The Saints, the CATS and the Underdawgs

Aside from the CATS getting absolutely spanked by Florida, it's been a good weekend. As much as it pains me to say this, we just don't have much of a football team to speak of. And that makes me very sad.

One of Zack's best friends was in town this weekend, along with his girlfriend, so we met up with them Saturday night to watch the game and have dinner. This particular friend just so happens to be from eastern Kentucky like I am (Powell County specifically) so even though I've only met him a few times, he's the kind of guy you feel like you've known forever after only talking to him for a few minutes. Beyond Zack getting to hang out with his buddy and me getting the chance to know him a little better, it was really really nice to see a familiar face (not to mention a Kentucky face) down here.

We went to Cooter Brown's to watch the game. I guess its your typical dive sports bar on the edge of a college campus but it has a pretty cool history behind it, 15 big screen TVs and all kinds of different oyster preparations on the menu so Zack and his buddy were all about it. I anticipated going in that getting someone in this town to broadcast a KY vs. Florida game when LSU was also playing would be nothing short of impossible. Luckily the LSU game ended before Kentucky got started. Then again, the first quarter of the game was kind of like watching a car wreck on TV over and over again so maybe we didn't get all that lucky. To say that it was painful to watch gets the Understatement of the Week award. I think we all spent the first 15 minutes of that game in a continual cringe as Tebow and the Gators marched all over us. Seriously Hartline, what were you thinking? I could get out there and throw a bunch of incomplete passes. We left at halftime (our appetites finally won out over our sense of Big Blue loyalty) so we didn't get to see the knock-out but from what we heard it was pretty horrible. Poor Tebow. Even though he's come in and embarrassed us several years in a row now, it's still hard to hate the guy. He's just so good at what he does; I really like watching him play. Just don't tell anyone I said that.

We decided that the one place we wanted our guests to absolutely try while they were in town was The Joint; the same little hole-in-the-wall bar-b-q place we took my sister and her boyfriend when they were here last month. It was still every bit as scary getting there and the neighborhood is still every bit as shady...but the food was once again incredible. And really, if you're not willing to take your life in your hands on the quest for the best bar-b-q in the world you probably don't deserve it anyway. I've never had ribs like these. I think I'm drooling a little bit as I sit here and write this. They're so good that my sister, who really doesn't even like meat all that much, has begged me to find some way to ship them to her back home. Can you do that? Could I FedEx a carton of ribs to her? Is that possible? If the Audubon Zoo can mail a bunch of penguins back to themselves after Katrina, I don't really see why I couldn't. Hmmm...

The last stop of the night was Tipitina's which is a fairly famous music bar down here. Famous in that several big name people kind of got their start playing there from what we're told. Don't ask me who these people are, I'm just repeating what I've heard. Famous or not, the bands playing Saturday night were both really really good. The opening act was a contemporary jazz band (yeah, I didn't really know what that meant either) whose music was a combination of jazz and rap and hip hop. It was great! I don't think you would even have to like jazz, rap or hip-hop to appreciate what they were doing. The guy who played the jazz trumpet seemed especially talented and apparently, the group is up for a Grammy nomination this year. Not too shabby.

Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs

Sundays are pretty laid back days around our house now. After church we usually either watch the Saints game or take a nap or in my case, lay on the couch and read a good book. Zack actually prefers to watch the Saints game while taking a nap but I'm not quite that talented. I've never really been into pro football, mostly I guess because I've never lived anywhere that had a team to root for. (Unless you count the Bengals, who can't manage to stay out f jail long enough to win many games). The Saints are a BIG deal down here though. They are kind of a representation of the rebuilding of New Orleans I think. It was a really big deal when they finally came back after Katrina and a lot of people say that when and if they're able to win a Superbowl it will do as much for the morale of this city as anything else possibly could. Some people are saying this is their year; we'll see. They're looking pretty good so far.

And now its back to the regular grind of the workweek. I'd just like to remind everyone that my birthday is a mere one week (count 'em seven days) away. And Mom and Dad will be here next weekend!