NEW ORLEANS REALLY, REALLY NEEDED A SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP

Things were always a little tough in New Orleans. They built most of it on a swamp that probably should have been left to inhabitants with feathers or fins. Instead, the area is home to people and they live in an area that should, in reality, be under several feet of water.

That is part of the charm of this area: It really defies logic and people that live there are a breed apart because nature really doesn’t want them in this bird- and- fish- only zone.

Running contrary to ordinary is part of the philosophy if you want to live in New Orleans, because they like to celebrate their individuality- a lot.But lately they have had a little less wind in their sails after Katrina and Rita blew into town and b****-slapped an entire city.

In very severe fashion, I might add.

Suddenly the people of New Orleans started to have doubts about whether they even belonged in an area that owes its very existence to a complex system of levees and pumps that didn’t stand a chance against Katrina. The whole thing was a gamble from the get-go because there was no defense against a storm like Katrina.

You live with this knowledge in New Orleans that your city could be drowned by the Big One. And then it happened. Many parts of the region will never be the same after Katrina and Rita. Five years later, there are no concrete plans to re-build in many sections of the city.

But the spirit of New Orleans remained intact and that has kept the city from sinking back into the swamp. All of this brings me to a Super Bowl championship for the city of New Orleans. These people really needed this victory more than any previous and future Super Bowl champions.

It is bigger than a football championship for New Orleans. It is an esteem issue, and a warm and fuzzy moment issue for a city in desperate need of both. Even a Mardi Gras celebration will have a little extra jump this year because of the victory.

Resiliency is part of the program in New Orleans, but these people faced the harshest test possible five years ago. Somebody needed to throw them an emotional life raft and it came courtesy of their local football heroes. For these people, it was much more than a football game. It was a path back to a place that was not drowning in despair, and that was a big change.

Congratulations New Orleans, you needed that Super Bowl big time.

COMMENTS

BERNARD:""It was a victory for the real Saints fans, like in another league we are familiar with. An excellent Superbowl game, btw."

DENNIS:"Wait a minute, what have we really learned here?

#1. If you try hard enough you can win a football game. #2, If you spend enough taxpayer money, you can rebuild anything. Let's dig a little deper. Have the people of New Orleans really learned anything? Try this out. The loss of life in Hurricane Katrina might have been significantly less if it hadn't been for the indecision of the mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin. Well, Nagin is out, his replacement?

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu. Does that last name sound familiar? it should, his sister is Sen. Mary Landrieu and his father was Maurice Edwin "Moon" Landrieu a Democratic politician from Louisiana who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 19701978. He also is a former judge. He represented New Orleans' Twelfth Ward in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966, served on the New Orleans City Council as a member at-large from 1966 to 1970 and was the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under U.S. President Jimmy Carter from 19791981 In the general election, Landrieu defeated Ben C. Toledano, the only Republican to make a serious bid for mayor of New Orleans in the 20th century.Moon Landrieu was elected mayor of New Orleans in the election of 1970 to succeed fellow Democrat Victor Schiro. His opponent in the Democratic primary runoff was Jimmy Fitzmorris, who was supported by most of the citys political establishment. Running on a "progressive" platform, Landrieu won an unexpected victory by having assembled a coalition of 90 percent of black voters and 39 percent of whites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Landrieu The Landrieu family has become a major political dynasty in Louisiana politics.

During 19751976, Landrieu served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors. Landrieu became nationally known as an advocate for American cities in Washington, D.C., and was credited with helping to convince Congress to bail out New York City during its financial crisis.

Does any of this sound familiar to what has been going on in the last year?????

I propose that with the election of the son of "Moon" Landrieu and the brother of Mary Landrieu, that the people of New Orleans haven't learned a thing.

KIRBY:"Thanks to Dennis for the informative tour of Louisiana governmental history but just what does it have to do with a people in bad need of a spiritual boost. It is neither the current government's fault or the people as a whole that the Army Corp of engineers decided that they could control mother nature and build the better part of a state at 10 feet above sea level and then try to control the flow of the very river that was creating the delta for them. Roy Nagin's only problem is that he wanted to save a culture from self destruction prior to mother nature kicking their ass. Remember the vast majority of the over 1500 fatalities came after the Federal Government agencies failed miserably in responding to the disaster. Let them glow in the glory of victory and leave the politics out of a much needed boost in moral.

DENNIS:"Kirby, I apologize for the political lecture. It's just high time we throw out all the "Good Ol' Boys" in this "dynasty government" of the past (the Kennedy family, the Bush family, the Landrieu family), and start over. That's where I think the citizens of New Orleans aren't getting the message.

You are esentially correct about almost everything. (except Nagin). The pictures of all those school busses half submerged in water means they weren't use to evacuate the folks. I live in Hurricane country, 9 feet above sea level and 2 blocks from the Gulf of Mexico. We know better than to stay if we're in imminent danger.

That said, I applaud "the folks" of New Orleans, Not as much for winning the game or rebuilding the city, we did that here after Hurricane Charlie a few years back but for managing to pull off a full blown "Who Dat" New Orleans celebration with class and style. No burnt out store fronts, no overturned cop cars, "The folks" deserve every shout-out we can give them.

NEW ORLEANS REALLY, REALLY NEEDED A SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP

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