Tulane's Team After the Storm

by Bryan Joiner. Bryan writes the Unobstructed View column for The Inquirer.

It is impossible—writing from New York City—to guess how sports are going to affect the rebuilding of New Orleans. It’s easier to gauge how Katrina affected the sports world, and for insight on this, I turned to Andrew Novick, an assistant basketball coach at Tulane University.

Novick and I attended college together in Chicago, and New Orleans is the last place you’d expect to find him. He worked in finance here in Manhattan after he graduated before giving it up to coach basketball. A combination of work and serendipity landed him at Tulane last year.

Then Katrina hit.

The team relocated to Texas. The last year hasn’t been normal, and it’s not easy to recruit players to come to New Orleans these days. “I almost sense it’s good for our opponents because they can say, ‘You don’t want to live in New Orleans,’” Novick said.

Tulane has always played second fiddle to Louisiana State for sports; Tulane’s advantage was its location. Now, “It’s hard to sell parents on coming to New Orleans,” Novick said.

Sports are a big part of the landscape, but fans in the Big Easy have had an uneasy relationship to their teams. The New Orleans Hornets moved to the city only to be displaced to Oklahoma City after Katrina. They will play six games in New Orleans next year. The New Orleans Saints are the longest-tenured local franchise, and they’ve won a single playoff game.

Last year the Saints played several games in San Antonio because the Superdome went to the relief effort. This year, all “home” games will be again played at home. “The fact that they can come to the stadium and get excited about something is great. Saints fans are crazed like Chicago Cubs fans are crazed about the Cubs,” Novick said.

This year they’ve got extra reason to be excited, because Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush will be playing for the team. After everything bad that happened in New Orleans—Katrina and the failed cleanup—it was Bush’s surprising fall to the Saints' number two pick position in the NFL Draft that garnered the city some positive attention. He has a chance to be the best player in the league.

Our President let New Orleans down in its time of crisis. Let's hope this Bush does better.

Comments

[Ryan]

"I'ma run all through it like Reggie Bush
And I'ma hit that bush like George Bush ..."

-Ice Cube