College Basketball has returned

For most New Orleanians, the last few months have been extraordinarily difficult by any standard. They remain so to this day.

On the bright side, we can focus on things that will enliven our spirits (Maybe not if you're a Saints fan) and allow to us to forget about the tradegies we've all endured, if only temporarily. College sports allows us such a venue in that we are not concerned whether or not our favorite NFL team will up and leave as some of us have boldly predicted for far too long. Generally speaking, colleges stay put and are confined to the borders of our state and region; right now, that's a comfort.

But considering that LSU's season has been disrupted by several hurricanes, even their Number 4 ranking is difficult to swallow since we all know they would have beaten Tennessee given a normal pre-conference schedule. The Bayou Bengals should be undefeated under first year coach Les Miles (Lay off him people). However, we still hope for another SEC title.

College basketball allows us a fresh start and, for me, it's not so much LSU as it is Kansas. I graduated from KU in 1994 and Jayhawk basketball remains my true passion in all of sports. (By the way, for all you Brady-haters, give him another season or two. He's got some players). This evening, I watched the KU season opener on the internet against the might Idaho State Bengals (I'm guessing there aren't many Tigers up there outside of a zoo). We've got a young team that is extraordinarily talented and will make many mistakes. However, as we can see already, Bill Self has abandoned his dump-to-Simien offense and allowed his players to open the court a bit more. We've never seen this much talent come to Lawrence in consecutive recruiting classes. This year will be a learning year after the four seniors received most of the playing time last season. I boldly predict a 2007 Final Four appearance, assumning everyone returns with another amazing class on the horizon next year. Yes, we're that loaded.

God bless all of my fellow New Orleanians and may each of you find solace in whatever drives your passion. Right now, it all comes from the heart.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?