Sitting on My Porch Part Seventy Four

It’s Thursday evening and I think the Saints just scored again on the Colts......

We don’t need every game to come down to the wire. I had fun watching that 62-7 destruction! Towards the end I started feeling sorry for Reggie Wayne. He had 50 family and friends at the game and they had to sit through that. What’s even worse is that you know they had to go work Monday and hear it from all of their co-workers about what happened. The Colts scored 7 points and Reggie Wayne should have scored that touchdown.

This week we play the St. Louis Rams. That’s a team that has caused me much pain in my life especially in the old NFC West days when they were in Los Angeles. If one of the Saints happens to be reading this I just want them to know that it is perfectly okay to run up the score on the Rams. Why be satisfied with 62? 10 touchdowns is 70 points. I know we can do it. We have to win these games against inferior opponents because ever since Julio Jones got injured the Falcons remembered they had Michael Turner and are getting their act together.

I don’t watch a lot of baseball but I am rolling with the Texas Rangers because of Ron Washington and my extreme New Orleans bias.

Today my day started at 5:30 AM and ended at 7:32 PM. That's the time I finally sat down and turned on the game. My average day during the week is 12-14 hours. Adults have really long days. I guess kids have long days too but I never felt like the day was long when I was a kid. Days feel really long now. I think it's because adult life is full of things you hate doing but have to do...like ironing clothes.

If Hell exist and I mess up enough to make it there, the devil could really punish me by making me iron clothes for the rest of eternity. Extra punishment would be making me do it after waking up with an alarm clock with a broke snooze button. Double extra punishment would be having a Falcon's game playing non stop and I couldn't change the channel. Triple punishment would be Buffie the Body behind a glass door holding a cold beer while I am ironing and I wouldn't have a key to open the door. I'm going to have nightmares tonight. It's time for a vacation.

The Saints just reached the red zone again......

I’ve been checking out this Occupy movement going on around America. I think the whole movement is a teachable moment. I’m down with the cause and I support it but it’s interesting to look at the reaction of politicians to these movements compared to some of the rallies the Tea Party had. When the Tea Party was at it’s peak and had rallies being staged around the country politicians on both sides changed their agenda to match what they were saying. Like it or not they have a lot to do with the current political direction of the country. Some of these Occupy movements have had damn near riots and outside of the mayors in the city trying to control everything you haven’t heard much from elected officials. The 99% may represent a large cross section of the country but the 1% buys politicians. To change the system it’s going to take money. The power is in the PAC.

When did Mayor Bloomberg of New York and all these other business people become so concerned with who controls schools in Louisiana? What made him and his anonymous donors to his PAC suddenly become involved in the education of our children? If there was a grassroots candidate running for the BESE board seat in New Orleans and they could win because of money that didn’t come from anyone directly affected by their decisions, that person really doesn’t have to answer to the parents and citizens in that district. We wouldn’t control their marching orders. That’s why I won’t be voting for anyone that falls into this category. Sad to say that they’ll win it because they have the money and the muscle to drown out the other candidate. The power is in the PAC and there’s nothing we can do about it.

The Saints just scored on the Colts again.......

If you want to do something for the community and feel good about it. Click on this link and help some good people help the folks at the homeless encampment under the expressway near Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard. You don’t have to give any money if that makes you uncomfortable. You can call and ask what the folks need and buy it yourself if you want to. The people that are trying to find housing for the men and women in this camp are really good people and some of them are my friends. I’ll guarantee that they’ll do the right thing with whatever you decide to help out with.

I’m signing out before the Saints score again.

Living In The Red Boot With Few Choices

I went out to vote yesterday morning. I looked at the ballot and thought to myself that this was the first time I voted where it felt like a waste of time. When I voted in 2010 it didn’t feel like a waste of time. It felt like I was voting already knowing the outcome and I was right. The reason why this election felt like such a waste of time is because everyone knew Bobby Jindal was going to win again. I’m willing to bet that most of the people in the state couldn’t tell you who was running against him. Besides that all of the other statewide elections had nothing but Republican candidates to choose from. That means if you want to vote in those races you are a Republican by default. The Democratic party must be saving their money to help President Obama raise the 10% of the vote he's going to get in 2012 to 20%.

I guess if you wanted to you could vote on everything else and leave those parts of the ballot blank but then there’s always a chance you might end up with someone who’s first bill once he or she gets in office is to suspend the driving privileges in New Orleans to anyone who can’t pass a standardized test or something crazy like that. So now when we vote we have to figure out which candidate is a Republican but still a rational human being and which one is a wacko and vote for the rational person hoping their not faking like a rational person but is really a wacko too.

I think the governor has some wacko tendencies. He’s just so intelligent in how he presents it you can’t tell. He even fooled me once in 2003 when I voted for him over Kathleen Blanco. That wasn’t the greatest two choices in the world either. I still don’t understand why he’s not the Republican nominee for president. They have been screaming for smaller government and empowering the private sector. Jindal is all about that. Forget Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” plan. My governor tries to run the state with the “0-0-0” philosophy. That’s 0 taxes, 0 government programs and 0 state employees. He hasn’t gotten there yet and probably never will but I am sure he dreams about it. Maybe I haven’t driven around the state enough to see what’s going on but are we doing that well where there’s no need for any opposition to the current leadership? I guess the answer is yes if you go by the election results.

I hope whatever the governor and his majority in the capital does works because unless you plan on moving out of state we are going to be under this philosophy for at least four more years and that’s a long time for things not to work until you get to vote again. I just hope the wackos keeps the wackiness to a minimum.

Cliff's Crib First Guest Post : Leslie Krick

This is an historic event in Cliff's Crib history. I’ve never had a guest post before. I had a few special requests for topics. A few friends asked if they could post something but I have never actually done one. Last week a young lady reached out to me and asked would I mind posting some work of hers in hopes she could get some exposure for her freelance writing career. Her name is Leslie Krick and her piece is about teenage drinking during Mardi Gras season. I’m flattered she thought enough of my blog to ask so I am posting it tonight and showing it off for a few days. After posting this I won't make any jokes about Crown Royal for at least six months. Leslie's bio and contact information are at the bottom if you want to say hi or ask her to write something.

The Truth about Alcohol & Mardi Gras

Teens can have fun & stay safe during the most dangerous holiday in the U.S.

When teens think of Mardi Gras, they often think of breast bearing women, excessive public drinking, dancing, and fighting and out of control behavior on Bourbon Street. And between the fishbowl hurricanes and giant tankards of mudslide they might be on to something.

Alcohol is a big of a part of the two week period that marks Mardi Gras. And even though it’s a Catholic carnival, it still translates to “farewell to the flesh”, which means teens are bound to get a little out of hand during this period of feasting and revelry before Lent. When you figure in 50 parades, more than 301 miles of parade route and 1.2 million attendees it’s no wonder alcohol fuels the fun—from the French Quarter to the Garden District.

However, there are rules and laws that must be followed, and failure to do so could have you crying over your doubloons (the festive coins thrown out at revelers). Remember, in addition to the fun, Mardi Gras ranks as one of the most dangerous holidays in the United States for motorist collisions. In terms of most vehicular teen deaths and car crash injuries, the duration of Mardi Gras is the deadliest of the eight holidays. Just look at the car accident statistics for teenagers in the U.S (between 2001 and 2007):

• Car crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths
• Teens between the ages of 16 and 19 are 4x more likely to get into accidents than adults
• That’s 33,027 fatal teen crashes compared to only 19,886 fatal adult crashes
• And, the younger they are; the more likely teens are to be involved in an auto collision
• Teens who drink and drive are 12x more likely to be killed compared to sober teen drivers

So then how does a teenager ensure a good time at Mardi Gras without injury to body and soul? Let’s start by giving you the truth on New Orleans laws and city regulations when it comes to drinking and driving during Mardi Gras, as well as debunking some of the more popular Mardi Gras myths…

The Open Container Law - The trickiest myths regarding Mardi Gras revolve around the city’s Open Container Law. Yes, it’s true; it’s perfectly legal to carry an open container of alcohol within the city streets. However, the drinking age is 21 as it is everywhere else in the U.S., and it’s strictly enforced. It’s also strictly forbidden to have an open container of alcohol in your car if you are drinking it and driving a vehicle.

Drive-thru drinking - Hankering for a Mardi Gras daiquiri or mudslide while taking a drive? Just pull up to a “drive thru” and pour yourself a boozey slushy. You can get a Baskin-Robins array of flavors in a Styrofoam tankard at one of the roadside stands where drinks like a white Russian, long island ice tea, Red Bull and vodka, Cajun heat and many flavored margaritas are sold. However, you can’t just drive away sucking on that straw. A loophole in the open container law means as long as a straw hasn’t pierced the lid you're free to drive on.

Here are some additional rules to abide by at Mardi Gras. Out-of-towners need to be especially vigil as city police won’t hesitate to write you a ticket on the following infractions:

Driving under the influence – Basic common sense reigns in New Orleans just as much as everywhere else in the U.S. When it comes to DUI / DWI, if you’re drunk, please don’t drive or you’ll face an increased, minimum 15-day jail sentence. Those who refuse a blood alcohol test will face a one-year license suspension.

Drinks can’t be in glass containers - Glass breaks…end of story. And when it does, it causes a whole bunch of danger on the street, especially when you throw in a parade and a ton of drunken tourists.

Be wary of bars selling drinks glass bottles – If you buy a beer in a bottle, you must stay on the premises and finish your drink before you leave. Many bars will do this to keep you in their establishment for as long as they can.

Boozing it up in parking areas - Many areas of the city prohibit drinking alcohol all together in parking lots. Be sure to read the signs before you take a traveler to your car.

Urinating in public – A common law in most cities, but a fair mention here considering alcohol is involved. If you are drinking during Mardi Gras, remember that the amount of alcohol you consume is directly related to the number of times you’re going to have to pee—and public bathrooms are few and far between. Don’t get caught with your pants down.

Don’t be a public nuisance – Disorderly and loud behavior isn’t tolerated by the New Orleans police.

Be wary of your surroundings - Do not jump in front of a float to snag a bead, cup, or doubloon. Remember, that float weighs several tons and can crush you. It’s also a good rule of thumb to step on doubloons before picking them up or your hand might be the one stepped on by another eager parade go-er.

Public nudity – Anything doesn’t go in New Orleans, and you’ll really only see flashing breasts in the French Quarter. Parents can shield young ones from nakedness just about anywhere, but in the French Quarter. And, if New Orleans Police Department catches you displaying your goods outside of that area, you’ll be arrested.



Bio: Leslie worked as a legal secretary at a personal injury law firm for many years before making the transition to a full-time mom and wife. Leslie loves nature and uses it as a source of inspiration for her writing. She divides her time between her family and her writing, which focuses mainly on her knowledge of law. Leslie is currently looking for freelance work, and can be contacted at LeslieEKrick@gmail.com.

A Tough Lost and an Injured Coach

I was wrong about that one...

The worst part about today besides losing was Coach Sean Payton damn near getting his leg taken off by an accident on the sidelines. I really feel like the game took a weird turn after that and the Saints never recovered. I was right about Raheem Morris having Tampa fired up. I thought that wouldn’t bother the Saints and I was wrong.

I would rather lose three games to any other teams in the NFL than one divisional game. Those always suck more than the others.

We are still tied for the division lead. We’ll be ready for primetime next week.

Get well Coach Payton.

Week 6 : Saints at Tampa Bay : Division Dominance

Before I get into the Saints I just want to say that the easiest way to stop some of the violent collisions that are leading to so many concussions is to let defensive backs touch receivers within 20 yards of the line of scrimmage. You have receivers running full speed across the field and the only thing defensive players can do is hit them as hard as possible and hope they drop the ball. You would have more pass breakups without the collision and it would slow everyone down. If not you are going to have violent hits. Players are running free on passing plays the same as they were on kickoffs and they changed that rule for safety.

Now, lets get to the Saints.......
It’s week six of the NFL season and we are running late on Saints post. Since there was no real off season and a lot of roster changes all around I think this is about the time you will start seeing what your team really has going this year. I think I have a good idea on this year’s Saints team now. Here are a few things I am pretty certain about.

1. Drew Brees is back to playing at a championship level and whoever the Saints play this year is going to have to bring their A game for four quarters to beat him. Our 4-1 record is about right because the only lost was to the Packers and Aaron Rodgers who is playing like a machine.

2. I was so wrong about the Darren Sproles signing. I didn’t think he would have as big of an impact as he has because San Diego didn’t use him like Sean Payton is. I was a huge Reggie Bush supporter and apologist. It hurts me to admit this but Sproles is looking like a better fit for this offense. He’s also an instant cult hero to the fans. As my cousin explained in a text message during the Texans game. “If Darren Sproles gets hurt I am going to cry.”

3. I was wrong about Darren Sproles but I was right about Jimmy Graham. I just had a feeling he was a steal in the 3rd round. My only concern is him staying healthy all year because he is being hit by two or three people sometimes. His running some of the same routes Marques Colston does and that’s why he’s always getting beat up. I said I would never draft a Saints player for fantasy because they spread the ball around so much. I broke that rule this year to take Jimmy Graham and I’m undefeated. If Jimmy Graham gets hurt I am going to cry.

4. Gregg Williams is coaching his ass off on defense. He’s getting everything he can out of the group he has. They do just enough to win and with the kind of defense being played this year that’s all you can ask for.

5. The only thing separating this team from the 2009 team is scoring. That sounds crazy for a team averaging over 30 points a game but it should be closer to 40. John Kasay has kicked so many chip shot field goals after drives were ended inside the 20 yard line. It hasn’t come back to haunt the team yet except for Green Bay but it may cost us another game down the line.

Last week I was pulling for Green Bay to beat Atlanta and put them behind two games in the standings because the first goal should be to win the division and at least get one home game in the playoffs. It’s not too early to put some distance between us and the rest of the division. The perfect scenario for Sunday would be the Panthers beating Atlanta to give them another loss and for the Saints to beat up on Tampa. I like Tampa’s young coach Raheem Morris. He’s going to have them all hyped up this week after getting destroyed by San Francisco last week. They’ll be out there jumping around like crazy. None of that will matter because the Saints are a better team. It's been awhile since there was a game where the Saints just destroyed the other team and sent their fans home early. I think tomorrow's game is the one.

Saints 38 Buccaneers 10

Trying To Understand Herman Cain

I’ve been trying to figure out the Herman Cain phenomenon. I’ve been watching his rise in popularity and I can’t quite figure out what I’m watching. Either the Republicans are just that unsatisfied with the so called front runners that he’s passed in the polls or he is a political genius. I’m fascinated by the whole thing. Personally speaking I would be so excited to see Herman Cain go against President Obama just to see how Black America dealt with all the issues that kind of debate would bring. It would also make real racists head explode. That election would change the country even more than Obama winning because Cain would be coming from a mind state that most black people aren't thought to have.

A lot of people in my community have already made their decision on Mr. Cain. I’ve heard him called a bunch of names and none of them are flattering. The most popular accusation is that he’s a sellout. Calling someone a sellout is something I reserve for the most extreme cases. I think we have to be careful when judging someone’s racial authenticity because those guidelines can change all the time and you never know when you might be called the same thing. Maybe Herman Cain’s life experiences led him to believe the things he does. Being conservative doesn’t mean he’s not as black as the rest of us. He has the right to believe in bad policy and still be black.

The only thing Herman Cain has done to bother me is to say that he doesn’t think there’s any racism holding people back these days. I’m actually not surprise he would say that because he’s a Republican and right now they believe there are no obstacles holding anyone back other than their own laziness. That’s why they think they can cut every program and wait for the private sector jobs to roll in so government won’t have to do anything. If you admit that there may be real barriers for people to prosper like racism then you might have to do something about it and they don’t want to do that.

Mr. Cain was also was a radio host. Talk radio shows, 24 hour news channels, and people looking to sensationalize things have turned the idea of racism into basic things like calling someone the N-word, saying nappy head hoes on a radio show or dressing like a slave for the office Halloween party. Those things are racist but we spend so much time and energy focused on those things that we don’t take the time to explain the deep rooted institutional racism that makes being successful a bigger challenge for Black America. There are obstacles that make things different. Even Herman said so in explaining his original statement.

“Are there some elements of racism? Yes. It gets back to if we don't grow this economy, that is a ripple effect for every economic level, and because blacks are more disproportionately unemployed, they get hit the worst when economic policies don't work. That's where it starts.”

Why are we more disproportionately unemployed? If there’s no racism or whatever he wants to call it to put us in that position, why do we get hit the worst when economic policies don’t work? If everything is equal and it’s all about hard work then the black unemployment rate should be the same as everyone else. There has to be something that caused that. If it’s not racism then give it another name but don’t pretend like there’s nothing involved. Deep down I think Herman Cain knows this but he can’t say it because he doesn’t want to sound like he’s being racist telling the truth. I don‘t question Herman Cain’s identity as a black man but I am worried about how far he would go to prove himself and the policies he might introduce. We are already catching hell with the president in office that we love. I have no desire to try and survive four years of a President Cain trying to prove his own personal reality is true for everyone else. Our community isn't ready for him to try and prove that theory to his supporters.

The Old Lady And The Kid On The Bench

Friday I was headed back to my car after dropping off some papers for work. I walked past this older lady and told her good morning. She said good morning too and then stopped me. She came close to me and said “Go ask that young man over there why he’s not in school today. You’re a man go ask him.” Sitting a few feet away was a young kid about 11 years old minding his own business. He didn’t look too tough these days you never know what’s going on in the minds of these kids. It’s different when you are in a controlled environment like a school function or a mentoring event. Those kids expect interaction with the adults around. You can get into their business without much fear of confrontation. This lady was asking me to go up to this young man and ask him why he’s not in school like I know him already. There was a possibility that when I asked him he would respond “you ain’t my daddy!” Then I would have had to respond to that because I can’t have some kid talking to me any kind of way and now I’m caught up in a conflict around some kid’s truancy and bad manners all because I wasn’t raised to ignore what the old lady told me. It would have been even worse if his mama was close enough to hear and got offended by me asking him. It always seems to be that the parents with the kids causing trouble always seem to be the most upset when someone tells them anything.

There used to be a time where old people had so much unquestioned authority that she could have asked him why he wasn’t at school and why I wasn’t at work and we both would have had to answer out of respect. That would still work on me every time because I stick to the traditional family hierarchy but you can’t be too sure about the kids. She was right that I am a man and this is my community so I should be worried about why he wasn’t in school. It was my job to ask him so I went on over there. It turns out he is on fall break. Charter schools take days off that we are not used to. She waited by the elevator until I gave her an answer and once she was satisfied she went upstairs. The kid just set there on the bench looking confused. I went to my truck being thankful that it didn’t lead to any confusion. I guess we have to be willing to risk the confusion to keep these kids in check.

Back to Regularly Scheduled Blogging

Yesterday evening I was sitting on my sofa going over a few data reports for work when my text message alert went off. It was my friend sending me a message from his job and it went something like this….

“What’s up Cliff? You are slipping. You haven’t had a blog post since September 24. I went to look for something thought provoking to read at work and you have the same old stuff up there. WTF? I better have something to read tomorrow!”

First of all, two weeks is not that long to update a blog. I’ve been busy with work and trying to figure out how so many people with New Orleans Public School education can use words I have never seen before when we are playing Words with Friends. I know they are cheating but won’t admit it. Some people go six months without any new material and still get more hits than a lot of people. Secondly, how square have I and my friends become when we are looking forward to blog posts. That’s sad commentary for our personal lives.

I’ve been missing out on a lot of things since I haven’t been posting regularly.

The Saints went 3-1 beating Houston and Jacksonville.

Archbishop Hannan passed away.

Steve Jobs passed away as well at the age of 56. Steve Jobs was a man that created technology that changed the world but couldn’t do anything to stop cancer. Cancer is still the worst thing on the planet by far.

The state of Louisiana sold the naming rights of the Superdome to Mercedes Benz and Tom Benson gets to keep all of the money. He’s not doing too shabby for a man that didn’t want to bring the team back to New Orleans. I was holding out for the Deal N’ Doug’s Used Cars Dome but I guess he couldn’t compete with Mercedes for advertisement dollars. It may surprise some people to hear that I am in favor of this deal.

Professional teams are playing in stadiums all over the country with corporations names attached to them. The Jacksonville Jaguars play in a stadium named after a company I never heard of. I don’t think they are getting their money’s worth. The other reason I am for it is that this is a crazy state and you never know who’s going to be elected and what their agenda is. The next governor could be some good ole boy that doesn’t like New Orleans or the Saints and may want to end the payments the state makes to the team. If Mercedes is giving up enough money to keep that from being an issue then I am all for it. We need to find a company to do the same thing for the Hornets so they can be more stable and stay in the city. I think Deal N’ Doug can afford the arena’s naming rights.

Some concerned citizens decided to start a protest by occupying Wall Street. It took a few days for the media to pay attention but once they did it started spreading to other cities. There was an Occupy Nola march in downtown New Orleans yesterday. That group should have just went to Tom Benson’s house and walked around the block because he’s the only one getting corporate love around here.

I was listening to talk radio at my desk one day this week and I heard a caller mention this and it made a lot sense. You hear some people say that corporations move jobs and money overseas because the corporate tax rate in America is too high. At the same time we are debating whether or not to raise tax rates on the wealthy and corporations because they aren’t paying their fair share. Corporations are paying too much AND too little taxes. Those two things can’t be true at the same time.

Hank Williams Jr. messed up Monday Night Football and cost himself a lifetime paycheck from Disney by running his big mouth about the president. Hank caught the disease that makes some Americans compare President Obama to an evil tyrant who tried to destroy an entire race of people for no reason because they don’t like some of his policies. I call it the Glenn Beck Infection.

You can disagree with the president without playing the Hitler card. Now all my rowdy friends won’t be coming over on Monday nights anymore. I know Disney is going to overcompensate and do something dumb. We are headed to a Monday night game with the intro done by the cast of The Suite Life On Deck and it’s all Hank Williams’ fault.


I'm giving Deal N' Doug the free advertisement because I love his jingle and I want his name on the New Orleans Arena. He can sing this song right before the Hornets' players are announced.

Sitting On My Porch Part Seventy Three : A Long Winded Weekend Edition

Life these days can be confusing for a person that thinks the way I do. My code in life is that your actions have to match your words. Sometimes the words come first in form of ideas and then your actions have to follow that. This is the basis on how I judge people and give them respect. Whether or not I agree with them has nothing to do with it. I have tried to apply that to myself especially since I put my thoughts on this blog for public view. I never want to be put in a situation where I look like a hypocrite.

For instance, I could myself look good by telling how wrong guys are for hanging out in bars and strip clips. Everybody would be giving me compliments and telling me what a great guy I am. I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that because when my bills are paid and everyone is taking care of, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to find me and my friends sitting a table in a place like that with a few adult beverages. I stay honest with myself and leave that kind of moral high ground to folks like my dad. It seems like he’s never been out without my mom since about 1970.

The other night I was watching the Republican debate on Fox News and the moderators asked a question about foreign policy. Rick Santorum went on to answer about how we should be spreading democracy and American freedom all over the world! The crowd started cheering. A few minutes later a gay soldier asked a question by video from overseas about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The crowd that was cheering for spreading American democracy started booing the soldier. Rick Santorum said he would reinstate the policy if he becomes president because serving in the military has nothing to do with sex. Gay people in the military don’t want to be able to come out to get some action. They are probably getting that anyway. They want to be able to come out because this is supposed to be a country with freedom to be who you are. That’s the kind of thing I can’t respect.

I could have respected him if he said that since he doesn’t want to give gay soldiers the freedom to be who they are he’ll make them exempt from having to go and risk their lives to give people in other countries the kind of freedom they can’t have in their own military. If he did that I would think he’s stupid but at least I could say he has conviction.

Stuff like that is the reason why even though I don’t agree with most of what Ron Paul says I respect him.  He’s the only guy that gets booed at a debate for how he feels and doesn’t backtrack on anything. That happens every debate while Mitt Romney attacks a healthcare philosophy he damn near created in Massachusetts. This always seems strange to me. I’m going to give Ron Paul a compliment. No matter what you think of his beliefs, his supporters never get cheated by having to watch him turn on his own principles just to win a poll. We could use more people like him accept for the wanting to take government back to the 1800’s part.

Issues of the world are complicated. I followed the Troy Davis execution story waiting to see if someone was going to step in and stop it to at least review the information and make sure that they were killing the right man. When no one did and the execution was over I felt a strong sense of sadness at the fact it seemed like the justice system was not working.  I am not a fan of the justice system because I think it is bias towards young black men. We need to fix that by keeping ourselves out of the system so the chances of another Troy Davis story happening again are minimal. At the same time we have men in our community like Telly Hankton that are so dangerous that the chief of police himself went to sent in on his trial just to see if he was really going to get convicted so his officers wouldn’t have to deal with him. Guys like that can’t be out here on the streets with the rest of us and a lot of them are too far gone for rehabilitation. Some of us may not like the current system but our community isn’t quite safe enough to pretend we don’t need something to keep some of our failures away from us.

The Saints play Houston this week. The Texans are not a rival in the minds of Saints fans the way Dallas is. It might be a more personal game because since 2005 Houston might as well be called Western New Orleans.  There are some folks here that have a strange feeling about Houston. Some of it is jealousy because they seem to have the money and progressive nature we can’t seem to master. The other part is frustration because no one talks about this but a lot of the people who stayed in Houston after the storm were hardworking and productive.  Don’t get me wrong a lot of good people came back home too but the thugs came back with them in full force.  Houston is too big for my taste but I have no problems with the city or its people because if they hadn’t opened up all of the Astrodome people may have been sitting on that interstate even longer. I pull for the Texans when they are not playing the Saints.

On the football side of things the Saints defense finally held a team under 20 points for the first time in a long time. We are either ready for another Superbowl run or the Chicago Bears have the worst offense in the league. Houston ran through our first team defense in preseason like they weren’t even on the field. Tomorrow we will find out if that was just preseason and the defense is ready to play well or if we should be looking at the schedule to see how many teams have prolific offenses and count those as a lost. This game will tell everyone a lot about where the season is headed because it’s too late now to fix the roster. I’m going to say the Saints score enough to win and come up with one big play from Darren Sproles in special teams to pull the game out. Darren Sproles is making all the preaching I did against the Bush trade look silly. If he scores every week I don’t mind being wrong.

Saints 31 Texans 27

Matters of Redemption

I’m watching the Philadelphia Eagles play the Atlanta Falcons right now. This is the first time Michael Vick has played in Atlanta since he went to prison. The Eagles were there before but he was a backup then.  There are a few people in #7 Atlanta Falcon jerseys. I figured there would be. Other than the fact he’s playing the Falcons I don’t care if Michael Vick wins this game. This post isn’t really about him. This post is about how we as a community look at redemption.

There’s no doubt that Mike Vick is a polarizing figure. There are some people that are going to always love him and others that will always hate him. Either way he does represent something that Michael Irvin mentioned on the NFL Network this morning. Michael Irvin was talking about how the African American community is built in a spiritual place that embraces the idea of redemption and how a lot of people in our community have latched on to Mike Vick because he represents that. 

Michael Irvin was right. The black community loves stories of redemption. It goes along with our journey in this country. We love to see it when someone beats the odds. There are a lot of people in my city who have had some serious obstacles to overcome. There is nothing that brightens my day more than running into someone who I know was on the edge of losing it all and came back. Usually the person doesn’t come back to start for an NFL team like Michael Vick. We are just happy to see some of our people getting up in the morning to go to work at a regular job. That alone is enough to make you cry sometimes.

The only negative aspect we have in our praise of redemption is that we don’t spend enough time trying to prevent one another from getting into places that we have to fight so hard to get out of.  Sometimes I think we focus too much on the end of the story and not trying to prevent the beginning and the middle. Many of the things we have to redeem ourselves from are a product of bad choices and avoidable circumstances. As much as I get inspired when someone beats the odds and finds their way back to the world I am equally depressed when they fall.

I don’t want to downplay what anyone has done to better themselves and change the course of their life. I just want more focus on how we can make sure as many people as possible succeed without having to go through anything. I would much rather have my friends going through life without criminal records and failed drug test trying to make things happen then always having to try and make something out of nothing.
Everybody’s not Mike Vick coming home to the Eagles or Lil Wayne getting out of prison to make records. Those guys were in prison with hundreds of brothers who have to start from scratch if they ever get out at all. The best thing we could do for them is keep them out of trouble to begin with. Not having as much drama in our lives may make our testimony a lot less exciting but our lives may be better for it.

Another Summit To Save Our Sons

Tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM the city of New Orleans will host a crime summit hosted by Mayor Mitch Landrieu. It’s called the “Saving our Sons Crime Summit”. Somehow I didn’t hear about this summit until this week and I made other commitments for Saturday morning so the city will have to forgive me if I can’t attend. I promise to make up for it by doing something productive. 

I really want to try and make it because I am interested in seeing how things go with the mayor involved. I went to the last meeting of the minds at Cohen High School and listened to men give passionate speeches about what’s going on in the streets. I remember that night well because there was a period when everyone went out into the hall where tables were set up to sign up for different things that would help out. I signed up for a mentoring program and the people never called me. I would put them on blast and mention their name but since they never called I can’t remember. I ended up working with the Volunteers of America Mentoring Children of Promise program and I will be getting another little brother as soon as work isn’t so hectic so I can give him some real time. 

That’s just a personal issue with that particular part of the last meeting. In general I support the summit. My only concern is that the message there makes it to the kids that actually seem to be in danger. The people who show up to crime summits are usually not the ones that are going to do any crime in the first place. Maybe with the mayor involved the conversation will lead to a plan that will get the message into the closed in subculture of our city that probably has no idea there’s a crime summit going on because they are too busy focused on doing their own crimes. Those are the kids we have to get into some programs even if we have to force them into them. 

Mayor Landrieu has an underrated gift in how he communicates with people from all walks of life in this city. I think its part of the reason that although nothing has changed when it comes to influence and opportunity we haven’t seen any major public battles like we used to see when Ray Nagin was mayor.  If there is one thing to make me change my plans and go it will be to see if the mayor can’t stand up there and address some of the issues that need to be addressed to change some of the behavior of young men in this city. I want to see if the mayor can stand up there and tell those folks that if they just took responsibility for their kids and themselves that would cut the crime rate in half instantly without everyone getting offended and losing sight of the real purpose of being there. If he can pull that off there will be no need for anyone to run against him in when re-election time comes.

Week 1 : The Most Important Players For A Good Season

Tomorrow night the Saints play the Green Bay Packers to open the NFL season. I’m not going to kid myself into thinking this is a good way to start the season. Green Bay is a very good team. Their quarterback is an assassin. It doesn’t surprise me that so many people are picking them to repeat. I would rather open the season against the Bengals. That way if our defense isn’t quite ready we won’t get destroyed on a Thursday night when the whole country is watching. I’ve been through that once before against Peyton Manning and it wasn’t fun.

Win or lose there will still be 15 more games left. When I look at the season as a whole it’s difficult for me to figure out what I think the Saints record will be. This is not the same team that won the Superbowl two years ago and changing the roster is cool if you are getting younger and more talented but honestly I am not sure if that’s the case. I think we have a good team this year but how far we can go depends on a hand full of guys. Here are the most important Saints players other than Brees and Vilma in order of catastrophe if they get hurt or don’t play well.

1.    Malcolm Jenkins: He’s the most important person on defense besides Jonathan Vilma. Chase Daniel can hand the ball off and make a few throws if Drew gets hurt. We learned the hard way at the end of last year that if Malcolm Jenkins gets hurt the season is lost because there’s no one remotely close to his level of play. If he’s not in there it’s the Seattle playoff game all over again.
2.    Zach Streif : We won’t have to wait long to find out if our right tackle spot is going to be trouble all year. I think Jon Stinchcomb being cut had more to do with his physical skills declining than with Streif getting better. Nevertheless he’s got to play well because I think Charles Brown who was drafted in the second round of last year’s draft is a bust.
3.    Shaun Rogers: I wasn’t as excited about this signing as everyone else seemed to be. It just seems like his career should be better than what it has been. Plus he’s played for Cleveland and Detroit and I am not sure if he’s got a lot of concern for winning.
4.    Will Herring/Scott Shanle/Jonathan Casillas/ Martez Wilson: The two starters at outside linebacker coming out of a combination of these four guys have to be able to cover tight ends and make some plays. I thought this was the weakest spot on the team last year and it is again.
5.    Garrett Hartley and John Kasay: Last year one missed kick against Atlanta at home ended up being the reason we were playing in Seattle instead of having a home playoff game. Now Hartley’s hurt and our kicker is a 40 year old veteran who broke my heart so many times with the Panthers. Let’s hope he still has the leg and that it doesn’t come to him having to make a big kick before Hartley comes back. If he does have to make one let’s hope it doesn’t look like his kicks in preseason.

I don’t see any middle ground this season. We either going to win 11 to 12 games and win the division or we are going to win 5 to 6 and get young kids ready for next season. I am not going to make a prediction on the record because I want to say 12-4 but that’s more of my heart talking than anything. I’m just going to take this season week by week and see what happens.

You shouldn’t put much stock in preseason games but going by what I saw I want to say that the Packers will win tomorrow night’s game 31-21. However as a diehard fan, if you can’t be positive about the first game then when can you? I’m going with my heart and say Saints 27 Packers 21. That would be a great opening night. A good opening night would be a close came without Clay Matthews or Charles Woodson killing Drew Brees and Malcolm Jenkins not getting hurt.

I still haven’t decided on my new lucky game shirt since I burned the other after the Seattle wildcard game last year but I’ll have one by game time. I hope I don’t have burn this one too.

Sitting On My Porch Part Seventy Two

This post is dedicated to Geraldine 9/26/32 to 8/29/2005. I'll never be over it but I'll keep moving forward. Long live the Lower Ninth Ward.

I need to get this post done before college football gets in full gear this weekend and I fight flood waters to make it to my fantasy draft on Sunday. Plus, I have two epic Saints season preview posts to do this weekend if the power doesn't go off. It’s been a strange week around the city of New Orleans. That’s not the first time I have said those words. Monday was the anniversary of the weather event on August 29, 2005. I’m not in the mood to type the name this evening. It’s always a pretty somber and reflective day for most of us. It’s been six years so we talk about it less but inside it still stays with you. All week I've been thinking about my grandparents and that always puts me in a strange place where I want to make them proud and kick someone's ass on their behalf at the same time. My fifth act as a king of all humans is taking August off the calendar.

I guess Mother Nature decided to give us something to take our minds off all the water by covering the city in a big cloud of smoke for two days due to a marsh fire out in New Orleans East. I made a comment Monday morning that it smelled like burned collard greens outside. The smoke smelled really bad on Monday and then tried to choke the life out of everyone on Tuesday. In true New Orleans fashion there were some people who pretended like they didn’t smell anything and it was no big deal and another group of people who thought it was Armageddon. That made the whole situation a bit funny to me.

Once the smoke got everyone’s mind off of flooding we were presented with another tropical system that sitting outside of coast and waiting to mess up everyone’s Labor Day weekend. If it gets strong enough for a name it will be” Lee”. I’m hoping that it comes through before that and gives us whatever it’s going to as soon as possible. If no one home gets flooded and the Direct TV signal stays on long enough to watch the LSU vs. Oregon game on Saturday we should consider this event a win. I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of a tropical storm but we live in South Louisiana. We are going to get some kind of tropical weather. Give me a pain in the ass storm like this one with lots of rain over one that requires the activation of contra flow any time.

Michael Vick signed a contract worth 100 million dollars this week after being in federal prison two years ago. Most black men can barely get a job digging ditches when they get out of prison and Mike Vick got a huge contract with guaranteed money. If that doesn’t make him appreciate his gifts I don’t know what will. People’s reaction to his rise, fall and rising again shows the different philosophies on life in our community. So many people are inspired by the fact he went to prison and came back to have success. I think they see a lot of their own family and friends in him. I was raised by people who would say that if he never would have been fighting dogs in the first place he would have 200 million right now and could do even more things for himself and his family. At the end of the day the best way to beat the system is to stay out of it.

On the flip side of that issue Betty Jefferson stole over a million dollars from the most vulnerable and needy people in New Orleans and all she got were 15 months of house arrest. The second best way to beat the system is to be a really good thief and always steal from poor black people. You’ll get to spend 15 months watching Young and the Restless for your punishment.

New Orleans City Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson had a few issues at a meeting in District E when she said that having Mitch Landrieu as mayor took her back to the 50’s and 60’s which were the glory days of New Orleans in her book. I’m not the type of person that jumps all over someone for a quote unless it’s Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. In this case however the councilwoman is not going to get a pass because there’s no way she or anyone else has lived in this area all their lives and doesn’t know that kind of comment was going to piss off black people. The political climate in this country is too tense right now and she should be more careful. I tried to come up with a way to let her off the hook but I couldn’t.

Maybe to her the 50’s and 60’s were the golden era for New Orleans but if me and my friends went back in time and went out to eat all of my white friends would have a nice seat overlooking the French Quarter and the rest of us would be eating in the kitchen if we got that far without getting our asses whipped and going to jail. I like the mayor but he hasn’t done anything that great to make me get on board with going back to any days like that. If he gets a hospital open in New Orleans East and a Wal Mart somewhere I might reminisce on when Schwegmann’s grocery store was open but that’s as far back as I am going. Besides, I thought we were focused on going forward.

Seven Years In Blogger Land And I'm Still Here

On August 25, 2011 this blog made 7 years old. I'm old school. I'm a veteran. I've been posting a long time. You get the idea. I'm amazed at myself for still being this engaged despite my incredibly short attention span. The last few months I had been seriously thinking about retiring and hanging up my Blogger user id and password. I was all set to do it but then I changed my mind. I figured after years of coming up with new things to talk about a few times a week I had run out of ideas or the interest in the world around me to talk about anything. The real truth is that I am just getting lazy and distracted by things. I still love doing it so I'm going to hang around for a bit longer.

Yesterday I was this year’s Rising Tide Conference. It’s the perfect place to be for a blogger who needs a boost. A friend of mine was on the Brass Band Panel. When he saw me he asked what I was doing there. I told him I was there every year. He looked at my name tag and was like “What the hell is Cliff’s Crib?” I told him it was my website. He gave me a confused look and said “Cliff you gotta website?” He’s probably still confused today. The conference is getting bigger and bigger. It’s getting so big that now you can actually be there all day and not run into some of the familiar faces. That’s a huge sign of progress. It shows that blogs are still going strong despite the term for what we do being lumped in with every person who decides to leave a comment on a news story or anyone else that types a few words online.

What they do is comment on other people’s work. What real bloggers do is create our own voice. Sometimes we do a good job of that and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes people read it and sometimes no one notices. Either way I respect the people who go through the process and put themselves out there even if I don’t agree with them.

I remember how it was last year to be at the Rising Tide Conference knowing you won the Ashley Morris Award and couldn’t tell anyone. I thought I gave it away when my friends showed up and lowered the black/white ratio of the crowd slightly. I have my plaque sitting on a stand in my office at work. Winning an award for blogging is funny because one of the unwritten rules of the game is to try to not make things so serious. It’s hard to maintain that when people stand up and applaud your work.

This year’s winner is Dedra Johnson also known as G Bitch to her blogger friends. She’s a well deserving winner and I can assure you that her real life personality does not match the name of her blog. She’s good people and I am happy for her. Congratulations and I hope we are all around next year when a new winner is honored.

To all the other bloggers out there still coming up with relevant, informative and thought provoking posts keep doing what you do. I’ll be right there with you. I love doing it. Plus, you can’t put a price on telling someone “Google me” and actually have things show up during the search that don't involve arrests. You can’t put a price on that.

The Cost Of Young Men Making Dumb Decisions

Unless LSU has been hiding something for the last few years I feel comfortable in saying that Jordan Jefferson is a good kid. Nevertheless he and his teammates did a dumb thing by breaking curfew and it led to him and a teammate allegedly being in a fight which caused them to get arrested and suspended from the team. Young men do dumb things. They always have and they always will. I did some dumb things at that age. I made some choices that were so stupid and hazardous to my well being that I pass certain spots in New Orleans that remind me of a crazy night and feel like I should go straight to church and thank God that nothing happen to me. Nothing too bad ever happened. I always made it home jail and bullet free. I was never a bad guy and never looked for any trouble but when you make bad decisions the potential side effect is bad circumstances. Things could have gone either way. I am glad thankful they never did.

I’m sure Jordan Jefferson’s parents and coaches told him to be careful just like my parents used to always tell me. When I was 20 years old I would say okay but when the night is calling and the adrenaline is rushing you hear what they are saying but it doesn’t always stick. I went to a few places I shouldn’t have and been around some people who could have put me in danger. Kids do that all the time it’s just that most of them are not the quarterback for a major college football program.

I feel bad for the kids involved especially for Jordan Jefferson because he paid so many dues to get to this point and have it all blow up on him because of a few minutes of bad judgment. I don’t know what actually happened yet. It really doesn’t matter at this point. His football career is ruined and if LSU loses to Oregon next week everyone is going to blame him. If the entire season falls apart some fans are going to talk like he’s a mass murderer instead of a kid that got into a fight and that’s unfortunate.

Times have changed in our society. You could be the starting quarterback for your college or the first person to do well and make it out of your neighborhood and there will be just as many people out to hate you as there are to love you. You have to stay clear of places where there is the potential to have altercations with people because you can’t control that environment.

That’s easy for me say now. I’m 37 year old dad with a career and an upstanding reputation. I’m so paranoid of something happening that I hardly hang out anymore because I am afraid of screwing everything up. When I was Jordan Jefferson and his teammates’ age I probably would have thought “All we have to do is go to the bar, meet some girls and have a few drinks without any trouble. We’ll be back in enough time to sleep a little before practice. No one is going to even know we left. What could possibly go wrong?” Ninety nine percent of the time that works. This story is the case of the one percent that it doesn’t work and you end up sitting on the sofa at your parent’s house watching television as some other guy leads your team out of the tunnel for the first game of your senior season. He should have just stayed in and went to sleep that night. I hope this makes him a better man as he gets older.

Some life lessons sting harder than others.