New Orleans A Champion Sports Host!
Super Bowl and Sugar Bowl Party Scene

Fans pour to to party on Bourbon Street after winning the Sugar Bowl.

Every major event or championship in every sport should be held every year in New Orleans.

College football's national title game, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the NBA All-Star Game, you name it. This year, New Orleans hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, and last year it hosted the BCS national championship between LSU and Alabama.

No other city in America – or the world, for that matter – is so perfectly suited to host these events. Sure, there are the facilities – the Superdome, the new New Orleans Arena – but beyond the places to play there's THE place to play: Bourbon Street. And the French Quarter.

No other city can provide the level of entertainment for such an event as New Orleans. It's so natural here, it just happens. Here's some prime examples:

• There's Great Buildup to the Games and the Ideal Place to Celebrate Afterward. Bourbon Street and the French Quarter provide a great warmup to the events 2-3 days beforehand. And after the games, there's no place like Bourbon Street to celebrate – or drown one's sorrow's. And here, the sorrows won't last long.

It's always a party in New Orleans, and especially for championship games.

• Bourbon Street and The French Quarter. Small enough to walk end-to-end in 15 minutes, Vieux Carre' (Old Square or Old Quarter) is packed with restaurants, quaint bars, New Orleans-style souvenir shops (featuring all types of beads, feathered boas and hilarious t-shirts mostly concerned with sex or drinking) and of course Bourbon Street with its numbing number of small and busy bars.

• No Car is Needed. The Quarter is so easy – and safe – to walk that not even cabs are necessary.

• The Weather is Quite Agreeable. It's reasonable to expect clear and sunny skies with temperatures in the 50s-70s for days on end. Even in winter.

• It's Casual. Jeans, t-shirts or shorts are acceptable anywhere. Unlike Vegas and some other places, this is comfortable partying.

In New Orleans, you can get beers to go from Bourbon Street vendors.

• To-Go Cups. Wandering down the street with an open drink is no problem. Restaurants, bars, counters, even jockeybox stands in small alleys that sell drinks to go. When leaving a bar or restaurant, just put the drink in the plastic "to-go" cup and walk out the door. Heck, they even let you go INSIDE bars with drinks in hand.

• There's No Last Call. Some bands don't take the stage until 3 a.m. The bars close when the people leave. After all, the city's theme is Laisssez le bons temps rouler – Let the good times roll!

Fans celebrate a touchdown at a New Orleans bar.

But the main reason New Orleans should host every major sporting championship ever year is because it CAN.

By this we mean it is so used to celebrations that title games are no big deal. All the people are polite, the workers are cordial and even encouraging, the cops know how to deal with it and the politicians are partying too. After all, this is just child's play compared to the city's really big party – Mardi Gras.

And oh yeah, it's New Year's Eve in New Orleans prior to the 2013 Sugar Bowl, which is Jan. 2. For starters, there was 3-for-1 drinks (5-9 p.m.). Fireworks from across the Mississippi River from from Jackson Square, then back to the bars of Bourbon Street.

New Orleans is more crowded than even on NYE. It's Decatur Street and the French Market area by day – Margaritaville is most popular – and Rue Bourbon by night. There's even short lines at some of the bars and most are not allowing drinks to be taken in from the street – both rare occasions in this town. One place, Razzo, even has a $5 cover charge.

Locals New Orleans Tips: For both the Sugar Bowl and Super Bowl, there is a Fan Fest at the Jax Brewery parking lot on Decatur Street. It's free...Walk on the sidewalk to best avoid betting constantly bumped into by stumbling revelers on Rue Bourbon....It's quite acceptable to walk out of bars with full drinks in New Orleans. Just be sure and pour it in a plastic "to go" cup. ...With all this great food, restaurants close between 10:30 and 11, so eating late is a definite problem. Go for it early....Wear white when eating beignets at Cafe du Monde (the powdered sugar really shows up on dark clothes)...If you ever get in trouble in New Orleans, remember these key words: "Yes Sir. No Sir. Thank You Sir."