This week’s selection of East Nasty of the Week (ENOW) comes to us all the way from the Big Easy. So, if your first thought is “Who Dat?” than you might already know this lifetime fan of the Saints and friend of the East Nasty community. Say hello to Brian Freeman. Brian was born and raised in the town Grenta, LA, which is about 3 miles from downtown New Orleans. In his earlier days he was all about baseball. Throughout middle school and high school he played short stop, and even made the “All State” team during his Junior and Senior years. He was offered the opportunity to play for a Junior College, but instead he opted out and went to the University of New Orleans. There he focused on a double major in Business and Computer Science.

In those years of college, Brian worked in the restaurant world, where he became a borderline master of the cajun cuisine. Now, each year he throws a big crawlfish boil where he demonstrates the true art of gumbo. But like so many New Orleans residents, his life is defined by Katrina. Brian was living in the city when the big hurricane hit, and with it, his entire life changed. His job was no longer needed in New Orleans (mainly because they did not have power) so he transferred to Dallas, Texas. Dallas was not his scene however, and after six months there, he was hired by Vanderbilt in their IT department as a software engineer.

So that brings Brian here to Nashville. He has been here for 5 years now, and two years ago his fellow colleagues, Greg Kyle and Brian Murray, told him about our Wednesday night runs. Before that first night, Brian had NEVER run more than a mile straight. Brian says that East Nasty, in a sense, saved his life. It has made him healthier (losing over 40 pounds!!!), it has given him a community to be involved with (he is always volunteering for our group, including the 1st round of the Potato to Tomato program,) and he has now run the Country Music Half Marathon with a time of 1:49:04 (his first one by the way!!!)

Brian is definitely one of the friendliest members of our group too. He has already started training people with the new Potato to Tomato 5K program, and he is already pumped to watch some great NFL this Fall whenever the games get started. To him, one of the greatest moments in his life (and in the city of New Orleans) is when the Saints won the Superbowl a couple of years ago. Here is a picture of him and his friends in their Saints tutus.

Be sure to say hey to Brian this week on Wednesday and leave a comment for him below.