Goff Six Adventures: New Orleans Bowl

I want to thank my gorgeous wife for allowing me to hijack her blog to share some thoughts and photos from a wonderful trip I got to take...

Many of you already have heard that I got to go to New Orleans to work in the replay booth for the Pac-10 at the New Orleans Bowl. It was a great opportunity, but also a great learning experience. I don't think I would have ever visited New Orleans, it wasn't even on my list of places I would like to visit. The game was played last Sunday, December 21st, so I arrived in New Orleans last Saturday night and went to dinner at a "famous" oyster house named Acme Oyster House...dinner was great!! I had never tried charbroiled oysters and they were pretty good. I went with Mike Ritch, his wife Karen and the best replay man in the business Bill Fette.

Acme Oyster House sign inside...fun place to go eat...long line outside to get in.

Later that night I got to walk down Bourbon Street and see what that was all about. Lots of people, lots of drinking, lots of beads, lots of noise...good place to stand back and people watch and wonder if they realize what they look like.

View of Bourbon Street from one of the balconies that crazy people are on during Mardi Gras...as you can see it is a little calmer during this time of year.

Music performers on Bourbon Street, they were pretty good...was fun to see all the people dancing on the street. They were selling their cd's which looked like they were made in someones garage..very fun!!

Sunday morning I went to "Mothers Restaurant" another "famous" place to eat in New Orleans...I had 3 of the biggest pancakes I have ever seen and couldn't even finish them. My buddy Bill Fette did though...that old guy can eat.

Bill finishing his pancakes...

At 1 p.m. that day, the Ritch's and I went on a VIP City Tour of New Orleans which took us from the bad to the good around town. We went to the Lower Ninth Ward of the city where there is still devastation and empty homes from 3 years ago when hurricane Katrina hit. As we drove to the neighborhood, the tour guide told us of how the land we are looking at had houses every where, and all we could see was mostly empty lots. People still living in FEMA trailers (that were only supposed to be for 6-9 months). Houses were gutted with "TW" spray painted on the outside which stood for "Total Water Loss". I am grateful for what I have, seeing that put my life in perspective. The water was 22 feet deep in that neighborhood...could you imagine that? The tour guide constantly pointed out water marks on buildings, stop signs, windows, roofs, anything that he could to help us understand how high the water was. Water lines don't come from water sitting for a couple of hours...that water was there for days.

This is a memorial set up to remind the people what it was like...the red structure is symbolic of a house that has been gutted because of the flood, the red representing the lives lost and blue polls next to the "house" represent the water level...notice the one to the far left...it is 22 feet high.

Two FEMA trailers sitting in one lot...see next picture..it is the house just down the street.

Brad Pitt is building "Green Built" houses like this in the lower ninth ward for people to purchase.

I guess this is the good? The "American" side of New Orleans where the "old money" is, has been all rebuilt and redone. This is a smaller house, but most were huge and gorgeous with the servants quarters in the back...

Ask me sometime about the cemetary...how they bury their dead...etc...very interesting.

After the tour we got to go to the game. We traveled in a sherrif's van and got there real quick to the Superdome. That dome was very nice, especially compared to the dome we all knew here in Seattle, the Kindgome. The game was great, Southern Mississippi vs. Troy. The second play from scrimmage we had a stop and a review of a play...and we were in for a good ride. The game was competitive and went into OT where Southern Mississippi won by blocking a FG to end the game.
Me with the warm ups going on behind me...

The coin toss...

The game was supposed to be the great experience, which it was, but I think the lasting effects from seeing New Orleans is what I will remember the most. I love football, but my faith and love of people makes me wonder what more could be done, what more could have been done and what more should probably be done before something like this happens again. For those of you that don't know, New Orleans is on the average 4 feet below sea level. We drove over a canal bridge with 10 foot walls on each side of the canal...the water in the canal was at sea level, by the time we were done going over the bridge, the street was 14 feet below sea level.

I guess bottom line is, I am glad to be home, glad I got to see what I did, and most grateful for a awesome wife, great kids and a home that is not 14 feet below sea level.

My game tickets...gave them back to the bowl to use for someone else. We also got small Nike duffel bags, New Orleans Bowl watches (which is my favorite gift they gave us), Nike golf polos, a lapel pin, a patch (like the ones on the game day jerseys that the teams wear) and of course the chance/opportunity to be there!!