Back around 1996, recent graduate and former LSU basketball player Jason Cormier was trying to figure out what’s next. He had played semi-professional basketball
and was working two jobs at the time – as a a sales associate at AutoZone and doing patient transport at the Baton Rouge General Medical Center.
Motorsports fans with the need for speed can head to NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale to witness adrenaline pumping stock car racing or even get behind the wheel of their own go-kart at top speed. Touted as the “premier racing venue in the greater New Orleans area,” the park offers a 2.75-mile main track as well as a world-class karting facility on 30 acres, 32,000 square-foot event center, 720,000-square-foot paddock, speed shop, and 44 RV hookups with power and water.
From Lake Charles to Kinder and back again, golfers wishing to test themselves against some of the South’s best courses have numerous options. Three immediately come to mind, and each member of this links-themed trio has its own personality, its own challenges and its reason to crow a bit.
Dr. Bryan Maggard was named to the position of Athletics Director of the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in March 2017. He had spent over 20 years as an associate athletics director at the University of Missouri and helped oversee that school’s transition from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference. And, for the first year and a half at University of Louisiana, he put plans in place, hiring a staff and getting a company to handle the school’s multimedia advertising. He also made his first coaching hire, tabbing Arizona State Offensive Coordinator Billy Napier to take over the football program.
In Louisiana, the chill of autumn only means that temperatures drop from 100 degrees to 90 degrees, so we need something else to mark the beginning of the season. How about monsters, ghouls, and horror? After all, fall is the season of Halloween, and who doesn’t like a good scare?
What did I want to be when I was young?” laughs Dustin Poirier. There’s a bit of a prolonged pause from the other end of the phone. “I’m not sure. I just wanted to provide a life for myself, so that I’d be comfortable. I didn’t have any crazy, big dreams.” But then there’s another pause. “Although I think when I was really young,” he concludes, “I probably just wanted to play football.”
Ten years ago, my brother talked me into going on a surf trip to Nicaragua with his son. I hadn’t surfed in over 25 years and knew going in that any skills involved were long forgotten. What wasn’t forgotten was the “stoke” that one feels — that’s surfer lingo for excitement — when they have surfed with friends and family and make lasting memories. At the end of that trip, I realized a few things. I now know where Nicaragua is located. I realized how out of shape I was. And, I realized I would be going back.