Shame

Soooooooooo.................I had good tickets (although my view was blocked by the basketball hoop, as I thought they would be) but the game just made me mad. Being the geek that I am, I kept track of the run the Bulls went on after the Jazz were up 18-10 (26-7); I guessed that they missed 10 straight shots (pretty sure it was 7); and also guessed that they went about 7 min without getting a FG (turns out it was just over 8 min). Seemed like every time the Jazz cut the lead to 8 or 9, the Bulls would hit a 3, or have a turnover or both. It was supremely frustrating.


Just to put things in perspective, the arena was full. This Bulls team is currently out of the playoffs and is 12 games UNDER .500. New Orleans can't fill a stadium when their team is playing for the top seed and the Bulls are selling out when they may not even make the playoffs.

I had my Jazz shirt on and once the game ended I had to walk out in shame. We shouldn't be losing to bad teams on the road...EVER. Last year was nice, they won. In fact, the Bulls scored 85 points last year and THIS year they had 86 points after 3 quarters. Truth be told, had the Jazz not won tonight, I probably wouldn't have posted this at all, woulda been too depressing.

Where "where is everyone?" happens

I was hoping that the Jazz would be playing here while I was in town, but we missed that game by 2 days. We decided to go to a Hornets game anyway to see what all the fuss is about. The Hornets have the 5th best record in the league and had the best record for about the first 2 1/2 months of the season. You'd think they'd have the stands full to the rafters. You'd be wrong.

This isn't pre-tipoff either, look at the clock and score on the jumbotron.

This one was right at tip-off.

Almost 5 min left in the first.

They were playing the Hawks and it wasn't a very exciting game other than the Hornets' 62 three pointers and a nasty put-back by...some guy for N.O. The best part of the game was during the 4th quarter when there was a problem with the net on one of the rims. There was a 10 minute timeout to fix it and the Arena staff decided to run the "kiss-cam" for a full 4 minutes. For those of you that don't know, the camera men around the arena will zoom in on a couple and the jumbotron will show a cute little heart around them and that's a queue for them to kiss. Eventually it zoomed on Tyson Chandler and Josh Childress who were hanging out at the scorer's table. They both saw the screen and Childress played along and tried to plant a sloppy kiss on Chandler, which he adamantly (and playfully) denied. It was also a good time for Pargo (who I want to fight for his 4th quarter against the Jazz) to show off his Harlem Globetrotters skills, it was pretty cool. (As I write this, Around the Horn is showing the footage.)

Before I forget, I want to comment on the gayest halftime show I've ever seen.
These "brothers" were prancing around and spinning while juggling. About as exciting as an AARP convention.

There is also no lack of booz here. There are full bars throughout the stadium and beer stations about every 15 feet.

Finally, I am convinced that the people here think that Chris Paul is Jesus. It's like he is, literally, their savior. I don't think there's anything he could do that the fans wouldn't support/justify/forgive. If he got high and drunk and drove a bus into a school full of autistic and retarded orphans, they'd still chant, "M-V-P!" every time he touched the ball.

As I watched the game, I thought to myself, "How does this team have 40 wins?" There are no real stars on this team (aside from Paul) and their bench is mostly a bunch of no-names. They have specialists like Chandler (rebounds, blocks, and alley-oops); Peja (threes, threes, and threes); and Pargo (clutch shots, spark off the bench) and Paul knows how to use them to exploit other teams' weaknesses. BUT...it's hard for me to not think that they'll fade in the last 8 weeks.


[update: more pics]

Pre-game intros:


Stadium shots:

Perspective

Before I get into my experiences so far here in New Orleans, let me first thank the 2 groups who have financed my trip.

1. The Federal Government ($560 tax return)
2. Everyone I have played poker against in the last 3 weeks, including the fine folks at the New Orleans Harrah's ($380)

So here I am in New Orleans at the Public Defender's Office. It has been exactly what I thought it would be, but I didn't think it would have such an effect on me. I figured it would mostly be young black kids facing drug charges, and the first guy I interviewed was a 17 year-old high schooler who was in lockup for possession of marijuana. This kid is on the baseball team and plays the trombone in the school band, it was his first offense and they had him chained up wearing an orange jumpsuit just like the rapist and armed robber. How traumatic for this kid for a stupid offense; this "war on drugs" is a big joke. One of the staff members here mentioned that 55% of Federal prisoners are there on drug charges...55%!! Can you imagine how much strain could be relieved by eliminating jail time for drug offenses? Our prisons wouldn't be as crowded and it wouldn't take 10 years to appeal a case. This country has spent billions fighting the "war" on drugs and you can still buy marijuana in any city in America with no problems; what have we accomplished? But I digress...

It's amazing how much work the people here do and how little they get paid. We have a volunteer staff of over 20 and we are all busy. I don't know how they get by without an army of volunteers. It is weird, though, to look for ways to get somebody released from prison when they have been arrested for robbery or gun charges. Normally I would think, "good, keep 'em there, they screwed up." But after 2 days of work I feel like I need to bust my ass to give them the same opportunities that Robert Downey, Jr. gets when he gets busted for drugs. Money may be able to buy expensive lawyers who can find loopholes, but it cannot buy justice. If my work allows one person the same opportunities as someone who can afford a lawyer, then my trip here was a smashing success.

I have at least 2 more days here (not sure if I'm working Friday) so I'll have a recap and some funny stories later.