Because I remember Decembers in the 70s (1 Viewer)

[Deuuuuce]

Exactly. Why are we THAT team? sputtering like an old clunker in the morning that you have to let warm up.

It’s like we’re playing possum, but we never wake up.

 

[UFCSaint]

Those 70's teams were terrible but I watched anyway because I loved my Saints. Well, I watched the games that weren't blacked out. It was all I knew.

Presently, I have no expectations for this team. It is what it is.

Yep and when hey were blacked out I listened to them on the radio

 

[Saint Jack]

You can’t compare this franchise to the 70s anymore because I think a majority of fanbase wasn’t there.
The standards have risen with the fanbase.

 

[HoustonSaint68]

This thread is like someone who lived through the great depression telling the kids that they don't really have it as bad as they think.

Aaaaand, those old timers were right back when I was the young listener rolling my eyes at them....

 

[Bill]

I’m trying to be positive but now every time they suit up, I feel anxiety and frustration. After watching Cam’s interview with KAY Adams, I know they need our support. They need our energy, but we also need more from them. For starters, stop being a second-half team.

Trust me, I understand the frustration. But having genuine anxiety will never be an issue for me. Whether they win or lose, now or in the future, it really won't change my life outside of my choice(s) for entertainment. The same is true regarding the way the fans respond to the state of our team. Fans can't fake how they feel. They live vicariously through their favorite team(s). Fans love to win and hate to lose. (Perhaps even more than some players are affected.) I'm not one to boo any player or coach on our team when at a game in person. However, I have been known to let the officials have it!

But winning cures everything. And fans will always respond positively when their team plays well and gives them hope of better things to come. That's why I never come down on how fans react at the games or on forums such as this one. Though I have never favored personal attacks on any player or coach, I do become disgruntled with the team as a whole when there is a lack of success on the scoreboard and in the standings.

So I never try to tell fans how they should feel or act. That's their own call, and the response of the fans in general is predictable. If a team doesn't like the criticism, they already know what will quell the masses. And frankly if the players & coaches aren't already disgusted anytime quality of their performance is declining, then they are in the wrong business. They shouldn't need to hear anyone else's disapproval.

 

[Artifactual]

You can’t compare this franchise to the 70s anymore because I think a majority of fanbase wasn’t there.
The standards have risen with the fanbase.

Kinda like not knowing what women looked like in the 70s before botox, tummy tucks, boob jobs, lip fillers, butt implants, and facelifts. You had to have been there. Just like the Saints they were a sight for sore eyes to see. We loved them then as much as we do now.

 

[HouseCall]

Trust me, I understand the frustration. But having genuine anxiety will never be an issue for me. Whether they win or lose, now or in the future, it really won't change my life outside of my choice(s) for entertainment. The same is true regarding the way the fans respond to the state of our team. Fans can't fake how they feel. They live vicariously through their favorite team(s). Fans love to win and hate to lose. (Perhaps even more than some players are affected.) I'm not one to boo any player or coach on our team when at a game in person. However, I have been known to let the officials have it!

But winning cures everything. And fans will always respond positively when their team plays well and gives them hope of better things to come. That's why I never come down on how fans react at the games or on forums such as this one. Though I have never favored personal attacks on any player or coach, I do become disgruntled with the team as a whole when there is a lack of success on the scoreboard and in the standings.

So I never try to tell fans how they should feel or act. That's their own call, and the response of the fans in general is predictable. If a team doesn't like the criticism, they already know what will quell the masses. And frankly if the players & coaches aren't already disgusted anytime quality of their performance is declining, then they are in the wrong business. They shouldn't need to hear anyone else's disapproval.

Bill, this is so very well said.

I’m in my late 40s, so my intro to the Saints was early 80s - which means I missed a large portion of the really brutal days as a Saints fan. But as a kid, I was always desperate for the Saints to make the playoffs and “have a shot”

1987 was one of the most exciting times of my youth and every playoff appearance after that was met with excitement and wonder.

I have said before and it might be worth mentioning again - it feels like sports fans today - all sports fans are way less interested in “now” than ever before.

I believe that the 24 hour sports news cycle and countless talking heads debating every aspect of every team has made fans believe that they have enough info to be an effective GM and thus they question every move and every signing and every hire as though they were in the room with management and their pleas were ignored. It seems personal to them.

Or perhaps It’s the GM mode on Madden and NBA and MLB games that creates this backseat GM mentality.

I have gone on record here that I gave Allen and Loomis the benefit of the doubt until the Falcons game after the bye week. Now I no longer defend criticism of either.

However - I still want my team, the New Orleans Saints to make the playoffs - because it’s what I hope for every season.

I don’t expect them to be the best team every season. But I always want to watch my team in the postseason. Because it’s a fun way to close out a year and ring in a new one - and also because I remember the days when I only dreamed of them making the playoffs.

I don’t know how long I have left on this earth - none of us do. So I’ll stay in the “now” when it comes to the Saints.

Do I think they are a playoff team “now”? Honestly - no. I don’t expect them to win the next 4 games. However, I’ll be hoping they do - because that’s what they’ll need to make the playoffs.

And that’s what I care about. Meaningful football in December. That’s what we have thanks to a putrid division. So we might as well enjoy it before it’s over.

 

[madsaint1967]

Any time I see someone post this sentiment about the team they root for even possibly being bad, I immediately wonder to myself:

“Which games did this fan wish the Saints lost?”

Because on six occasions, the team did what it took to win, and usually what we as fans wish for is for the team to have won more. I don’t believe anyone would be happy sitting at, say, 4-9 right now — but at this point I’m less convinced many of you would be happy at 9-4, either

Not true, 9-4 would mean an almost guaranteed trip to the playoffs, possible shot at home field advantage thru the playoffs. When we tuned in to sports talk shows they would actually speak about the Saints, instead of completely ignoring our team. People would be saying Who Dat again and I would be wearing a Jimmy Graham jersey because he would have 10 touchdowns. But I digress....

 

[Bill]

Kinda like not knowing what women looked like in the 70s before botox, tummy tucks, boob jobs, lip fillers, butt implants, and facelifts. You had to have been there. Just like the Saints they were a sight for sore eyes to see. We loved them then as much as we do now.

Yes we did. Even though they sure could have used a facelift.

 

[Bill]

Bill, this is so very well said.

I’m in my late 40s, so my intro to the Saints was early 80s - which means I missed a large portion of the really brutal days as a Saints fan. But as a kid, I was always desperate for the Saints to make the playoffs and “have a shot”

1987 was one of the most exciting times of my youth and every playoff appearance after that was met with excitement and wonder.

I have said before and it might be worth mentioning again - it feels like sports fans today - all sports fans are way less interested in “now” than ever before.

I believe that the 24 hour sports news cycle and countless talking heads debating every aspect of every team has made fans believe that they have enough info to be an effective GM and thus they question every move and every signing and every hire as though they were in the room with management and their pleas were ignored. It seems personal to them.

Or perhaps It’s the GM mode on Madden and NBA and MLB games that creates this backseat GM mentality.

I have gone on record here that I gave Allen and Loomis the benefit of the doubt until the Falcons game after the bye week. Now I no longer defend criticism of either.

However - I still want my team, the New Orleans Saints to make the playoffs - because it’s what I hope for every season.

I don’t expect them to be the best team every season. But I always want to watch my team in the postseason. Because it’s a fun way to close out a year and ring in a new one - and also because I remember the days when I only dreamed of them making the playoffs.

I don’t know how long I have left on this earth - none of us do. So I’ll stay in the “now” when it comes to the Saints.

Do I think they are a playoff team “now”? Honestly - no. I don’t expect them to win the next 4 games. However, I’ll be hoping they do - because that’s what they’ll need to make the playoffs.

And that’s what I care about. Meaningful football in December. That’s what we have thanks to a putrid division. So we might as well enjoy it before it’s over.

Very well said.

And as you mentioned, from what we've heard & read from fans (particularly) during these rough stretches, it's a good thing that most of us are NOT the GM of this organization.

 

[SAINT BIGAL]

Yep and when hey were blacked out I listened to them on the radio

We listened to the radio as well. Even the preseason games because they were blacked out as well. Preseason games would be aired the next day (Sunday).

 

[SAINT BIGAL]

You can’t compare this franchise to the 70s anymore because I think a majority of fanbase wasn’t there.
The standards have risen with the fanbase.

The standards have risen with a winning franchise.

 

[NeverGiveUP2]

The more I think about it the more troubled I am about my attitude in regard to the current state of our beloved football franchise. Yes, the performance of our team is anything but impressive these days, and it's a far cry from what we were treated to during the Payton/Brees era. But we had to see this coming. I mean, nothing good lasts forever. Perhaps we failed to prepare ourselves properly for this inevitable downturn.

Sure, we can choose to be miserable about it... even angry if we're the type who is prone to such emotion. But we can also choose to make the best of what we have down the home stretch of the 2023 season. This is not to take away from the misery of those who have a lot of money invested in this team and feel that they must make their feelings known to the front office that they are very displeased with the lack of production shown by the team they are supporting. More power to those who are earnest in their attempts to get this point across to Mickey & Gayle.

But frankly I think they already know. Everybody knows. Including every coach & player that is receiving the brunt of the criticism. But there is an undeniable fact about this Saints team that we must acknowledge. They aren't done yet. Not only are the Saints still in the hunt for the NFC South crown and a #4 Seed home game in the playoffs, but at the moment they also control their own destiny for those two prizes.

While it's easy to give discouraging reasons 'why' the Saints are still in the running, isn't it still better than what Decembers were like back in the 70s & early 80s? Like many of you folks I remember when the postseason dream was over long before we entered the last month of regular season football. How we used to yearn for the opportunity just to find ourselves in the short list of playoff participants. Even during the Mora years when our postseason visits came up empty, we were still happy & proud that we managed to get there.

I get it. It's hard to go back and accept mediocrity once again. But it can still be fun and exciting to cheer on your team even though hard reality says we won't get far. But it's still better than being eliminated by Thanksgiving. In fact this very situation is what the premise of KWTPF sprang from. No, I'm not going to fool myself into thinking 'this could be the year'. What's going to happen, is going to happen. But I'm going to enjoy whatever positive things may come about in the next 4 weeks. Chances are I'll be a little less disappointed when the inevitable happens. But either way, I just need to take myself back to those days when hope was always fleeting so that I can find some joy in knowing that this December we still have something special to play for.

Geaux Saints!

Great post and I remember those years also.... For a long time I thought I'd never see the promised land but DB and SP and yes ML made that happen. I want another magical season but I can be patient until that happens

 

[Bill]

Great post and I remember those years also.... For a long time I thought I'd never see the promised land but DB and SP and yes ML made that happen. I want another magical season but I can be patient until that happens

Getting our Lombardi for the 09 season took a lot of pressure off of us older fans. When the game clock ticked off the last few seconds in Miami, I blurted out, "I can die now."

While we all want another one, many of us have accepted that we may never get to see another NFL championship. For me, any additional success is just lagniappe.

 

[Super]

I remember when the highlight of the weekend was watching the cowboys lose