Friday Night Lights (again)

A mega busy week saw my first ever American thanksgiving on Thursday. From what I can understand it's based loosely around when the initial settlers first met and broke bread with the native Indians. The modern version is a large family get together and a huge meal and is a sort of dress rehearsal for Christmas.

Friday saw us travelling down the Belle Chase where the local high school team were in the football play-offs. Whilst the NFL and the College games I have taken in whilst I have been here have been fantastic there's something special about high school football. I guess what has impressed me most is the absolute professionalism shown by the kids on the field and their coaches. To witness the play changes on the line of scrimmage was nothing short of amazing as every player firstly looked to the sideline then their wristband (to read the play being called).

As usual there was all the pomp and circumstance of bands, cheerleaders and fireworks.

Saturday (today) we went in search of the school Brett Favre attended. Brett Favre is a legendary quarterback in the NFL and until this season he played continually for the Green Bay packers. He is currently playing (well) for the New York Jets.

The school is called Hancock High and is based in Kiln, Mississippi. After a bit of searching we found the school and its football field where the statue of Brett Favre has been erected.

Although it was raining at the time (and most of the day) It was well worth the trip.

Saints v Packers in the Superdome

Monday night football in America is sacred. Most NFL games are played on Sundays, the Monday night game is traditionally the only game on that night meaning the whole nation watches that game.

This Sunday the New Orleans Saints played host to the Green Bay Packers and it promised to be a mouth watering shoot out with both teams having high scoring offences. Whilst I have been to NFL games before this is the first time i've truely experienced what a home field advantage is all about in the NFL. When the hometeam is on defnce the crowd really does play its part in making sure the opposing offence has trouble being heard.

Travelling to the game

Saints Score (again)

The first half with just three points seperating the two teams although in the second half the Saints completely dominated eventualy winning the game 51-29.

LSU v Ole Miss College football

Yesterday (Saturday) was the last home game of the LSU Tigers college season. Previous plans were that a large group of us were to go to the game however due to flight delays ect it fell to Brandy and myself to go and watch the game.

Everyone around this area supports LSU as it's their local college however Brandy had been a cheerleader for Ole Miss and had no trouble letting everyone know who she would be shouting for.

College football in the States is more of a full day experience rather than just turn up for the game and then go home. All around the stadium fans turn up early and start to tailgate long before the game is due to start.





LSU drum section in amongst the tailgating




LSU Tigers walk from their bus to the stadium




Opening kick off



LSU really only had one spell of about five minutes in the whole game where they looked like they could make a game of it. In truth Ole Miss were by far the better team so it was Brandy who was very happy at the end of the day. The final result was Ole Miss 31 LSU 13.

Mud bugs etc

One of the big things the people of the New Orleans area are into is sea food. All sorts of crab, fish and oyster can be found in most restaurants.

On Thursday I experienced (was talked into) trying my first mud bug or crayfish to give it it's proper name.

It's a small prawn (shrimp) type creature that getting to the meat is a bit like solving the Rubiks cube. Of course the locals can skin and eat about ten in the time it takes me to do one but i guess that's the perk of experience.

The French Quarter New Orleans

Saturday night we decided to spend some time in down town New Orleans and check out the French quarter.

My friends Randy and Paige were excellent guides and made sure I saw all the things the French Quarter is famous for.

I didn't take my camera but instead borrowed Randys small point and shoot. For a small camera it doesn't take bad pictures and I even experimented a little with the night shot feature although in fairness it really should be used on a tripod. Another added bonus is the ability to shoot video ....

The Quarter holds much history and many places remain as they were originally built by the French settlers. In amongst the history are many bars and clubs where the locals and tourists let their hair down and party all night long.

It's not what you know it's who you know

Another fantastic day in the New Orleans area! Today was spent on the LSU campus with my photographer friend Chuck Cook. We started with the press briefing by Les Miles the head coach of the LSU fighting tigers. LSU are the reigning national champions in college football.

Coach Miles briefing covered the weeks previous game which had been a hard fought battle seeing the Tigers loose in overtime. After the briefing we had some spare time and took a walk around Death Valley (Tiger Stadium).

Chuck needed to upload the Coach Miles briefing and so a quick phone call was made to the official LSU photographer who just happened to be a good friend. Five minutes later and we were inside the stadium. Of course I couldn't resist having a walk around the inside. An experience very few people will ever have.

Big thanx goes out to Chuck Cook for inviting me along today and also to Steve the official LSU photographer for allowing me access to the stadium. Next time i'll be in the stadium will be for the LSU v Old Miss game in a couple of weeks time, of course there'll also be another 93,000 people there on that day as well.

As has been proven many many times over, it's not what you know but who you know. I love the way photographers are such a friendly bunch the world over.

Sport how it should be

I've just got back in from watching a high school American football match between Covington and Mandeville. What strikes me about the whole thing is the way sport is such a major part of the towns life.

I'm told that the two schools playing each other have roughly 3,000 pupils. Out of those students they manage to find, about 80+ football players, about 50+ cheerleaders and probably another 50 members of the band. I wonder how many schools in the UK of equal size could even find people who could play instruments.

A good sized crowd turned out to watch the game and were entertained not just by the actual game play but by live music and dance routines making it all to easy to be distracted and miss some great plays on the field.

When you consider that this was just the show put on by two local school teams there's no wonder they produce some excellent athletes.

Whilst at the game tonight i happened to check out the photographers shooting the game and noticed my good friend Chuck Cook was on the sideline. I first met Chuck about a month ago in London when he was in the UK to shoot the NFL game at Wembley. I phoned him on his mobile and asked if he had got the last shot, needless to say he was very suprised to see someone who he'd last seen some 6,000 miles away in another country.

Over a beer after the game Chuck invited me along to the LSU coaches press briefing on Monday (an offer only a madman would refuse). This is likely to be a great brieifng made even better as LSU have a big game tommorow against Alabama.

Does life get any better than this?

Hot in New Orleans

Man it's hot over here!

I landed in New Orleans on Sunday all ready for action. I was met at the airport by my good mate Randy and his wife Paige (who had just returned from London).

I've been in a town called Houma all week and this is the first time i've had to upload some images and update the blog.

Randys company specialises in repairing roofs and down in Houma there's a lot to be repaired. They were hit by hurricane Gustav about two months ago and it has left behind alot of damage. On many estates ther houses are covered with blue tarpaulins to keep out the weather whilst the homeowners are waiting for the repairs to be done.

We're going to watch a high school football playoff game tonight so hopefully should have some imnages from that to upload tommorow. Randys daughter runs the cheerleading squad ..... hard work but someones gotta do it.

Bowing to Public demand

For a long time I've been receiving complaints from my niece that everyone else appears on my blog at some time except her. So in the interest of fairness (and to stop the e-mails / phone calls and verbal complaints) here's a picture of her before her prom day.

I can honestly say in no way did i intend to miss her out and in fact i was very surprised she had never appeared on the blog at all. I apologise for the amount of time it has taken for this picture to be added and hope that it is adequate :-)

In other news last weekend was the NFL game at Wembley when the San Diego Chargers took on the New Orleans Saints (my team) at Wembley. The weekend started on Friday at the Green Man pub where the Colchester Gladiators had organised the now legendary Great British Tailgate Party. I have a feeling that next year they'll have to plan for an ever bigger event.

Finally i fly out to New Orleans tomorrow (9.15). I'm away for about six weeks but can be contacted via my normal e-mails or those that have my skype details can still ring me either skype to skype or on my American mobile number.

Next time i update this blog I'll be in the USA ... how mad's that!