Mardi Gras enthusiasts know where they will be the Sunday evening before Mardi Gras: watching the Krewe of Bacchus navigate the streets of uptown New Orleans. That is usually the case. But the situation will be more complicated this year when the New England Patriots showdown with the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. For the second time in history, the biggest game of the NFL season will compete with one of the biggest parades of the carnival season. While non-New Orleanians may consider the decision to skip the parade in favor of the Super Bowl an easy one, people more accustomed to Mardi Gras may feel differently. Arthur Hardy, a fifth-generation New Orleanian and a nationally-recognized Mardi Gras authority, said he expects locals to stay true to the parade. “The last time the Super Bowl coincided with the Bacchus parade, there was no noticeable decline in attendance at the parade,” he said. Hardy has written his award-winning “Mardi Gras Guide” for more than 30 years. While it seems that one city’s impact on television ratings may be negligible, only four of the past 20 Super Bowls have received lower viewership than the Patriots’ 2005 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles – the only other time Bacchus and the NFL have battled for fans. The Patriots-Eagles game was the lowest-rated Super Bowl of the past four years despite being one of the closest games “Bacchus was the first super-krewe when they presented their first parade in 1969,” Hardy said. “They’re one of the major events of the whole Mardi Gras season.” And now football fans, particularly LSU fans, will have a little extra incentive to miss the Super Bowl to catch one of the highlights of carnival time. Miles and some of his departing seniors will be riding in Bacchus along with LSU cheerleaders and Mike the Tiger, according to the Times-Picayune. “I’m not sure if [Miles is] riding or not,” said LSU Senior Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette in an e-mail. “There’s a chance that he may ride, but nothing has been confirmed.” Owen “Pip” Brennan Jr., the Captain of the Krewe of Bacchus and the son of Bacchus’ founder, said Bacchus is thrilled to honor LSU’s National Championship team. “They have lifted our great state to special national prominence by their successes on the football field, and I know the immense crowd that will watch the 2008 Bacchus parade will honor the team with their applause and cherish catching the special LSU throws,” Brennan said in a statement. Some fans may attempt to enjoy both by watching parts of the game in bars or houses near the parade route. LSU alumnus Matt Guy lives two blocks off St. Charles Street and plans to have kegs on the street car line as a pre-gaming event with his friends. “I’m at law school at Tulane now, so most of the people that will be coming are from out-of-town and care a lot more about the Super Bowl right now than Mardi Gras,” Guy said. “Since it’s not a team I really care about too much, I’ll probably end up watching Bacchus.” Hardy, a football fan and member of Mayor Ray Nagin’s Mardi Gras advisory committee, said it would be an easy decision for him – even if he did not have to attend the parade for work. “I would [go to Bacchus], because that’s what I do,” Hardy said. “Now if the Saints had been in [the Super Bowl], it would have been quite a difficult choice to make, but since they’re not – and of course I’m pulling for [Giants’ quarterback] Eli [Manning], a New Orleans boy – no. Mardi Gras is a little bit more important to me than football.”
—-Contact Jerit Roser at [email protected]