(08-02-2010 18:31 )setter1000 Wrote: at the risk of occurring Docks wrath I think most neutrals were very happy with the result. Over the years they were so bad they were called the aints and a lot their fans wore brown bags over their heads so people could not recognise them. Combine this with hurricane Katrina and you see how much adversity the people of New Orleans had to go through.
My wrath isn't exactly fearsome!
At least I hope not!
I can honestly say that I wasn't too bothered who won the Super Bowl this year. The Saints have been historically bad - just ask the Manning family! In fact I vividly remember reading a piece in an NFL programme that a friend of the family brought back from the States when I was a kid about the reaction of fans to Archie Manning being traded to the Vikings - the image of men almost crying in their beer on Bourbon Street because 'the saviour had not survived' after more than 10 years of yeoman service with a best record of 8-8. In fact I'd be hard pressed to think of any player who was so loved by fans despite the lack of success as Archie Manning was/is by the people of New Orleans. Maybe Gale Sayers in Chicago but I think the Bears weren't as bad as the Aints during his all too brief career? I'm really struggling to think of anybody like Archie Manning.
I really don't want to appear to be curmudgeonly towards the Saints or the good people of New Orleans - it was really a chance to have a go Bush over New Orleans and rail against the injustice of cruise ships docking on Haiti for watersports and barbecues on the beach at a secure guarded peninsula when tens if not hundreds of thousands of people are in dire need on other parts of the island. I make some fairly odd posts!
I think the Saints are hugely entertaining to watch. They are explosive offensively, they play attacking/gambling/reckless defence and are a beloved part of the city. I don't think they would pack up and move out in trucks in the middle of the night like a certain team did from Baltimore all those years ago to go to er, Indianapolis. I'm not such a stick-in-the-mud that teams can never move but there are ways of doing it and how Indianapolis got the Colts from Baltimore wasn't good. I just thought that the Colts were the better team on paper but the NFL is played on turf so you never know...
Sure that Mardi Gras will be spectacular in New Orleans this year and the team (from Tom Benson, Sean Peyton, Drew Brees to the people who do the important jobs like cleaning the stadium and cutting the grass at the training facility) and the people of New Orleans can rightly celebrate a great triumph. Don't think they'll defend the title though... always got to look ahead because the NFL also stands for Not For Long!