Arrived in New Orleans today after getting up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 and staying at the Cleveland Sheraton Hopkins last night because of the first snowout of '08. Happy New Year from Old Man Winter, now take THIS Northeast Ohio.

In New Orleans it's a balmy 44 and I can only laugh as the locals chatter while their teeth click together because it's so cold. Ummm…yeah…come visit Northeast Ohio. Initial impressions of this city? I haven't been here in almost 20 years and given that I spent a lot of time on Bourbon Street, the memory is a bit hazy.

But the first thing I noticed upon taking my taxi ride in were the billboards heading into downtown. What distinguished them from say the boards in Northeast Ohio? Booze, beauties, gambling and, well, beauties. Devastated by Hurricane Katrina a couple of years back, it would seem that New Orleans has little problem with getting to the heart of what makes America tick. And for those individuals out there who prefer to live with their heads in the ground, a glaring reality of tourism and life in America is that sin sells.

Of course, sin has always sold in this part of the South, a kind of paradox if you ask me given the strong religious roots all of the Deep South has. Bourbon Street has never been for the puritanical. What I do remember, however, is that it wasn't this glaring when I was here before.

Is it a problem? Not for me. And I'm certainly sure that more than a few fans of the Hawaii Rainbows and Georgia Bulldogs enjoyed their share of sin. Good for them.

It's 2008 and we've been hearing about the upcoming election for a year now. We're all stressed by gas prices, the drag on the economy caused by the virtual collapse of the housing market. Hell, I've learned what my mother meant when she told me more than once to not be in a hurry to grow up.

Some say that football and sports in general are taken far too seriously in this country. They may be right. But perhaps, just perhaps, we take life too seriously and never really stop to enjoy it. This is why I believe I have a dream job. Six days in NOLA - what I hope to be a great football game between the OSU Buckeyes and LSU Tigers and a little sin. Will there be stress involved? Yup, in the form of work and writing my butt off. Heck, I might even blog everyday. But what I do know is that I will also blow off some steam after a busy work day. Gee, did I mention there's a Harrah's Casino not more than a five minute walk from my door?

Sin, gotta love it.