I'm Back. And Ready For Some More Sports

My wife and I flew to New Orleans last Saturday to see our daughter and to retrieve the car we brought to her back in May. With some worries over the weather in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, we managed to get to Newark International Airport on our second attempt with Uber (the first one had been reserved and was summarily canceled, causing much angst at 5:30 a.m.).

The flight was a bit bumpy at times, and the pilot did an excellent job of skirting what had become Tropical Storm Claudette. Sitting by the window as I customarily do, I could see the edge of the storm as we flew over Mississippi. 

Instead of a rain-filled weekend, the sun shined brightly for much of the time. We went to Audubon Park, where we walked among the beautiful cypress trees. Without the oppressive heat and humidity on the first day of Summer, the walk was very enjoyable and not too sweaty. 

In the park, there was plenty of activity. There is a municipal golf course which was in use, and there were plenty of cyclists, joggers and fitness freaks using the apparatus around the park. There even was a group sauntering on horseback through the outer edges of the turf. 

Despite being a rainy and hot locale, the people of New Orleans love to get outside. It was clearly evident at the park, and we saw other runners on the streets throughout the city. Plus there are a lot of private backyard pools (we relaxed in the one at our daughter’s apartment after an afternoon’s drive to the Mississippi River delta, some 75 miles south of New Orleans in a place that appeared to be light years removed from the city), and we even saw a man, presumably a parent, filling a small wading pool in the back of a pickup truck, to the absolute delight of a young boy. 

The street were relatively empty. The eating establishments we frequented were not. I had my share of oysters twice over, and we indulged in plenty of other seafood and brunched on modern Israeli fare at Shaya, one of my favorite restaurants. 

We did not go to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, nor did we have a beignet.  Too touristy. 

Our hotel was the Hyatt House, and our window gave us a clear view of half of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and a full look at the Smoothie King Center. I immediately thought about Drew Brees, the Super Bowl-winning QB for the Saints, who is now retired. 

I also thought about the mess the Saints will have this year with Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston at QB. Hill is a utility type player. Winston was inconsistent while he was with the Buccaneers. The crazy Saints fans aren’t going to be very patient with these two if they don’t produce. Following a Hall of Fame QB like Brees is a difficult if not impossible task. 

It also was interesting to hear that Tom Brady was close to signing with the Saints before he headed to Tampa Bay . Which begs the question—what was going to happen with Brees had Brady signed?

The there is the ongoing malaise enveloping the Pelicans. Head Coach Stan Van Gundy was fired. Stan had complained how hard the season was with COVID hanging over the team. Like Brad Stevens of the Celtics, he was mentally fried from the quick turnaround from when the 2020-21 season ended at Walt Disney World. 

Rumor had it that the Pelicans players were not enamored with Van Gundy, starting with team star Zion Williamson. His people let everybody know how unhappy he was in New Orleans. An article in The Athletic chronicled how difficult it was to keep the moody Zion happy.

As a result, there are a bevy of articles predicting that Williamson will end up in New York or with the Lakers (isn’t that the preferred landing spot for almost everyone?). And on top of Zion’s disappointment, he and teammate Brandon Ingram were not selected to the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. 

Additionally, there was an article earlier in the week indicating that the Pelicans were the NBA franchise most likely to relocate in the near future. The lease at the Smoothie King Center is only through 2024, which isn’t that far off. NBA expansion is likely with a return to Seattle and now Las Vegas, which has shown the NBA owners that the success of the Golden Knights in hockey and the Raiders in pro football is no fluke. Louisville and Kansas City have been mentioned as other possible locations for the Pelicans, or as a place where a billionaire would like his team to be. 

Gayle Benson, widow of Saints owner Tom Benson, who purchased the NBA club to keep it in New Orleans, has never publicly said anything to suggest that the team is for sale. But with the constant turmoil—I reference the Anthony Davis fiasco of two years ago—anything is possible and the Pelicans will remain in the rumor mill until Zion is happy and the arena sells out regularly with a winning team. 

New Orleans has a long history of bad basketball. Even with “Pistol” Pete Maravich, the LSU phenom and scoring champ, the Jazz never ended a season above .500 and the venues were bad—first Municipal Auditorium and then Loyola Field House before playing in the cavernous then-named Louisiana Superdome. 

The best thing that happened to that franchise was to relocate to Salt Lake City. Where they still have not won a championship.

Remember this—the Pelicans franchise was first known as the New Orleans Hornets in 2002-03. This was the first Charlotte Hornets team, which owner George Shinn moved. 

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina walloped the city forcing he team to play in Oklahoma City for two seasons. We can all recall the horrible pictures of the damage, including the flooding in the Superdome. 

By 2013, the franchise was renamed the Pelicans. The Hornets records were returned to Charlotte, to be used by the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bobcats then became the new incarnation of the Charlotte Hornets in 2014. Got that?

The Pelicans have had 6 head coaches during their existence. The team record resides well below .500. Pelicans teams have made the playoffs seven times, winning two series and one division title. Chris Paul, now the starting point guard of the Phoenix Suns, began his career in New Orleans with the Pelicans. He has reunited in Phoenix with his Pelicans head coach, Monty Williams, who is doing an exceptional job with the Suns.

Even when the Pelicans looked to move Paul to the Lakers, they botched that one. The NBA was the temporary owner of the franchise before the 2011-12 season. Commissioner David Stern, acting a the President of Basketball Operations, rejected a three way deal with LAL and Houston. Instead, Paul went to the Clippers and the haul which New Orleans received was significantly less. 

With Davis as the star and Alvin Gentry as the head man, there was some success in NOLA. There was some good talent to support Davis, who was a dominant player in the post. 

Then Davis made his trade demands public. A standoff ensued until he was finally traded to the Lakers. 

It has not been a pretty history for basketball in New Orleans. Zion’s miserableness, is par for the course in one of the NBA’s most stupefying franchises. I don’t see much improvement for next season, and don’t think a #10 draft choice will necessarily be a savior for the Pelicans. 

Thus, when I looked out of my 11th story room, I felt like I was looking at a minor league version of the NBA when I viewed the Smoothie King Center. It was appropriate that the lights on the sign for the Superdome only illuminated Mercedes-Benz. They like their cars in the South and pro sports in New Orleans has only half of its lights on anyway.

We worked our way up to Chattanooga, where we reconnected with a classmate of mine from the Washington Semester Honors Program in Government at American University. It will be 50 years ago that I met Chris and my classmates on a steamy D.C. afternoon. 

I had been a summer intern for my local Congressman and I would continue the position throughout the semester. So much of my time in D.C. had a lot to do with sports. 

I found my way onto a Congressional softball team sponsored by Congressman Bob Bergland (D-MN), who became President Carter’s Secretary of Agriculture. A really nice man and he knew my name even though I was not a constituent. A life lesson. 

We won the regular season title but not in the semifinals. I slugged a grand slam home run to win a game 24-23 to get a date with a Jewish AU cheerleader from Bergen County, who I took to see the Knicks and Bullets play at the Baltimore Civic Center on the night Earl Monroe was traded to New York. That was my only walk off home run EVER. 

I made friends with a staffer for a Pennsylvania congressman whose father was Gene Corbett, a first baseman who had a 37 game career with the Phillies, hitting .120, with 2 homers and 10 R.B.I. Corbett’s claim to fame was that before he died in 2009, he was the last living player to have played in the Baker Bowl, a former home for the Phillies. I later made professional acquaintances with a lawyer whose uncle played for the Philadelphia A’s and Washington Senators. Along with Elrod “Woody” Wheaton, my coach at F&M in 1969, he and Jack Welaj are the only two major leaguers I have ever met.

I went to more than 10 Senators games that summer, some thanks to my F&M trainer, Jim Warfield, who was the Indians trainer. I was there for the final Senators game at RFK Stadium. I had a tryout with the Orioles while living in unairconditioned  housing at George Washington University. 

Chris was an all-American Division III high jumper from Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. We worked out together numerous times, as we were the only varsity athletes in the group at American. Sometimes we encountered Kermit Washington, then the leading rebounder in the nation. He was very nice. As opposed to when he viciously struck the Rockets’ Rudy Tomjonavich. 

I hung out with the softball team on Monday nights to watch the inaugural season of Monday Night Football. Me with a circle of older adults, in their 20’s and 30’s, watching Howard Cosell and rooting for the Colts—the Corbett family had seats at Baltimore Memorial Stadium. Treated like an adult—another life lesson.

I went to the Naval Academy for the first time—to watch Chris snare a second place in an open meet on a Saturday night. The guy was a fierce competitor in track and a great motivator in life. 

Chris and I went to the University of Virginia in Dodge to watch Baldwin-Wallace get thrashed by UVA. He knew most of the mens’ basketball team—and they were glad he came to support them in defeat. 

I attended an Eagles-Redskins game at RFK on a cold and windy Sunday in early November. Thankfully I had access to the Stadium Club to warm myself. A major lesson learned that day—thermals, wool socks and heating pads are necessary equipment after Halloween.

I had a blast in DC. It was where I finally started to really grow in college. The maturity and experience of others guided me. 

I never quite felt I belonged at F&M academically because I wasn’t applying to Ivy League schools and using F&M as a fall back. I excelled in Government, my major, along with some other courses. But I wallowed with Geology, Economics and Math 23. 

Similarly, I walked onto the baseball field not having played an organized game since the summer of 1966. If anyone didn’t belong there, it was me. Except I found that no one knew or cared about my playing past. They cared that I could play the game and that I was a good teammate. 

I knew Chris would be going to see the Chattanooga Lookouts, the Reds’ AA team, on Wednesday night. The nickname is derived from nearby Lookout Mountain. For the record, Chattanooga downed Rocket City 11-0. And I know Chris had a great time. As we did with him and his wife two days earlier.

The Yankees are starting to hit. The team plays a critical series in Boston this weekend. 

Chicago came into LA and threw a combined no hitter at the Dodgers. It is the 7th no hitter of the season, which is second all-time. The Dodgers are the franchise which as been no hit the most. The Cubs are the team with the fourth most no hitters from its pitchers.

Jacob deGrom and Gerrit Cole are pitching well. Umpires look ridiculous enforcing the foreign substances searches. Despite the pronouncements from Commissioner Rob Manfred that it is a success. The optics are horrible. 

Phoenix and the Clippers stand at 2-1 in the Western Conference finals. Trae Young and his Atlanta Hawks took the Sixers out, setting up a match with the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals. Milwaukee downed Brooklyn in Game 7, negating a great performance by Kevin Durant, who looked like the best player in basketball.  Without a healthy James Harden and  no Kyrie Irving, the fact that the Nets almost won the series showed how great Durant was playing. 

Montreal is in the Stanley Cup Finals, continuing its surprising run. Either the Islanders or Lightning will join them. Was Wednesday’s stirring OT win by New York the last game at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum? (BTW—the new UBS Arena, next year’s home for the Isles, is already sold out)

What does this all mean? I’m back. And ready for some more sports.