BACKLASH
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Didn't steve walsh wear #4???
Guess we can't use that one
TOO FUNNY!!
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Didn't steve walsh wear #4???
Guess we can't use that one
There is nothing sacred about a number. Archie didn't lead us anywhere. If you want to get technical about it, Aaron Brooks lead us farther than Archie ever did, now that's scary. Give Brunell the number he's always had.
Why should Brunell get the number? Even if there's nothing sacred about it, #8 has been important to the Saints and its fans since before Brunell has been wearing the number.
So as far as we're concerned, it isn't sacred, its just not available because that's Archie's number - and that's the way it is. If its no big deal, he shouldn't mind getting a different one. (The alterative for him was watching football on TV pretty much - wasn't it??)
The bottom line is that the convcersation is moot -- Brunell has more sense to wear that number. I am sure that he understands that for many Saints fans it is not just another number and what Archie means to the Saints is not measured by his statistics. Brunell is not an idiot after all.
Then what is he measured by? It certainly isn't success....
There is nothing sacred about a number. Archie didn't lead us anywhere. If you want to get technical about it, Aaron Brooks lead us farther than Archie ever did, now that's scary. Give Brunell the number he's always had.
A few thoughts:
1. You can pretty much tell the age of the poster by where they fall on this issue.
2. 79 Saints made some important points, so I don't need to repeat them.
3. For those of any age, if you don't think Archie Manning was a tremendous QB, do try to remember he was NFC player of the year at one point, for a team that went 7-9. Given the obsession with linking quarterbacks to winning, let that one sink in for a while. You can also refer any time to the testimonials of his peers like Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw, both of whom have stated on more than one occasion that Manning was a Hall of Famer had he had a chance to play regularly on worthy teams. You truly have no idea how poorly the Saints were run under Mecom, by and large.
4. There's a reason Manning's jersey is sacrosanct while the others aren't. For one, there's the practicality of LB numbers, and there were four Dome Patrol members; although arguably Jackson and Mills are foremost, it seems like a distinction you don't want to make. But, far more importantly, it's that the identification of Archie, almost a human Greek tragedy by himself, with the city's love affair with its often horrible franchise, is complete. On top of it all, Archie embraced his new city, boos and all, and became first part of the fabric and eventually what the Romans might have called First Citizen. While there may be other players who, personally and with their teams, accomplished greater success on the field, no one's entire life is so intertwined among the city and the team.
5. Here's the only thing Archie would say, with typical dry humor in his alloyed Delta/New Orleans drawl: "Why on earth would anybody on the Saints want to wear THAT number? I just hope he has better luck with it than I did...." And then Jim Henderson will chuckle, and we all move on because once again, Archie has let us know that somehow this is all going to work out.