MT said Duncan’s a mouthpiece for the Saints because he sees fans on saints twitter, and possibly a forum or agent, regurgitate that he’s a mouthpiece for the team. That sums up the narrative towards Duncan. One person starts labeling him something or perceiving him a certain way because of personal contempt. Then it’s adopted by another person, then extended to a group, and becomes accepted through numbers with no substantial reason. It just looks like pure hate to have something to gripe about. Everyone’s entitled to feel how they feel but the examples of why is pretty ridiculous.
Like the book title you mentioned. The Saints became closely associated with bagheads when Saints fans faithfully wore bags on their heads at games during 4 sloppy losing seasons with Ditka and Mora, 7 straight losing seasons overall in the 90s. Then the team started to consistently win with Payton and won a SB. Saints fans were seen as the baghead fans in the media because of the Ditka era until Payton arrived. I can see how bags to riches could describe Saints fans feelings going from rooting for terrible-below average Saints teams, for a decade+, to rooting for one of the perennial top teams in the league. They went from being a bottom franchise to one of the most respected teams. I don’t think just having the word bags in the title means wearing paperbags was being highlighted in a disrespectful or embarrassing way. It could factually describe what fans and the team were doing or where they were at before becoming a winner. But if we’re looking for something wrong, we’ll find something wrong. We’ve already convinced ourselves beforehand.
Duncan’s job covering the Saints ties himself to the team no different than Rod Walker, Kat Terrell, John Hendrix, or Underhill. NOLA .com writers like Walker, Duncan and Luke Johnson actually covers other college and pro sports teams in the city and state and don’t necessarily have to rely on covering the Saints like other Saints reporters. Underhill is independent. But NOF’s existence is based on having access or attaching/tying themselves to the pro football team in N.O. Underhill said himself that he pays for camera access in the locker room and likely other access. Every Saints reporter are all in the same boat just doing their jobs. They cover the team differently from one another with their own styles. But they’re columnists and reporters covering the team. Some are more impartial than others