The temperatures dipped and the city of New Orleans turned into a bowl of gumbo. Whatever your flavor or style, someone made it the past week. You’ve got your chicken gumbo, your sausage gumbo, your chicken and sausage gumbo, seafood gumbo, sports gumbo, gumbo with potato salad or rice, on the side or in the gumbo. That’s a lot of gumbo. Sports gumbo is my favorite and why I assume you’re here so let’s mix it up.
Our beloved New Orleans Saints got back to their winning ways with a 34-17 victory over Jameis “Crab Legs” Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Has anyone put crab legs in their gumbo? Don’t yell at me.
Anyway, the game looked like it was going to be a blowout as the Saints raced out to a 13-0 first quarter lead after all-world linebacker Demario Davis intercepted a pass off of a receiver’s back to set up a Drew Brees to Michael Thomas touchdown pass. Thomas would pick up 114 yards on 8 catches. He now has 94 catches on the year.
Alvin Kamara got back to doing Alvin Kamara-like things as he rushed for 75 yards and had 47 yards receiving. The team still isn’t using Latavius Murray as much as I would like but, hey, Sean Payton makes the big bucks.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and you know what that means in New Orleans – betting your hard earned money at the Fairgrounds. It’s the biggest day of the year at the track and one of my favorite traditions. It always has Kentucky Derby flair as the women wear their finest hats and the men put a little extra effort into their appearance. Dependent on the weather you might find me in my button down vest. It has a nice pocket for my flask. Either way, I’ll be sporting a new bow tie and making bad decisions.
One of my fave things in life is seeing someone post about their gumbo online and kicking back and watching the next 800 replies roll in telling them what exactly is wrong with their gumbo.
Coach Orgeron says he likes potato salad with his gumbo, two scoops, right in the gumbo. Or at least I think that’s what he said. Go Tigahs.
We have a favorite horse at the Fairgrounds and I hope he’s still around. His name is Blarp. We bet on him one year and then, lo and behold, there he was the second year and we hit big on ole’ Blarp. It was towards the end of the day and the bourbon had warmed our bellies quite nicely so we Blarped everything in view. We chanted Blarp, we blarped the rest of our drinks and blarped on over to the Seahorse Saloon.
Yes, Sean Payton does make the big bucks but I make a bunch of little bucks and I do consider myself the Voice of the People. The People’s Champion, if you will. Mark Patrick Spencer, man of the people. I have obviously been watching too many elections.
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow could run for class president and win; he could run for governor and win; he could run naked across campus and win. Point being, the kid’s a winner. His Tigers won a shootout with Ole Miss, which put the fear back into Baton Rouge (it’s the town’s life force). Joe threw two interceptions in the second half and the entire Purple and Gold nation acted as if they were just uninvited to Thanksgiving dinner. How could it be? Not Joe! Anyway, Burrow’s “off night” had the kid throwing for 489 yards and five touchdowns. Blarp.
Why is it every time I look up a recipe online the blogger/cook thinks they have to have a 1,800-word intro for the recipe? Please save your “War and Peace and Gumbo” for your writing class, I’m just here for the roux, bro.
My heart goes out to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a nasty hip injury that ended his season. It always hurts to see a kid in tears and I’m pulling for Tua to recover and get back to playing football. It’s also a reminder that these kids are basically just playing for pride and an education. The NCAA and major conference roll around in hundreds of millions of dollars and their players make essentially nothing, which is why it is so brutal to see a major injury. NFL dreams go up in smoke on a regular basis in college via injury. It’s a hell of a racket by the NCAA.
Uptown is grumpy as the Tulane Green Wave lost 29-21 to the Temple Owls. It’s their third loss in four games. While the team is already bowl-eligible it’s turning into a “what could have been” year as this team had much higher hopes and are so close to achieving them. With that said, the team has two major matchups left on the schedule — the UCF Knights in Yulman Stadium and the SMU Mustangs in the season ender on the road. Two victories make this a great season; two losses make this another Cure Bowl-type season.
Sometimes I think food bloggers don’t even care about the recipes, they really just like posting photos of their hands online.
Just remember, the last time Tulane went to back-to-back bowls you hadn’t even heard of break dancing yet. Stay happy, Uptown! Now moonwalk your way to Yulman Stadium this Saturday and support these kids!
Just think if you had to feed the New Orleans Saints for Thanksgiving. Good God.
I always end these pieces with a nice helping of feel good. So, hats off to the oldest living couple in the world, John (106) and Charlotte Henderson (105). The couple is in their 79th year of marriage. John says the key to a long life is taking everything in moderation (I assume he’s not talking about gumbo) and being kind to your spouse.
Blarp.
