2011 New Orleans Bowl: LOUISIANA (32) SDSU (30)

[Lexhead]

New Orleans Bowl deserved more attention: A letter to the editor

Published: Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 5:59 AM
Letters to the Editor The Times-Picayune

This has been a wonderful football season for Louisiana teams. The Saints have been on a winning streak, with Drew Brees coming close to surpassing the record set by Johnny Unitas for completed touchdown passes in consecutive games. LSU remains undefeated in regular season competition, winning the SEC championship title, and will play for the national title in a few weeks.

We recently hosted the New Orleans Bowl, spotlighting University of Louisiana at Lafayette in its first bowl competition since 1970. The game was as exciting as any game ever played in the Superdome with the Cajuns coming out on top with a 50-yard field goal in the last four seconds of the game. They played in front of a bowl-record of 42,000 people. The financial gain for the city of New Orleans brought in by this game is estimated at $25 million.

All of this adds up to a very successful event for the city and its citizens. That being said, why was there such little media coverage of this event? One would think that the tourism board would find ways to advertise the bowl activities (pep rally, second-line, tailgate party) and take full advantage of the benefits that this event had to offer.

There are probably a large number of ULL (USL) alumni who reside in the New Orleans area who were not aware of any of these events. Other than a few articles found in the Sports section, very little attention was paid to this event and the people who came to our city to participate. The coverage of the win was limited Sunday to Page C-11 in the Sports section, ahead of only the hockey scores, which generate little interest in New Orleans. I think that the lighting of the Christmas tree on Canal Street got more media coverage than this bowl named for our city.

Hopefully, the people on the tourism board will realize that they missed the boat on this one and perhaps look to better promote this event next year. Let's hope that the Cajuns will have a repeat invite and get the coverage that they so justifiably deserved. Thank you R+L Carriers for sponsoring this event. It was enjoyed by the Ragin' Cajun Nation.

Susan V. Walsh

Metairie

[CajunRed]

GREAT read.

And I will say here publicly that I was one early in the season who doubted Blaine. It was not that I didn't want him to succeed or that I just liked Chris more. I thought he was a great athlete...but I just didn't think he was good enough as a quarterback.

Well...obviously, I was wrong...and I found that out several games ago. He is the unquestioned leader of this team till he graduates and vacates his dorm room.

[CajunDawgPound]

please. speak for yourself. geaux cajuns! roll tide!

OK, I will. One of the most selfish, self-centered and egotisical jerks to work with inside any NCAA institution. And don't tell him to look in a mirror ---- he will admire himself all day and won't get any work done.

[Lexhead]

please. speak for yourself. geaux cajuns! roll tide!

Heard dat.

[cajunhawk]

Major lawsuit between Texaco and the state of Louisiana had nothing to do with supposed ground water
contamination. It was an accusation of underpayment of royalties. Texaco paid royalties from production on state owned properties on the basis of the price they received for natural gas. In most cases,
this price received was quite a bit below the market value of the time as Texaco had very old contracts with it's customers calling for them to receive the gas at set cheap prices. The state contended that
Texaco should pay royalties based upon the current market price. This would mean that they royalties Texaco would pay actually exceeded the amount they received for their product. As in many cases
such as this, the case was settled out of court with Texaco making payments to the state but at a
lower value than the state of Louisiana originally demanded. As far as Chevron's current office setup, about 4 years ago the entire New Orleans portion of the Gulf of Mexico business unit moved from
downtown New Orleans to Covington. It is a state of the art campus type facility which the state
recognized for it's environmental design. Moving from Orleans to St. Tammany Parish did have some
political ramifications. Therefore the company increased their charitable work in the city. This includes supporting all the charities the Saints and the Hornets sponsor. Based upon the Covington employees
having tieins to those teams, the Lafayette management was able to secure more support for the
Cajuns. In addition to participating in the Corporate season ticket program for football, six basketball
season tickets were purchased this season for the first time and there is a possibility Cajun baseball will also be supported come spring time.

Kudos to Chevron.

[cajunhawk]

I happen to think Nick Saban is a great man....Les Miles on the other hand....Gomer Pyle with a whistle.

[Civil Cajun]

Lets not get to carried away here.

Yeah, I have always felt this way about our great state. I want all teams within it to succeed.

[cajunhawk]

1st text I get from a buddy before I even walk into the dome was about the Lafayette logo. Now that the old man has retired maybe we will see some changes. One can hope cant he?

I got the same text from the Tech alum I work with. I bet he was grinning from ear to ear.

[Civil Cajun]

Hawk, I detest the purple and puke with every fiber in my body. But since my heartfelt desire that the entire school burn to the ground and that it has to drop athletics to devote all its money to rebuilding isn't happening; I take a logical look at it and hope that they continue to perform at a very high level in football. I won't watch them; I won't send them money; I won't be a fan... but as long as they win 10+ every year and we take care of our business, their success is good for our recruiting in state. They win 10+, they recruit nationally and maybe only take 8-10 kids in state. They win 5-6, they recruit the state and take 18-20. Sadly, they will always get nearly every instate kid they offer, and I'd rather be in the hunt for #9 or # 11 than # 19-#21.

Pretty good discussion. If LSU doesn't take the 7 out of the top 10 recruits in the State every year, then Florida, Alabama, USC and other powerhouses will. I am glad the best athletes in the State stay "in the State". UL, UL Monroe, LA tech, and Tulane will be getting the guys that are ranked in between 20-60 in the state, and this is good. We want to keep the top athletes in the State. It is pretty neat that Louisiana has so much talent too!

[SouthlandPride]

I have always thought quite the opposite.

What they call you when you win etches gray matter into granite.

I agreed 100%. It hard to get a point across here when you have miniature mob mentality cliques on here.

[Duggie35]

ESPN shouldn't market themselves as the "leader in sports" if they can't even get the name of one of the teams they are broadcasting correct!

[VObserver]

Our goal should be higher,Civil. We should be getting ALL the kids in state that are now going to mid tier SEC and Big 12 schools; and USM and Tulsa should be fighting ULM,Tulane and Tech for the kids we don't want.