Watching the Super Bowl in Louisiana...again

Having just spent the last three hours in a hotel room by myself watching the New Orleans Saints win Super Bowl 43 over the Indianapolis Colts, I was taken back to another NFL championship game some 19 years prior.

That game -- in which the New York Giants beat Buffalo for the title in 1991 -- was also viewed by yours truly alone in a hotel room, although the inn I stayed in back them can not be compared to the digs I am enjoying today.

Back in 1991, I was still in college at Texas State and -- as the sports editor for the University Star and a cub reporter -- covering a three-game basketball road trip to the Pelican State along with the Bobcats' men's basketball team. The road trip included a 20-point loss to Northeast Louisiana (now called Louisiana-Monroe)in Monroe, a 4-point victory over Northwestern State in Nachitoches and a 12-point win over Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond in the school's University Center (below).

I think I spent the night of Jan. 27 in a Best Western in Hammond, but I couldn't tell you for sure. This time around -- with a super room at the opulent L'Auberge du Lac casino resort (pictured below)in Lake Charles -- I will for sure remember where I was when the Saints came marching in with the Lombardi Trophy.

There was an aspect of the Saints' Super Bowl win that wasn't really talked about a lot: how the team came together in the preseason after owner Tom Benson flew the head coach Sean Payton and entire offensive unit and several other team members to Austin last summer for the memorial service for the mother of NO quarterback Drew Brees (below). Drew's mom, Mina, was ruled to have committed suicide with an overdose of prescription medications while visiting her older son Reid in Colorado. Having such team unity in such a time of hurt and crisis for Brees made a huge difference in the makeup of the team, and it showed in the final minutes of the Saints' victory.

Lot's of revelry here in SWLA -- I sure you could multiply that atmosphere by 1,000 and it still wouldn't be anywhere near the kind of party that's going on in NOLA right now.

I am here in this part of the world to play and write about two of the top-notch golf courses in the area -- the Contraband Bayou GC at the L'Auberge (above)and the new National Golf Club of Louisiana, just up the road a bit in Westlake.

Keep an eye out for my stories on these two courses on the Cybergolf website (cybergolf.com).

All things in SoCal were primo...save for the result of the BCS Championship Game

Just got back from Southern California, where -- in a matter of five very busy days (two that were essentially all travel) -- I played 72 holes of golf, enjoyed an afternoon of horse racing and covered the biggest college football game of the season.

By now you all know that Alabama beat Texas 37-21 in the BCS Championship game, contested at the Rose Bowl Stadium (above) Jan. 7 before a crowd of nearly 95,000 people. The game -- which had all the makings of a real classic -- was robbed of a bit of its luster when Longhorns' quarterback Colt McCoy (a Heisman Trophy finalist the past two season) hurt his throwing shoulder on a freak injury early on and was forced to watch from the sidelines. The Horns still put up quite a fight and -- behind the stellar second-half play of true freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert -- cut a huge Alabama lead to just three points with 3:17 to play but could not withstand the vaunted Tide defense at the end (below).

After covering the game I ventured north some 35 miles to the Comfort Suites in Stevenson Ranch, a hamlet just outside the town of Santa Clarita. In the morning I headed out to the nearby Robinson Ranch Golf Club (below), where I teed it up for 36 holes -- on two separate courses (the Valley and the Mountain) designed by Ted Robinson (who fashioned such tracks as Indian Wells Country Club in Southern California, Salhalee Country Club in Washington, the Experience at Koele on Lanai in Hawaii and Lakewood Oiso in Japan) and his son Ted Robinson, Jr. Great golf on a gorgeous track made for a memorable day; look for my travel feature about the courses this summer on the Cybergolf.com website.

On Jan. 9 I flew back to San Antonio and was struck dead in the face by the cold weather that has its clutch on the rest of the country. I am glad to be home but still dreaming of SoCal and remembering the great trip I had to the West Coast.

SoCal is awesome in the winter

I have been in Southern California since Jan. 5 to cover the BCS National Championship Game for Horns Illustrated and to compile some info on a handful of golf courses for Cybergolf travel features that will run in the late spring. I have never spent a lot of time here -- after all the Austin area is really heaven, isn't it? -- but the past few days have been so fine they are like a dream.

I flew into Bob Hope Airport in Burbank (below), where it was sunny and 75 degrees. There I picked up my luggage at the only outside carousel I have ever seen. You actually went out of the airport to pick up your bags in a shaded area -- only in Cali I guess.

Then I made the hour drive across town on no less than six different freeways to Newport Beach to pick up my media credentials for the big game at the Marriott down there. The lobby and meeting areas (all of which had been taken over by the approximately 3,000 members of the media that are here covering the game) at the hotel was really nice, but the infrastructure of the guest rooms was a bit aged. I went up to my buddy Kevin Robbins's room to see his eighth-floor view of the next-door Newport Beach Country Club -- from the balcony you could see much of the pristine track as well as the ocean in the distance and the hundreds of million-dollar yachts in the bay in between. It is quite a sight.

I finally headed east to where I would spend the next two nights, at the posh and really cool Pacific Palms Resort in City of Industry. You can see the resort hotel on the top of the hill out there from miles away (above), and my room -- on the top floor overlooking the first, tenth and 18th holes of the Eisenhower Golf Course (below) at the affiliated Industry Hills Golf Club -- was a fine place to stay. Can't say enough great things about the resort, the room, the golf courses (there is a second track at Industry Hills as well, called the Zaharias Course, after Babe)and the friendliness of the people over there. Thanks for letting me stay and for all the hospitality.

I had a great Swedish massage at the resort's Spa that first afternoon, then ventured down the street for dinner at La Pollo Loco, a famous California chicken place. Both had me ready for the next few days activities, which included rounds of golf at both the Industry Hills courses and a glorious afternoon of horse racing at Santa Anita Park (below).

On Jan. 7 -- after a round of golf at The Babe -- I high-tailed it over from east of LA to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl for the BCS Championship Game, college football's version of the Super Bowl. This year the showdown is between Texas and Alabama. You'll know pretty soon about who won and captured the national title.

After the game I am heading north some 35 miles to Santa Clarita, where I will spend a few nights at the Comfort Suites and play golf at Robinson Ranch, a 36-hole facility in the valleys and mountains that surround the town. I will give you an update on that part of the trip on the way home.