So long, Saints
From the T-P, the unsurprising news:
First, narrow focus reaction: Fury at Benson for cutting the city when it most needs a symbol of resurgence. New Orleans, more than most cities, has a lot of identity tied up in the Saints. In an Irish Channel bar, the Saints schedule and posters are more than the decorative beer company supplied eye pollution you see for, say, the Cowboys all around Texas. In New Orleans, the Saints are part of the reason for the bar. I know you Cowboys fans think it's the same here, but it's just not.
I gave up finally on the NFL. I can hardly watch the steroid stuffed behemoths, and I let my NFL sunday ticket lapse. But if the Saints have a good year, only they can make me, 47 years old, get down in the frog position in front of the TV, screen inches from my nose.
Second, broad perspective reaction: Perhaps it's time to let them go. The Saints and the Superdome are products of the boosterish 1960s in New Orleans. The city was playing catch up with Houston and Atlanta. The city fathers were beside themselves to prove N.O. deserves to be Big League. Tried to act normal, like the rest of the vanilla country. But New Orleans, basically, is the weird kid in the class. The other kids play touch football, New Orleans wants to dance. N.O. should just stick with the Pels, I mean Zephyrs, and leave that big league fantasy to the places that suck so bad they need Big League on their resume. San Antonio, is that really you?
In San Antonio, where New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson had been conspicuously silent about the impact of Katrina on his football team's hometown and its residents, reports surfaced that the team's management is considering pulling out of the city and relocating, perhaps permanently, to San Antonio, where Benson has a business interests and a ranch outside of the city.
First, narrow focus reaction: Fury at Benson for cutting the city when it most needs a symbol of resurgence. New Orleans, more than most cities, has a lot of identity tied up in the Saints. In an Irish Channel bar, the Saints schedule and posters are more than the decorative beer company supplied eye pollution you see for, say, the Cowboys all around Texas. In New Orleans, the Saints are part of the reason for the bar. I know you Cowboys fans think it's the same here, but it's just not.
I gave up finally on the NFL. I can hardly watch the steroid stuffed behemoths, and I let my NFL sunday ticket lapse. But if the Saints have a good year, only they can make me, 47 years old, get down in the frog position in front of the TV, screen inches from my nose.
Second, broad perspective reaction: Perhaps it's time to let them go. The Saints and the Superdome are products of the boosterish 1960s in New Orleans. The city was playing catch up with Houston and Atlanta. The city fathers were beside themselves to prove N.O. deserves to be Big League. Tried to act normal, like the rest of the vanilla country. But New Orleans, basically, is the weird kid in the class. The other kids play touch football, New Orleans wants to dance. N.O. should just stick with the Pels, I mean Zephyrs, and leave that big league fantasy to the places that suck so bad they need Big League on their resume. San Antonio, is that really you?
posted by hughw at 9:31 PM
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