AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > September > 23 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOne game can’t mask misery of New Orleans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
New Orleans — The man in the blue suit stands in the end zone of the refurbished Louisiana Superdome and affixes the prevailing spin. “We’re here,” said Mark Nicholls, the president of Sportexe, which has installed the new synthetic turf, “to witness the rebirth of a city.”
The three men sitting alongside St. Claude Avenue don’t feel like expectant fathers. They’re selling barbecue sandwiches from a trailer parked in an abandoned strip center just beyond the bridge over the Industrial Canal. Business is slow. St. Claude is one of the main arteries in the Lower Ninth Ward, but the cold truth is there are no main arteries is this devastated district.
Thirteen months after Katrina hit and the levees broke, the desolation in Lower Ninth Ward remains beyond belief. Thirteen months on, Harold Black says, “you expected more.”
Says Lance Edwards: “For this to happen in America …”
“You said it right there — in America,” Black says. “It’s like a third-world country in the United States.”
The media has descended on this city to witness the reopening of the Superdome and the accompanying Saints-Falcons game, and chamber-of-commerce cheerfulness holds that Monday night will enable New Orleans to put the ravages of Katrina in its rear-view mirror. Harrison Smothers, the third man in the St. Claude parking lot, is asked if a sporting even can make such a difference.
“A difference in what?” he says. “It’s a football game. It’s not doing much for the people of the city. It might do something for the politicians.”
According to Superdome flacks, FEMA is paying 90 percent of the cost to rebuild the stadium. (Total price tag, not all of which comes from the federal government: $185 million.) According to Smothers, FEMA still hasn’t come through with the trailer he has awaited for 11 months. He pats his shirt pocket. “They’ve never called this phone,” he says.
It’s too much to ask any team, even one named the Saints, or any ballgame to override the trauma that befell this famously good-natured city. But those who tune in Monday to watch Reggie Bush and Michael Vick and Bono — can’t have a big American event without the preachy band from Ireland, can we? — might be fooled into believing New Orleans is far down the path to recovery. It isn’t. It might never be.
The Hyatt Regency, essentially the host hotel for events at the adjacent Superdome, remains closed. (The Hyatt became Mayor Ray Nagin’s headquarters after the storm.) The French Quarter attempts to frolic on in signature style, but foot traffic is down to the point where it’s possible to drive a car down the formerly jammed streets. What merriment there is seems forced. You can’t see the statue of Fats Domino at Musical Legends Park on Bourbon Street without cringing over the memory of the man himself having to be rescued by boat after his home in the Lower Ninth Ward flooded.
“The people aren’t around,” says Jeffrey Diket, who’s playing his clarinet for tips on the corner of Toulouse and Royal on a sleepy Saturday morning. “What can I do? I can’t make them come.”
But what about the game? Will it convince anyone New Orleans is again the place to come and work and play? “I don’t know,” says Diket, who left town before Katrina hit and didn’t move back for three months. “So much is gone, and so much has to be brought back it’s not funny.”
The Superdome itself looks as nice as it possibly could inside — the building’s exterior remains stained and faded — but that’s one tiny part of a sprawling metropolis. A drive through the Lower Ninth Ward yields a rather different slant. Nearly every window is broken. Nearly every structure is damaged and vacant. An animal-rescue center has the word “relocated” spray-painted in red across its front. A sheriff’s substation has a chain over what used to be its door. Says Edwards: “If we don’t get something done quick, the rats are going to get us. … They’ve redone the dome by throwing money at it. See what money can do? Throw some over here.”
The football game? “All that’s good,” Smothers says, “but that’s not going to help anything down here.” And then, thinking globally: “Here we are to trying to build a city in the desert [in Iraq], and we’ve got a city to be rebuild right here.”
He shakes his head. “Why would you build a city in the desert?”
Permalink | Comments (41) | Post your comment | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Mark Bradley
Comments
By BIll Roussarie
September 23, 2006 07:21 PM | Link to this
Katrina was not the real story. The story is the American response or lack of it afterward. The ignoring of New Orleans is the black hole that threatens our American experiment: do we really think we can ignore this problem away, walling it off physically, emotionally, spiritually? Do we really believe that “those people down there” got what the deserved, before or after Katrina? It is the callous stupidity that is the story, the inability to admit the US government engineered Hell on Earth and then and now continue to deny it, refuse to make the 21st century improvements necessary to secure a citizenry that have paid US taxes for over 300 years.
I am proud to be a New Orleanian. It is America and many Americans I am not so proud of. And if this be America in the 21st Century, what is next? When a category 4 hits Manhattan or Miami, will we consider abandoning it, also? I guess they will deserve it, too.
If America has a soul, it is in New Orleans. And it is dying. Dying by design, by omission and commission; like little boys torturing small animals, barbarians living amongst richness, not able to appreciate or understand them.
Might this be how a good Roman felt in 476?
Big difference, though. We are doing the sacking. We are the barbarians.
Bar bar bar.
By Dawgs2006
September 23, 2006 08:10 PM | Link to this
I could care less about Katrina and the nasty people who lived in New Orleans. Those people are now commiting all kinds of crime in metro Atlanta. They have just relocated their ghettos to places like Stockbridge, Conyers, and Marietta. Go Falcons!
By Dawgs2006
September 23, 2006 08:12 PM | Link to this
I could care less about Katrina and the nasty people who lived in New Orleans. Those people are now commiting all kinds of crime in metro Atlanta. They have just relocated their ghettos to places like Stockbridge, Conyers, and Marietta. Go Falcons!
By Dawgs2006
September 23, 2006 08:13 PM | Link to this
I could care less about Katrina and the nasty people who lived in New Orleans. Those people are now commiting all kinds of crime in metro Atlanta. They have just relocated their ghettos to places like Stockbridge, Conyers, and Marietta. Go Falcons!
By Dawgs2006
September 23, 2006 08:17 PM | Link to this
I could care less about Katrina and the nasty people who lived in New Orleans. Those people are now commiting all kinds of crime in metro Atlanta. They have just relocated their ghettos to places like Stockbridge, Conyers, and Marietta. Go Falcons!
By Call me "TBens" will 'ya?
September 23, 2006 08:26 PM | Link to this
You liberals drive me nuts! You can’t understand LA and you never will. So what if I was threatning to move the team before Katrina because I said the Superdome was too old and unprofitable?
So what if I insisted on my subsidy from the state even though we’re one of the poorest states in America? You want not just football but the NFL? Pay up.
Ninth Ward? Don’t make me laugh, that’s where the players come from. Not the paying customers. In a way the NFL is a service to the 9th. You may call me greedy but I think this football game is going to take our minds off of Katrina. Think of all the boys who sell burgers and “co cola” in the stands. Hey I’m puttin em back to work!
It’s a tribute to America and our fans and anybody who doesn’t believe it wants Al Qaeda to come here to New Orleans. I almost love this city.
San Antonio here I come.
By TD
September 23, 2006 09:30 PM | Link to this
The football game will provide a feel good 3 hours and then America can go back to forgetting about the city and its residents, those that remain and those that have been dispossessed. But, like Harrison Smothers said, “We’re building a city in the desert.” Also, regarding the comments by Dawgs2006, Atlanta was a real love fest before Katrina, right? no murders, no crime. I always am glad to read what small minded people without an ounce of compassion for the citizens in this country have to say. It is shame that he is such a spaz that he posts his message four times.
By Wilhelm
September 23, 2006 11:03 PM | Link to this
The millions spent and the effort involved in repairing a stupid football stadium seems obscene in the extreme when one thinks about the derelict area outside the stadium. It’s politics at its most facile.
By Ken Strickland
September 24, 2006 12:05 AM | Link to this
DAWGS2006, are you telling everyone that you are too stupid to realize that Metro Atlanta, Conyers, Marietta and Stockbridge had crime prior to Katrina? You have shown yourself to be an absolute disgrace to the human race. You are the kind of racist, uncivilized individual that goes to church each Sunday and pretends to give a damn about God. It doesn’t take much in the way of intelligence to make the statements made by you, but it does require low morals.
By David
September 24, 2006 03:00 AM | Link to this
Will be interesting how the fans react when they get their first glimpse of Mayor Nagin. I don’t expect a chocolate crowd to be there.
By buster cherry
September 24, 2006 04:08 AM | Link to this
Met my wife in nawlins, then got the hell out. (neither of us from there.)It was a nasty city before Katrina and has only gotten worse. Crooked politicians kept it broke and the joint STUNK! Thats what happens when the sewer system is 100 years old and not repaired…
Its not just Atlanta (GO FALCONS!) either… THE SCUM OF Nawlins has trashed Houston too…
Kill em all!
By HATinGA
September 24, 2006 07:29 AM | Link to this
I want To let every one in on a secret{NEW ORLEANS IS IN A HOLE!!!!!!!!}If you put billions in it, IT WILL FLOOD AGAIN!!!!Keep the port there and move the people out.Why do we think we can keep mother nature from filling that hole with water.We move a million people into a place 15 feet below sea the sea and act surprised when it floods.And we are going to set it up to happen again!And once again people will hear bombs at the levee and maybe this time they will say mother nature dont like black people!!
By HATinGA
September 24, 2006 07:31 AM | Link to this
I want To let every one in on a secret{NEW ORLEANS IS IN A HOLE!!!!!!!!}If you put billions in it, IT WILL FLOOD AGAIN!!!!Keep the port there and move the people out.Why do we think we can keep mother nature from filling that hole with water.We move a million people into a place 15 feet below sea the sea and act surprised when it floods.And we are going to set it up to happen again!And once again people will hear bombs at the levee and maybe this time they will say mother nature dont like black people!!
By Michael Smith
September 24, 2006 08:01 AM | Link to this
Katrina exposed one thing: that the welfare state — as created and run by generation after generation of liberal politicians — breeds a population that expects to exist at everyone else’s expense and is unable and/or unwilling to take the most basic actions on their own behalf — except, of course, the act of looting.
The fact that the population that stayed behind re-elected Nagin as mayor speaks for itself and tells you everything you need to know about their give-us-handouts-or-else-we’ll-loot mentality. I hope they all starve so the federal government will stop taking my money and pouring it down yet another bottomless-pit liberal utopia.
Go Falcons!!
By TD
September 24, 2006 08:39 AM | Link to this
First of all, the vast majority of welfare recipients do not receive welfare for generation after generation. Second of all, welfare is largely supported by the state and not the federal government.
It is amazing to me how people can be brainwashed to repeat the same nonsense time after time as fact. But, they can use it as an excuse to whine about the taxes they pay. blah, blah, blah… On the other hand, if you want to look at government handouts take a look at Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc. Finally, maybe if the people in Iraq could take care of themselves, our kids would be home now.
By AJ
September 24, 2006 08:48 AM | Link to this
Houston still has over 125,000 non working types (welfare receiptents) living off federal dollars.They refuse to find work. Crime is up since they got here abt 27% across the entire city in one area it went up abt 35% murder is up 27% in that same area.New Orleans was a cess pool before Katrina and it finally overflowed spreading its sewage into certain cities with-in the country..Atlanta has a problem with them? U guys had trouble way before they came along, U ever read ur papers watch the news? Houston took in over 250,000 and still cant flush the other 150,000 still there
By dom
September 24, 2006 09:53 AM | Link to this
Excellent article Mark, but it is unfortunate to read some of the comments posted by several “Cuckold Racist”. They are not ignorant becuase they know better and that would give them a pass. There is no need respond to them because they cannot change and they are the conservative norm people. They just dont care, but they will cheer for a minority if they score a touchdown and even high five minorities at the bar. Just like the superdome it is all a false symbol of progress. Go falcons!
By GeorgeW
September 24, 2006 10:42 AM | Link to this
Some ignorant folks are posting early today. First off, New Orleans survived the hurricane pretty well. It’s the inferior levee system, built by the Army corp of engineers, that failed that city. Years of destroying the many miles of wetlands that naturally protected the city that have been eradicated caused a lot of damage from the swell from Katrina also. I’ve never been to New Orleans yet but I love the music that comes from that town and very much want to visit it when it when it comes back to life again… and it will, in time. People need to stop pointing fingers at the crime wave that has resulted. I bet if New York was smacked like N.O. was and thusly ignored by those whose job it is to not ignore it, crime would also skyrocket there. Solution? Restore the wetlands, create worthy levees that CAN withstand the water that will build up during a hurricane and stop villifying U.S. citizens that got some pretty horrendous situations thrust their way. That said, I hope my Atlanta Falcons will put the smackdown on the Saints Monday night. Our age old rivalry is still intact, New Orleans! Glad to have you back again!
By GeorgeW
September 24, 2006 10:43 AM | Link to this
Some ignorant folks are posting early today. First off, New Orleans survived the hurricane pretty well. It’s the inferior levee system, built by the Army corp of engineers, that failed that city. Years of destroying the many miles of wetlands that naturally protected the city that have been eradicated caused a lot of damage from the swell from Katrina also. I’ve never been to New Orleans yet but I love the music that comes from that town and very much want to visit it when it when it comes back to life again… and it will, in time. People need to stop pointing fingers at the crime wave that has resulted. I bet if New York was smacked like N.O. was and thusly ignored by those whose job it is to not ignore it, crime would also skyrocket there. Solution? Restore the wetlands, create worthy levees that CAN withstand the water that will build up during a hurricane and stop villifying U.S. citizens that got some pretty horrendous situations thrust their way. That said, I hope my Atlanta Falcons will put the smackdown on the Saints Monday night. Our age old rivalry is still intact, New Orleans! Glad to have you back again!
By aj
September 24, 2006 11:00 AM | Link to this
TF:P What u fail to mention is that u complain abt the government and the companies u mentiond is this. who do u think owns millions of dollars worth of stocks and bonds in these same companies.Democraps and Repubs both. If u buy off on their statments such as I know of no conflict of interest, my portifilo is in a blind trust…I suggest to u that u might want to see how ur 401 money goes and where ur profits come from as well. However welfare is a 401 plan to many Could that be the case with u? Stop complaining
By aj
September 24, 2006 11:15 AM | Link to this
GEORGEW:Ignorant? And u said u have never been to New Orleans? Well King looks like this case is closed.
By GeorgeW
September 24, 2006 11:28 AM | Link to this
aj, when someone speaks of ignorant and you post with the spelling ability of a 8 year old who learned english skills from MTV videos, you do indeed close the case. Go back to your sandbox. The adults are trying to have a conversation here.
By BRETT
September 24, 2006 11:41 AM | Link to this
HERE IS A REPEAT OF THE IGNORANCE POSTED ABOVE: Katrina exposed one thing: that the welfare state — as created and run by generation after generation of liberal politicians — breeds a population that expects to exist at everyone else’s expense and is unable and/or unwilling to take the most basic actions on their own behalf — except, of course, the act of looting. The fact that the population that stayed behind re-elected Nagin as mayor speaks for itself and tells you everything you need to know about their give us handouts or else we’ll loot mentality. I hope they all starve so the federal government will stop taking my money and pouring it down yet another bottomless-pit liberal utopia. Holy republican! holy conservative! holy hannity! holy oreilly! holy rush! holy boortz! fella, you clearly do not have a mind of your own. you obviously let fox news and rush and the great american sean tell you what to think, you mindless fool. what a fair and balanced viewpoint you just expressed. you are probably the same type that hates terrence moore although he does the same exact thing as your mindless conservative heroes which is take an extreme stance to get a reaction and in the process fool the mindless like yourself to believe ignorant viewpoints. you are such a damn fool. yeah, it is pretty simplistic to state that they are perpetual welfare recipients who do not want anything better. in alot of cases that is true. in most cases, it is simply not true. but even in those cases where it is true it is because not enough welfare programs have actually been created where welfare recipients are educated and provided the means and opportunity to get out of the ghetto. it is pretty simplistic to state that you just need to be mentally disciplined and you will get ahead when you have never walked a mile in their shoes. as someone who works in the social welfare community, i will tell you that not enough is being provided to these people to help them get ahead. these people, in my definition, includes blacks, hispanics, chineses, whites, and poor rednecks like yourself. Education is the silver bullet. but your precious republicans have always ensured that the poor are not provided adequate educational resources. Please tell me you are aware that you are probably not a very rich person but for some foolish reason you are a republican although the republican party only looks to make the pockets of the richest 1% fatter and by accident, the pocketbooks of the richest 10% fatter. the republican party protects nothing more than the richest 1 to 10% and nobody else. but they have always been able to fool the ingorant uneducated poor whites (a.k.a. rednecks) into believing that the republican party stands for them. they trick poor whites into believing that the democrats are for blacks and minorities and you poor uneducated white boy are certainly better than the blacks and minorities. and then the republicans pretend that they are the ultra religious Christian political party to further fool the Bible thumping redneck into believing that is their political party when, in reality, it is a whole lot more christian and jesus like to give to others by having social welfare programs to assist the poor and the needy like the democrats do. please remember that you are only one terrible car accident or one terrible medical illness from becoming a perpetual welfare recipient yourself. if you became disabled, unable to work, unable to provide for your family, I bet you all the $$$ in the world, that you and your family would be the first ones in line at the social welfare office begging and pleading and raising holy hell for every damn dime you believe you would be entitled to. you probably hate trial lawyers and so called activist judges too because the republican demigods have told you to hate them as well. BUT if you and your family were unfortunate enough to get screwed over by the misdeeds of a corporation owned and run by one of the republican higher ups, you would be getting yourself a trial lawyer and filing a lawsuit in a heart beat to get every dime you believed you deserved out of the richest republican 1% to 10%. Wake up, son, the sun seems to be making your neck a little too red. you need to get yourself some sunscreen in the form of education and book learning and independent thinking so that your neck and body would not get burned so red everyday by your fearless fox news commentators. You said above that The fact that the population that stayed behind re-elected Nagin as mayor speaks for itself but you neglected to mention that the fact that the poor uneducated redneck reelected dear old W speaks volumes about how misdirected the poor undeducated ignorant redneck is and how easily duped they are. vote for the guy who spends billions on war to essentially provide social welfare assistance to another country that truly does not seem to want us present or to want to be the recipient of our social welfare assistance. yeah, buddy, that makes a whole lot of sense. reelect an oil man president and a weapons contractor veep and why, oh why, are we at war for years when we never should have been at war in the first place. hmm, the ignorant redneck does not think about that because sean hannity never told him that sean was allowing him to have that thought.
By Clg in the Atl
September 24, 2006 11:45 AM | Link to this
Thank you Mark—your comments are “deadon”— Although I applaud NO for one small step—-it’s just too soon to celebrate. When I think of the Dome it’s hard to forget the image of all those people and the man who had to get on the bus and leave his dead mother behind with a note. How can you rebuild the DOME (with 185 million of FEMA MONEY no less) and leave neighborhoods still trashed a year later? The only redemption will be after these 3 hrs. are over and the 1,000 journalists have left—that the “powers that be” begin to UPLIFT/REBUILD the FORGOTTEN people of NO.
By aj
September 24, 2006 11:51 AM | Link to this
Im sorry ur upset ovr my mistake and typo, Yes, I am playing in the sandbox son and I just kicked sand in ur face.Now take ur finger out of nose and stop getting a snack. It explains ur brain damage, u keep going deeper and deeper.
By aj
September 24, 2006 12:06 PM | Link to this
Ray Nagin left his people out to die while he stayed in at the Marriot. Kind of funny dont u think that he failed to get the buses moving to get the ppl out,.But got them moving to bus the ppl back for the election..
By BirdsofPrey
September 24, 2006 12:19 PM | Link to this
A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave. Mohandas Gandhi
I am confident that mankind will overcome the ignorant and vile and not only survive, but prevail.
The evolved must continue to labor for good among the cacophony in the background of the muttering intellectually and conscientiously challenged. Natural selection will do the rest. May their lord have pity on them.
Like Bill, I cast my pearls before swine.
By Ken Strickland
September 24, 2006 01:00 PM | Link to this
It is truly sad when one considers the physical devastation and the loss of lives, especially the innocent young children, suffered in New Orleans and Miss. It is absolutely appauling to hear, with all that happened, individuals that can only see liberalism, crime and welfare states. All of these concepts are code words for racism. These morally and spiritually bankrupted individuals are now hiding behind the cloak of Conservatism, while labeling everyone else as Liberals. Conservatism, during the segregation era, was actually the political identification for racism. Strom Thurman, Jesse Helms, David Dukes, Ronald Regan, Carl B Sanders, George Wallace, Ross Barnett, etc. were all racist Southern Democrats, except RRegan who was form Califorina, that carried that label. Former President Ronald Regan was the 1st prominent Democrat to make the switch and use Willie Horton to promote his racist platform. Why else do you think all former Democrates, that were racists, segregationist, and/or separatist switched in mass to the Republican Party? MICHAEL SMITH, for you information,(1)all 50 states have welfare(2)the welfare system was established by whites to assist widows of veterans killed during war, who were mostly white.(3)White women and children receive more welfare benefits than any other group in this country. I define racism as fear, fueled by ignorance and stupidity. We’ve all seen examples of that in some of todays posts. If you decide to go to church today, just look around and scan the congregation. I’ll bet you will see the Michael Smiths, Dawgs2006s, AJ, etc sitting in the pews looking towards the pulpit with their blank stares. IGNORANT MAY BE BLISS, BUT ONLY FOR THE IGNORANT.
By R.E.H.
September 24, 2006 02:38 PM | Link to this
Michael Smith is right in saying that the liberal left has succeeded in creating a civilization of entitlement people that think civilization in general owes them when ever they hold there hand out. So many people that were living in N.O. have left for greener pastures, we have some living in my town and are glad they are away from there, in fact they tell me they won’t move back no matter how much rebuilding they do. I live in South Georgia. The people I talk to are thrilled to be here because the schools are so much better here.
By ChrisD
September 24, 2006 03:10 PM | Link to this
The solution is to find, investigate, and prosecute the criminals who looted, raped, and murdered during the aftermath of Katrina. These scumbags took advantage of the tragedy and showed their true colors. Put them in prison. We have them on video for God’s sake!
By Ken Strickland
September 24, 2006 03:25 PM | Link to this
R.E.H., what in the hell is a liberal left? Where did you and MSmith come up with that moniker, or should I say, excuse for blaming someone else for your perceived ills of society. It amazes me how people of your like mentality can see the aftermath of the Katrina tragedy being caused by some sort of liberalism. Yet, your blind ignorance prohibits you from recognizing the hijacking of the presidency by your beloved Republican conservatives(GEORGE BUSHwacker) as having any effect whatsoever to democracy.
By Rev. Dudley Doright.
September 24, 2006 04:58 PM | Link to this
Brother Ken and others. Regarding Katrina, there’s enough blame to go around. The thing that stands out in my mind as I viewed that tragedy on local TV was the hundreds of school buses that we not used to evacuate thousands of people from New Orleans. And, I was appalled at the inactivity of Mayor Nagin and the Governor of the state. * And finally, I think in the future, we ought to give relief supplies to the news media…CNN…Fox…and the networks —- they found a way to get in their with satellite trucks when the government couldn’t get in there with water trucks.* But in all seriousness, we need to continue praying for these dear people, then refocus the attention of the Almighty on blowing a gentle breeze behind Vick and Dunn, so they will be able to “mount up with wings like…eagles… Falcons.” Can you say go-o-o-o-o Falcons and praise Jesus for a good game with no injuries to anybody. Amen and amen!
By Randy Ory
September 24, 2006 06:48 PM | Link to this
I am asking Falcons fans to pull for my Saints.
I am a native New Orleanian, living now in Atlanta. No, I am not a Katrina evacuee — I am quick to point this out, not that there is anything wrong with this —- but I have been here in ATL since 1996. I have remained devoted to the Black and Gold, in spite of our abysmal “Cubs like” history of mediocrity. The fleur-de-lis is imprinted on my soul, as it is for every son of New Orleans, in exile or otherwise.
My absurd request for Falcon Fans to Favor the Fleur-de-lis this Monday night is most certainly rhetorical. But here is my selfish reasoning: A 3-0 Saints will be good for the city of New Orleans. New Orleans needs 3-0 more than Atlanta. Atlanta is truly the cream of the Nascar Division of the NFC. You will recover from a loss on Monday night. We need this one.
The Saints can certainly boast of the most unique team name in all of professional sports. Born on Nov 1, 1966 (ALL SAINTS DAY), it is the only team I know whose name is tied to a religious holiday…..but you have to be from New Orleans to understand that religion is ubiquitous. Religion, Music, Food and Football are cosmically intertwined. No professional team means more to their city, than do the Saints —- you see we dont have comparables to the Braves, Hawks and Thrashers. When I grew up in N.O., the legendary sportscaster “Hap Glaudi” would announce elementary football and volleyball scores on the 10:00 broadcast.
We need this game. You will go on to win 8-10 more games and will take the home game from the Saints. Our 2-0 start gives us hope for tomorrow, howbeit, it was acheived against the NFL equivalent of BROWN CHEESE.
Be a Saints fan for a day. It builds character, fortitude, discipline….you can survive anything as a Saints fan. Loving the Saints is not hard to do. Trade your RED for some GOLD. Hope that Brees throws for 350 and Bush runs for 150. Pull for our beloved Saints. We will reciprocate if a natural disaster ever closes your 1200 shopping malls and 15,000 chain restaurants. Promise.
By Rev. Dudley Doright.
September 24, 2006 07:12 PM | Link to this
Dear Randy, I have made my living as a mouth piece for the Almighty —- I can turn a phrase with the best of them; but you have put forth a very convincing argument. As I was reading, I found myself saying, “Yes! …Yes! …Yes!” Then I came to myself and shouted out loud, “No, way. No, way in hell would I be willing to put aside my loyalty to the Almighty Birds and become a quasi-supporter of the Saints!” * Good try Mr. Randy. No, good try Mr. Satan —- you tried to slip into our subconsious minds with you smoothe words and polished logic and reasoning; but it didn’t work Mr. Satan! Mr. Devil! Mr. Deceiver! Mr. Liar! Get thee behind me Satan!* Amen and thank you Jesus for illuminating my mind to the wiles of the Devil!!
By BRETT
September 24, 2006 07:29 PM | Link to this
not a chance in hell there randy. as our dear conservatives on this blog would say, the lord only helps those who help themselves. despite my rant above about the need for social welfare assistance, i think you have taken your liberal sense of new orleans entitlement a little too far with asking dirty bird fans to throw a game for you and root for the saints. i am a so called liberal, i guess, but homeboy, i ain’t that liberal now. besides, i do believe jim mora, knapp, MV7, brooking and the D will have alot more to do with the outcome of this game than any misguided well wishes of falcons fans. we need this game more. to win 3 division games at the very beginning of the season will almost secure a playoff spot by itself for the falcons this year.
By billy Harrison
September 24, 2006 08:16 PM | Link to this
It is so sad to see all the hatred being spewed on this blog. I am a native New Orleanian who evacuated to Atlanta for four months. I own my own business in New Orleans in addition to my job as a teacher in a local private school. Most people here are hard working and law abiding. Conditions in NOLA for the past year have been challenging, however, we have stuck it out. In fact, the people who are back have shown real courage in the face of disaster. Our city is struggling and deserves to revel a bit in the return of our SAINTS. They may not win but the city is beginning to show a pulse. I can assure you that New Orleans will survive and in ten years be a better city. I truly wonder if Atlanta could survive a trauma like Katrina. Since few of your citizens are natives, my bet is they would tuck tail and run leaving an empty shell of a city. New Orleans has a vibrant history and a fibrant future. Thanks to my friends in Atlanta who have been so supportive. To those of you that bash our city, come visit, we will show you a good time as well.
By Randy
September 24, 2006 08:30 PM | Link to this
Touche Billy. WIsh you well in the rebuilding. Know Saints will show well on Monday. WIth Brees, Deuce, Bush, Colston….we will put up some points. 3-0 would be sweet. Wouldnt it be poetic if the Saints won the division, the NFC and at least played in the SB, in the very year of their birth.
By Jim J
September 24, 2006 09:04 PM | Link to this
Went with the Falcon fanatics fan club to the playoff game in the Superdome in early 90s. Hated the city. Nasty, stinking, people on the street were trying to either rob you or hustle you. Fans in the Superdome were the loudest, drunkest, most ignorant and violent losers I have ever been around. While I am sorry for the people who lost their lives in Katrina, I remember that the racist mayor and liberal governor ignored all voices of warning. They refused to move the people out because they thought the storm would do minimal damage and just provide another means to extort money from the Federal government. The racist liberal cries against President Bush and the American people, coupled with the lawless charades of the authorities in New Orleans after the disaster, show just what a liberal, handout seeking group of politicians run the city. And to top it all off, they re-elected that racist, ignorant mayor. DeKalb County can get rid of Cynthia McKinney, but New Orleans can’t get rid of Racist Ray Nagin????????? Go Falcons. Give em something to talk about.
By TD
September 24, 2006 10:56 PM | Link to this
Hey Jim J, I guess New Orleans can’t get rid of the “racist” Nagin, the same reason Mississippi can’t get rid of the racist Trent Lott. Of course, GA did kick out the racist Bob Barr, so the state did something right, even if it does rank about 48th in education.
By Melissa
September 24, 2006 11:15 PM | Link to this
I like this comment. Ray Nagin left his people out to die while he stayed in at the Marriot. Kind of funny dont u think that he failed to get the buses moving to get the ppl out,.But got them moving to bus the ppl back for the election.. I also wish people would stop talking politics in a sports column and get back to the topic the game.
By Melissa
September 24, 2006 11:15 PM | Link to this
I like this comment. Ray Nagin left his people out to die while he stayed in at the Marriot. Kind of funny dont u think that he failed to get the buses moving to get the ppl out,.But got them moving to bus the ppl back for the election.. I also wish people would stop talking politics in a sports column and get back to the topic the game.