Saints owe New Orleans a season to say good-bye (an old headline) (2 Viewers)

[Algsaint]

I refuse to read that article...but yes we have come a long way.

 

[bradman1965]

Yeah, and where is Roy S. Johnson writing for now????

passtheword.wordpress.com

Not quite SI.com anymore... eh?

I'm not going to rag on the reporter. It was really bleak and I think the guy was just capturing the mood. Glad it didn't play out that way.

 

[kewlgy415yo]

Very good read right before Week 1. It just gets me even more pumped to revisit what we have accomplished in such a short time and gets me optimistic that even more accomplishments are in the near future.

They should get the team to read this right before the opener to get them fired up about proving everyone wrong once more.

 

[p0pe]

I refuse to read that article...but yes we have come a long way.

lus-un2: Not reading that trash, don't want it to bring me down. It's awesome how everything has come together to keep our Saints here.

 

[catch22]

I was watching PTIR on ESPN yesterday and it was talking about the black out rule and how many stadiums were failing to sell out. Then one guy said, look at teams like New Orleans that has a huge waiting list. Fans are passionate about their team. I thought to myself, these are some of the same people that said they would never return because there was no fan base left!

Thank you Reggie, Drew, & Peyton for having a role in saving our saints!

But mostly, thank God and all saints fan! We are the ones who stepped up and kept the saints in the only place they belong ever1

 

[rikquik]

You can blame the SA mayor all you want, but it was Benson who was behind the scenes (and sometimes in front) trying desperately to make that move happen. Were it not for a commissioner the team would have been gone.

Tags might not have been the greatest leader of the NFL in all things, but he was smart in this one. With labor negotiations already on-going, allowing the Saints to move strictly for dollar signs would have been a public relations disaster, turning the public against the owners.

Politics is what got NO the Saints on the first place, and politics is what kept them in NO.

 

[Dubya]

I didn't post the old article to dig up any negative feelings towards any party. Instead, I posted it as a reminder of just how bad things were and how bleak the future looked for both the Saints and New Orleans. Through it all, both the Saints and New Orleans metro area recovered, each making the other better. Even before Katrina, the Saints and New Orleans were heavily intertwined. That bond and relationship has been further solidified over the past four years.

 

[TheBigEasy99]

Not reading that trash, don't want it to bring me down.

It might be just me, but that article actually brought me up. It was a good reminder of where we were and how far we’ve come. This article wasn’t just one man’s opinion, it was (almost) everybody’s opinion. New Orleans was dead, the Saints were gone and that was that. All Katrina did was hasten the move of a dying organization that was likely going to be moving to greener pastures sooner or later anyway. This wasn’t just what one or two (or ten) people in the national media was saying, this is what every last one of them was saying.

And we survived it.

The area is rebuilding (slowly to be sure, but progress is being made) and the Saints are still here. But not only are they still here, they are thriving. A fanbase that once struggled to sellout games now has a waiting list 10’s of thousands of names deep (at a time where other teams in larger markets are facing the threat of blackouts for the first time). The ownership (who I was not a fan of even prior to Katrina and I downright despised in the season following) has wholeheartedly thrown themselves back into the community. I don’t know what the hell happened to Ole Tom but he has really worked hard to make this a top flight organization since the ’06 season. He’s opened up his pocketbook to bring in coveted free agents and coaching talent (something he had always been loath to do) and (even more importantly) has been willing to work hand in hand in with the State to reach a deal to keep the Saints in New Orleans long term. Prior to 2006 Benson’s attitude towards the State could best be summed up by Ray Liotta in Goodfellas:

“**** you; pay me.”

And that was it. No willingness to compromise, no willingness to negotiate, no willingness to restructure a terrible deal that was unsustainable, it was just “**** you, pay me. I want the deal we have and I want a new stadium or I’ll pick up stakes and move if you don’t like it.”

I don’t know what made him change. Maybe it’s just him growing kinder with age. Maybe he realized that the grass isn’t always greener in LA’s pastures (as 3 other NFL franchises will tell you). Maybe he just went senile and the front office was able to convince him he had already moved the team to a new market but regardless he’s really answered the bell over the last few years. He recognized that there was no way the current deal could continue to be paid and that with today’s economic situation a new stadium is a pipedream no matter where he goes, and Benson was finally willing to sit down at the table and work out a plan that was good for both the team and the State. And for that I thank him.

So I say bring on the negative articles. Sure they’re a reminder of how bad things were once upon a time but in each one, off in the distance, I can see the beginnings of a brighter tomorrow. A tomorrow that is slowly turning into today.

 

[Dubya]

BigEasy, looks like we are singing from the same page.

Go Saints.

 

[gabe311]

I remember how lifeless I felt after I heard a premature report that the Saints were actually leaving for San Antonio. It was kind of icing on the cake after everything that happened. I think I was in the car heading back into town from BR and heard this while sitting in traffic.

I can't forget reading this too:
ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that, based on information from key league sources, the team has probably played its last game in New Orleans.

We have come a long way. Let's not forget this ever.

 

[Saint Jeremy]

As an ex-New Yorker on 9/11, I understand how you guys feel. I remember thinking how important it was for the Yankees to win that year to give us something to help forget what happened at the WTC.

The Saints fans amaze me. I don't think anyone who is outside understands it.

 

[Superfan]

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[Broadmoor74]

Paul Tagliabue and Saints fans. That's what happened.

 

[saintjimbeau]

Well said everyone.....remember, we ain't going anywhere....nowhere else but NOLA! God bless us all....remember 9/11.....GO SAINTS!!!!

 

[longtime lurker]

I want to echo the deep gratitude that has been mentioned In this thread for Tags keeping the team here. I hope that he writes a memoir one day about his time as commish. The Saints story deserves it's own chapter.