Superdome Construction 1971-75

Construction of the Louisiana Superdome began in 1971. It was finally finished behind schedule in August 1975, 7 months after Super Bowl IX had been scheduled to be played in it. The final cost of building the Superdome came to $165 million, almost 4 times the initial budget set at $46 million. There was some controversy surrounding the building of the Dome on the site of the former Girod Street Cemetary, with some even going as far as labeling the Dome as permanently haunted. But thankfully the Saints recent Super Bowl season has finally laid many of those residual superstitions to rest.

The New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans baseball team was founded in 1887, joining the Southern Association in 1901. From 1915 to 1957, The Pelicans played their home games at Heinemenn Park, later known as Pelicans Stadium. For 2 seasons, the Pelicans played in City Park Stadium, later known as Tad Gormley Stadium, until the team was moved to Little Rock at the end of the 1959 season.

The Pelicans won the Southern Association in 1910 behind "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's league-leading .354 batting average. In 1926, the great Satchel Paige finished his season pitching for the "black" Pelicans team. Evidently, there was concurrent to the "white" and "black" Pelicans teams a "creole" Pelicans team as well. In the '50's, the Pelicans were coached by future Pittsburg Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh. Other notable Pelicans players included Hall-of-Famers Dazzy Vance, Joe Sewell, Bob Lemon, and Earl Weaver.



In 1977, the Pelicans’ name resurfaced with the former triple-A Tulsa Oilers spending a single season playing home games in the Superdome. Affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals, the team included future World Series heroes Tony LaRussa and Dane Iorg.

The following UNO documentary sports some great photos from the Pelicans' storied history...

Joseph Addai at LSU

Joseph Addai came to Baton Rouge in 2001 as a high school quarterback out of Sharpstown, Texas. By the time he left LSU, he was primed to become a quality NFL running back. The following highlights are nothing short of beastly. No wonder Addai averaged a whopping 6.7 yards per carry his junior season...

The New Orleans Buccaneers

Before the Jazz appeared on the scene in 1974, the Crescent City enjoyed its first professional basketball team in the form of the New Orleans Buccaneers. For 3 seasons from 1967-68 to 1969-70, the Buccaneers held court in the American Basketball Association featuring stars including Larry Brown, Doug Moe, Jimmy Jones, and Steve "Snapper" Jones. The Bucs reached the ABA title series in 1967-68 against Connie Hawkins and the Pittsburgh Pipers but fell short of the championship in game 7. For the 1970-71 season, the Bucs moved away from New Orleans to become the Memphis Pros.

Aaron James

Aaron James starred at Cohen High School in New Orleans, then went to Grambling where he led the nation in scoring with 32.1 points per game during his senior season. In 1974, James became the New Orleans Jazz's first ever draft pick, averaging 10.8 points per game for the Jazz over the course of 5 seasons.

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Quarterbacks

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Quarterbacks by: Total Points per Games Played (Games Played in Parenthesis)

1. Michael Vick 32.03 (12 games)
2. Tim Tebow 29.98 (3 games started)
3. Aaron Rodgers 26.50 (15 games)
4. Peyton Manning 25.30 (16 games)
5. Tom Brady 24.75 (16 games)
6. Drew Brees 24.59 (16 games)
7. Philip Rivers 24.16 (16 games)
8. Tony Romo 22.83 (6 games)
9. Kyle Orton 22.53 (13 games)
10. Ben Roethlisberger 22.22 (12 games)
11. Jon Kitna 21.83 (10 games)
12. Eli Manning 21.44 (16 games)
13. Matt Schaub 21.35 (16 games)
14. Ryan Fitzpatrick 21.15 (13 games)
15. David Garrard 20.80 (14 games)

Scoring System: 1 point per 25 yards passing, 6 points per passing touchdown, -1 point per interception, 1 point per 10 yards rushing, 6 points per touchdown rushing, -1 point per fumble lost, 5 bonus points per 300 yard passing or 100 yard rushing game.

No doubt about it, Michael Vick had an epic season at quarterback for the Eagles. And to illustrate just how crucial quarterback rushing yards can be, I narrowed Tim Tebow’s stats down to the 3 games he started and look how well his points per game average stands up against other top-rated quarterbacks in the league.

Each of Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers fared as well as expected. But how about some of the remaining names on the list? Kyle Orton, Jon Kitna, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and David Garrard each performed better than Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Carson Palmer, and Jay Cutler, who not only didn’t make the list but were all rated higher as fantasy qb’s going into the 2010 season.

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Tight Ends

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Tight Ends by: Total Points per Games Played (Games Played in Parenthesis)

1. Antonio Gates 20.32 (10 games)
2. Jacob Tamme 15.91 (10 games)
3. Jason Witten 15.83 (16 games)
4. Dallas Clark 14.95 (6 games)
5. Jermichael Finley 13.42 (5 games)
6. Vernon Davis 13.42 (16 games)
7. Mercedes Lewis 11.63 (16 games)
8. Chris Cooley 11.18 (16 games)
9. Tony Gonzalez 11.04 (16 games)
10. Zach Miller (Oakland) 10.90 (15 games)
11. Brandon Pettigrew 10.76 (16 games)
12. Kellen Winslow 10.56 (16 games)
13. Benjamin Watson 10.46 (16 games)
14. Aaron Hernandez 10.16 (14 games)
15. Rob Gronkowski 10.04 (16 games)

Scoring System: 1 point per 10 yards receiving/rushing, 1 point per reception, 6 points per touchdown rushing/receiving, -1 point per fumble lost, 5 bonus points per 100 yard receiving or rushing game.

As he has been for a decade, Antonio Gates is still far and away the top fantasy tight end in the game. We’ll see if Gates missing 6 games in 2010 with injury becomes a trend that points toward an impending retirement for the perennial All-Pro veteran.

Evidently, it doesn’t much matter who plays the tight end position for Indianapolis. Whether it’s Dallas Clark or Jacob Tamme or possibly your own grandmother, Peyton Manning is going to feed them with a steady stream of passes.

While many expected an injury-prone Jermichael Finley to surpass him statistically in 2010, Jason Witten put in the best season for any tight end physically able to play all 16 games of the season. With the biggest and only surprise on the list being Mercedes Lewis, the tight end category offers up quite the vanilla amount of intrigue, what with there being so little statistical deviation between ranked players beyond the first handful.

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Wide Receivers

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Wide Receivers by: Total Points per Games Played (Games Played in Parenthesis)

1. Andre Johnson 22.07 (13 games)
2. Roddy White 21.45 (16 games)
3. Hakeem Nicks 20.78 (13 games)
4. Brandon Lloyd 19.75 (16 games)
5. Reggie Wayne 19.16 (16 games)
6. Dwayne Bowe 18.98 (16 games)
7. Calvin Johnson 18.95 (15 games)
8. Greg Jennings 18.71 (16 games)
9. Mike Wallace 17.79 (16 games)
10. Terrell Owens 17.45 (14 games)
11. Steve Johnson 16.46 (16 games)
12. DeSean Jackson 16.36 (14 games)
13. Marques Colston 16.23 (15 games)
14. Brandon Marshall 16.05 (14 games)
15. Larry Fitzgerald 15.92 (16 games)

Scoring System: 1 point per 10 yards receiving/rushing, 1 point per reception, 6 points per touchdown rushing/receiving, -1 point per fumble lost, 5 bonus points per 100 yard receiving or rushing game

As expected by most fantasy gamers, Andre Johnson and Roddy White proved as 2010’s top studs at the wide receiver position. But few anticipated Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Lloyd to wind up being ranked in the 3rd and 4th slots. While Reggie Wayne, Calvin Johnson and Greg Jennings lived up to their lofty reputations, Dwayne Bowe, Mike Wallace and an aging Terrell Owens fared better than advertised.

But the eye-popper of all eye-poppers on this list is Steve Johnson, who came out of nowhere to surpass 1,000 yards receiving and score 10 touchdowns for the lowly Buffalo Bills. It almost seems like DeSean Jackson would be ranked higher than 12th, and he would be in leagues that award individual players for punt return touchdowns, but it is saying quite a bit that he’s still ranked higher than top 15 regulars Marques Colston, Brandon Marshall and Larry Fitzgerald.

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Running Backs

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Running Backs by: Total Points per Games Played (Games Played in Parenthesis)

1. Arian Foster 27.44 (16 games)
2. Darren McFadden 23.11 (13 games)
3. LeSean McCoy 21.21 (15 games)
4. Frank Gore 20.86 (11 games)
5. Peyton Hillis 20.28 (16 games)
6. Adrian Peterson 20.13 (15 games)
7. Chris Johnson 19.68 (16 games)
8. Maurice Jones-Drew 19.51 (14 games)
9. Jamaal Charles 19.03 (16 games)
10. Ray Rice 17.91 (16 games)
11. Matt Forte 17.79 (16 games)
12. Ahmad Bradshaw 16.49 (16 games)
13. Steven Jackson 16.46 (16 games)
14. Michael Turner 16.41 (16 games)
15. Rashard Mendenhall 16.13 (16 games)

Scoring System: 1 point per 10 yards rushing/receiving, 1 point per reception, 6 points per touchdown rushing/receiving, -1 point per fumble lost, 5 bonus points per 100 yard rushing or receiving game.

Going into the 2010 season, the 3 top-rated fantasy running backs were Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, and Maurice Jones-Drew. It’s extremely interesting to see not a single one of them ranked in the top 5 on this list. No one would have believed in a million years that Peyton Hillis would outperform all 3 of them.

Arian Foster of course started the 2010 season destroying the Indianapolis defense and just kept cruising from there. Darren McFadden and LeSean McCoy at the 2 and 3 positions are certainly apt to raise eyebrows. Throw Frank Gore into the top 5 mix and it becomes apparent just how much the scoring system used here values running backs who catch a ton of passes.

Were we to tier these players, Foster would stand alone. Then when factoring in games played as part of the criteria, everyone from McFadden down to Jamaal Charles would comprise the 2nd tier as practically interchangeable options. That still leaves much quality in the 3rd tier, with a host of steady performers who each went the distance of the 16 game season rounding out the list.

Oh yes, one other thing to notice: not a single rookie in the top 15. For all of those who were drafting Ryan Mathews in the 1st and 2nd rounds of their fantasy drafts last year, you might want to slow your roll a bit on such blind prognosticating.