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Louisiana has been on a big sports roll. First LSU crushed Clemson to win the NCAA football championship, which put most everybody into a state of euphoria.
And looks like on Wednesday, Zion Williamson will make his long-anticipated debut for the New Orleans Pelicans.
Clearly, it’s a football state. When they start to understand what the kid can do though, the Pelicans are going to carve out a special place in the hearts of all Louisiana sports fans.
We’ve seen people like Michael Jordan, Ralph Sampson, James Worthy, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, Shaquille O’ Neal, Kyrie Irving, Chris Webber, Tim Duncan, Marvin Bagley and too many others to count, and in all those games we’ve never seen anyone like Williamson.
He’ll start slow with minute restrictions, but even so, when they see his power, his quickness, his stunning leaping ability and his intuitive grasp of the game’s subtleties, he’ll excite fans there like no one has before.
The debut should come Wednesday at 9:30 and the game will be on ESPN. We sincerely hope we won’t get ESPN .5, which is what the folks in Bristol usually do to us when the early game inevitably runs over and you miss most of the first half.