1:30 pm EST - Home sweet home! Just pulled into my house and my journey has finally come to a close. It really has been amazing. The last three days have been a whirlwind of food, football, food, basketball, food, amazing people, food, and things you can only see in New Orleans! It is absolutely one of my favorite places in the country to visit and I can't wait to return once again.

1:18 pm EST - Wheels down in Greenville! So excited to be home! I'm now starving again though. Hurry up ma! I want some grub!

11:23 am EST - One more quick post before I have to go into electronic free mode. There are few things worse than having to power walk from gate C18 to gate E6.  Having to do it wearing a 30 lbs backpack and the need to piss like a racehorse is one of them.  That was me.  It was awful.  So glad I got to take care of bidness before I got on the plane.

10:51 am EST - Wheels down in CLT. Got a quick turnaround so I'll hit everyone when I'm in my home city of Greenville!

8:10 am - Wheels up! New Orleans its been a blast. A trip I'll never forget! See you in Charlotte!

8:07 am - Finally headed out. Apparently we're all accounted for.

7:45 am - Are you (explitive) kidding me?!?!? We're waiting on people because there was a long line at the ticket counter and security. Get there earlier! Since when do they hold planes! I've got a connection to catch you idiots not mention the fact that we're sitting on a plane!  Not exactly a place to lounge!

7:24 am - On board and freezing. Is there heat on this plane????

7:17 am - Flights starting to finally board. I've been at the airport how long? At least I was productive and edited this sucker from the past 3 days!

5:39 am - Life is better. I've eaten. I saw a sign for a Popeye's somewhere however when I asked I was told it was back on the other side of security.  I have that as garbage.  Instead I got a microwaved airport sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit which somehow with a bottle of water cost me $11.54.  The good news was it wasn't that bad, then again it could also be too early still for me to comprehend what I ate probably tasted like spiced cardboard.

5:18 am - I'm through security where was literally no line. The sun still isn't even close to being out. And I don't board for almost 2 hours. Chow time.

5:03 am - Also the lady behind me is creepy and keeps looking at me. Stop it!

5:02 am - I'm halfway through the line from where I started but the line is now wrapped around the corner presumably out the door.

4:56 am - Some guy is on his phone in line. Who the hell could he be talking to at 5 in the morning?

4:51 am - There's a 6 am flight to Charlotte. I wonder if I could catch that and have someone come get me there. I'd be home and asleep so much earlier.

4:47 am - At the airport and there's a surprisingly decent sized line to check bags. Guess that's why I'm here 2 hours early. I've gotta find food. I'm Starving

4:30 am - Holy hell! Did I mention this was bumpy? This makes a cab seem like a Lexus. Also just passed the dome, go blue!

4:28 am - And now we finally leave the hotel. There was another guy who was late. And I'm starting to get tired. Gross

4:21 am - In related news to my last post, I'm starting to love coffee which is bad for my health. Shuttles here which now means 30 minutes of bumpy hell.

4:18 am - God this is early but surprisingly this doesn't suck as bad as I thought. I'm starving which is the worst but I'm not that tired yet.

11:34 pm - Finally caught a cab. Headed back to the hotel for a 3 and a half hour nap. Then up to pack and catch my shuttle and head home!

11:03 pm - Ok I lied. The games not over. The final 1:27 has taken an eternity!

10:55 pm - VICTORY!!!!

8:59 pm - USM just wasted about 3 minutes of my life. They kicked a field goal which was negated by a penalty on MTSU. The penalty resulted in a first down but there were only 3 seconds left so they called timeout and decided to kick it again.  They made it again. 17-14 at halftime.

8:45 pm - Our special teams huddle was just bouncing up and down getting hyped. I was waiting for Tim Tebow to run out of the tunnel and crash it to fire them up some more. 

8:43 pm - And we're tied! Dasher scrambled out and hit Blissard for a TD on 3rd down! MTSU has big mo on their side!

8:40 pm - Alex Suber just made the single greatest play I've ever seen by a corner back! Jumped a screen pass and picked it off! Wow!

8:36 pm - Well that sucks. MT had a nice drive stall at the 20 or so and the FG was blocked. Some USM fans (who are beyond wasted) are yelling at our band from above.  Get a life people. Go sit on your side of the stadium. Do you not have anything better to do than harass a bunch of college kids? Pathetic.

8:10 pm - Touchdown MTSU! Garrett Andrews with the catch. One of my good friends. Really good guy. Having himself a ball game!

8:07 pm - MTSU finally got their first 1st down at the 2:04 mark of the 1st quarter. And it took a review. Gotta keep it going.

7:51 pm - Horrible coverage by Rod Issac there. Completely played the man not the ball. USM going for two again to make up for the one they didn't get earlier. Aaand they got it. First successful 2 Pt conversion in New Orleans Bowl History.

7:50 pm - Back in the box. It's freezing in this dome.

7:40 pm - For some reason known only to God, they faked the PAT and didn't get in. Only 6-0.

7:39 pm - That didn't take long. USM punched it in on their oppening possession but only after what should've been a fumble. Stock shoulda challenged it.

7:35 pm - Finally kickoff! Feel like it took forever to get here!

6:57 pm - Battle of the Bands seems to have moved inside. Band of Blue played "Hey, Baby" and then USM's played it too. BOB's response: "Stuntin Like My Daddy"

6:45 pm - Back on the field. Just spotted that "the white board" has officially made the trip!

6:21 pm - Pregame media meal. Also under the "I love my job category"

5:56 pm - just talked to Garret Andrews. He's ready and the team seems relaxed. Mike Williams is running around shoe-less. Closing on 90 minutes till kickoff.

5:33 pm - I'm on the field at the Superdome. This would go under the unreal category. I love my job.

5:23 pm - Midway through the last text they started playin the fight song and it sent chills down my spine!

5:21 pm - MTSU officially owns battle of the bands! Not only is our band 3 times the size, their about 10 times as good.

5:10 pm - Finally here at the Superdome just in time for battle of the bands. Also taking my first footage of the trip.

4:38 pm - Walking down Canal St. and the city is officially blue!

3:10 pm - There is a God. We're off to lunch!

2:42 pm - Starving and still waiting on my amiga so I got resourceful. There are apples in the hotel gym. There is now one less apple.

2:24 pm - I'm still waiting on my friend.  She has officially taken 2 hours to get out of bed and get ready.  Her turning 21 two weeks ago is contributing.  You can connect the dots from there.

12:47 pm - Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to all four of you that read this but I've actually been working this morning! Knocked out two blogs on Sidelines website including my official New Orleans Bowl prediction and other than that I've done nothing.  So you haven't missed much.  Unless you wanted to know that I had a huge plate of fruit and pastries from the media room for breakfast and now you know that so consider yourself up to speed.

Life will get more exciting however after I'm done typing here.  I'm going to lunch with my friend and then the day will be played by ear.  Might head to the French Market and do some shopping, might head down to the Riverwalk, or I might come here and get my life in order so I can sleep as late as possible tomorrow morning.  And by late I mean 3:50 am.

11:36 pm - I've now been here 36 hours and I feel confident saying that this city might have the most beautiful women in the country.

11:06 pm - I almost just got run over by a horse

10:47 pm - Walking down Bourbon Street. Just saw a 9 year old get hit in the head with beads. Hilarious!

10:32 pm - Wow what a game! Zack and I walked around trying to find a sports bar for a while, picked up my buddy Rob and one of his friends (I "mugged" Rob, scaring the hell out of him and in hindsight I was probably lucky I didn't get swung on) and we continued to try and find somewhere.  After walking in an enormous circle and wasting nearly an hour we headed to Bourbon Street and after walking up and down looking for the one place multiple people recommended we gave up and wound up at some random sports bar called La Bayou.  It wound up being good and the game was in the late 3rd quarter with the Saints down 24-3.

From there the Saints scored on their first two possessions of the 4th and all of a sudden it felt like there was going to be some Saints magic once again.  There was no other place I would have rather been outside of the Superdome than on Bourbon Street if the Saints were indeed going to pull this off.  Then the Cowboys shanked a short field goal because Nick Folk is awful (and will be jobless Monday) and the improbable comeback looked not only probable but inevitable.  The Saints had 2:30 to go and 80 yards to go.  They only got 30.  Horrible clock management leading up to a 4th down conversion left the home team strapped for time and the miracle ended with a Demarcus Ware sack of Drew Brees and the ball laying on the turf with a Cowboy on top of it.

That was still an amazing experience! Now off to walk up and down Bourbon Street.

8:18 pm - The cool thing about walking around in New Orleans is I can watch the game in every window on the way to wherever I'm going

7:45 pm - The road rally has been in town for over an hour but they got lost on the way to their hotel and are taking forever checking everyone in and thus I'm still sitting in my hotel waiting on one Zack Barnes (yeah I'm callin you out!) and whoever else is going to come to wherever we wind up to watch the game.  Cooter Brown's is too far away and I'm tired of taxis.  Speaking of the game though, what in the world do the Cowboy's think their doing.  Forcing two 3 and outs and scoring on their first two drives.  I still like the Saints but I sure as hell didn't see this coming.

5:53 pm - Got my plans set for tonight.  Now I've gotta fill in the who as the road rally gets here but I'll be going to Cooter Brown's, one of the best sports bars in New Orleans to watch the Saints game.  The food is supposed to be great and the atmosphere anywhere in the city is going to be unreal.

3:42 pm - Lunch was solid and would have been better if I wasn't so hungry. Fried chicken isn't great on a completely empty stomach. Time to head back and watch a little basketball before heading to fan fest. Still gotta shop too. Can't wait to watch the Saints game tonight. This city is already rockin.  And by rockin, I also mean plastered.

2:40 pm - I realized while I was in the cab that I was wearing an old high school shirt and its navy blue. Cowboy colors. Poor decision. Idiot.

2:35 pm - Just saw "Saints" Nick. Awesome!

2:27 pm - Lunch time. Headed to Willie Mae's Scotch House for the "world's best fried chicken" but I'll be the judge of that!

12:12 pm - Just saw a friends Facebook post about final grades so I decided to check mine.  Got an A in the one class I didn't know about yet.  Have some!  As far as the game goes, Kansas needs to figure out this 1-3-1 zone from Michigan or they could be in trouble.  I think the solution is Xavier Henry since he can handle and has some height.  Have him in the back court with Collins and work the trap.

11:43 am - Watching the Kansas/Michigan game and I feel like I'm falling asleep in my chair.  The coffee is wearing off.  Think I may take a nap.  How cool am I?

10:51 am - Done at Mothers and I'm actually vaguely disappointed although I'll take the heat for it. Did a poor job ordering. Next meal will be what's widely considered the worlds best fried chicken. Can't remember the name of the place but I do know it will result in a gym stop later. I've got to head to the French Quarter later to buy some gifts but that's going to have to be balanced against a great day in College Hoops.

Also people have already started "preparing" for the game tonight. This city is gonna be bonkers!

Last but not least I now know that some of my longer posts aka the ones I've done via email haven't made it up for whatever reason.  I'll work on fixing that.  Also I'll go back and put them in.  How do I know this? Because I'm re-united with my laptop!!! I had to pay for internet but I guess that's what I get for such a nice hotel at such a good price.

10:10 am - The line is out the door at Mother's but I'm waiting. This is part of the experience. A part I'm not fond of but a part nonetheless.

10:06 am - Finished wit the show and it was a really good one. Curtis called me out on my laptop but I'll forgive him. Headed to Mother's now for breakfast. Report card coming soon.

7:20 am - The thought that monday I'm going to have to get up 3 hours earlier is sickening. However here I am, up and at em and re-united with my lovely phone, coffee in hand waiting for curtis to get to the studio so I can call in. I stayed up prepping for the show until 1 last night. I really hope its worth it. I also hope 9 am comes quickly because the media room opens and they have food. I'm hungry (which is unbelievable after dinner last night) and Mothers is going to have to wait to after the show. Eventually there will be updates that don't involve food. But I'm in New Orleans and its me. So don't count on it around meal time.

11:23 pm - Hibachi! Watching the Washington/Golden State and Gilbert Arenas is lighting it up. Hopefully he's getting back to being healthy and thus the player he once was. Also I'm really impressed with Anthony Randolph for Golden State. I need to see more but so far I don't discount the common Lamar Odom comparison.

Day 1 gets an A minus the struggles with technology. Speaking of which I'm headed downstairs to get this sucker (my blackberry) charged up for the night so I can do radio in the morning. Wild World of Sports at 8 am with me live from here and Curtis in studio. Holler at everybody then!

10:44 pm - Back at the hotel watching Sportscenter. I wish I was going so badly to the Saints game with a press pass tomorrow (which apparently was a possibility) so I could meet Michael Smith and punch Ed Werder. One of my favorite reporters and my least favorite all in one place.

9:40 pm - Me: 1 Poppy's steamed seafood: 0

8:57 pm - Foods here! And this is what it looks like! Except imagine a lobster on top, you know, the one I already ate...

 

8:45 pm - Shaq just fouled Brandon Jennings hard. Luckily Jennings is still alive. Gotta be almost a 200 lb weight difference.

6:24 pm - Just found out I'm 4 blocks from Mothers. Tomorrows breakfast is within walking distance!

5:08 pm - At the Childrens hospital. Phillip Tanner is easily the best with the kids, probably because he's one of the players who has kids of his own.

4:34 pm - So it might be a success but you won't get to see it. Just pulled out the camera and its dead. Thank you MTTV

4:33 pm - In a cab on the way to the children's hospital. I feel like this cabbie has taken the long way. Gonna be worth it though.

1:12 pm - In related news, I'm really glad that my hotel has a workout facility

1:06 pm - One cup of etouffe and one poboy down. That was unreal.

12:52 pm - Half-shrimp/half-oyster po boy after some amazing crawfish etouffe. I love this place

12:37 pm - At Mulates for lunch. Chow time! So hungry...

12:30 pm - All checked in and this place is sooo nice! Also got my media pass and I've shaved. Which is relevant because I hadn't done it since before finals. Gross.

11:52 am - Just passed the Superdome. Its huge. Can't wait to go inside

11:30 am - Got my bag and now I'm on a shuttle headed downtown. I'm starving and want some shrimp etouffe. That's happening asap

11:05 am - Wheels down in New Orleans! But not all at the same time. Scariest landing of my life! Off to baggage claim. Yay. Not.

It's December. Relax!

Ask anyone who knows me, and they'll tell you basketball is my passion.  I know the sport inside and out, I played it, and I follow it as closely as I can.  I go to practices, I don't miss games, and I ask questions of players and coaches.  Not "how'd you feel about your performance?" questions, the "when you came off that staggered screen, what did you see?" questions.

For this reason I've apparently become the person everyone asks about our basketball teams in the media, which is fine with me, and I'm more than happy to respond with my opinion or with what I see as the answer.  The question I've gotten the most lately is "what's wrong with our girls?" So here's the answer.

Much like I discussed in my first blog (www.mtsusidelines.com/blog-1.109/the-wild-world-of-sports), in order to win basketball games you have to put the ball in the basket.  This is the "problem" with the Lady Raiders this year.  Their simply not shooting well, and they know it.  There has been one game where all the shooters were on and they put up 94 points and housed the defending national runner up in Louisville. 

Ok so that leads to the next question: why?

I think that part of it is the pressure of expectations.  To a man they said the goal this year was to get to San Antonio and the Final Four.  This is a dangerous thing to shoot for for this reason: you take the risk of not looking game to game and looking too much big picture.

I don't think the first part of the problem. With all due respect to any coach I ever had and Coach Davis and the men's staff, Rick Insell is the best coach I've ever seen.  He doesn't let the team ever look past a game, but at the same time it's got to be in the back of everybody's mind.  That kind of thing can weigh on you and the statistics say it is.

Going into the game versus Louisville, Brandi Brown, who can shoot with anyone in the country (and I'm not kidding when I say anybody) was shooting 23% from the great beyond.  That's not going to stay that way and she has been solid the past few games. 

Anne Marie Lanning wasn't getting very many looks to start the year and wasn't hitting the few looks she did get.  Rhythm is a huge part of shooting and thus this is not only understandable but expected.

Jackie Pickel was off to start the year, but anyone who knows Jackie knew that wasn't going to last.  She works too hard.  (And if you don't know Jackie, why don't you meet her www.youtube.com/watch).  That being said, she was still on her game defensively and found other ways to contribute.

All of this is fine and dandy but at the end of the day you have to put the ball in the basket and Sunday at the aptly named Frost Arena against South Dakota State Middle Tennessee struggled again.  5-29 from 3. I'll do the math for you. That's 17%. I obviously don't endorse betting but if I did, I would put any amount of money on the fact that they won't shoot that poorly again.  Everyone has off nights, but a night that bad doesn't happen very often even with shooters half as good as the ones we have.

The other factor that has to be looked at here is the competition.  If I had told anyone on that team that going into conference play that they would have four losses they would have looked at me like I lost my mind, but they really don't have a "bad" loss.  Sure the losses haven't been pretty and in that respect I'm sure the players, coaches, and fans are disappointed and that disappointment is quite honestly fair. 
This team was supposed to be able to compete with the LSU's, Xavier's, and Tennessee's of the world and they can.  But they didn't.  And as for Sunday, South Dakota State is a good team, a really good team.

But let's have a little perspective.  MT opened the season against defending Conference USA champion UCF and beat them by 20 while playing at best a mediocre game.  The one "A" game the Lady Raiders have played this year was against Louisville and, as I said, they put up 94 points.

So once again, that's all fine and dandy, but what's the solution?

For one, patience.

Conference season starts Sunday and is on for good after the Dec. 28th game vs Kentucky.  That's the important season.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and trust me, this team isn't dead yet. 

For two, show them your support.

This is one of the tightest teams I have ever seen.  They truly love each other and they love this community.  They don't want to let each other down and they don't want to let you, the fan down.  Let them know you still support them by showing up to the games. These players thrive under pressure.  Jackie Pickel's biggest game was against Tennessee.  Alysha Clark and Chelsia Lymon always can sense when they need to kick it into that proverbial "extra gear."  Give them the environment to thrive and they will. 

And last but not least, sit back, relax, and be thankful that you've been given such quality team on and off the court.  Sure the on court results haven't been exactly what everyone planned, but have you looked at a calendar lately?  It's December people.  There are two and a half months and all of conference season until march and if you think this is going to last you are out of your mind.  I go to practices and the same shooters that have struggled in games are shooting just fine in practice so they haven't lost anything.  Also they've done it in the past so there's no need to think they can't do it in games.

But notice that I didn't just say on the court, I said off.  Coach Davis does an amazing time with the boys team of getting out into the community and its well documented on what kind of young man Coach Stockstill is looking for on his football team, but there is no other group of student athletes in the world I'd rather be represented as as a student than the Lady Raider Basketball team. 
They are an intelligent group that is well spoken, care about the community, and are all genuinely nice people.  I don't know all the girls, but I can honestly say some of my favorite moments of being a media member happened before or after interviews off camera with the girls I have gotten to interact with.

In short, relax people! It's the holiday season! Give thanks for a wonderful team that is led by a tremendous coach and WILL figure things out before long.  Treat yourself by going to the games and enjoying a few solid hours of quality entertainment and scream your head off for the blue team (or against the guys in the stripes, MT fans are really good at that).

In the meantime, I'll gladly take the next question.

In case you missed it!

We realize we don't have the most desireable time slots to listen to but if you're not listening you're missing out! Luckily for you, there's this thing called the internet and we record our shows.  Here are some of the highlights from the past two days.

Jay Will 12-4.mp3 - Craig Hoffman and Curtis Nolte

Chris Childers 12/5 - Craig Hoffman and Curtis Nolte

Nets Big Headed Prediction.mp3 - Craig Hoffman and Curtis Nolte

Were Going To New Orleans.mp3 -

The Perfect Perspective

Believe it or not there are more important things than sports.  Like life.  Or having and being a part of a family.  Someone who understands this is Jay Williams who we had the absolute pleasure of interviewing last week.  I asked Jay if he had any plans of coming back. What he said truly amazed us:

Jay Williams Perspective - Craig Hoffman and Curtis Nolte

Perspective like this is not always found in sports. Often athletes return too soon from injury and cause themselves long term injury.  However it would aslo be nice to see this perspective from the fans.  I'm all for pouring your heart and soul into your team, but don't let a loss ruin your life. Because while you're busy being upset, you might lose a moment with your kid or your spouse, and losing that is far more important than losing a game.