The New Orleans area has become a winter wonderland! And it's pretty cool. And wet.
Earlier, I got some hot choco-coffee at a convenience store on Prytania, and then walked out and got hit by a snowball. I'm not joking. One of the co-owners of the store somehow made a softball-sized snowball out of the quarter inch of frozen dust on the ground, and threw it at a friend of his who was walking in the parking lot. The snowball apparently sailed over the target's head and slapped me across the neck as I was getting in my car. Yuck.
Then, later, a cardinal flew over and landed on the top of a chair right near where I was standing. She cocked her head, eyed me, and gave me the funniest "WTF?" look I've ever seen. I laughed and told her that the snow surprised me, too.
It's just a shame that the snow didn't come earlier this week so that the New Orleans Saints could use it to prepare for the wintry conditions they'll experience in Chicago tonight. Unfortunately, I'll be attending another engagement during gametime, but I hope the Saints successfully run the ball and catch a few breaks. Hey, it could happen! A weird omen like snow in New Orleans can only portend strange things.
[Interesting side note: during the 2006 season NFC Championship game between the Bears and Saints, during one pass play to the tight end I thought I saw the possibility of a "hook and lateral" option develop. Unfortunately the tight end either bobbled the catch or the coverage was too tight... but I clearly remember Bush sailing past the TE looking like he was expecting (or at least prepared for) a lateral. It sounds far out-- I've never seen a TE and a RB do a hook and lateral before-- but it's exactly the sort of cockamamie, too-smart-by-half play that Payton would try in an important game. Still... I want to see it! I love the hook and lateral. It's underused. TE to RB would be really cool.]
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* "fuel and release! happiness is good for an hour"
-- Porno for Pyros
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Snow, like happiness, is good for an hour
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12 Comments:
Boise State's hook and ladder in the Fiesta bowl was a thing of beauty.
Wow... a "hook and ladder" play like that would mean that Coach Soupy calling for an unnecessary trick play involving both Poochie and Bush. If he does it on 4th and 1, I think my head might explode.
"Enjoy" the snow--despite having had my fill of it from my northern times, I went out and took some pictures (also posted a few.) They say it's going to melt before the day's out...which I don't mind at all.
M: Yeah, Michael, snow gets old quick.
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J: I maintain that it's a Hook and Lateral play... for the very simple reason that a "lateral" and not a "ladder" is involved. Hook and Ladder is a corruption.
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DZ: Two of the best games in the history of football (any level) were the Boise St/OU game and the 1981 AFC playoff game between the Dolphins and the Chargers. Interestingly, both featured awesome hook and lateral plays.
Personally, I don't talk to cardinals. Oh I'll talk to the parrots that sit in the top of the tree in my backyard...but I figure I have a outside chance one of them will talk back.
I remember the exact play you're talking about two years ago, and remember yelling "He was gonna lateral!" at the time. And "hook and lateral" it is...who carries a ladder out onto the field, besides like Bugs Bunny or the Three Stooges?
As for the bizarre weather, I was just telling my wife on Sunday that the yo-yo temperatures must have really jacked around with our pecan tree's sensibilities; they're usually among the last to bud out in the spring, but ours has big clumps of green new growth just coming out in the upper branches. Surprise, tree.
By 
, at
1:48 PM
Puddinhead, you da man! Thanks for the confirmation, I'm glad my memory wasn't playing tricks on me.
And, frankly, I don't blame you for not talking to cardinals. Nasty birds.
Oyster: The Boise State/OU game was probably the most excited I got over a game where I was not a fan of either team. I was cheering for Boise though.
I am too young to remember the 81 playoffs. ;)
And I checked wikipedia. People use "Hook and Ladder" as well as "Hook and Lateral". And I believe everything I read on the internet too. ;) (I do recall the announcers calling it a hook and ladder play. And announcers are always right too)
Wow I am being sarcastic today :)
I don't mind either term, actually. But I get a bit flustered, though, when it's implied that "hook and lateral" is incorrect.
I'm only barely young enough to remember the Chargers/Dolphins game. It's one of the earliest non-Super Bowls that I can remember. And it remains one of the best games I've ever seen. (I was a Dolphins fan at the time.)
Looks like Obama has a playful streak:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beerorkid/3096440255/in/photostream/
SNOWBALL FIGHT!
Hook and latteral is literally correct as a description of the play.
I don't mind either term either.
My earliest sports memory is Cal Ripken Jr catching the winning line drive in the 83 World Series. I am still an Orioles fan.
But I never got into football that young. Then the Colts left. And then the Ravens didn't get there until I left to move down here.
Yeah, I was definitely a much bigger fan of baseball in those days than football. But that Miami game helped show me how exciting football could be.
Interesting story about getting hit with a snowball. I didn't know Aaron Brooks owned a convenience store.
By , at
11:22 AM