicly owned/municipal courses-- no one is going to control anything. Privately owned course open to the public-- usually need to wear a collared shirt. Private country club open only to members and guests -- you wear what is in the code or the member gets in trouble.Shorts-- hemmed shorts with at least the appearance of a front fly (not track shorts, jams, board shorts, jorts or cut-offs)-- are typically welcome anywhere. No golfer with any interest in his/her game would play golf in sandals or flip-flops, as they have no grip. Shoes with (soft) spikes actually help your game by providing a stable surface during a swing. Tennis shoes/sneakers with a decent tread are almost as good. Topsiders suck for golf; far too slippery.

But what's even more interesting about that is that it's the only Rose Bowl not played in Pasadena, California. Mac's statement is correct, but the original statement is totally false . Richard Nixon graduated from the Duke Law School in 1937. By the time the 1942 Rose Bowl was played (in Durham) he was about to turn 29 years old, and he and his wife Pat were preparing to move from his home state of California to a new job in Washington DC.

Re: "Biloxi Shuckers" Extremely disappointing. The name itself was possibly the weakest of the finalists, yet it was selected. The locals do NOT seem to be happy with it, going by the ratio of negative to positive responses over the internet (local paper, Facebook page, etc.). Displeasure seems to be with the name itself, the fact that the initials on one of the caps spell "B.S." (which can, of course, have its own meaning), and the fact that "shuckers" rhymes with at least two different sexual connotations. There have even been several posts dissing the color scheme, saying it should have featured "Biloxi" Red (local high school color) as opposed to the "Gulfport" or "Ocean Springs" blue. But I'm mostly disappointed in the relationship of the name to the logo. A "Shucker" is a person, one who shucks oysters. It is not an oyster, as featured on the logo. Using the oyster, it would have been more appropriate to call the team the "Shuckees", or the "Shucked". But to use an actual shucker would be pretty boring-- an early 20th century Slavic immigrant or Cajun relocatee (most likely a woman), sitting on a stool in a factory shucking oyster after oyster assembly line-style. If they did that, then Brandiose couldn't have had yet another cutesy logo, adding big eyes to a thing that has none, and creating a cartoon anthropomorphic creature. And the shell doesn't even look like an oyster shell; it looks like a clam. Any of the other names would have been better, and made for a better design set: Schooners, Mullets, Black Jacks, Shrimpers, even Beacons would have been better. Having been born in Biloxi and still having family there, I was looking forward to buying and proudly wearing some merch, but I doubt I will now. The Biloxi Lighthouse logo-- probably left over from the "Beacons" logo brainstorming sessions-- is also MY favorite item. However, it has a major problem: the fact that there are waves up near the top of the lighthouse. It brings to mind too may negative connotations of storm surge and flooding a la Hurricanes Camille and Katrina. Makes it look like that's the top of the Biloxi Light House during the worst part of the storm.

Thanks, Ren -- now when I make my bi-annual jar of War Eagle Sauce, the label will look a LOT better... http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/091112

Link: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/11/scott-boras-rays-move-new-jersey-tampa-bay-yankees/ Not that anyone cares what a superstar agent thinks, but - hey... Agents, I guess, are the utmost standard bearers for fully "free markets". Discuss.

So which are you? The white guy with the beer or the white guy with the beer? Since one of those guys is wearing an LSU sweatshirt and B-Rich is from Louisiana, I'm going to say he's most certainly the white guy with the beer. But how can you know the other white guy with beer isn't from Louisiana? There are other white guys with beer from around the states that are LSU fans. Jrodsep, you forgot "OLD white guy with a beer". Mine was not a beer, but a cocktail (double, of course), thus the bigger white classic New Orleans "go-cup". And while I am a proud LSU grad, that's my oldest friend on the right and I'm in the tweed on the left. Incidentally, we got to talking with the guy sitting behind us (who took this pic); he was wearing a Fordham sweatshirt. Turned out he was an old Fordham friend of P.J. Carlesimo, and was comped his tix by the now former Nets coach.

It would seem like a lot of these occur in the NBA, as relocations seemed to almost always come in twos: 1962 - Philadelphia Warriors to San Franscico Warriors 1963 - Syracuse Nationals to Philadelphia 76ers Any matchup between the San Francisco Warriors and Syracuse Nationals was a one-season deal. 1971 - San Diego Rockets to Houston Rockets 1972 - Cincinnati Royals to Kansas City(-Omaha) Kings Any matchup between the Houston Rockets and Cincinnati Royals was a one-season deal. 1978 - Buffalo Braves to San Diego Clippers 1979 - New Orleans Jazz to Utah Jazz Any matchup between the San Diego Clippers and New Orleans Jazz was a one-season deal. I was at one of those (the New Orleans home game) and remember it well. We had floor seats behind the basket. My stepdad was heckling Lloyd Free all night (this was before he changed his name to "World B. Free"). At one point Free made a basket (on our end of the court) and looked straight at my stepdad, then turning down court “shot him the bird” behind his back while he hustled back on defense. 1984 - San Diego Clippers to L.A. Clippers 1985 - Kansas City Kings to Sacamento Kings Any matchup between the L.A. Clippers and Kansas City Kings was a one-season deal 2001 - Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis Grizzlies 2002 - Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans Hornets Any matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and (original) Charlotte Hornets was a one-season deal 2012 - New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn Nets 2013 - New Orleans Hornets to New Orleans Pelicans Only 2 matchups between the Brooklyn Nets and New Orleans Hornets. No indication in the photo, but I made a point of being at that game: Also, not in the "group of twos" scenario, but any team vs.the Chicago Packers (named that for 1 season only, 1961-62) or Chicago Zephyrs (renamed that for only season, 1962-63) were rare matchups. They became the Baltimore Bullets, and after ten years moved to the Capital Centre and changed their name to the Capital Bullets for only one season (1973-74), so any NBA team matchup against the Capital Bullets is rare. There was also only one season of matchups between the Baltimore Bullets and Kansas City-Omaha Kings. Any NBA team playing the New York Nets only did so for one season (1976-77) as they entered the NBA from the ABA that season, then became the New Jersey Nets in the fall of 1977. With Buffalo's move to San Diego in 1978, that also means that the Buffalo Braves and New Jersey Nets only met for one season.

Completely off-logical discussion here, but if the SEC did expand to North Carolina and Virginia, for purely aestethic reasons I'd want the SEC to add UNC and Virginia Tech, for their color schemes (and unusual nicknames). Texas A&M's addition provided ANOTHER maroon and white team in the SEC West, while Missouri added a third Tigers to the whole of the SEC. I am heartened that Mizzou seems to be leaning more to the black and "athletic gold" (yellow) scheme rather than black and old gold, already covered by Vandy.... Duke would repeat Kentucky's blue and white, while NC State would repeat Georgia's black and red (minus the silver britches).

That's been the rumor since ESPN said that the B16 TEN invited Nebraska, Mizzout, Rutgers and ND back in like... late 2010. That is the end game. 12 barely works, 14 is a disaster, 16 lends itseld perfectly. I'm anticipating either a 3 year cycle where A plays everyone in their division + A plays B in year 1, A plays C in year 2, and A plays D in year 3... or where A plays everyone in their division every year, + 2 teams from A, 2 teams from B, then 2 teams from B and 2 teams from C, then 2 teams from C and 2 teams from A. With a four-team pod system, that's only seven games out of 12. The SEC, currently with 14 teams, plays 8 in-conference games, six within division, two from the other division ONe of those is a permement opponent, one is rotating. Going to sixteen teamsand a twelve game schedule, conferences may have to make the move to nine conference games. If the pods are kept within "divisions" (West/East, Atlantic/Coastal, Legends/Leaders) an idea for an 9 game roating pod schedule might be like this: you play all teams in your pod every year (3 games) alternate between 2 of the 4 teams in your division's other pod on a home/home basis (2 more games), then alternate playing 1 pod in the other division every year (4 more games). 5 games in division, 4 out of division.

Seems appropriate for a school that features a dying athletic department Dying athletic department? The school is beginnning construction of an on-campus football stadium, and a couple of years back it opened a brand-new on-campus baseball stadium (Turchin Field). More like after about 40 years of denying/downplaying the importance of collegiate athletics, Tulane finally "gets it". Just heard the end of the press conference on the radio. They officially begin play w/ Big East in July 2014. Seems like basketball postioning is as (if not more) important with this affiliation than football.

Forget all that academic prestige baloney, and competing in the SEC in football. That's not Vandy's deal. Vandy is more than happy to get their share of SEC MONEY every year. They laugh at the mistake of Tulane, which left the SEC in the 1960s, and has become more irrelevant in football than Vandy ever has been, (to the point that they were dropped from the schedule of longtime rival LSU), and gets no SEC money.

Okay, so far. As George Costanza, once said, "Okay, now ya got greedy." Maybe the first four join, but there is NO WAY the Pac-12, 16, whatever will allow Boise State to join, and it is doubtful they would allow TCU to join. This after you just stated "the SEC has made it clear that their expansion will not include schools that are located in a state that already has a school in that State." Maybe you foresee that by that time, all bets are off and it's bedlam, but still...

Correct. Tulane is still kicking itself in the bee-hind for leaving the SEC in the early 60s.

Random thoughts on this SEC expansion talk: 1) Sizemore is correct: the discussion on markets has less to do with where the schools are located (Athens, Fayetteville, Gainesville, College Station, Blacksburg) but where the ALUMNI from those schools are concentrated (Atlanta, Little Rock, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Houston, Dallas, DC area, Baltimore). That's the people with the money and the markets. For example, who in Houston or Dallas right now watches SEC football on CBS? Probably very few folks. Put A&M in the mix, and viewership in those places goes way up - not only when A&M plays, but because SEC games now have a bearing on A&M's fortunes. 2) I'm wondering, with all this talk of the next two being "western" schools (A&M /Mizzou, A&M/Oklahoma, etc.) how will this affect the SEC's divisions (for football, as SEC basketball no longer uses divisions). If the divisions are to remain balanced, adding 2 teams from the (geographic) west would require moving a team from the SEC West to the SEC East. Who would that be? The current eastern-most teams in the west are in Alabama, and although they could remain as each team's permanent opponent under the SEC football schedule and still play each other yearly, it would seem unlikely that anyone would want to break the rivalry.

Prefer just about anything with brighter colors (I'm a child of the 70s): "Creamsicle" Bucs over current Bucs 70s Padres over current or blue/orange Padres Tequila Sunrise Astros over current Astros Purple, turquoise & copper D'Backs over current D'Backs Don't like the addition of gray and black to the Phoenix Suns' purple and orange. Gradient color scheme of Devil Rays more than boring current set or previous set. Early 90s Orlando Thunder 1970s WFL So. California Sun, Portland Storm, Charlotte Hornets (yellow jerseys!!) New Orleans Jazz "mardi gras" color scheme

That's not entirely accurate... In discussions I've heard and seen in the media, it's been pointed out that Texas is looking to have what LSU has under the SEC, a third-tier form of network called "TigerVision". Essentially what it means is that ALL LSU games are televised live in some form or another. Through their contracts with the SEC, CBS has first "right of refusal" to broadcast a game, then ESPN, then if neither of those big boys exercise their option (say, for a home tilt against Colorwerx's alma mater N. Texas )then the game goes to TigerVision, which is a pay-per-view deal via cable, satellite, on-line, etc. However, this is only done within the borders of the state of Louisiana. Outside of the state, the same TigerVision games are only offered on ESPN Gameplan... obviously the devil is in the details...

Back at the end of April I posted this in the thread: Looks like the mad house scenario is underway. Not happening exactly as they discussed, but with Colorado gone to the Pac-10(11), Nebraska to the Big 10, and Boise State headed to the Mountain West, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The Big 12 has already lost 2; the Texas teams will be the lynchpin of this whole thing. I keep hearing Texas and other Big 12 south division teams going to the Pac 10, or Texas to the Big 10; there was a story earlier today about Texas A&M and Va Tech going to the SEC, etc. But let's look at it like this: no conference has YET broken the 12 team barrier and made its move to become the super-conference. There is still the off-chance that this situation may end with just a little shuffling: the Big 12 could gain two more members (from non-BCS conferences, notably the WAC, C-USA West Division or Mountain West) to stay at 12 teams and maintain their championship game, the Pac 10 may or may not pick up an additional team to get to 12 and start a championship series, while the Big 10 stops with 12 and a new championship. At this point, neither the Big East, ACC or SEC have been affected or have made a move. But I do believe that if (or when) one of the conferences (mostl likely the Big 10) makes its move to go beyond 12 teams, then all bets are off and we'll be in the mad rush of conferences seeing who they can add to become a 16 team super conference, which will be a scenario of conferences going away and wholesale changes coming into effect.

Interesting dicussion on this on ESPN radio the other day, and I have to agree with the general tilt of what they were saying: -- If the Big Ten adds ONE more team (say Notre Dame, OR Syracuse, OR Pitt, etc.) everything remains hunky-dory and pretty much the same in regards to the rest of the conferences. Big Ten will then get their championship game, and the Big East loses no more than 1 member (none if the 12th Big Ten team is Notre Dame). -- If the Big Ten becomes the Big 14, (ostensibly by raiding the Big East of Rutgers, Syracuse and Pitt), then look out. It'll be a free-for all. The SEC will be after 2 or more ACC teams, notably Fla. State, Miami, Ga Tech and Clemson. The ACC may go after Florida from the SEC. The Big East may go after its former members Va Tech, Boston College, Miami. The Big 12 may go after other teams... it'll be a mad house.

L.S.U. - graduated from there (undergrad) Georgia Tech - graduated from there (master's) grew up in and now live in suburban New Orleans, so: New Orleans Saints New Orleans Hornets as stated above, went to GT in Atlanta, so: Atlanta Braves And since I was born in Biloxi, MS: Mississippi Sea Wolves (ECHL) I have family and have spent some time in the Tampa Bay area, so I have a rooting interest in their teams (when they're not playing one of my primary teams)