NEW ORLEANS SPORTS

The Latest News, Updates and Opinions

Once again, tight end Jeremy Shockey was a late scratch from the Saints' lineup on Thursday night for the preseason finale against Miami. No explanation was immediately available, but it appears as though Coach Sean Payton wants to remain cautious with his recovering leg injury.

Join us for a Saints vs. Dolphins chat. Times-Picayune beat reporters Mike Triplett and Teddy Kider will be on at 6 p.m. for a pre-game chat.

LSU sports reporters Jim Varney and Jim Kleinpeter look at LSU's first opponent, Appalachian State, in this video.

NBA.comSean Marks has signed with the Hornets.

In an effort to help strengthen their front-court depth, the Hornets signed free agent forward/center Sean Marks on Thursday.

Terms of his contract were not released.

The Hornets are hoping the signing of Marks, a 6-foot-10, 250-pounder who is a nine-year NBA veteran, helps shore up a front court that lacked depth last season.

The Zephyrs issued a press release Thursday afternoon announcing plans for their upcoming homestand:

Friday's game against the Nashville Sounds will go on as scheduled at 7 p.m., with fireworks following the game. Saturday's game, originally scheduled for 6 p.m., has been moved up to 1 p.m.

The status of Sunday's and Monday's games are to be determined, based upon further developments with the storm. The Zephyrs expect to make decisions pertaining to those games sometime Friday evening.

Times-Picayune beat reporters Mike Triplett and Teddy Kider talk about the Saints game at 7 tonight at the Superdome.

There has been no change in the scheduled start time for LSU's season opening football game against Appalachian State on Saturday. The game is still slated to kickoff at 4 p.m.

LSU officials, in cooperation with state and local agencies, continue to monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Gustav.

LSU will continue to update fans on any changes via the news media and LSUsports.net should conditions warrant it.

John DeShazier

Having given new meaning to the phrase "long-awaited," Jeremy Shockey makes his New Orleans Saints debut tonight. I think.

We can't be too sure now, can we? I mean, Coach Sean Payton gave everybody the okey-doke last week by saying Shockey would play against Cincinnati on Saturday, then telling Shockey he wouldn't play after warm-ups. So it wouldn't exactly be a shock (couldn't help it) if the tight end didn't play tonight against Miami in the last exhibition game, which always is the most nothing of the preseason scrimmages.

New Orleans Hornets star point guard Chris Paul returned home Thursday morning, showing off his new gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to a small group of media, who took turns holding the medal and draping it around their necks.

New Orleans Hornets star point guard Chris Paul returned home Thursday morning, showing off his new gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to a small group of media, who took turns holding the medal and draping it around their necks.

Because there is a Saints game tonight, and because there is more news pending on the team and the hurricane, we've moved our noon chat to 6 p.m. So join Times-Picayune beat reporters Mike Triplett and Teddy Kider before kickoff of tonight's game against Miami.

Though Gustav could pose a threat to our area in the coming days, no weather horn has been sounded yet at City Park.

For some of the Saints, the notoriously uneventful fourth preseason game could be the most important they play this year.

New Orleans will slash its roster from 75 to 53 by the NFL's Saturday-afternoon deadline, leaving many players without a job.

BATON ROUGE - LSU's games against Troy (Sept. 6) and North Texas (Sept. 13) will be televised on TigerVision, the school's in-house pay-per-view network.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. for both games and the broadcast will start at 6:45 p.m.

The Associated PressOklahoma and Coach Bob Stoops is No. 1 in the T-P's preseason college football poll.

OK, so there's the Associated Press, the Coaches' poll and the BCS rankings, but none have the enthusiasm, or maybe sarcasm, as the Times-Picayune rankings. We'll give you a brand of humor with these picks - usually with a crazy pick at No. 25 each week - or in our quips about a certain team. Don't get too worked up about it, though, nobody goes to a bowl or stays home from a bowl based on our poll, it's all in fun.

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneTulane cross country runner Tim Cullen: "I still think it's amazing that Tulane is willing to bring these sports back while still running a deficit and trying to pay off money lost in Katrina."

Even if he weren't a history major, Tulane student body president Tim Cullen would have a strong sense of the appropriateness of the Green Wave Cross Country Invitational being held Friday, on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina striking New Orleans.

That's because the meet at City Park marks the return of the men's program at Tulane. Cross Country is the first of the sports to resume after being suspended by Tulane and UNO because of post-storm budget cuts.

AP Photo / Matt SlocumSam Bradford is likely an early favorite for the Manning Award.

One of the more prestigious awards in the nation is awarded every year in our own back yard, and while the Allstate Sugar Bowl's Manning Award may not have the national name recognition of the Heisman Trophy (for instance), it is still worthy of watching.

Among the standouts on this year's watch list released today include Florida's Tim Tebow, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Missouri's Chase Daniel, Texas Tech's Graham Harrell and West Virginia's Pat White.

For the complete Sugar Bowl release (and list of quarterbacks), read on.

AP / File photoCadillac Williams is out for at least another six weeks.

Today's look around the NFC South reveals a Caddie struggling to get started in Tampa, injury problems at wide receiver in Carolina and some basic roster management going on in Atlanta.

By The Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers placed running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list, meaning his bid to return from a serious knee injury will be delayed at least until after the sixth week of the regular season.

Hurricane Gustav has not yet impacted the playing of LSU's season opening game against Appalachian State on Saturday at 4 p.m., LSU officials said Wednesday.

The school is working closely with university and state personnel to monitor the progression of the storm. LSU will update fans on any changes via the news media and LSUsports.net should conditions warrant it.

The LSU athletic department has issued a release saying the Saturday game is still on as of now.

LSU athletics officials are working closely with university and state personnel to monitor the progression of Hurricane Gustav, but there is no anticipated impact on the LSU vs. Appalachian State football game at this time.

What the LPGA needs is for Michelle Wie to fulfill a fraction of the immense hype that was dump-trucked onto her the second she said she was turning professional, and actually win an LPGA event. Or Paula Creamer to win three of the four majors in a calendar year. Or Annika Sorenstam to delay retirement and create an epic rivalry with Lorena Ochoa that spans two or three years.

The NBA has announced more preseason games overseas this year. Riding the wave of enthusiasm from the Beijing Olympics, the league announced the return of the China Games in October with two games featuring the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors in Beijing and Guangzhou.

As reported by Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune in early August, the Hornets are playing two games at international venues in Berlin and Barcelona.

So what's the spread?

If you're talking about Saturday's LSU-Appalachian State football game, it all depends.

BATON ROUGE -- Surprise. Shock. Disbelief. Double takes.

Those were the reactions of LSU players a year ago to Appalachian State's stunning, season-opening 34-32 upset at Michigan.

If Reece Thomas was asked where he would be today after graduating from Jesuit in 2005, a football field at Tulane would have been the answer furthest from his mind.

The New Orleans VooDoo has announced the re-signing of defensive lineman Henry Bryant, linebacker Norman LeJeune, fullback James Lynch, offensive/defensive lineman Kevin McAlmont, defensive back Lin-J Shell and defensive lineman Michale Spicer .

The math has been impossible to ignore ever since the Saints brought in three new cornerbacks this offseason.

There simply aren't enough roster spots to go around. So by this time next week, at least one experienced veteran will be a former Saint.

Rusty Costanza / Times-PicayuneSaints coach Sean Payton

Jason David, Jason Craft and Aaron Glenn all appear to be on the bubble, vying for one or two roster spots, assuming that Mike McKenzie, Randall Gay, Tracy Porter and Usama Young are
safe.

Suffice to say that South Alabama has caught the attention of Louisiana's high school football prospects.

It's hard to project what kind of record LSU's football team will have as it gets ready for the season opener against Appalachian State 4 p.m. Saturday at Tiger Stadium, but it's not hard, apparently to project how good the players are going to be.

LSU players have been showing up on watch lists for national awards all summer, and today is no exception.

Brett Duke/The Times-PicayuneSaints coach Sean Payton says the team has a plan if Hurrican Gustov hits the New Orleans area.

Saints Coach Sean Payton said Tuesday that the team has a plan in place if Hurricane Gustav affects the New Orleans area.

Payton, who was not with the Saints when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, said the team has evacuation plans to several possible locations, depending on the track of the storm. But he declined to say where the team might go.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees and running back Deuce McAlister are scheduled to attend a ribbon cutting for the dedication of Pan American Stadium at 4:30 p.m. today.

Join us for a Tulane chat at 1 p.m. with Times-Picayune staff writer Andrew Lopez. We will talk Green Wave football as they get ready to open with Alabama on Sept. 6