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Exhibit 1B
Try to read this tripe with a straight face. Duncan was lapdogging it up for Führer Goodell and the S.S.hield and he has absolutely NOTHING to show for it.
Sucks to suck, Scooter.
At Super Bowl 2013, Roger Goodell should be hailed as a New Orleans hero for helping to save a cosmopolitan city
Updated Jan 22, 2013; Posted Jan 22, 2013
By Jeff Duncan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Now that the NFL has reinstated Saints head coach Sean Payton, New Orleans has an important decision to make for Super Bowl 2013. With Roger Goodell headed our way, a golden opportunity awaits. We can show the world how far we've come after Hurricane Katrina, that we truly are a city of progress and enlightenment. Or we can revert to the cloistered close-mindedness that often characterized us pre-Katrina.
Remember when all of those world-class urban planners came to town after Katrina to lend their expertise and we denounced their ideas and ran them out of town on a rail? How'd that work out for us?
Thankfully, those regrettable decisions and dark days are history. Somehow, almost miraculously, a new, better New Orleans has emerged from the tragedy.
So as Goodell prepares to visit us for Super Bowl XLVII, we have a conscious choice to make regarding our behavior: Class and cosmopolitanism? Or myopia and provincialism?
Super Bowl XLVII is not a time for vindication. This is a time for celebration.
Said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, left: 'Of the many things I learned from Paul (Tagliabue, right), two things stand out: The importance of the game and its importance to the community.'
This week is about something much bigger than the Saints or Bountygate or season ticket prices. It's about New Orleans.
The NFL awarded its marquee event to New Orleans largely as a reward for our inspiring post-Katrina recovery. With more than 5,000 credentialed media due in town, the league has bestowed upon us a global stage to showcase our progress.
The last thing we need is an ugly incident to mar the festivities. That'd be a major setback to our burgeoning positive image.
It's time to move on. You don't have to forgive but you do have to forget – for at least a week. Bury the hatchet ... and the hatred.
After all, Saints officials plan to break bread with Goodell at a celebratory dinner on Wednesday night at the Windsor Court Hotel. And owner Tom Benson has invited the commissioner to his private bash on Thursday night at City Park.
Even Sean Payton had the graciousness to say in his statement on Tuesday, "I feel we have learned from our mistakes and are ready to move forward."
If the aggrieved can move on, can't everyone?
"I know everybody in the city is belly aching about the last year, but here's the thing: Roger Goodell has always been a friend to the City of New Orleans," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said last week.
Indeed, have people forgotten all of the good Goodell did for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina?
To use a football analogy, then NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue was the head coach and Goodell was the quarterback in the league's post-Katrina game plan for New Orleans.
In those grim days of late 2005 and early 2006, when the flood lines were still fresh, there weren't a lot of folks standing beside the city. To the contrary, much of America had abandoned us, including many folks inside the Saints organization. But Goodell never wavered in his support. As the league's chief operating officer at the time, he not only stood beside New Orleans, he spearheaded vital parts of the city's recovery.
Goodell worked with local leaders to rebuild the Superdome. He cleared bureaucratic hurdles in Washington D.C. to accelerate the construction process. And he was a constant motivator, sending local officials late-night emails for inspiration: "We're winning! Don't stop! We're in this to win!"
"Roger was with us when it counted," said Doug Thornton, vice president of stadiums for SMG, the company that manages the Superdome for the state. "He worked and sweated here. People don't realize how granular he was down here. He was in the weeds with us."
Goodell worked just as hard for the city in 2002 when the 9/11 terrorist attacks threatened to move Super Bowl XXXVI from New Orleans. The NFL's decision to cancel the ensuing Week 2 games after the attacks pushed the schedule back. That caused a major conflict for New Orleans, which was scheduled to host the National Automobile Dealers Association convention the week after the Super Bowl. NADA is one of the largest conventions in the business. The Convention Center and most of the city's hotel inventory were booked. Goodell, though, made it happen and Super Bowl XXXVI was a rousing success for the city and the league.
"Roger was very supportive and played a critical role in so many different ways," Tagliabue said in a phone interview last week. "He was a major player in executing what we had decided was going to be the policy to keep the Saints in New Orleans, in Louisiana and in the Gulf Coast region. He was the guy who managed the process."
If anything, New Orleans owes Goodell a thank you. If it weren't for Goodell and Tagliabue, there might not be a pro football team much less a Super Bowl in New Orleans these days.
Have we forgotten the Saints' actions in the fall of 2005? How team officials tried to break their lease with the state of Louisiana. How they tried to sue FEMA for supposedly destroying their training facility. How they collected negative information about New Orleans and distributed it to the other 31 NFL owners.
Have we forgotten how Saints players were advised to lease or purchase property in Texas as late as the final week of December?
"It was clear there were things being done by San Antonio and things being considered by the Saints which were clearly focused on San Antonio," Tagliabue said. "When I told the team that they were moving back to New Orleans, some players stood up and asked me, 'Who the hell are you? We're the ones who have to get our kids in school and find doctors for our families.' The assumption of a lot of the players was they were going to buy homes in San Antonio. I told them the team is going to be back in New Orleans. That is the decision of the league. A team can only relocate if three-fourths of the membership approves the move and there is no such support. I told them they better stop negotiating (real estate) because you're expected back in Metairie by mid-February."
Today, Tagliabue said the work the NFL did in New Orleans ranks "right at the very top" of his legacy as league commissioner.
"We made it very clear from the start that we were not going to leave an NFL city in the wake of a national disaster and tragedy," Tagliabue said. "It was like throwing a Hail Mary pass and somebody had to catch the pass."
Ironically, it was Goodell who played a key role in what Tagliabue called "lowering the temperature" among New Orleanians and averting the demonization of Benson post-Katrina. Now he's the one being demonized.
"I think it's very unfair," Tagliabue said. "Roger does not have an anti-New Orleans bone in his body."
For his part, Goodell appears undaunted by the situation. When asked at the AFC divisional playoff game in Denver two weeks ago if he was worried about his safety in New Orleans, Goodell answered with a resolute "no."
"The fans (of New Orleans) are loyal to their team," he said. "That's what we expect. They're great fans. No, I'm not troubled by that at all."
Still, there's enough lingering resentment to concern league officials and local Super Bowl organizers. That's why they've spent the past week trying to proactively promote a cult of hospitality.
Meanwhile, the "Do Not Serve This Man" signs bearing Goodell's portrait proliferate around town and photos of lewd Krewe du Vieux parade floats satirically filleting Goodell circulate on social media.
"It hurts," Thornton said. "It saddens me to see that Roger would be thought of in that regard after all that he and the league has done to help us."
Indeed, as Super Bowl beckons, a post-Katrina refresher course appears to be in order. If not for Goodell's initiative and creativity, the Superdome does not reopen in September 2006. If the Superdome doesn't reopen, the city's post-Katrina recovery lags. If the recovery lags, the Saints don't return. If the Saints don't return, the city's recovery efforts suffer.
Without Goodell, there's no Dome-coming and no blocked punt. There's possibly no Super Bowl XLIV victory or Lombardi Gras parade.
"If it weren't for the inspiration, motivation and vision of Roger Goodell and Paul Tagliabue to push us, this project drags beyond 2006 and then who knows what happens," Thornton said. "I don't want to overstate it, but it could have literally altered the course of history here."
The restaurateurs and shopkeepers who are thriving in the city's post-Katrina renaissance should consider this as they hang those silly self-serving "Do Not Serve" signs behind their counters.
Did Goodell cost the Saints a season? Maybe. But he also saved the team and perhaps the city from virtual extinction.
"I love the city," Goodell said. "Being a part of that work (post-Katrina) was real important. ...To see the way that community (in New Orleans) rallied around their team and rallied around the disaster, you can't have anything but the highest respect for the people and the people we work with down there. We're seeing the same thing in our community with (Superstorm) Sandy. People pull together. People move forward"
New Orleanians are experts at moving forward in the wake of adversity. If we did it for Katrina, we can certainly do it now.
Try to read this tripe with a straight face. Duncan was lapdogging it up for Führer Goodell and the S.S.hield and he has absolutely NOTHING to show for it.
Sucks to suck, Scooter.
At Super Bowl 2013, Roger Goodell should be hailed as a New Orleans hero for helping to save a cosmopolitan city
Can New Orleans Saints fans handle the truth? After Katrina, Goodell was one of of the city’s most tireless champions.
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