Did Katrina save the Saints for New Orleans?

The second time they received a state-of-the-art stadium for free at taxpayer expense, counting the original construction.

Of course, many other franchises have hopscotched from one free taxpayer-paid stadium to another. I think some are now on their third trip to the trough.

 

If Katrina saved the Saints, will the BP oil spill save the Hornets? The Green Wave? (Who perhaps should change their nickname to the Brown Wave.)

 

Except (and it's been obvious for a long, long time . . . not just the past two weeks), the prevailing
junta controlling the Pirates have acted in a wholly-debased manner for a long time. They need
to take their capital gains and sell the Buccos to someone who might actually
give a rat's behind about winning. Otherwise, they can lick my ass -- and any Pirate fan who
buys tickets under the prevailing conditions remains an utter mark. And I don't care HOW pretty
the setting is. The fish stinks from the head.

 

I have ran across several posts on Twitter from a few that are saying that Katrina was a "man-made" disaster.

Sorry, that's bullshit and needs to be clarified. Katrina was a natural disaster. The handling and the reactionto it was man-made. No human didn't bring a hurricane to hit Louisiana on purpose.

Back to the topic at hand. Katrina, in my opinion, did not save the Saints for New Orleans. Tom Benson has toyed with the idea of pulling the Saints out of town for a long time before the hurricane hit in 2005. Benson has always wanted a new stadium, and when he didn't get what he wants, he bitches.

The reopening of the Superdome was not a sign of "inspiration" or NOLA "returning to normal" as what some were trying to pimp up. Far from it. I've felt that way then and I feel that way today. Even after the Saints were able to move back into the Superdome, Benson kept talking about moving the team.

The fans needed something to look up to and the Saints were the only thing in town.

The fortunes of this team changed with Sean Peyton and Drew Brees came to town. The defeatist "woe is us" attitude from Joe Horn, Jim Haslett, and Aaron Brooks were replaced by guys like Peyton and Drew who knew that the reopening of the damn Superdome wasn't enough to give those fans hope.

Winning games and being consistently competitive was.

The Saints needed the fans and the community more than than the fans needed them. Even if Katrina didn't happen.

So, no, Katrina didn't save the Saints for New Orleans. The Saints saved themselves by changing their culture and how they saw themselves. The best thing these Peyton-led Saints have done is show the city that "if we can evolve and move on from Katrina, so can you."

The question is "is New Orleans willing to move forward or continue to wallow in pity, corruption, and keep thinking about Katrina?

Hurricane Hugo didn't keep Florida down. Neither did a F-5 tornado 90 minutes NE of me in Parkersburg.

 

If it did keep the Saints in New Orleans, it wasn't worth it.

 

He possibly could have been referring to the poorly-constructed levees that gave way, levees that have been argued for and against for more than eight decades.


Some good historical background:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0501_river4.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927

http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/articles/230/the-flood-of-1927-and-its-impact-in-greenville-mississippi

 

Yes. That's what people in New Orleans mean when they call it a man-made disaster.