We knew that (working in New Orleans) was going to be rough and we were all ready to buck up and do what had to be done. In all of our imagination, we had no idea (the city) was going to be such a disaster.

The New Orleans I knew ain't no more.

I just wanted to make sure I was ready before I gave (WBC manager) Buck (Martinez) the nod. There's a pride factor. You never want to go out there and embarrass yourself. I'm going to be competing against guys half my age.

He's got that New Orleans thing crawling all over him, that good stuff, that We Are the Champions, to hell with the rest and I'll just start over kind of attitude.

Everybody here has a story. New Orleans was always a place where people talked too much even if they had nothing to say.

Now everyone's got something to say.

I'm not going to lay down in words the lure of this place. Every great writer in the land, from Faulkner to Twain to Rice to Ford, has tried to do it and fallen short. It is impossible to capture the essence, tolerance, and spirit of south Louisiana in words and to try is to roll down a road of clichés, bouncing over beignets and beads and brass bands and it just is what it is.

It is home.