I've been to New Orleans about 20 times in my life. My parents started taking me when I was 4, which according to some pastors I've had in my life, constitutes child abuse.

Only once have I ever seen trouble in New Orleans, and it didn't come from locals, but from a collection of kids in town for what appeared to be some kind of punk rock convention a couple of decades ago.

The trip to New Orleans to watch Alabama play Utah in the Sugar Bowl was my first post-Katrina...