- We can't hear you! La la la! -
Cole
Current Standing: 2-1, 6th Overall
Only three weeks into the young NFL season, and I (like many other Saints fans) can't take it any more. I can't watch football coverage, or read about football, or listen to podcasts, or anything.
The Saints are supposed to be good.
Everyone's saying it: national-level pundits, like Michael Lombardi and Bill Simmons and Don Banks, are all putting New Orleans in the upper echelon of the league. But I refuse to get excited because, like most Saints fans, I am painfully aware of our history.
You see, there are only five teams that haven't made a Super Bowl in franchise history. Two -- the Texans and Jaguars -- have only been in existence for a decade or so. The rest, of course, have been models of futility for generations: the Browns, the Lions, and your New Orleans Saints.
Needless to say, any decent news is blown way out of proportion. As Chris Rose put it, "You must remember this about this franchise: The most memorable play in team history was a field goal kicked by a guy with half a foot."
Of course, every silver lining has a cloud for these guys. Consensus top pick Reggie Bush miraculously falls to second in the 2006 draft … and slowly deteriorates into a disappointment. The Saints make the playoffs for the first time in six years … and get blown out by the Bears in the snow. Drew Brees nearly sets the single-season passing record … and the team finishes last in the NFC South at 8-8. Not to mention, of course, New Orleans getting an NFL team in the first place … and then finding out they were the Saints. Tough to get more depressing than that.
That's why I ask you, pundits: please, for the love of Gumbo, stop predicting good things for the Saints. There's no possible way it'll end well, not for a team with this history.
If you'd really like to see them succeed, write them off when Mark "Dreamboat" Sanchez picks them apart this Sunday. Talk about how overrated they are. Talk about their lack of a defense. Talk about the unbearable stench that envelops Bourbon Street. Talk about whatever else you want, other than the possibility they might be a great team in a wide-open NFC. That way, there are no expectations, and they can play the old "Nobody believed in us!" card on the off chance they actually do something good.
Or, at least, hype up the next Super Bowl there. New Orleanians still know how to party, even if they don't have experience planning a victory parade.
Only three weeks into the young NFL season, and I (like many other Saints fans) can't take it any more. I can't watch football coverage, or read about football, or listen to podcasts, or anything.
The Saints are supposed to be good.
Everyone's saying it: national-level pundits, like Michael Lombardi and Bill Simmons and Don Banks, are all putting New Orleans in the upper echelon of the league. But I refuse to get excited because, like most Saints fans, I am painfully aware of our history.
You see, there are only five teams that haven't made a Super Bowl in franchise history. Two -- the Texans and Jaguars -- have only been in existence for a decade or so. The rest, of course, have been models of futility for generations: the Browns, the Lions, and your New Orleans Saints.
Needless to say, any decent news is blown way out of proportion. As Chris Rose put it, "You must remember this about this franchise: The most memorable play in team history was a field goal kicked by a guy with half a foot."
Of course, every silver lining has a cloud for these guys. Consensus top pick Reggie Bush miraculously falls to second in the 2006 draft … and slowly deteriorates into a disappointment. The Saints make the playoffs for the first time in six years … and get blown out by the Bears in the snow. Drew Brees nearly sets the single-season passing record … and the team finishes last in the NFC South at 8-8. Not to mention, of course, New Orleans getting an NFL team in the first place … and then finding out they were the Saints. Tough to get more depressing than that.
That's why I ask you, pundits: please, for the love of Gumbo, stop predicting good things for the Saints. There's no possible way it'll end well, not for a team with this history.
If you'd really like to see them succeed, write them off when Mark "Dreamboat" Sanchez picks them apart this Sunday. Talk about how overrated they are. Talk about their lack of a defense. Talk about the unbearable stench that envelops Bourbon Street. Talk about whatever else you want, other than the possibility they might be a great team in a wide-open NFC. That way, there are no expectations, and they can play the old "Nobody believed in us!" card on the off chance they actually do something good.
Or, at least, hype up the next Super Bowl there. New Orleanians still know how to party, even if they don't have experience planning a victory parade.
Posts
Personally... i'm a big Saints fan, and it's nice to see them off to such a great start -- but we all know that in the NFL (or any sport) it's not how you start... it's how you finish. Injuries often take their toll... and there's a myriad of things that can happen over the course of a season to take a great team, and make them look mediocre. So I agree, the Sunday NFL analysts and beat writers need to calm down and let things take their course.
ReplyDeleteI think that since Katrina, a lot of people have been pulling for NOLA... hoping that the Saints would be a nice feel good story of a city comeback -- but face it people... a football championship in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean jack when it comes to overall economic and social prosperity in the Crescent City. It would be nice... but football is football. I for one would like to see Drew Brees step up and have a solid season... start to finish... stay healthy, and put up Brady/Manning-esque numbers. I would like to see a strong NFC team for once actually give an AFC team a challenge.
Just my thoughts ... but I think the Saints could actually have a solid season -- call me crazy.
Oh, and Cole, you sound very much like a bitter Red Sox fan... circa 2003. Gotta have faith man... gotta have faith.
P.S. - Flacco put it right on the numbers for that guy... they should have won yesterday ... but fortunately for me, my Pats escaped w/ the win. :) (And yes i'm a Pats AND Saints fan... gotta have an AFC and NFC team)
It's kind of a sore subject right now. Brees didn't even double his rousing score of 4 from last week yesterday against the Jets, making my overall score this week far too anemic to catch up to Cole tonight. More on that later, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteDespite it all, I'm becoming a little bit of a Saints fan.