Did anyone really enjoy the celebration displayed by ESPN last night as the New Orleans Saints defeated the Atlanta Falcons in the first game in the New Orleans Superdome since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina? I mean, did we honestly have to have President George W. Bush, Green Day and U2 celebrate the opening of a football venue that has seen nearly $170 million in state and federal money spent in the last year to provide multi-millionaire athletes a workplace on Sunday afternoons (and Monday evenings)?
I don’t feel like celebrating once you take into account that the state of Louisiana still has 175,100 fewer jobs a year after Hurricane Katrina than before the storm, that one in four students placed in Houston school districts as a result of the storm failed to make it to the next grade, that household levels of mold and bacterial endotoxins found in many homes equal or surpass those in waste-water treatment plants, cotton mills and agrictultural environments, and that a number of reconstruction projects are being held up because the initial estimates by the Federal Emergency Management Agency were way too low.
I will wait to celebrate the revitalization of a city, and not the revitalization of an NFL team.
September 26, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Toby,
I caught limited amounts of this game. I skipped halftime and did not watch the pregame because I was at work, but I’ll say this:
1. The locals are so into the revitalization of their team that they’ve sold out their home games for the first time in history.
2. Spike Lee sat in the booth with Tirico, Kornheiser & Theisman and, when prompted to be critical by Tony, laughed and said, “I’m not pullin’ a Kanye up here!” Theisman followed up with the diplomatic, “It’s safe to say you wish more were being done, then?” Lee stopped smiling and said, “Yes. I don’t understand why it took five days… Five days! to save our own American citizens…” His comment flowed into a mild questioning of our invastion of Iraq.
3. Throughout the quarter and a half that I watched, the trio noted repeatedly that this was simply one step. Aside from Tirico’s retelling of the Bush-USC improper gifting scandal that he insisted on covering as the Saints were driving down the field to get a FG after the Saints blocked a Falcons FG attempt, and some commentary on how the Saints completely contained Vick and the Falcons rushing game, all it seemed they talked about was how this was just one night in a long, long rebuilding attempt.
Of course there’s a long way to go.
But, I see no harm in celebrating the return of at least one aspect of the region’s economy.
Does it cover up the fact that much work has yet to be done?
Sure. But, for me, anyway, I thought it was also a decent reminder that
a) there’s work to be done, and
b) there’s still a lot of hope.
September 26, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Hey Toby. I have nothing to add but I did want to say I am glad you are posting again.