Word is in from the "Crimson White Online, serving the University of Alabama since 1894." Well, I assume the online version came on a little later than that.

Chris Otts, News Director of the CW, is "sorry to crush your dreams, but Mardi Gras is not exactly a Girls Gone Wild commercial, at least not to us locals." So he goes to U of A, but he's from N.O.

That's a great perspective, a local coming in with some out-of-town expectations. He gives us some idea of how collegians view this excursion:

"So you want to come down here to see the insane party you've always heard about, right? You're psyched: You've got your beer packed up, maybe you're bringing some old beads you found in your aunt's attic, and most of all, you're sure not to forget your camera. You want to ensure you'll remember all the flashing boobs you're bound to see as you hang drunk off the balcony of a strip club in the French Quarter and holler at the cross-dressers who walk by on Bourbon Street."

So here is Chris' dose of reality "Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras is so packed you can hardly walk, most of the those cross-dressers are tourists from Ohio or Montana and that for every hot girl who shows you her boobs, there are probably 10 whose boobs you really (really) don't want to see... People are drinking everywhere, and some are totally trashed."

Did he say something about "boobs?" Can you do that in a college newspaper? Apparently so. He admits that his schoolmates that are not N.O. natives seemed to feel it was worth the trip. I don't think he interviewed any females.

We thank Chris for adding the Crimson White to our list of thoroughly impeachable sources on which these musings depend. What's your opinion?