Makes no sense Wednesday, Apr 16 2008 

NFL and Saints Football and new orleans and sports , , , danfraz 10:38 am

I’m talking about two things here. One, Why are the New Orleans Saints the home team for the London game against the Chargers? And two, Why does the Saints schedule keep them away from home for 5 straight weeks? Or if you prefer, the Saints will not play in this chocolate city for 37 days in the fall. WTF?

Everyone in the city is thankful and grateful for the “love” that the NFL has shown the city since Katrina. This is not a attempt to diminish or not give the league credit for the attempts at making things work here during our difficult times. Plus I know that sporting event schedules are what they are. But damn, the way this has played out makes no sense whatsoever.

New Orleans is the last city that can “afford” to lose a home game right now. Not for the team, they’ll get their money back from the league. Plus I know that the Saints are honored to be playing overseas. It is an honor and I think everyone here is grateful for this honor. But the local businesses that frankly survive because of Sunday home games won’t be getting a check from the NFL. They will lose a day of revenues that might pay their bills for an entire month. The businesses that operate like squirrels, gathering their nuts all in one day and then slowly using them to survive the rest of the year are SOL. The support staff, the non-profits, the church groups that run concession stands are SOL. Need that week of revenue to keep your business aflot? Too bad sucker. While it is a great opportunity for the Saints and the city itself to be showcased in London, couldn’t the freaking Chargers have been the home team? It makes no sense and frankly is just plain stupid on the NFL’s part.

Now on to the second problem. 5 straight weeks on the road? Hell did the Saints win the Super Bowl and I missed it somehow? Didn’t they finish last season a weak 7-9? Wouldn’t you think that the teams that were successful would be dealing with 5 straight weeks on the road? Yeah I know one week is a bye, but when your at Carolina, London, Bye week, at Atlanta and at KC, it’s five freaking weeks on the road in a row. Again what the hell is going on here?

The people in the city have given up on people giving a crap about us down here. It took awhile but we finally got the point that the rest of America frankly could give a shit about the recovery. There are losers to vote for on American Idol, which holds folks attention much more than rebuilding a city in our own country can. We get it. Don’t like it, but we get it and have accepted it. But damn, when a business like the NFL, which pretty much controls everything in their own power, looks like they knelt down over the city and took a big ole steaming dump, it gets a little frustrating.

 

Le Hornets are # 1 Wednesday, Apr 9 2008 

Memphis and NBA and New Orleans Hornets and new orleans and sports danfraz 9:52 am

Would any sports fan in the world have seen this coming? At one point, people thought the team would leave asap. The team and the state came to an agreement that called for a minimum number of tickets to be sold. Anyone remember 14,735?  Anyone remember winning 18 out of 82 games three years ago?

The Hornets are tops in the NBA Western Conference with 4 games left to play. They have clinched a playoff berth and at the current time, are seeded number one heading into the playoffs. The toughest conference in the league and the HORNETS are on top. No one, including the team saw this coming. They expected to be good, but even they did not see them being on top with 4 games to go. The Hornets just wanted to make the playoffs, seeding was not really important, just get in.

That is no longer the case. The city has gotten Hornets fever. Citizens expect Chis Paul (CP3 to the clueless) to win the league’s MVP trophy. New Orleanians expect the team to go all the way…or at the very least the Western Conference Finals. We’ve seen this team dismantle pretty much every team in the league at some point….except one. Of course, that one team is the team that has some history in NOLA too.

The one team that has handled the Hornets is the team with the nickname that should be across the New Orleans jersey. The freakin Jazz. The team that once was ours is the club that the current NBA franchise in town can’t seem to handle.

I write this because of what happened Monday night in the NCAA championship game. I lived in Memphis for awhile, ran the sports talk radio station in town for a good number of years. I made friends in Memphis and have fond memories of some of my times there. No city other than New Orleans really deserves to be labeled a championship city than Memphis. They’ve had tough times, racial and economic woes. A NCAA championship would have given the folks there a good boost, something positive to latch onto, to get them thru times when things are troublesome. But they didn’t get it. They were the better team, played well and such but in the end they blew it.

I go there because I see the same thing coming our way in regards to Le Hornets. This team is good enough to make the NBA finals. No doubt about that in my eyes. But if things play out in their normal way, we’ll have to play the Jazz at some point, a nickname that BELONGS in New Orleans. And in the un-fair world of sports, the city of New Orleans will end up being the bridesmaid to a franchise that broke the city’s heart 30 years ago.