Blame it on the Olympics: During its broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, NBC was running a promo about its coverage of next summers' games just as New Orleans’ 610 Stompers were approaching the coverage site at Herald Square in front of Macy's. Thusly was the national TV audience deprived of being properly introduced to this testosteronic group and of knowing its motto, “ordinary Men with extraordinary Moves.”
At the same spot where within the hour the Rockettes and then the cast of Spiderman had done their routines came our guys resplendent in their blue short-shorts, red jackets and tube socks. Matt Lauer and Al Roker, announcing for NBC, yucked it up a bit, but you could tell their zen was out of sync. In a city where the world’s greatest performers walk the streets this could have been a defining moment – a bunch of guys of various shapes performing their own chorus line and providing the one element that all the other more polished groups in the parade were devoid of: humor.
We can only assume that between the oceans and along the nation’s plains and prairies, in the cities and suburbs and throughout the mountains and valleys, viewers simultaneously laughed at what these guys who are named after a section in the Superdome brought to the moment. The hunks from home were not beautiful but they were refreshingly different, and in that sense the commercial that preceded them was appropriate. The 610 Stompers deserved the gold.
If you missed it check out our Facebook page for a video of the TV broadcast. http://www.facebook.com/NewOrleansMagazine
