I’ll admit it. I’m a big fan of nostalgia – I like to read old newspaper clippings, listen to old music and see how television covered old news and sports events, just to name a few.

I’ll admit it. I’m a big fan of nostalgia – I like to read old newspaper clippings, listen to old music and see how television covered old news and sports events, just to name a few.

Having grown up in New Orleans, you were spoon-fed one of Louisiana’s greatest pieces of nostalgia every Oct. 31 – a replay of Billy Cannon’s 89-yard punt return in 1959 against Ole Miss, a play that single-handedly clinched the Heisman Trophy for Cannon.

Saturday night marks the 50th anniversary of Cannon’s run, and he will be recognized between the first and second quarters of the LSU-Tulane game.

Appropriately, there has been tremendous buildup to the anniversary this week. LSU had Cannon speak at its weekly media luncheon on Monday.

On Tuesday night, Cannon, Dietzel and nine members of the Ole Miss team gathered for a reunion hosted by the Jackson Touchdown Club. (How anyone in Louisiana missed out on hosting such an event is beyond me.)

What largely goes unnoticed in these parts is just how good that Ole Miss team was. The Rebels allowed only two other touchdowns all season and gained revenge on LSU with a 21-0 win in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1960.

But we’ll leave that to our neighbors to talk about.

Cannon’s run would certainly rank on anyone’s list of the top three plays in Louisiana sports history.

“I think it’s the time of the moment that makes a great play stand up,” Cannon recalled Monday. “If we’d been ahead two touchdowns, I don’t think it would have made any difference.”

Then-LSU coach Paul Dietzel says he has personally met “a million and a half people” who told him they were in Tiger Stadium that night, quite a bit more than the actual capacity crowd of 67,327. (Some of my NewOrleans.com colleagues would chime in at this point that if I were the sports information director at LSU at that time, I might have announced a million for a crowd.)

One who apparently didn’t get counted was a man from Jackson, Miss., named Bill Rogers, who didn’t have a ticket and dressed up as an official to beat the game. Our friend Rick Cleveland of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger wrote about Rogers in 1995 and recalled that column earlier this week on his blog.

You won’t see Cannon running the 89 yards in front of the Tulane bench when he takes the field Saturday. ”I made (LSU senior associate AD) Herb (Vincent) promise that there would be … no re-enactment, because I’ve looked at my guys and I don’t think any of us could finish it,” Cannon joked.

“But we’ve enjoyed it very much over the years.”

So has all of Louisiana.

(In the end, this short amount of space can’t fully tell the story of Billy Cannon. I strongly urge you to check out a brilliant piece of work by ESPN.com’s Wright Thompson, formerly of the Times-Picayune.)

***

While LSU and Tulane meet for the 98th time this Saturday, one thing missing this week is the humor of our good friend, retired Times-Picayune columnist Angus Lind.

Twenty-nine times on game week (or around Thanksgiving, in those years where the schools didn’t meet), Lind would don his turban and step into his version of the famous Tonight Show soothsayer, Karnak.

You can still get a little taste of Karnak. Lind, in conjunction with Arthur Hardy Enterprises, has published a book of his best columns, titled “Prime Angus.” His 2000 edition of Karnak appears in the book.

***

Before we get to the picks, it’s just two weeks to the start of the basketball regular seasons, and we’re going to let you in on a secret.

Really, it’s a secret. Many of the intrasquad scrimmages most Division I schools have gone to in lieu of exhibitions are scheduled for this weekend. Locally, LSU is at South Alabama, Tulane is at Ole Miss and UNO visits Southeastern. That’s just three of several dozen scrimmages going on this weekend.

But don’t tell anybody. Part of the secret is that they’re closed to the public and no statistics or other information will be released.

***

A second straight 4-1 effort improved our season record to 30-8, so on to week nine of Lenny’s Top V:

I. Sadly, this will be the end of the LSU-Tulane series as we know it. I’ve seen every Tulane win in my lifetime, either in person or on closed-circuit TV; that only amounted to four games, however. To quote the late, great Buddy D, “the Russians will invade Kenner before Tulane beats LSU.” Tigers by 34.

II. After letting an 11-point fourth-quarter lead get away at McNeese last week, Southeastern has the tough task of bouncing back against a very good Central Arkansas team. The winner could be tied for the league lead by day’s end. Going for the home team in a tight one. SLU by 3.

III. Nicholls is at home to take on a McNeese team that kept itself in the league race with last Saturday’s comeback. The Cowboys are too good in this one. McNeese by 13.

IV. Southern hasn’t been on the road much this year, but the Jaguars head north on Saturday to take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Pete Richardson’s club was in position to kick the game-winning field goal against Prairie View last Thursday before fumbling. It may be tough to rebound. UAPB by 4.

V. Louisiana-Lafayette get a chance to go to 3-0 in Sun Belt play slip away last week with a homecoming loss to Florida Atlantic. The Ragin’ Cajuns need every win they can get to not only stay in the conference race, but to enhance their bowl chances, starting Saturday at FIU. Cajuns by 10.

Until next week …

Chances are you didn’t know Capt. Joe Katz. But if you have worked in sports or the tourism industry in New Orleans for any length of time, you did.

Fourteen weeks ago, before a single snap of August two-a-days had commenced, they were on opposite sides of the room, in the bowels of Guidry Stadium in Thibodaux at media day for the Manning Passing Academy.

On Saturday, they will be on opposite sidelines with 92,000 fans surrounding them, half in crimson and the other half in burnt orange, inside the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

To quote a famous airline commercial, �wanna get away?� If you do, let me be the first to tell you, this is the weekend to do it.

First off, the QB who was the No. 1 recruit in the nation earlier this decade and signed with LSU makes his Louisiana return - and farewell - on Saturday.

Ryan Perrilloux has turned Saturday's game against Nicholls State in Thibodaux into a pretty hot ticket. Nicholls officials expect about 8,000 fans, many of which will trek from the River Parishes to see their native son.