Thank You-San Jose Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16570013.htm

An excellent column from Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News.

The next Superbowl up for bid is 2011. New Orleans better be bidding on it.

Who Says They Don't Care About New Orleans?

We're not even worth a mention in the State of the Union. We weren't part of the Democrats' "First 100 Hours." The only time the city seemingly gets in the news these days is when the media runs a story about the crime rate, corruption, or lack of assistance making it into the hands of people who need it the most. All bad news--enough to make you want to give up.

But at least one media outlet still cares. At least one media outlet is looking out for the city. At least one outlet still has its finger on the issues that still face this city.

Yes, that's right:

Maxim magazine has given the "F**K DA EAGLES" girl her own photo shoot.

Thanks for all the help guys. Oh yeah, and to use the words of Homer Simpson, "In case you couldn't tell, I was being sarcastic."

Local politicians and victims are now having trouble finding media forums, but she sure went from being a nobody to photo-shoot girl in the span of about 15 seconds.

But, in all seriousness, Maxim may be on to something. Maybe this is how we can recapture the attention of the American public. Semi-hot women and profanity.

Maybe we can get some of our sexier citizens to stand on the sites of the levee breaches and wear "F**K FEMA" t-shirts. Then maybe they can stand in front of the court houses with "F**K DA D.A." shirts. Then they could visit the Insurance Commissioner and the "Road Home" people to lend a hand. Then they can visit David Vitter, who is more likely to supply a soundbite about same-sex marriage or supporting Iraq than he is about Katrina (unless he's taking pot-shots at Kathleen Blanco), and remind him of his constituents' priorities.

I think we're on to something here. After all, it's what they expect from us, right? Scantily-clad hotties with loose morals? Isn't that what Mardi Gras is all about?

Oh yeah, still being sarcastic. Sort of.

My National Politics Question

I know that this deals with New Orleans issues. But, dammit, New Orleans is a national issue (even if the president doesn't think so). Therefore, I have to bring this up. This has been building up in me for weeks and months. And when I have watched the way the TV news channels have covered the 2008 presidential race, and then watched the way the TV news channels have covered the responses to the State of the Union Address and President Bush's request for more troops in Iraq, I have only gotten angrier and angrier. So here it is.

We are more than 18 months from the next presidential election.
There have been no caucuses or primaries.
There have been no debates.
There have been no speeches.
There has been no real substantive discussion of the issues, outside of Iraq.
Hell, nobody can say yet with absolute certainty what the real issues will be in the next election.

And yet, the media has already decided that only four people can be elected president in 2008. And ONLY those four people are being allowed the time to speak.

The media has already decided that either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will go up against John McCain or Rudy Giuliani.

I'm sure that John Edwards or Mitt Romney would have like to have talked on national television about what they saw last night. Hell, even Newt Gingrich or John Kerry might have even had something to say, even though I probably wouldn't have wanted to hear it.

Who decided that these and other people are not relevant? And why did every morning news show and most of the 24-hour news channels have Barack Obama live to talk about things? Who decided that he gets the bully pulpit? I don't even have a grasp of what he stands for yet, and yet he is the favorite?

My wife (who is fairly well educated) didn't even know who Barack Obama was until I told her a couple of weeks ago. But either he or Hillary will be the Democratic candidate (according to them).

Only the people with the highest Q-score get to be on television. What the hell is this? American Idol or a presidential election?

I find it interesting that the so-called "national media" have already decided who the four finalists will be. And, how convenient. Two of them are from New York.

Twice-Weekly Garbage Pick-up Returns: 17 Months Post-KTMB

I write this as I hear the mechanical rumble and occasional "hey" (the guys collecting the cans yelling to the driver to move forward) of the garbage truck a few blocks away. After nearly a year and a half, garbage collection has returned as a twice-a-week affair within the City of New Orleans. My neighborhood's days are Wednesday/Saturday. I vaguely recall pre-KTMB my area was Tuesday/Friday--but I am not totally sure if I remember correctly as its been so long. Unfortunately, the city's recycling program remains indefinitely suspended and honestly (as pathetic as this is) I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't ever return as the cost of the program was cited pre-KTMB as too expensive to run. Minimally, the City of New Orleans should at least offer a few central recycling drop-off sites to at least have a token program running not dependent on curbside pick-up.

Not That This Comes as a Surprise to Anyone, But...

The good old days of relevance at the "set."

There was no mention of New Orleans in the State of the Union Address.

I guess we have to wait until next football season for the media to talk about all the help this city needs again.

Oh well.


SEYMOUR D. FAIR ADDED LINK: There Should Have Been Silence (points out the lack of mentioning of our region's unpleasantness).


SEYMOUR D. FAIR ADDED LINK DOS: Harry Shearer walking the walk--as usual. Be sure to check out the comments as his posts generally stir up "the Orleanians are lazy/New Orleans deserves what it got/stop complaining and pull yourself up . . ." crowd. You know, the kind of insensitive, inhuman, soul-less douchebags behind something like this.

I'm Pissed: Bears 39 Saints 14

First, let me get the excuses out of the way:

• That field was unacceptable. There is a long history in football of the home team manipulating the field to their advantage. But come on. It's two thousand freakin' six. You know that if you live in Chicago that your field will be crap in December. Install some field turf and get it over with.
• The BeerMan DID NOT FUMBLE. He was losing the ball before he was down. Then he regained possession and his knee hit the ground. Then the Bears guy took the ball from him. THAT IS NOT A FUMBLE. I don't care if the guy dribbled the ball like a basketball before he was tackled. If he regained possession before his knee went down, there is no fumble.
  
• The Bears first accepted penalty did not occur until somewhere around halfway through the 4th quarter. I have a HUGE problem with that. Are you telling me that the Bears didn't do anything illegal for 3 1/2 quarters? They called illegal block on BeerMan's punt return in the 3rd quarter, but they missed 3 of them on Devin Hester's punt return in the first. Now they did call a hold on the Bears on an incomplete screen pass in the 3rd quarter. The penalty was declined because it was 4th down without the penalty. But on the same play, the refs completely missed an intentional grounding call. Nobody was near that pass. That cost the Saints about 10-15 yards of field position.
• I wouldn't have had a problem with the lack of penalties if the refs weren't calling bullsh&t offensive pass interference penalties on the Saints.
• Terry McAulay's crew has a history of incompetence. It also has a history of screwing over the Saints. Remember when the Saints played the Giants in the first NFL game in New York after 9/11? Terry McAulay's crew did that game too. The officiating sure looked that day like it was preordained that New York would win that game. The Saints were penalized 14 times that day, most of them in the first half (the Giants were penalized 11 times, mostly in the 2nd half). The Saints were also the victims of a pair of questionable booth decisions. I also remembered an incident in that game where Aaron Brooks was speared after a quarterback sneak was finished and the whistles had blown (and yet there was no unnecessary roughness penalty against the Giants). And when the Saints scored a potential game-winning touchdown on the last play of the game, the refs called, you guessed it, offensive pass interference to make sure it wouldn't happen. If the Saints tied and won that game in overtime, you wouldn't have had "heartwarming" stories like this. You'd think with 16 available referee crews, they could have found a better crew for an important game.

Okay. Now that I got that off my chest, let me point out that the Saints still could have won the game, but blew it in the 3rd quarter. In that quarter, two inexcusable things happened:

• The Saints "long field goal specialist" came up well short on a 47 yard FG. Wind was negligible. There's no excuse for that.
• Drew Brees was called for a safety. It was a safety fair and square, even without the Bears' lobbying. Her's my concern: if you know the Bears are coming after you on every down (like they were doing), why do you call a pass like that? Why was there no safety valve? It looked to me like Deuce was headed that way but never got there. Why was running never an option yesterday?

Then, after that, Rex Grossman finally realized that Fred Thomas was in the game, and that was all she wrote.

It was a great ride while it lasted. Thank you Saints for a great season. Right now I'm trying to be grateful that they went farther than any Saints team in history, but it's still hard. These chances to get to the Super Bowl don't come very often. Three of last year's final four teams (Steelers, Broncos and Panthers) didn't even make the playoffs next year. And with a division as competitive as the NFC South, there's no guarantee that the Saints will get back next year. You MUST take advantages of your opportunities when they're presented to you.

With that being said, I think this Saints team could be set up to be good for a long time. Brees is locked in. Bush, Evans and Colston were rookies. And the Saints defense had a good season in spite of having the worst cornerback in the NFL.

What are the keys to the Saints' success in 2007? Besides getting rid of Fred Thomas? In my opinion, they need to find a veteran cornerback or two in free agency. It would be a good idea to get a tight end or two as well. The draft could be used to get more depth at cornerback and tight end. In addition, I would like to see the Saints pursue a wide receiver, backup linebackers, an offensive lineman, a young backup quarterback, and a kicker in the draft too (or free agency). Then, do what they can to tie up Will Smith and Jammal Brown with long-term contracts. And as long as the coaching staff and front office stays pretty much the same, everything should be okay.

And now, depression sets in. Only one more meaningful football game, and the Saints aren't in it again. No more Saints games until August, and only free agency, the draft, and training camp to tide me over.

But I have rarely been so optimistic about the future of the Saints, on the field at least.

I was born a Who Dat, and I will die a Who Dat. It was seasons like this one that convince me that it's all been worth it.

And yet, I will be wearing a Colts jersey in 13 days.

Orleans Avenue/Mid City New Year's Eve Bonfire

Biggest Weekend in Saints Fan History Too

I've been so jacked up for this game all week that I've virtually gotten no work done. I've waited for this game my whole life. Seriously, my whole life.

Here's my story. I was born in 1969. I was on my mothers lap when Tom Dempsey kicked the 63 yard field goal in 1970 and I've been a fan ever since. I remember watching the Saints-Bucs game in 1977. You all know the game. The Buccaneers first ever win as a franchise. I was 8 years old and I watched the whole thing alone in my parents bedroom. No one else in the house wanted to watch except me. I was heartbroken after that game and the Saints continued to break my heart hundreds of times over the last thirty years.

I was there when Bum Phillips decided to punt instead of letting Morten Andersen attempt a 48 yard field goal against the Rams. It was the last game of the season, win and your in. We lost. 1987 we finally had a winning season. We went 12-3 only to watch the 49er's go 13-2 and win the division. We then proceed to get stomped in the wild card game by and 8-7 Vikings team that everyone thought we would crush.

The playoff years of 1991 and 92. Probably our two best teams ever until this year. 1991 playoff game led the Eagles 20-7 in the second half and lost. 1992 playoff game led the Falcons 20-7 in the second half and lost.

I lived through miserable Ditka years and the Ricky Williams embarrassment.

The flicker of hope in Haslett's first season. Finally a playoff win after 33 seasons. Then right back to mediocrity.

All that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Every fall and winter I have lived and died with this team every week. Fan to a fault? Maybe. But, they are my team.

Coaches and players have come and gone but we (the fans) have been here the whole time.

All I can say to my friends who will be watching the game with me on Sunday is.......When we win, you will see a grown man cry.

Who Dat?!

The Biggest Weekend in New Orleans Football History

Well, we're now almost 48 hours away from the biggest day so far in New Orleans Saints history.

And if we get there, our "Patron Saint" may not be pulling for them. How's that for potential irony?

But if there's one person I'm pulling for as much as the Saints this Sunday, It's Archie Manning. Mathematically, there's a 25% chance that the Saints will play the Colts in the Super Bowl. It's about time that good football karma catches up with the Manning family. The team he played for most of his career, his adopted hometown team, playing in the Super Bowl against his son.

I say that karma should hopefully catch up with Archie because he deserves a dream Super Bowl matchup after everything he and his sons have endured on the football field.

Take Archie and the Saints. The "franchise quarterback without a franchise." They give him some offensive weapons between 1978 and 1980, and the defense goes in the toilet. Then the Saints go back on the upswing in 1982, and Bum trades him to the Oilers for Leon Gray. The Oilers, a long-time contender, suddenly get old and go in the toilet. Then he moves on to Minnesota. Just in time to see them hit rock bottom.

Next, Peyton comes along. He goes to Tennessee, just in time to witness the rise of Steve Spurrier and Florida football. He gives the Vols an incredible winning record, but gets the "loser" label tagged on him because he can't beat Florida. In his defense, NOBODY was beating Florida then. He's in line to win the Heisman, but he sees that taken away by an overrated defensive player hyped to death by ESPN and ABC. Then he goes to the pros, and Tennessee finally wins the national championship the year he leaves. His first years in the pros are with Jim Mora (PLAYOFFS????), so you know he's not going to win any playoff games until Mora's gone. Then Mora leaves, and he gets the "loser" label tagged on him again because he can't beat the Patriots. He's already been compared to Dan Marino for his inability to lead his team to the promised land in spite of being the most talented quarterback on the planet.

And Eli hasn't won anything either. The image many Louisianians have of him is that of him tripping over his offensive lineman in the 2003 LSU game. LSU wins the game and wins the national championsip. Ole Miss never recovers. And now he's 0-2 in the postseason with the Giants, and many fans up there blame him for many of their problems.

So that's why I'm pulling for a Saints-Colts Super Bowl. That and the fact that I'm tired of the Patriots. And the fact that the Colts have two prominent LSU players (Joseph Addai and Booger McFarland) and one New Orleanian (Reggie Wayne) who had to deal with the tragedy of losing his brother in New Orleans earlier this season.

The Manning family should not go down as the most talented family of losers in NFL history.

And Archie, New Orleans forgives you if you have to pull for the Colts. I'll even wear my Peyton Manning jersey if the Saints don't get there.

The New Orleans Saints: More to the Story . . .

I know we've been in overdrive in regards to the 2006 Saints season over the past several months here at TBNO. Obviously, many more serious things are there to be concerned with and to be focused upon regarding post-KTMB New Orleans. However, I believe the New Orleans Saints are relevant to our city as their success this season has served as a unifying rallying cry (rich/poor, black/white, Orleanian/Jeffersonian/St. Tammanian) for New Orleans, and to borrow Mr. Clio's "bread and circus" analogy, something which has acted as a positive diversion for those of us choosing to remain here as New Orleans' viability and future quite honestly lingers in question.

Additionally, I've missed less than ten home games since 1984 (attending nearly all with my father and my now-deceased grandfather) so I've got much time of my life, along with an incredible amount of family memories, invested in this team and finally, "the 'hell-freeze over' dream" has at least a chance of becoming reality. So to me, personally, and the other contributors to this blog--my closest friends whom I also attended these games with from puberty to now--the New Orleans Saints are damn relevant.


This article appeared on Sports Illustrated website this morning. Generally speaking, I'm ok with its content with one exception: Mr. Layden erroneously calls the drowning of the City of New Orleans a "natural disaster." I wholeheartedly disagree with that assessment. That statement is in line with the other un-questioned"fact" that New Orleans is a city built 10 feet below sea level . . .


I decided to alert him of his error. Here's what I sent him:

Mr. Layden:

Good piece on New Orleans and the Saints--but I am afraid you have one major part of the story incorrect just as most of the media with exception to Harry Shearer (see his blog). The still-lingering, horrific damage incurred to the City of New Orleans in August 2005 was not via a natural disaster. Instead, this damage was caused by a MANMADE disaster of failed floodwalls and earthen berm levees. There is a significant difference. No one outside of this area seems to realize or comprehend this. What happened on the Mississippi Gulf Coast during Katrina and the SW Louisiana Coast during Rita was in fact a natural disaster caused from essentially a tidal wave--the "storm surge." Because of New Orleans' geographic position levees (and floodwalls) have been constructed in some form since the city's inception to protect New Orleans from periodic Mississippi River flooding and storm surges from the sea. Prior to Katrina our citizenry was assured the flood protection system was adequate by the federal government (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) whom is responsible for it. The Corps formally admitted culpability for the flooding of New Orleans--to the sound of crickets chirping. There was nothing natural about what happened to this place 18 months ago. Our city continues to struggle (although the 2006 Saints provide a welcomed "bread and circus" distraction), but our federal (and even state) government doesn't seem to really be bothered by the conditions here. Our country's response to New Orleans' plight is pathetic and quite frankly makes me embarrassed to be an American.

Seymour D. Fair
New Orleans

Architecture Thief in Mid-City Gets Away with a Slap on the Wrist

I'm sure we have all heard the news reports and tales of unique Architectural pieces getting "liberated" from damaged houses throughout the city. Well, it turns out that close friends of mine that own a flooded Mid-City house have been frequent victims of this crime. And even though the criminal was caught red handed, he was back on the street within a few hours and only a half block from where the crime was committed. Since this guilty party is a local business man I can think of no better justice than to announce his name so that others can avoid him. Please read my friends' account of the events below:

I want to pass on information about an incident that happened yesterday. In short, Long Hardwood Floor Restoration, LLC uses stolen wood to restore customers' floors.

** As most of you know, xxx & xxx are having the house on Telemachus demolished and are re-building on the same lot. The plans are pretty much in place; we are just waiting for the house to be knocked (waiting since October)

Over the past several weeks, individuals have been stealing items from our home such as doors, all of our windows, the air-condition unit, etc. It has been upsetting for us - even though we are not using these items in the new house, these things are still OUR property and the fact that people are just helping themselves to our things really chaps our rears.

Anyhoo - yesterday, we got a call from a concerned neighbor stating that someone was in our house removing the window frames. xxx & xxx rushed over to the house to find some guy working away in our house, taking what he wanted. After recovering from the blood vessels popping in our heads, we called the police, they arrived QUICKLY, arrested him and took him to the police station. Happy ending? No. ----A few hours later, we saw him walk in Finn McCool's for a drink with his friends. Essentially, he was just slapped on the hand by the police (he was only charged with trespassing) and released.

We are furious and want to pass on this information about this guy to warn our friends that this business uses wood stolen from people's homes. I have said this dozens of times to people - if they want things from our house like wood, windows, etc., all they have to do is ask us for these things. We will give them these things. We would rather see these pieces used elsewhere then be demolished. We just want to be ASKED!

So, here is the information about the guy who stole wood out of our home without our permission:

Steven Long

Long Hardwood Floor Restoration, LLC

504.621.1165

He is a thief and I encourage you to not give him your business. He uses stolen wood to restore wood floors.

Thank you.

xxx & xxx (NAMES REMOVED)

Quite Appropriate

How about this one. The parents of the baby, who's embryo was rescued from the flood, have named the newborn Noah.

Seriously though, congratulations to the new parents. Truly, a wonderful day for them.

Welcome to New Orleans Noah!

WTF!?

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl011207jbcase.3400c263.html

Did anyone else catch this story? The DA's office release a man accused of armed robbery because they couldn't locate a witness. So the reporter went and found the guy that day!!
Can things in our Criminal Justice System really be this bad? Why didn't the reporter bring the Assistant DA to the man's house with TV camera's in hand? Why isn't this a bigger story? I have been out of town for a few days, was this a big story?? I'm sorry I can't type anymore, I have to go throw-up.

Bring on the Bears

Random thoughts from the last 24 hours:

1. I'm 3-0 on my picks so far this weekend. I'm losing on my 4th though. If San Diego wins, we're looking at a possible Saints/Colts Super Bowl. I want Peyton, Addai, New Orleanian Reggie Wayne, and the rest of the Colts to get there too. I know it's the one Archie is pulling for, and that's good enough for me. UPDATE: I went 4-0 this weekend. Just tooting my own horn.

2. I would have loved to host the NFC Championship game. But I think we can beat the Bears too. The Saints have trouble forcing turnovers. If they can't get a couple of picks on Rex Grossman, then they don't deserve to be in the Super Bowl, period.

3. The Saints offense can score enough points to beat the Bears. The Bears love to get cheap defensive touchdowns, but the Saints don't give defenses those opportunities.

4. The crappy Midwest weather is in full force this weekend and this week. It's supposed to get better next weekend.

5. Bernard Berrian vs. Fred Thomas. We'll see what happens.

6. Again, thank you Deuce. I already posted on that. It's interesting that the two most beloved figures in Saints history (Archie and Deuce) both went to Ole Miss.

7. Thank you, Scott Fujita. Your tackle on Tapeh in the 4th quarter saved the game.

8. Thank you, Mark Simoneau(x) for intentionally ricocheting the ball off your head to prevent a big gain. Ha ha.

9. Thank you, Reggie Bush for finally making something out of those broken plays.

10. Thank you, Terrance Copper, for recovering Reggie Bush's fumble. I now consider you completely redeemed.

10. Saints TEs: 6 catches, 108 yards. Does that equal their total output from the second half of the season?

11. We endured the Donte' Stallworth/Darren Howard curse, and still won. How sweet it is.

12. Come on, Marques. Sell the catch on the Hail Mary a little better, and maybe they would have been more likely to review it.

13. Come on, Bullocks. Make the big play.

One win away from the Super Bowl. So this is what it feels like.

Somewhere, someplace, Buddy D is smiling. I wonder if Aaron Brooks is doing the same.

Thank You, Saints. Thank You, Deuce

This is one of the happiest sports-related nights of my life. We just keep erasing the "you've never..." statements we always heard.

And Deuce McAllister now belongs in the Saints stratosphere usually reserved for only Archie Manning. His heart and soul carried the team tonight. Add the concern he has for this city and his charity efforts, and he's earned the respect and admiration of us all.

Not bad for an Ole Miss guy.

More tomorrow. I just had to get my thanks to Deuce out tonight. I'm sure you understand.

GAMEDAY . . .

Why We Need the Saints, If You Didn't Already Know

I know this blog sometimes gets overloaded with Saints posts, but it's articles like this that help explain why the New Orleans Saints are critically important to this area.

America wants to forget. America wants to focus on the escalating murder rate, the reelections of useless politicians, government infighting and inefficiency, and so on. They say we should take care of ourselves and that we don't deserve federal assistance. They blame their murder rates on New Orleanians. They don't give us the 2008 Democratic Convention (it's officially Denver now). The city is virtually ignored by the new Deomcratic-powered congress. It's hard to see any positives right now.

Except the Saints.

As long as the Saints keep winning, the media will keep coming here and reminding (perhaps even guilting) the country that we are not o.k.. The Saints need to keep winning so that we can keep telling them.

It's one of the few positive outlets we have anymore. And if the Saints were relocated or below .500, we wouldn't be getting that attention either.

So keep on winning. We need you.

And on another unrelated note, thanks to Boston Legal for coming down here and making some sense out of some people's pathological need to prosecute doctors who euthanized their patients during the flood. I do have one criticism though: why did you have to make the judge and prosecuting attorney sound like Colonel Sanders? WE DON'T TALK LIKE THAT! AND WE DON'T TALK LIKE DENNIS QUAID IN "THE BIG EASY" EITHER!

The Original Video

Posted at Seymour's request.

It reminds me of one of the best lines ever from "The Simpsons": If you pause the video, you can see the exact moment his heart breaks.

PLAYOFFS?

I think I saw this commercial 50 times this weekend. And I laughed out loud EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Bring On the Eagles

Okay. Enough talk about politics, insurance, and Nick Saban. Time to talk about something less controversial. Something we can all get behind.

Saints vs. Eagles. PRIMETIME. Saturday night. The DOME will be as loud as it's ever been.

However, I am disappointed that the Saints will be playing the Eagles. I really wanted the Seahawks. The Bears are as good as getting another bye playing Seattle. And another thing. The Eagles are much, much, much better than the Seahawks. With the Eagles coming to town, there are a lot of things that aren't in the Saints' favor:

1. The Eagles are the hottest team in the NFC. They haven't lost in something like 6 weeks.
2. It's a rematch. It's hard to beat a team twice in the same season.
3. The Eagles have been to 4 of the last 5 NFC Championship Games.
4. The team and coaching staff have about a million times more playoff experience than the Saints.
3. The always-dangerous "Ex-Saint factor." Darren Howard and Donte' Stallworth (who didn't play in the first game) will be on the field. I pray that Fred Thomas isn't covering Stallworth.
4. Home field (dis)advantage. The Saints are 4-4 at home. The Saints are 1-3 at home in the playoffs.

But here's why I'm hoping these and other things won't matter this weekend:

1. Sean Payton is 2-0 this season in rematches with teams he beat the first time around (Falcons and Buccaneers).
2. Mark Simoneau(x) and Hollis Thomas. Let's hope there's an "Ex-Eagle factor" in their history too.
3. Experience is overrated. For all that experience, the Eagles have only been to one Super Bowl and lost that game.
4. The NFC Championship Game the Eagles missed in that streak was last year's game. Let's hope that it started a new trend.
5. The home team is 4-0 in the playoffs so far.
6. The Saints are getting healthy again. Hollis Thomas will be back. Joe Horn may be back (but I'm skeptical). Fred Thomas will hopefully get better too. Meanwhile, the Eagles had one significant injury yesterday (Lito Sheppard). The latest reports say that there's a chance that he will be out for Saturday.

And, most importantly:

7. THE SAINTS ARE BETTER THAN THE EAGLES.
8. THESE AREN'T THE SAME OLD SAINTS (I hope).
9. KARMA AND DESTINY (okay, I'm stretching now).

So what do I think is going to happen? I'm a Saints fan, so I'm not going to make any bold predictions. But I'll just say this. If the Saints team that showed up for the Falcons, 49ers, Cowboys and Giants games shows up, the Saints will win. Period. Perhaps easily. If the Saints team that showed up against the Redskins shows up, the Saints could still win. But it just got a lot harder. To me, it's just like I've been saying all year: it's all about turnovers. If the Saints can force a couple of turnovers and the offense doesn't do anything stupid, the Saints win. The opposite has been the formula for almost every Saints loss.

Here are my predictions for the other three games:
Bears defeat Seahawks
Patriots defeat Chargers (another Schottenheimer choke, and I'll pick against them next week too if they win)
Colts defeat Ravens

As usual, all comments welcome.

MONDAY LUNCHTIME UPDATE: ESPNews is reporting that Lito Sheppard is OUT for Saturday.

Post Sugar Bowl Comments

1. It's nice to have the Sugar Bowl back where it belongs. I'd rather see it fold than to permanently move to Atlanta.

2. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Allstate has some balls being the corporate sponsor for a bowl game in New Orleans. Use some of that advertising and marketing money to pay your policy-holders in Louisiana next time. Right now I feel more comfortable giving my hard-earned money to a crackhead. At least he won't lie to me about not paying me back.

3. Fox can take its sports broadcasts and shove them up its ass. WHY IN THE HELL DOES FOX HAVE TO TURN EVERY SPORTING EVENT IT TELECASTS INTO A FLAG-WAVING, GOD BLESS AMERICA, SUPER-PATRIOTIC LOVEFEST? Forget it. I know the answer. Now don't get me wrong. I am not anti-flag, anti-religion, and all that stuff. I am just personally offended at the way the Republican Party (and its propaganda wing, Fox News) have turned them into political symbols. I don't need to have a flag in my front yard and I don't have to talk about God and Jesus to prove that I am a proud, patriotic American. And just because I have NEVER supported the war in Iraq, it doesn't mean I want our soldiers to die. So SHUT THE F&%K UP and leave us alone.

4. After that shot, you'd think I'd have nothing good to say about the telecast. But I do. Thank you Fox, from the bottom of my heart, for not turning the game into "The Nick Saban Show." God knows ESPN and ABC would have done it. Only a brief discussion in the pre-game show. Very little after that. Thanks for showing some restraint. Like I said, ESPN and ABC would have had Nick Saban on the phone for a 20-minute interview. But only if it didn't interfere with the live-in-studio interview with Regis Philbin and/or the star of some new ABC sitcom.

5. After all the Nick Saban talk over the last 24 hours, don't you think it's about time that some of you pro-Saban people cut Les Miles a break? He's 22 and 4. He has top-five finishes in his first two years. LSU could finish this season #2 if Ohio State blows out Florida. He's beaten two "nationally respected" programs in bowl games by a combined score of 81-17. And he doesn't jerk us around with other offers and pay raises. So SHUT UP. He's not Nick Saban yet, but he's not Mike Archer either. Some of you act like it's easy to win national championships and that national championship coaches are falling off trees.

6. But with all that being said, people would respect Les Miles more if he'd get his finger out of damn ear. And stop wearing his headphones over those goofy-ass oversized caps. And stop talking like "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" every time a sideline reporter approaches him.

7. Thanks to JaMarcus Russell for giving us two great years. I've had a love-hate relationship with him. He makes it look too easy when he's good. But he tries to hard to be the hero sometimes. Like the fumble on the sack yesterday. He's so good that he thinks he can make super-human plays sometimes. And it usually results in interceptions. If he could ever become a Drew Brees-like leader and game manager, he could be an All-Pro Quarterback in the NFL.

8. I'm not ready to say that about Brady Quinn yet.

9. How the hell did Auburn hold this LSU team to three points? Well, let's change that. LSU, JaMarcus Russell and the referees held the Tigers to 3 points in that game.

10. A win there, and LSU would have been playing Florida in the SEC Championship for the right to play Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game. That's the thing that sucks the most about this season, even though it was one of the top-ten (perhaps top-five) seasons in LSU history.

The NICK SABAN Sugar Bowl

There is something wrong with Nick Saban. Something seriously wrong. It has to be part ego, part insecurity.

Everybody told me I was just bitter because I refuse to forgive Nick Saban for leaving LSU. Not because he left, but because of how he did it. You don't make an announcement like that on Christmas Day. And the man was too chicken-shit to make the announcement before he got on the plane to Florida.

Well, now, how do you like your "hero?"

And for those of you who don't know better, he had his mind made up yesterday. He knew he was leaving. So why did he wait a day to make the announcement? To "sleep on it?"

Nope. He waited because LSU was playing the next day. Today was supposed to be a day for Louisianians and New Orleanians to celebrate. We got the Sugar Bowl back, and the home-state team was playing.

But now, the Sugar Bowl and LSU have been pushed to page 2. He had to be the center of attention. Again.

Now why would I say this? I don't know. Maybe because he had to ruin everyone's Christmas last time he made a big announcement?

And speaking as an LSU graduate, I only have one thing to say: what the Hell did we ever do to you? Seriously, what is wrong with you where you have to make your decisions at the time when it's going to hurt us the most.

And how can you look any college recruit in the eye and say "play for me for four years?"