This New Orleans thing is stupid

[walzav29]

The media is going on and on about how America's team is now the Saints, and that people will be watching the Saints game instead of the Cowboys game Monday. I think it is retarded to make a connection between that tragedy and a football game. I feel horrible for the PEOPLE that got trapped down there, but I'm not stupid enought to think that the people of NO need me to root for the Saints to brighten their day. I think a house and and a raft would help them out a little more. Give me a break.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

The Saints are a way for the nation to SEE hope. The nation is giving and giving and giving to the people of the Gulf Coast. They are doing everything they can. Billions of dollars and tons and tons of food and supplies are being sent to the area daily. The fact that the Saints, a potential playoff team that never quite makes it are playing despite the tragedy, and the fact that their home is away from home combine for a feel good story if they continue to win.

We've heard all about the tragedy, for a change, LET THE PRESS GIVE US A STORY OF HOPE.

[Kirkendall]

Going to NFL forum..

[skyline]

I'm pulling for the Saints to do well this season. I'm glad to see them get some tv time.

But...if they play the Bengals, I want to see them lose, and lose bad.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

The Saints are a way for the nation to SEE hope.  The nation is giving and giving and giving to the people of the Gulf Coast.  They are doing everything they can.  Billions of dollars and tons and tons of food and supplies are being sent to the area daily.  The fact that the Saints, a potential playoff team that never quite makes it are playing despite the tragedy, and the fact that their home is away from home combine for a feel good story if they continue to win.

We've heard all about the tragedy, for a change, LET THE PRESS GIVE US A STORY OF HOPE.

But Gawdalmighty, how much do they have to beat it into the ground? I'm watching football to get away from all the news channels. Berman droned on about it the whole time. And it's not like the story changes, either. It still sucks in NO. The Saints are still having a tough time. If you really like hearing about this so much, just tape a 1-min clip of it and loop it, because that's basically what Berman was on Thursday/Sunday/Monday.

Just once, I'd like to turn on my TV and not have to watch something else about New Orleans.

As prior poster said, I also fail to see the connection between a football game and this "hope" of which you speak. Maybe if Bush said that the FEMA money was riding on the outcome, then sure.

[Kirkendall]

But Gawdalmighty, how much do they have to beat it into the ground? I'm watching football to get away from all the news channels.

Yea, I have to agree there.

[skyline]

But Gawdalmighty, how much do they have to beat it into the ground?  I'm watching football to get away from all the news channels.

Yea, I have to agree there.

I'd rather hear about NO than Barry Bonds. Everytime they talk about him on a sports talk show, I roll my eyes and change the channel.

Sorry...that was way off topic.

[CBin2k7]

I wonder if the Monday Night game will be about football, or will it be one big telethon.

Skyline, I am with you, I am so tired of hearing about Bonds, he does nothing for me, on a team that is like 14 games under .500

[Kirkendall]

I wonder if the Monday Night game will be about football, or will it be one big telethon.

Telethon. From NFL Media:

It will be a Monday night unlike any other. The NFL will cap “Hurricane Relief Weekend” with an unprecedented fund-raising telethon (see below) that will be part of ABC’s NFL Monday Night Football coverage this week. Under the theme of “Recover & Rebuild,” the NFL, its clubs, network television partners and sponsors will use the September 18-19 NFL games in a special way as part of an ongoing initiative to raise funds and bring attention to the needs of the Gulf Coast region in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In New York, the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints will meet at Giants Stadium in a game originally scheduled to be played in New Orleans on Sunday. The stadium will have a distinctly Louisiana feel, as the NFL hosts members of the New Orleans Police and Fire Departments and more than 600 residents of New Orleans displaced by the hurricane who will be guests of the league at the game.

Members of the New Orleans Police and Fire Departments will participate in the coin toss along with former President GEORGE H.W. BUSH, who leads, along with former president BILL CLINTON, the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

Entertainment will include performances by several artists with Gulf Coast ties, including HARRY CONNICK, JR. and BRANFORD MARSALIS performing the national anthem on piano and saxophone, respectively.

On the field – which will feature one end zone painted with the word “Saints” and the team’s helmet logo – the game is a matchup between two teams that scored impressive Week 1 victories – the Saints earning a 23-20 win at Carolina while

the Giants defeated the Cardinals 42-19 in New York.

“Our last four games of 2004, we played with a lot of emotion,” says Saints head coach JIM HASLETT. “We practiced well and ended up winning all four. That was carried over to last week. We are excited about playing on Monday night in New York and hopefully we can continue to keep playing well.”

Giants quarterback ELI MANNING, who attended New Orleans’ Isidore Newman High School and is the son of Saints legend ARCHIE MANNING, will take the field against his hometown team. “It will be special, that’s for sure,” says Eli. “The Saints are the team my dad grew up playing for and I grew up rooting for.”

Emotions also will be high in Dallas on Monday night where the regularly scheduled MNF game pits longtime rivals – the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. Adding to the excitement surrounding the game between two 1-0 clubs is the

induction into the Ring of Honor at Texas Stadium of former Cowboys stars TROY AIKMAN, MICHAEL IRVIN and EMMITT SMITH.

“When I look back at all the people who have made this organization what it is, it is an honor to think that my name will be up there in the Ring of Honor,” says Aikman, the team’s three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback. “It will allow players and fans to reflect back on some of the accomplishments that we had in our run. It was certainly a special time for us. Being inducted will be a special moment for all of us.”

[BengalByTheBay]

If people are more willing to donate money because they associate the relief effort with football -- oookay then. Not sure who that particular douche is, but I guess it's the result that counts. For me, I think that all the flag waving about the Saints is a way for people to make themselves feel better who really didn't lose a damn thing in this natural disaster. We have this great need to make these things seem like they somehow affected us directly when they didn't. It's human nature I suppose -- an exercise in "navel gazing" if you will. I'll admit it -- this disaster did not affect me. Sorry, not being crass, just truthful. I'm not there and I didn't get displaced and, no matter how much I might feel bad for the people that did, it doesn't make is something that happened to me. The real tragedy is that we have federal agencies designed to respond to these types of things that, for whatever reason, seemed to have done an unbelievably poor job of it. Was that because it was NO instead of the gold coast of FLA?? Maybe. I won't pretend to know because I don't. But this whole thing about rooting for the Saints somehow supports people who were wacked by this disaster is, to me, mind-numbingly stupid. Football is a game and life is real. If my house and family were destroyed you can bet your ass I wouldn't give a damn what happened to the local football, basketball, baseball or cricket team until I had a handle on where I was going from there. If you care -- give money or volunteer. Watching football doesn't help anybody but the NFL.

[San Antonio Bengal]

The media is going on and on about how America's team is now the Saints, and that people will be watching the Saints game instead of the Cowboys game Monday. I think it is retarded to make a connection between that tragedy and a football game. I feel horrible for the PEOPLE that got trapped down there, but I'm not stupid enought to think that the people of NO need me to root for the Saints to brighten their day. I think a house and and a raft would help them out a little more. Give me a break.

My perspective on the whole matter is a little different considering the role of Texas and San Antonio in particular in the relief effort. And here in San Antonio, we're also tied into the football aspect as well because of issue of where the "home" games will be. I do believe the media has blown things out of proportion a little with the "America's Team" bit. It is the nature of the media to find a story like this and then run it into the ground. But that's the media... With that said, I'm going to explain how I understand what the media has said. I don't believe that the media is asking us to root for Saints or telling us that we must root for the Saints. I believe they are saying that they believe that the Monday night game at New York will draw more viewers than the Cowboys and Redskins because of the tragedy. Some people will be interested just in seeing the team play because of what happened. That's the media's idea of what will be. It's not a commandment telling us that we need to root for the Saints or to believe that the Saints are "America's Team" but it's simply an observation. Only when we get to Monday night will we know whether the media was right or wrong. This is the impression I have gotten from the media down here, but of course I may have a skewed view as many San Antonians are supporting the Saints and buying tickets to the games in the dome. No one in the media has told me that I must root for the Saints. But now that they will play a couple games in my back yard, I will be rooting for them. It's good that the Saints are in the NFC -- I wouldn't even think of rooting for an AFC team other than my Bengals.

[DontPushMe]

The Saints are a way for the nation to SEE hope.  The nation is giving and giving and giving to the people of the Gulf Coast.  They are doing everything they can.  Billions of dollars and tons and tons of food and supplies are being sent to the area daily.  The fact that the Saints, a potential playoff team that never quite makes it are playing despite the tragedy, and the fact that their home is away from home combine for a feel good story if they continue to win.

We've heard all about the tragedy, for a change, LET THE PRESS GIVE US A STORY OF HOPE.

But Gawdalmighty, how much do they have to beat it into the ground? I'm watching football to get away from all the news channels. Berman droned on about it the whole time. And it's not like the story changes, either. It still sucks in NO. The Saints are still having a tough time. If you really like hearing about this so much, just tape a 1-min clip of it and loop it, because that's basically what Berman was on Thursday/Sunday/Monday.

Just once, I'd like to turn on my TV and not have to watch something else about New Orleans.

As prior poster said, I also fail to see the connection between a football game and this "hope" of which you speak. Maybe if Bush said that the FEMA money was riding on the outcome, then sure.

I agree 100%. Im so tired of hearing about the whole thing. Either on ESPN or news channels. But its always one thing that the media talks about all the time. If it wasnt this, it would be some baseball steriod story, or something about Iraq.