Good morning and welcome to my weekend thoughts. Each Monday, I will share my thoughts on what's happening in and around SE Louisiana and give my opinions and recommendations on some various, random topics that float around in my brain. I'll also answer some questions that our readers send in so hit me up on anything from sports, music, food and more...
1. Hope everyone had a nice, long holiday weekend! The smell of BBQ was definitely in the air with lots of parties taking place all around. I was out at Lafreniere Park covering Uncle Sam Jam. It was ridiculously hot, but it is always a nice event with good food, free music and fireworks show. So, how did you celebrate the 4th?
2. This weekend was a big one for LSU, with the Tigers landing 3 defensive recruits in DE Damien Shanklin, DL Zion Williams, and DT Brandon Brown, who was previously committed to Texas. It is really shaping up to be an exciting and productive offseason for LSU especially on the defense, which was an Achilles heel for them last year.
3. Speaking of LSU, Fanatics owner Michael Rubin hosted his annual White Party in the Hamptons for the who's who of Hollywood and Sports. There was no shortage of LSU royalty in attendance with Joe Burrow, Olivia Dunne, OBJ and Ja'Marr Chase hanging out with the likes of Tom Brady, Gronk, Derek Jeter, Beyonce, Jay Z, Tobey Maguire and Leonard DiCaprio. What a life, huh?
4. Central Grocery, the famous shop in French Quarter known for their invention of the muffaletta is set to finally reopen soon. Sadly, they have been closed since Hurricane Ida in 2021 when their building suffered an overwhelming amount of damage. While the grocery has been closed, they have been selling their sandwiches through third-party vendors like Zuppardo's, Rouses and online retailers like Goodbelly. Being Italian myself, I love a good muffaletta. IMO, Giorlando's in Metairie has one of the best. I have heard Nor-Joe's is pretty good too, but I have yet to try one from them. Who makes your favorite?
5. This weekend we watched Beverly Hills Cop 4 aka Axel F. Don't want to spoil it for those who have not seen the movie yet, but it was pretty good and full of nostalgia for fans of the original movie. This sequel has an interesting development background, taking almost 20 years to get made. Several script ideas had been thrown around since the 90's but the project didn't have its first draft of a script until 2006. Then the storylines changed several times before the final script was greenlighted in 2022.
6. Just 2 more weeks until Saints Training Camp. The team will fly out to UC Irvine on July 22nd with the first practice taking place on July 24th. The team will return to NOLA on August 19th, with 2 open practices for fans to be held at Tulane's Yulman Stadium on August 20th and Caesars Superdome on August 23rd.
7. Angel Reese was named WNBA Rookie of the Month for June. Many are saying she could also win ROTY honors. Reese just joined Candace Parker as the only players in WNBA history to record 12 straight double-doubles. She was also named BET's Sportswomen of the Year and to the WNBA All-Star team.
Her star just keeps on shining brighter!!
Well, that's all folks. See you next week... same time, same place.
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