The Hulkster was “King Bacchus” at this year’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans, showing off his chemically enhanced biceps and hurling “doubloons” at the assembled parade spectators. Check out those pythons, brother!

Hogan might seem like an unwise choice for such an honor, considering the events of the last six months or so. But the guy who picked him insists it was really a smart idea:

Michael Hunt, chairman of the Krewe of Bacchus kings committee, quickly has leapt into the ring to defend Hulk Hogan, whose selection as 2008 celebrity monarch has been attacked on Web forums for everything from Hogan’s “Z-list” celebrity status to his recent domestic troubles to his New Orleans irrelevance.

Hunt selected Hogan, as he has every Bacchus since 2002, and he vows to relinquish his position as Bacchus king-maker if Hogan does not ultimately win over Carnival revelers…

Hogan’s popularity among children is one of Hunt’s primary concerns, he said. Bacchus’s annual visit to Children’s Hospital to dispense doubloons to the bed-bound is the celebrity monarch’s only responsibility, according to Hunt, besides reigning over the parade.

1) Yes, apparently Mike Hunt really is this fellow’s name, and 2) Originally I was going to knock Hogan for supposedly being a role model to kids while at the same time celebrating Bacchus, God of Wine. But then I realized: What better icon of drunken irresponsibility can you find than Hulk Hogan? You remember, the guy who bought his 17-year-old son cases and cases of beer and encouraged him to drag-race on public streets? Which ended up putting U.S. Marine John Graziano in a hospital bed, where he’ll probably be for life? What could be more Bacchanalian than that? Well played, Mardi Gras. Well played.