For LSU, the Georgia Bulldogs have always been a litmus test. Earlier this season, LSU coach Ed Orgeron was asked when the Tigers became quarterback Joe Burrow’s team? “The Georgia game,” said Orgeron.

As the first summer without professional baseball in New Orleans since 1992 approaches, here’s more than a hint of optimism: Minor league baseball could return, as early as 2021.

Once again, the Crescent City is the capital of high school volleyball in Louisiana. And the epicenter is Kenner’s Pontchartrain Center. In a sport whose majority of outstanding teams are strewn along the Interstate 10 corridor from Pearl River to Vinton, the cream of the volleyball crop again comes from Catholic schools in Orleans Parish and Slidell, and from an elite private school located in Old Metairie.

Are the Archbishop Rummel Raiders ready to win a Division I football championship under a new head coach, you ask? It darn sure looks like it. Since the resignation of long-time head coach Jay Roth to man the athletic director’s duties a year ago, the Raiders’ football fortunes have been in the hands of former head baseball coach Nick Monica.

On the drive back Sunday morning from Meridian, Mississippi, a reporter wondered. What is the definition of surreal? Because, that is what happened on a Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

More often than not, gambling is a losing proposition. It was for John Curtis, whose attempt at a two-point conversion in overtime against Archbishop Rummel failed, giving the Raiders the opportunity to win their first District 9-5A championship since 2013.

Since 2006, Mount Carmel has been the queen of Division I volleyball in Louisiana, celebrating eight state championships during that run, and five consecutive titles since 2014.

It was a sure sign that Tulane University is in the midst of football ascension. There was a line to get into Yulman Stadium for last Saturday’s game against Tulsa. A lengthy line. That was a tangible sign of progress. Thousands of fans were clad in green. Tulane was proudly displayed on their shirts and sweaters. Being a Tulane football fan was cool, again. It was great to see.

Halloween is a celebratory occasion for a child after an evening of trick-or-treating – and  also for a senior who won the biggest cross country race of her high school career. That was the case for Mount Carmel 12th grader Hope Shales, who led the Cubs to the District 9-5A cross country championship at the City Park course on Oct. 31.

If not now, when? That’s what LSU fans should be asking as next Saturday’s game at Alabama approaches. There’s no better time, to end a losing streak against the Tide that runs all the way back to January 2012 in the Superdome.

Two schools that were football fledglings in 1964 are now vying for the District 9-5A championship and possibly for the No. 1 seed in Division I.

The 64th annual CYO Basketball Classic will have a full field of 16 teams, including 10-time champion St. Augustine, which returns after a three-year hiatus.

As Sean Payton is showered with praise over the Saints’ 6-1 start, here’s a question: Is Payton that much different as a head coach than he was when the Saints went 7-9 for three consecutive seasons?

I’m not without guilt, and I’m not going to cast a stone at a news industry or its colleagues who determine its business model. So, I offer this admonition as a constructive observation learned from my experience in the print news media about the wants and desires of readers:

In 1936, the average cost of a new house was $3,925. Gasoline was 10 cents a gallon for your new $665 Studebaker automobile, assuming you earned an annual salary of about $1,713. That year, Margaret Mitchell’s epic story of the old South, “Gone With the Wind,” was published.

He was happy as the head coach at Scotlandville High School. His team had won 10 games only to lose 42-41 to Mandeville in a regional round 5A playoff classic. Then, Robert Valdez’s youngest daughter, Raina, now 16, spoke up.

The Academy of Our Lady  (AOL) is in the midst of a magical season, having won 16 of its 18 matches entering the final weeks of the season.

The difference between Jesuit’s football team of Week 4, when the Blue Jays were throttled by Brother Martin, 31-7, and the team in Week 5, when they defeated archrival Holy Cross, 20-14, was the return of a pair of Lukes from the injured list.

It had been 50 years since a tri-parish high school football team in the highest classification entered the sixth week of the prep football season without having yielded a single touchdown.

It has been 23 years since a school from the three-parish metro area entered the fifth week of the football season without allowing a single touchdown to the opposition.