Chiba Ice Cream Sunday: 20120930
A review of the New Orleans Hornets happenings of the week with some tasty extras not to be found elsewhere. Plus, this week, a treat for readers . . .
Chiba’s Bananas Foster Spring Roll
Before we get going with the news, let’s talk about ice cream. I called this piece Ice Cream Sunday for a number of reasons.
First, It’s a mix of what you expect, plus some goodies, and a dash of signature personality, like a Sundae. In fact, Sundae’s were invented to clear out the stock of the week on Sunday while attracting customers, but had a named changed due to Sunday not being the day for indulgence in Christian communities.
Second, it will mostly come out on Sunday. It gives people a chance to review the week, check out what they missed, or look at some goings-on that didn’t get addressed in other posts.
Third, I like ice cream, and I want to talk about ice cream. Today, I get to talk about ice cream.
What you’re looking at above, ladies and gentlemen, is Chiba’s take on Bananas Foster. The banana is fried in a casing, the ice cream is on the side, and sauces are drizzled on to complete the favor puzzle we all know and love.
For those asking, “What is Bananas Foster?”: It’s that, but normally it’s on fire for a little bit.
For those asking, “What is Chiba?”: Chiba is the closest thing there is to a New Orleans Japanese Restaurant. It’s not a sushi joint. They have sushi, and it’s extremely good, but you can get a steak and other things. It’s there ok Oak by near the Maple Leaf. There’s more info here, as well.
And no, this is not some paid endorsement. In fact, it’s the opposite. I’ve been eating there for months, and I was just there for lunch. I talked to Keith (the owner), and he said I could give all the readers the same thing. Cool, huh?
So, here’s the deal: Go into Chiba sometime this week and show this to the staff: “Jason said Keith will give me a free dessert.” Order at least an entree without using any other discount, and the table will get a free dessert.* Bingo-bango.
* That’s one dessert for the table, and you can’t use multiple discounts. The guy’s being cool. Be cool back. Also goes for October 1 through October 13. They are closed Sundays. So if that dessert looks good, go get it soon. Also, this is good for any dessert, including their bread pudding and their mochi.
In other words: “Thanks!”
This is just one of many “Thanks” readers will get from us this season. Still, you have to take advantage of this one, or we won’t get more deals for you guys. Do what you can, and do it this week.
Speaking of this week, the Hornets play Orlando in Mexico City one week from today at 1:30 CDT (UTC -5) on NBATV.
Dudes.
Duuuudes.
You can turn your nose up a preseason if you want, but NBA preseason games have significant playing time by many top talents, and this will be our first look at a deeply changed roster. Plus, we should be able to go full Pesci on the devamped Magic.
Then, Charlotte comes to town Tuesday.
Season ticket holders should look for their tickets to arrive this week, by the way.
Back to the week that was . . .
Cox is no longer a Crescent City Champion (think seven-figure sponsor), but they remain a sponsor. Also, Fox Sports New Orleans is listed as sponsor. You can see the logo at the link. They are not a CCC, but Cox was a double-dipper before, both creating and distributing content. Now the job is divided up. The pie is just cut up into more pieces, though it might be a little bit bigger. Just a little.
This leaves the franchise with just three top level sponsors. They have many lower level sponsors, and that counts for a great deal, but the team was looking to hold six top level sponsors. They dropped to three instead. They’ve got some work to do.
Fox Sports does not list Fox Sports New Orleans in their “Regions” yet. Same deal for the Hornets in their “Home Teams.”
The 2012 – 2013 Media Guide came out this week. Since the guide is posted in chapters on the team’s site, we’ve posted a 20M monolithic copy on the site if you can deal with the download. It’s a good reference.
On the site, Mike put out some pieces looking at how highly touted rookies fared their first year. His first two subjects were LeBron James and Yao Ming.
Joe and I had a point and counterpoint on attendance projections, which is thankfully a less important discussion this year.
In the No returned this week.
Andrew had a great video of the French Quarter Flyers auditions. Bee Zany auditions were this week. Hopefully, we’ll have news on that soon.
Also, the Hornets have been ranked as a team and as players. Dig around for more, as this was the theme of the week on the site.
Of course, there were several player interviews and analysis pieces.
There is a before and after with the Hornets, Smith, and Chevron helping to open a math and science center on the northshore.
A thread on Hornets Talk relates a story of a fan seeing Austin Rivers in Rouse’s. Talk about polish . . . the dude even shops at team sponsors. Rivers has a bright future even if he has a knee-ectomy today.
The Hornets took a quick look at Filipino forward, Japeth Aguilar. Rising star nikkoewan has a post on him at Hornets Report. Adronico is all over Hornets sites and is now a writer at At the Hive, and he’s Filipino. He even went to the same school as Aguilar and has a blog about their alma mater and more. Read what he says about this if you ignore everything else ever, and he was not too excited about him. Turns out, Aguilar did not make the initial cut for camp.
At the Hive also looks at what could be a flare-up in games missed by top picks. There is not a big connection between the players other than the fact that the players involved are top picks, so I need no reason to worry. I’d like to see a comparison to time missed for players that have average over 30 minutes per game in the prior season. That would provide some context for the time missed. Is it just those guys, for instance, or all players who are seeing long minutes? It’s something to think about.
Rounding out the on-the-court talk, John Schuhmann takes a look at the Southwest Division.
Some relatively late-breaking news is that Joshua Richardson, New Orleans Hornets Vice President of Event Presentation and Broadcasting. The gun appears to be registered to his wife, and his claim is that he grabbed his wife’s bag instead of his own. Unconfirmed reports indicate that his wife is Jessica Richardson, New Orleans Hornets Senior Director of Marketing. The real story here is that the TSA screeners missed the gun initially. Mr. Richardson may have some legal tangles to work out, but it seems to me that this will not be a story in a week except with respect to the TSA.
Metairie Hornet over at Hornets Report has compiled some tweets from Jim Eichenhofer about a Real Training Camp special focusing on the Hornets airing on NBATV. It will debut from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CDT (UTC -5) on October 4.
John Reid posted a nice summary of the offseason changes. I think he’s being a little optimistic about the Arena renovations being completed before the 2014 NBA All-Star Game, but I can dig a little optimism.
Speaking of offseason changes, the NBA is looking to fine `floppers’, or players who exaggerate contact in hopes of drawing fouls. I think refs who excessively `bite’ on these should get some demerits with respect to their end-of-season evaluations, as well. After all, it’s the refs who reward the flop. The best punishment for the flopping is the NBA version of an NHL power play: the no call while the player is potentially literally laying down while at work.
It’s been quite a week for nothing happening. Media day is Monday, and practice starts Tuesday at 10 at the Alario Center.
Here we go.
Don’t forget to cash in your free dessert, people. The more we give, the more we get.
Keith’s a cool guy, and he won’t mind. He worked since Katrina to open the right spot for New Orleans that takes advantage of his years in the industry. He got it right, and he’s happy to celebrate a little with the people he opened for: us.
Chiba is on Oak near the Maple Leaf, and there’s off-street parking (really). Just show the article, and you’re good for dessert. The rest is up to you.
Thanks again, everyone.
Carry on.
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