I’m already planning my 26th birthday to be on the ‘Price is Right’.

Drew Sharp wrote in the Detroit Free Press today that the NFL should be lift the blackout restrictions for the remaining home games for the Detroit Lions because of the weakening economy. While I do agree that the blackout restrictions need to be changed, his argument falls short because he compares the Detroit Lions to the New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina hit the state in 2005.

Detroit deserves a special exemption. The NFL waived its blackout policy for the New Orleans Saints three years ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Sure, it was a special circumstance. The Louisiana Superdome sustained significant damage from the storm, forcing the Saints to play some home games in Baton Rouge (well within the 75-mile blackout radius) and San Antonio. But the NFL thought using football as a rallying center could prove therapeutic for a community economically and physically devastated.

And the Saints stunk that year.

Last time I checked: Detroit suburbs weren’t under 20 to 25 feet of water for a month, The Lions didn’t move to another state or the University of Michigan to play football, and the Lions have a new stadium, we’re still playing in the superdome that was built in the 1970s (and we don’t even have a corporate sponsors on our stadium).

Blackout restrictions were lifted for all home games played at San Antonio as well as Tiger Stadium because the New Orleans population was scattered all over the country. Plus we had more items to worry about than going to a football game 80 miles up I-10.

Why should Detroit be given special privileges? It’s not because of the economy. It’s because the Lions suck. San Francisco 49ers aren’t great and yet they still sell out. Same thing for Oakland, Green Bay and Buffalo. It’s not because of the economy, it’s because Detroit has a bad team.

Take New Orleans for example, we were a crappy team in the 1990s and all of our home games were unavailable to watch on local TV. The early part of the 1990s were in a recession, I believe. I remembered people calling in to WWL radio giving satellite coordinates for TV stations in Mobile, Ala., 120 miles east of New Orleans and well outside the blackout area. And we were crappy back then.

Detroit should not get special restrictions because of the bad economy. Other teams have suffered through bad economic times as well, they didn’t ask for special treatment. If they want sell-out crowds and a better team record, lower ticket prices and look for talented players from places nobody looks for. Atlanta lowered ticket prices and New Orleans got players from colleges that many have ever herald of before. And both teams went from crappy to mediocre.

New photos have been added:

• LSU vs App. State
• LSU vs North Texas
• LSU vs Georgia
• LSU vs Alabama

Click on ‘Gallery’ at the navigation menu.

It’s amazing that people can’t get over the fact that their candidate lost and have to resort to this kind of frustration.  Democrats did this as well after the 2000 and 2004 elections, so this does happen on both sides of the political spectrum as well.  It makes you wonder if this country will ever be united instead of divided.

Screenshot of my Facebook mini-feed.  My favorite so far is the one in red (and the person’s profile photo is a confederate flag, keep that in mind).

We are five days away from the return of Nick Saben to Baton Rouge.  ESPN Gameday is coming to town and the billboards are going up, giving a ‘warm’ reception to Nick Saben.  The photo below is at I-10 and Dalymple.

Last year Fox News did something no news organization did, attempt a comedy show to lure viewers away from The Daily Show.  The show lasted six months mainly because of the following reasons:  One, the show didn’t lure viewers away from The Daily Show.  In fact, the show wasn’t even aimed at the 18-34 demographic and more aimed at Saturday Night Live.  The second reason why it failed?

It wasn’t funny!

Speed up to the year 2008.  Now CNN is getting into the comedy business as well.  Called D.L. Hughley Breaks The News.

CNN’s attempt at comedy is much better than Fox’s attempt, but CNN and Fox News need to recognize that they are news organizations. It’s not worth risking their credibility (what’s left of it) to go after The Daily Show.

I did not watch Game 4 of the World Series between Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. And as of this posting, Philadelphia is leading 2-0 at the bottom of the 2nd inning. However, people are buzzing about Patti Labelle’s rendition of the National Anthem.

If your going to sing our nation’s anthem, here are a couple of rules to follow:
1. Sing it word for word, don’t add extra words.
2. Normal length should be 2 minutes long.
3. Don’t lipsync! (At lease she didn’t do that!)

Wonder who sang tonight’s anthem?

Yesterday was my last column to appear in The Daily Reveille. Click here to read it before it gets deleted. I will put up all of my columns on my website later this week. It’s a simple reason why I can’t write anymore, I’ve gone from a full-time student to a part-time student. It’s required to be a full time student in order to work there.

I do not have any grudges against anyone. I had a great time working for the paper, i got to meet new people and I really enjoyed working there.

But now comes a big dilemma for me. LSU does not have what I want to do in terms of an education degree. Georgia Tech and Texas Tech do have what I want to do. Some people do not want me to leave. You get where this is going? Do I stay and be miserable and have friends that I really enjoy being around. Or do I pack up and start all over again?

Decisions . . . decisions . . . decisions.

Just saw this story on WWL-TV that Saints and VooDoo owner Tom Benson is closing the New Orleans VooDoo arena football team for unknown reasons.

Benson informed the Arena League of his plans to terminate the team saying it was not an indictment on the New Orleans market, but said it was the right decision based on ‘circumstances currently affecting the league and the team.’

It would not surprise me if Benson decided to kill the team because of financial reasons or if Benson was unable to get finanical commitments from the state. This is going to happen to WVUE-TV.