Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

We’re about five days away from the Palm Pre launch, and while it’s doubtful it’ll see as much fanfare as the most recent iPhone, there should still be quite a bit of people looking for some of the very few Pres being shipped to Louisiana. According to an anonymous source on the Everything Pre forums, these following stores will have the Pre in the specified quantities.

Click photo to enlarge.

If you’re going out to wait in line, let us know how it goes.

[via Gizmodo]

This afternoon, I spent a few minutes in the new Alex Box Stadium watching the LSU Baseball team practice. It was a beautiful day and my grandparents were in town enjoying the free venue. Besides the incredible skill of the team, I was totally shocked by just how absolutely beautiful the stadium is—it’s terribly breathtaking. Because of the fine venue, LSU is hosting the regional tournament and, if they make it, probably the super-regionals (it’s still the best in the super-region). I want to congratulate the architects and the Athletic Foundation on such a superb job building a stadium. I wish I had been there for opening day.

In other news, Chad Jones, who also plays football for LSU, hit a ball way out of the stadium that went as high as the light posts—wow!

Also, these practices are free and open to the public. It’s a great family-friendly outing and on great days like today it’s a real treat.

NFL just announced that it has awarded New Orleans the 2013 Super Bowl. This selection comes after much arduous work and politicking by Benson, the Saints organization, the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and other officials. The selection was made by other NFL franchise owners who voted on New Orleans. This is extremely important to New Orleans for a lot of reasons, including the average $300 million contribution to the surrounding community and unrelenting media coverage before, during and after the event, which will showcase this wonderful state and, undoubtedly, stimulate the New Orleans tourism-centric economy. The selection ties New Orleans as the most popular venue for the Super Bowl with South Florida and marks the tenth Super Bowl hosted at the Superdome (three previously in the 1970s at Tulane Stadium).

Congratulations, New Orleans, and all affiliated parties on this success—this is extremely important to New Orleans. Now, to just get my hands on a couple of those tickets. . .

More information regarding the selection is available at the New Orleans Saints web site.

The annual two-day fan fest generally known as the NFL Draft ended today after a grueling 12 hours of constant coverage by ESPN. I watched bits and pieces of it and covered the LSU draft picks live via Twitter. We had 10 players that went into the draft and six of them were drafted in decent positions. Below is the full rundown. (And before you ask: no, I don’t know what a rundown is. Bonus points to whoever catches that.)

Listed in order of draft pick.

• Tyson Jackson, DE, to the Kansas City Chiefs in Round 1, pick 3; overall pick 3.
• Quinn Johnson, FB, to the Green Bay Packers in Round 5, pick 9; overall pick 145.
• Herman Johnson, OT, to the St. Louis Cardinals in Round 5, pick 31; overall pick 167.
• Curtis Taylor, FS, to the San Francisco 49ers in Round 7, pick 10; overall pick 219.
• Demetrius Byrd, WR, to the San Diego Chargers in Round 7, pick 15; overall pick 224.
• Ricky Jean-Francois, DT, to the San Francisco 49ers in Round 7, pick 31; overall pick 244.

Overall, I’d say LSU had a pretty decent showing considering who we put up for draft. It seems the Chiefs are trying to rebuild our all-star defensive line with their acquisition of Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson. Also, it’s good to see Demetrius drafted despite his recent injuries. It’s likely he would have been drafted a few rounds earlier, but regardless a draft is good. (By the way, if you haven’t written your get well soon wishes to Demetrius, you can do so by signing our community card.) There are four others who weren’t drafted, including Darry Beckwith, ILB; Marlon Favorite, DT; Brett Helms, C; and Kirston Pittman, DE. The next stage is a crucial point for these guys as they seek to be signed as free agents. If not, well, then I guess it’s to the real world doing whatever with their college degrees.

Update
LSUSports.net is reporting that all four of the above players plus Tremaine Johnson, DE, have signed free agent contracts to NFL franchises. They also mention what we published earlier: The Chiefs now have five former LSU players on their roster and have used their first round pick for the last three years to pick up an LSU player. They are the first franchise to do this.