Musings from some former inhabitants of the sprawling metropolis that is Prudhomme City

Monday, February 25, 2008

Basketball Jones-in'

by BDaigle

Last Wednesday, The Mayor and First Lady arrived in The City That Care Would Like To Start Forgetting Again on official state business for the UL vs. UNO basketball game. They graciously allowed Melissa and I to accompany them for the evening's feats of athleticism. Alas, the Lakefront Arena is having the last finishing touches of repairs from Katrina done to it so UNO has had another season of games at what they call, "The Chamber of Horrors". After sitting through Wednesday's night game I have dubbed it, "The Little Gym That Couldn't". "The Little Gym That Couldn't" (heretofore TLGTC) has wooden recessing bleachers. So not only do they kill your ass and your back like only wooden bleachers can, but when someone of more stature than a 3-year old walks up them they sway enough that my brothers would need to take Dramamine to enjoy the game. (Wooden bleachers REALLY should be considered by the CIA for Guantanamo Bay.) TLGTC can only handle about 800 kiesters and that's pushing it. One of the Mayor's Krewe de Chew members, David Fontenot was there and he kept saying, "I feel like I'm in Lafayette High's gym." Lions everywhere would no doubt be very disappointed in being selected for this comparison. Oh and did I mention that it was Homecoming? Yes, that's right boys and girls...HOMECOMING. UNO has not fielded a football team in decades and so they have homecoming during basketball. Despite the festivities, rumor was that turnout was expected to be low for the game because the Hornets had a home game against the Mavs and Tulane was hosting #1 ranked Memphis. That prediction must have been made by a weatherman because TLGTC was almost filled to capacity. Not long after we sat down we were reminded of the rivalry the schools have when a husband and wife in FULL PIRATE COSTUMES sat behind us and the husband started complaining loudly.


"What are all these Cajuns fans doing here?! They are sitting in our seats!! THOSE are OUR seats!" (ALL whopping 800 seats in TLGTC are general admission.)


Davey Jones continued, "Where the hell is ULL anway? Some little town out west? How the hell did you find your way to the big city?"


The Mayor and I exchanged rolling eyes glances and I wondered if UNO's colors were really blue and gray or just washed out purple and gold.


Things only got better when a UL coach's wife and UL player's mother sat next to us and remained standing after the tip waiting for the Cajuns to score, just like they would at the Cajundome. Well, ol' Davey didn't like this one bit and immediately started demanding they sit down and punctuated his demand with a hearty, pirate-ish, "Yeeearrrrggghh!" The coach's wife whipped around and informed Davey Jones that Cajun fans always stand until the Cajuns score two points. Of course, she meant when they score period, but as soon as it left her mouth the Cajuns drained a 3-pointer to start the game. This delighted Davey Jones because as soon as they sat down he smugly screamed, "But that was 3 points!" Well....the player's momma didn't like that one bit and Momma let him know it.


"Who da f&!$ you talkin' to you stupid pirate? I gonna stand dis whole f!$& game if I want to mother f*&@! Look at dat stupid pirate and his ugly wife. Dat's what al-kee-hol do to ya. Drink some more beer you stupid f&$! pirate!!"


I don't know if Momma knew that Davey Jones was just talking trash or that she even cared because that was her boy down there playing and no stupid pirate was gonna yell at her. Every time the Cajuns scored Momma would look behind her at Davey and yell, "Haaaaah!" Sometimes that primal scream would be followed by, "Now...now!" or "Whatchoo tink 'bout dat?!" I glanced over at Melissa whose terrified look told me two things:


1. She hates confrontation and hates that confrontation makes her arm pits sweat.


2. She thought Momma was certified C-R-A-Z-Y and did not think I should be sitting within arm's reach of her.


As the first half wore on the Cajuns widened their lead into the 'teens, but Davey would not be denied his trash talking, no matter how irrelevant.


"Thanks for the crappy governor!!!" and "Is Coach here?!"


As the lead widened other UNO fans began to take their frustrations out on the Cajun faithful.


"Yeah, well your football team sucks!!"


*sigh* Okay..I'm gonna let that one go for the following reasons:


a) I get jealousy.


b) You don't even have a football team at this godforsaken and parent system abandoned commuter college.


Then another genius in the front stood up and took off his jacket and started pimping his UNO baseball jersey and inanely yelling, "What happened in Mobile? WHAT HAPPENED IN MOBILE?!!?"


*heavier sigh* The only thing sadder than trash-talking with past glory is trash-talking with past glory in a totally different sport. The best part of the exchange though was the disinterested looks from the Cajun fans followed immediately by looks at the scoreboard. Cracked me up.


Early in the second quarter one of the Cajun players took a scary fall and stayed down on the floor for several minutes and Davey went a little too far.


"Coooome oooon! Rub some Tobasco on it kid!"


Ol' Davey had now had one too many Bud Lights. For the first time that night The Mayor, David Fontenot , myself and a couple of Cajun fans in front of us all turned around and stared the guy down and the Mayor informed him that he lacked class and sportsmanship. A weak shrug was the best Davey could muster. Davey would be silent for the rest of the game.


Other highlights of the game included:


-A humongous mobile blow up UNO mascot called, "Air Pierre" who I simply could not wait to see fall flat on its face as it wandered the sidelines. Sadly, I was not rewarded with such a scene.


- The UNO dance team that consisted of four unattractive skanks who were wearing dingy white baby tee's and very short, too tight black shorts. Basically, it looked like they were wearing somone other's dance team's old practice outfits. They delighted Melissa at halftime by one of them walking out for a smoke and another walking around with a baby on her hip. My presumption that they were all from the West Bank thrilled Melissa even more.


Heading into the 4th period the Cajuns still held a double-digit lead, but that would be short-lived. UNO broke out a poor man's full court press that shouldn't have slowed a biddy-ball team but gave the Cajuns absolute fits. Why? I have no earthly idea. Perhaps it was the interesting strategy the Cajuns stubbornly tried of having the point gaurd still bring the ball up court. I have never coached basketball and I only played at the high school level. That said, I'm fairly confident that almost everyone knows that the best way to beat the press is to pass the ball up court. Not the Cajuns though. Let's do it the really hard way that leads to turnovers!! So, the Cajuns lead dwindled to 2 points with 12 second left. The Cajuns called a time out. In their two previous possesions Elijah Millsaps had been fouled and sank all 4 free throws. He had not missed any of his free throws all night before that. It's a REALLY rare occurence (aside from that freak season two years ago) when a Cajun players is making free throws consistently. Again, I've never coached basketball, but knowing that UNO will foul the first man to touch the ball, wouldn't you want to make sure that guy got the ball? Apparently, Robert Lee knows something I don't and had Millsaps inbound the ball to Randell Daigle, my long lost cousin. Randell promptly missed both free throws and the Cajuns held onto win when UNO failed to score on the last possession. I don't think that I have to tell you that the Sun Belt officiating was stellar for the ENTIRE game and that UNO fans had no problem with the outcome. MAJOR bullsh&! on both counts. Ultimately, it was a satisfying but utterly frustrating performance from the VERY young Cajuns. We had a good time with the Mayor and First Lady and after the game let them treat us on the taxpayer dime at our favorite local pizza place, Reginellis. It's not Deanos but they seemed to enjoy it, especially the First Lady.


More basketball frustration followed on Friday night at the Hornets game versus the Houston Rockets when a PROFESSIONAL coach by the name of Byron Scott failed to even bother trying to get 7'6" Yao Ming in foul trouble as he (and the fact the Hornets couldn't BUY a bucket) proceeded to destroy the Hornets singlehandedly. I mean...COME ON! The Rockets had a 9 game win streak and T-Mac is washed up. I can't be this naive can I? The man has led his team to the best record in the West and was the coach for the West in the All Star game and he doesn't even TRY to get Yao in foul trouble?! UTTERLY frustrating and NOT satisfying in ANY way. I'll put it to you this way......we left with 5 minutes left to go. I think the fact that my last name is Daigle sums up the significance of that statement.

So there you go. A much longer post than I originally planned, but oh well. Tune in next time when I try to shatter my personal best for run on sentences!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

New Orleans Calling. Will You Accept The Charges?

by BDaigle


"I got them first trimester blueeeessss.... oh yeaaah....nausea got me baaaaad!!!"


Well, that song's over or at least it's fallen out of the Top 40 rotatation. Melissa is feeling better now that the first trimester is over. The nausea is gone and hopefully for good. Her appetite is slowly coming back, but I'm still serving her two-year old portions. The good news is when we go out to eat, we only have to order one entree if we get an appetizer. Her energy is coming back and there have been a few days where's she not had a nap and not been struggling to keep her eyes open by 6:30pm. The bambino is doing well after her last visit with her doctor's group's practice's nurse practitioner. (That was confusing for me and I wrote it. Paying attention in 8th grade English would have helped too. Sorry Mrs. Stagg.) She got an ultrasound and the heartbeat was good. She also said it jumped 3 inches during the ultrasound. (3 INCHES!! And at that time is was like the size of a grape! So by my man-logic, this kid will be able to dunk by the time its four! Yeees! College is paid for baby!!)

So the first trimester symptoms have left us and we begin the second trimester which has brought its own symptoms, some of which seem to be nomally associated with it. Then there are some symptoms that only seem to be suffered by Melissa and no other pregnant woman in known medical history. I am not at liberty to discuss these symptoms as she regards them as embarrassing and I do enjoy sleeping in my own bed, no matter how comfortable our new couch may be.

All is well for the time being here in NOLA and if we get decent pictures at the next ultrasound, I may scan them and post 'em on here. Maybe.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Please Remain Calm

So I know, I know. You're all like What the hell, man? Am I on the right page? She friggin' changed this thing up on me! What can I say? I'll blame it one being a Gemini. I don't even know if that's a quirk of the sign or not, but it sounds good to me and I'm going with the idea that you'll a) be too lazy to look it up or b) be all like Pffft! Astrology, uh-shmology! Whatever. The simple fact of the matter is I get booooooooooored looking at the same things day in and day out. Owing to the fact that I am, in general, a lazy and unambitious blob of flesh, that particular personality trait normally has no bearing on any element of my life because, in the event that actual effort is required on my part to produce change, it ain't happenin'. But in the blogosphere, it's so easy to change things up. I mean, seriously, I just can't resist. If this is appalling and/or bothersome to you...um, well, all I can suggest is that you get the heck over it if you intend on hanging around here for any length of time. And, for God's sake, if you're averse to frequent design changes, avoid my MySpace page at all costs! Personally, I like the new look. For now. Mwaahahahahaha! (that's supposed to be an evil laugh...yeah.)

Speaking of change, I totally stole the following off of the CajunBoy's blog, but I can't resist. Have you seen the moving and inspiring video by Will.i.am supporting the Barack Obama campaign? I totally dig it. It warms the cockles of my frigid and cynical heart.


Then I saw the parody of it for the McCain campaign. Dude, forget just warming the snarky cockles of my heart; they caught fire! Hi-lar-i-ous, y'all. For reallsy.


On a serious note, I got some bad news from my sister Jen today. Her sweet puppy dog Ese has been diagnosed with bone cancer. I don't know any details yet, but her email did not sound very hopeful. For most of us, pets are members of our family, and this is especially true for Jen. Ese was really her first baby. She's had him since he was a puppy, and I'll be the first to say that I never met anyone, ANYONE, who did not fall in love with him at first sight. He is the sweetest Newfie ever. I know Jen is really broken up about his condition, and it sucks when you can't help someone you love when they're in pain, so all I can do is just ask that you all please say some prayers for or send some good thoughts and positive energy to Jen and Ese.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

And Then There Were Three

So you may have noticed that, on the little sidebar to the right, there are now three contributors to The Chronicle. I've encouraged my only (and I wouldn't have it any other way despite what I said back when I was eight) sister Jen and (one of) my younger brother(s) Burt to post on the blog in an effort to keep us informed, up-to-date on and, most importantly, entertained by what's going on in their neck of the woods. Jen is up in Columbus, Ohio, and Burt is over in New Orleans. Both have bent to my will by failing to defeat strong-arm tactics and accepted my invite as contributing authors. That doesn't necessarily mean they will post anything as I think their basic reaction may have been something along the lines of What? Do what? Yeah, okay. Whatever. Just stop sending me the emails already! Unlike yours truly, these two actually have social skills and boundless talent so, if they do decide to post, my own shortcomings and obvious lack of being awarded "the good genes" will become even more glaring... why did I do this again? Oh yeah! They rock! You'll see. Give 'em some love, kay?

Also, the lovely young Yankee who writes the blog BaRou Is the New Bklyn listed over there in my favorites has gotten engaged and is trying to win a $5,000 photography package being awarded to a couple who is planning a "green" wedding. Although I do not know her personally, I enjoy reading her posts, and also I feel really badly about the fact that she has to live in Baton Rouge. Don't you? Help the chick out and vote for her and her fiance, Tom. Follow the link: http://vraiphoto.blogspot.com/ Bam! Good deed for the day taken care of. I'm sure an angel just got its wings. UPDATE: They won! Hurrah for them. They're just so cute, aren't they?

Friday, February 8, 2008

Behold!

So I am very pathetic. Yes, I Tivoed four shows on ESPN that were broadcast at the same time as yesterday when I saw that Verizon commercial I mentioned. Then, when I was done with school work, I went back and fast forwarded to each set of commercials and, lo and behold, on the third show (The Best of Mike and Mike), I was all JACKPOT, baby! Then I burned the show to DVD, then I transferred it to my computer and edited out just the commercial, then I uploaded it to YouTube, probably violating all sorts of copyright and terms of use issues, and I'm sure I'll be contacted by YouTube and/or Verizon's lawyers in short order threatening me with all sorts of ginormous fines and some nice vacation time in the big house, so enjoy it while you can.


It's me, right? Sooooooooooooooooo me! Ha!

I Got Nuttin'

So, wow. Despite the fact that I haven't posted anything new in almost two weeks, my life has so completely been overtaken by school that I really have nothing of interest for you. Huh. I think I just might suck. Well, be that as it may, here's a little sumpin', sumpin' for ya anyway.

This week while walking on the treadmill at the gym, I came across two nuggets of note:
1. I saw a commercial for Verizon featuring ESPN Mobile that almost made me fall off of the treadmill because I was laughing so hard. I have scoured the web trying to find it to no avail. It features a woman at a baby shower, and SHE IS ME! I swear. It was awesome. Best commercial EVER! I'll keep looking for it.
2. I read the article "The Smithsonian Life List: 28 Places to See Before You Die" in Smithsonian magazine. Guess how many I've been to? One. Yep. One. And I can thank my mom for bringing me there, or I might not have seen that one either. Beneath the online version of the article, there are lots of people in the comments section who are like Oh, I've been to 21 of the 28 or Oh, I've been to 14 of the 28. Whatever. Bastards.

Beyond the regular trips to the gym, I've just been doing school work. We did have one social occasion type thing in there. We had Clelie and Greg over for the SuperBowl and did a whole Thanksgiving in February thing. Alex fried the work turkey (every year at Thanksgiving he gets a turkey from work to thank him for his slave labor) and I made green bean casserole, cornbread dressing, and a Hershey pie. I had grand plans to photograph and blog about the whole thing. Yeah. That obviously didn't happen. Oh well. We did have a good time watching the game. How 'bout them Giants, huh? They were giant killers! (Ha! I made a funny.) The other big event of the game was the text messaging marathon Seth and I had. I'm not a big text messager, but it was fun to talk trash for two hours. Seth was pulling for the Pats. He claimed he was conflicted over who to root for since he's lived in both Connecticut and NYC. He chose poorly, didn't he? Anyway, best SuperBowl in years.

Mardi Gras came and went, and we did nuttin'. I have been feeling low with a cold that I can't seem to completely kick which, apparently, has now spread to my ears, and I can't hear anything. Good times, good times.

On the Prudhomme front, I guess I can let the cat out of the bag officially since BDaigle and Sista have announced it on their MySpace pages. We're having a baby! Er, THEY'RE having a baby! Due date is early September. And they're going the fun route and not finding out the gender until delivery. I love that. Also, the mayor's stent procedure turned out fine. He's feeling okay and recovering. Here's an email he sent out to everyone regarding his various health procedures over the past few weeks:

To avoid rumors, etc of my health status, I thought perhaps I would let you hear it from the "horse's mouth".
Here is the boring chronology of medical events that have taken place:
  • 16 Jan, checked in at LGMC. That same morning I received a pacemaker. This was to boost my heart beat, which was strong enough, but not rapid enough. The procedure was a success. No side effects or unusual happenings like receiving clear channel radio stations.
  • 17 Jan, an arteriogram was performed to determine if a by pass that was performed 15 years ago was still in good shape. Good new...it was. Bad news...an artery was found with 75-80% blockage, and would necessitate the insertion of a stent to fully unblock it.
  • 30 Jan checked in at LGMC. The stent procedure began around 1 p.m.. The entry was to be from the left femoral artery. Things go awry. The artery is shaped in such a fashion that the stent cannot be placed at the blockage site. They go in through the right femoral artery, which was the site of the arteriogram procedure, and which they wanted to avoid. Stent finally in place around 4:30 p.m..
  • Return to the room. Whatever they used to deaden the insertion sites has worn off. I feel like I have been in a bar room brawl where low blows are the blows of choice. Take some pain medication that does not totally agree with me, but helps.
  • Instead of an outpatient procedure, I am coerced into remaining overnight in the event that bleeding from the artery sites would occur. No occurrence. Disposition/mood is not the best. Matches that of a bear with a thorn in its paw! Gwen, my angel through all of this, is doing her best to show me the bright side of this event. Succeeds to an extent.
  • Come home 1 Feb. All is not bad. I missed the Cajun-Mid TN game. For that I am extremely thankful. Hopefully, this ends my visits to LGMC, which I must say that if you must be hospitalized it is the place to go. All of the staff is friendly and accommodating. Food, if you have an appetite is pretty good. Not to Krewe de Chew standards, but still pretty good.
Final synopsis is that I am going to do my darndest to keep my cholesterol level low to prevent having these procedures again; LGMC is a good hospital; Doctors are to be enjoyed at social events only, although I must say that Dr. Mounir is a pleasant person, but once he begins a procedure he is like a predator....onward till it is completed; I am progressing and feeling better and a stronger each passing day.

And that's it. I can't promise you, my fave peeps, that I'll be updating more frequently. I don't know what possessed me to register for four classes this semester, but I may have signed my own death warrant with that decision. Pray for me. But, hey, you guys have a grrrrreeeaaaat weekend!