History was made Friday night at St. Charles Catholic High School in LaPlace. Before St. Charles Catholic defeated E.D. White 36-0, Archbishop Gregory Aymond and Saints owner Gayle Benson dedicated the Comets’ new Thomas J. Dupuy football stadium.

I may be hallucinating. However, sometime soon, my guess is Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson will be in charge of another New Orleans franchise. If the state of Louisiana and the Southern League get it right, they’ll entice Mrs. Benson to bring minor league baseball back.

Celia Hughes was a stay-at-home wife, living in a country whose language was as distant as its shores from her Texas home. Her husband, Boyd, a contractor for the U.S. Air Force in Okinawa, was busy with work and his second profession, and their three children were grown. So Celia did what any bored housewife with extra time on her hands would do, right?

It was a tangible sign of progress, if there ever was one. A long-time Tulane football fan, one who said he would no longer go to home games because of his mounting frustration, approached a reporter at a high school football game. He had his Tulane football polo on and promptly proclaimed the following: “Roll Wave!”

It was a moment dripping with irony: On the day that news leaked that Sean Payton had agreed to a five-year contract extension, the Saints head coach got an unexpected look at the future beyond Drew Brees.

Traditions die hard in a historic city like New Orleans and its metropolitan area. Regardless of the changes brought about by time, the folks here cling to things that have significant meaning in their lives.

Fourteen teams – 12 of which have winning records – will take part in the annual Catholic League Volleyball Tournament, co-hosted by Ursuline and Dominican high schools Sept. 20-21. Matches begin at 4 p.m. on the tournament’s first day, and at 8 a.m. on Sept. 21 at both host schools.

Two reigning state volleyball champions may be off to unusually slow starts, but there are other aspiring Catholic school teams ready to make their moves.

Sean Payton is big on themes, and moments after the Saints’ last preseason game, he was quick to turn the page, and so were his players. “Coach mentioned that the last five years, we haven’t won the opening game,” said quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. “We are going to see what we can do to  change that.”

As a siren named Dorian churned toward a collision with Florida’s Atlantic coast, she brought to mind other meteorological Valkyries that wreaked havoc on the New Orleans area over the decades.

“Safety first” will be the watch words at all high school events sanctioned by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.

Members of the New Orleans-area Eastbank team celebrate after defeating Curacao 8-0 Aug. 25 for the Little League World Series championship in Williamsport, Pa. Nine of the 13 members of the Louisiana team attend Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans: Reece Roussel, St. Charles Borromeo; Ryan Darrah and Stan Wiltz, Christian Brothers; Egan Prather and Peyton Spadoni, St. Edward the Confessor; Alton Shorts, St. Rita, Harahan; Gavin Berry, St. Ann; and Ryder Planchard and William Andrade, Holy Cross. The team was coached by Catholic high school alums Scott Frazier, Archbishop Rummel; Kevin Johnson, De La Salle; and Dan Abadie, Jesuit. Also on the title team were Marshall Louque, Lutcher; Connor Perrot, Kenner Discovery; Jeffrey Curtis, John Curtis Christian; and Derek DeLatte, Ridgewood.

In mid-April, at a high school baseball game at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium, a baseball coach told a reporter his team was this good.

During the reclassification process that takes place every two years for schools in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, schools moving up or down in class and changing districts is not an unusual outcome.

PORTLAND, Ore. – A group of middle schoolers from East Jefferson took the national stage last week as the Eastbank All-Stars reached the championship game of the Little League Softball World Series at Alpenrose Dairy in Portland, Oregon.

Six months ago, the general assembly of Louisiana High School Athletic Association principals passed a proposal to allow Select (non-public) schools to conduct their own championship playoff games in four sports: football, basketball (boys and girls), baseball and softball, hosted by the higher seeds or by mutual agreement between the finalists.

If you are wondering why Taysom Hill – instead of Teddy Bridgewater – is not the backup to Drew Brees, here’s some perspective. Three hours before the Saints kicked off against the Chargers in California, Father Mike Kettenring at St. Philip Neri Church in Metairie summed up the preseason in most appropriate fashion. Father Mike usually ends his Mass with a cheer of “Go, Saints!”

Following the theme of the 1977 Fleetwood Mac hit song, “Go Your Own Way,” principals of so-called Select schools chose to do just that in four sports beginning with the 2019 high school football post-season. Basketball (boys and girls), baseball and softball are the other sports these schools will manage during their respective playoffs. 

It is there on YouTube for all to see: Former Saints head coach Jim Mora and former New Orleans TV sports director Ron Swoboda debating the idea of a meaningless game.