Welcome back New Orleans

A lot of thoughts on this past weekend of football, but I'm going to start with the present instead. Sitting here watching the pre-game for the first NFL football game in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, I have a number of thoughts. There will be contrasts here, so bear with me, as I see many sides to this; after all, I am a moderate.

First, let me say that the emotion of the night for most everyone involved is quite genuine. I have no idea how they really feel except based on what I can see; what I see is people who are thankful to be alive and who seem to be looking to the future. I hope and pray that the future is brighter than the last year has been in many ways. However, the strength of many individuals in the area and the unity that has formed amongst the people is to be commended. Truly, at least that one positive has come about from all of the adversity. To me, that can be seen as part of God's will for those individuals and that region.

However, I have a hard time fully supporting the positive spin of this night. The region is still decimated, as has been covered. I do agree that the football game can be seen as a symbol of a return to normalcy, a beacon of hope, and a rallying point. I also commend ESPN for emphasizing, at least thus far, the need for further assistance in the area during its pregame coverage. What I do not support is this supposed "love for the Saints." Prior to Katrina, the Saints were in the news only as 1) a bad football team, 2) the team whose fans wore bags on their heads during games, & 3) the most likely franchise to be relocated. Support for professional sports in New Orleans is...um...poor. Which is obviously an understatement.

The Saints just blocked a punt for a touchdown. Wow. Amazing. That is really awesome, the Superdome is going nuts.

Anyway, when the Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans, my Dad and I laughed about how they had gone out of the frying pan into the fire. Why anyone would move an NBA team to a city that does not have solid support for its NFL team is beyond me. My point is that the Saints franchise may be seashells and balloons right now, but it certainly has not typically been the case. Maybe part of the hurricane's point was to help keep this team in New Orleans. Whatever the divine purpose, the positive spin of the franchise is almost comical. It really took a hurricane to save this team, at least for now.

For more, go to www.chrischase.com. This guy, a Wake Forest grad, has a widely-read blog that is witty and opinionated. He beat me to some of my thoughts, and is a good writer, so check it out. In fact, check out his blog often, it's typically good stuff.

A few more thoughts on this game. The pregame show featuring Green Day and U2 was well done. A New Orleans flavor and helping promote a good cause created by the two bands. Definitely two of my favorite rock bands, Green Day for its fast songs, creativity, and drumming, and U2 for just being awesome.

Good to see Robin Roberts given the task of emceeing the pregame event. It's good to see a woman given the opportunity and no woman is more deserving than Roberts. She has long been the best female in the sportscasting profession in my opinion, as she is thorough, knowledgeable, and smooth on the air.

Kinda ironic that President George Bush Sr. was brought in to do the coin toss, seeing as Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, has been so critical of his son's policy as President.

I found ESPN's "black church" intro between the concert and the MNF crew taking over to be a little tasteless. Seemed to patronize black churches, football, and the events of the past year. I'm sure it was not intended that way, and was creative...but it was still the wrong creative decision in my opinion.

How do you give a pregame pep talk if you're the coach of the Falcons? "All right , who cares about the stupid hurricane, this is football, let's go kick their &*#$@^! !@$" or "Katrina wiped them out last year, now it's our turn to wipe them out this season"?? I mean, really, what do you say? You know the Saints will be more fired up than usual, and the crowd will be stoked as well. So how do you hype your own team up?

I think we should have seen this early season success coming for the Saints. Between the schedule and the fact that this season has to be easier on them than last year, it was too obvious. Yet, no one noticed it prior to now. So much for the experts and idiots like myself.


Moving on to the NFL weekend. Big, big, big win for Denver at New England. I picked Denver, probably because I was being stubborn since I picked the Broncos to win the Super Bowl. The Broncs really are a good football team and should be around most of the season. Their upcoming games with the Chargers should be fun.

Bigger win for the now 1-2 Panthers. John Kasay with an NFL record in winning the game for Carolina: first kicker in NFL history to make four field goals from 45+ yards in a game. Unfortunately, as most of you have heard by now, Bucs' quarterback Chris Simms had his spleen removed following the game. He got hurt, was bleeding internally, and did not know it, choosing to return to the game and try to help his team win. Never been the biggest Chris Simms fan, but that is gutsy. Literally.

Big news today is that Shaun Alexander, the reigning NFL MVP, has a broken bone in his foot and will miss 4-6 weeks. Maybe that Madden cover jinx is for real. I guess we will see how important Alexander really is to the success of the Seahawks' offense now.

On to college football and the teams I follow. Carolina apparently did not realize they had a game this weekend, so I will not comment other than to say this: John Bunting will not be fired this season. It costs the university too much money, and the recruiting class for next year is strong enough that the administration will not risk losing signees because of a coaching change. Also, keep in mind the schedule softens considerably as the year progresses for Carolina. Unless the team ends up 2-10 or so, Bunting is not really in trouble. Everyone should also note that Marvin Sanders, the Defensive Coordinator, a young, up-and-coming coach, and Frank Cignetti, the new Offensive Coordinator, each have committed to being at Carolina over other schools and should be kept around to be given time to recruit and implement their systems. Finally, keep in mind the goal of football at Carolina right now: make a bowl, stay out of trouble, graduate players, make money. That's it. Anything else is gravy. Bunting and his staff are capable of that.

The gf and I went to Big Al's, a local Blacksburg hot spot, Saturday night to enjoy some refreshments and watch football. Throughout the night, I was ripped for wearing a Notre Dame hat, as the Irish were getting drilled at Michigan St on national television. Needless to say, the Irish comeback was that much sweeter when you get to yell over a loud crowd when no one but you wants to see a team win. Almost as much fun as Carolina winning at Cameron Indoor...

Finally, Georgia had a nice comeback win at home over Colorado, a game that never should have been a tight game given the ineptitude of Colorado thus far. But, give the Buffs credit for coming to play between the hedges. Georgia is a team I generally pull for and prefer in the SEC, but more so recently given the plethora of Independence High School alumni who have gone on to play for the Dawgs. Robert Brannon, Mario Raley (Sr. WR), Mohamed Massaquoi (So. WR), and Joe Cox (RsFr QB). Joe Cox was the QB who came on in the fourth quarter Saturday in relief of "golden child" Matthew Stafford and did nothing other than go 10-13 for 153 yards and two TDs. Joe Cox is a winner, having not lost a game in which he appeared in since sometime prior to high school. My very biased note to UGA: start Joe Cox, he's better than you think. And, we have the same dentist.

Quick overall NCAA thoughts: I like this Florida team, they are legitimately good. Southern Cal is much more balanced than recent years, as the defense is quite good (as evidenced by them holding Arizona to 3 points this past weekend). I'm interested to see what Iowa can do with Ohio St in Iowa City this weekend. The atmosphere will be great. Hopefully the Hawkeyes can at least make it a competitive game. I still like Auburn as the best team, fyi. I'll go as far as to say the winner of Florida/Auburn will play for the national title.

I heard 311 on the radio today as background music on the local Blacksburg rock station. They did not play the song, just the instrumental intro while some stupid deejay talked. I have not heard 311 on the radio since moving here; hearing them used in this way just furthered my dislike of 105.3FM The Bear.

Enjoy the week. Big home game for VT this weekend, hosting Georgia Tech. Hokie Hokie High.

Loos-en up-my but-tons babe...