IceColdBrewski
09-08-2005, 03:53 PM
Peter Finney: Red 'The Vulture' McCombs
Thursday, 2:10 p.m.
By Peter Finney
Sports Columnist
I didn’t know a vulture had four legs.
“This is a great opportunity for the city and we need to seize the moment, jump into it with all four legs,’’ said Red McCombs.
That’s Red (The Vulture) McCombs, former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, speaking from his hometown, which happens to be San Antonio.
“Every effort needs to be made to tie up the Saints for this season, including having people stand in front of the Alamodome singing, ‘When the Saints Come Marching In.’ ‘’
What class.
In a stricken, evacuated, underwater New Orleans, they’ve only begun to count the dead and here you have a former NFL owner dancing on the coffin, telling the San Antonio News-Express he believes a permanent move of Tom Benson’s franchise would be supported by league owners.
Red The Vulture. What a sleaze-ball.
There’s a time for everything. This is not the time to talk about moving a franchise – permanently - from a city that has served as the host of nine Super Bowls.
This is a time to open your arms to those who have lost homes, lost loved ones, lost everything, which is exactly what the city of San Antonio has done.
It has been open arms to Tom Benson’s football team, in the way of practice facilities, also to an estimated 12,000 of the displaced, in the way of shelters, rooms for the elderly, tons and tons of food, and runaway charity.
In San Antonio, you have someone like Famous Washington, a pharmacist, who grew up in New Orleans, sheltering 16 members of his extended family, from 9-months-old to 77-years-old.
In San Antonio, you also have Red (The Vulture) McCombs.
Millionaire McCombs, a longtime friend of Tom Benson, bought the Vikings a few years ago, and unloaded them, after failing to get a new stadium.
Now he’s saying, if Benson wants to make a permanent move to Alamo city, he’ll get the green light from the owners because, as McCombs puts it, “Tom sits on the management council and has a lot of clout.’’
What do I think?
In the post-Katrina world, I have little doubt Benson would like to relocate to San Antonio.
Forever.
But what about Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the NFL?
That’s the billion-dollar question.
Because a vote of the owners would stop a move, because the commissioner owns the ultimate clout, Tagliabue sits in an emperor’s chair.
A city that has been the crown jewel among Super Bowl hosts has suffered the greatest catastrophe in the history of this country, assuming you place what happened on 8/29 above 9/11.
All of which leaves the commissioner facing several questions:
How crucial, how fair to the future of the NFL, is it keeping the Saints in Louisiana over the short term, in New Orleans over the long haul?
If it turns out Katrina KO’d the Superdome as the Saints’ home, where can the team play on an interim basis while a new home is being built?
What part – financially – would the league play in a “new’’ Superdome?
Given the circumstances, what part might the federal government be willing to play in such a revival?
Looking down the road, waiting for a renovated Dome, or a new one, in New New Orleans, all sorts of options would face the gypsy Saints of, let’s say, 2006 and 2007.
Perhaps playing all home games in Tiger Stadium?
Perhaps scattering them among Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Mobile, Jackson, Miss.?
And San Antonio?
Keep in mind, while the (North) Carolina Panthers, who the Saints play Sunday, were waiting to move into their new home in Charlotte, their interim home was across the state line, in Clemson, S.C.
Who knows what the future holds.
In a long-term manner of speaking, Katrina has made it a moment of truth.
For Tom Benson.
For Paul Tagliabue.
For the moment, my message to Red (The Vulture) McCombs is simple: Stop doing the boogie on a fleur de lis grave.
It’s unbecoming.
Let’s see how it all plays out.
New Orleans is down.
But not out.
How do I know?
Well, Paul Prudhomme is planning to show up Friday, leading a caravan of trucks to his offices in Elmwood.
“We’ve got generators, food and trailers and we’ll be in a parking lot cooking for anyone who needs it,’’ he said. “We’re going home, baby."
Thursday, 2:10 p.m.
By Peter Finney
Sports Columnist
I didn’t know a vulture had four legs.
“This is a great opportunity for the city and we need to seize the moment, jump into it with all four legs,’’ said Red McCombs.
That’s Red (The Vulture) McCombs, former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, speaking from his hometown, which happens to be San Antonio.
“Every effort needs to be made to tie up the Saints for this season, including having people stand in front of the Alamodome singing, ‘When the Saints Come Marching In.’ ‘’
What class.
In a stricken, evacuated, underwater New Orleans, they’ve only begun to count the dead and here you have a former NFL owner dancing on the coffin, telling the San Antonio News-Express he believes a permanent move of Tom Benson’s franchise would be supported by league owners.
Red The Vulture. What a sleaze-ball.
There’s a time for everything. This is not the time to talk about moving a franchise – permanently - from a city that has served as the host of nine Super Bowls.
This is a time to open your arms to those who have lost homes, lost loved ones, lost everything, which is exactly what the city of San Antonio has done.
It has been open arms to Tom Benson’s football team, in the way of practice facilities, also to an estimated 12,000 of the displaced, in the way of shelters, rooms for the elderly, tons and tons of food, and runaway charity.
In San Antonio, you have someone like Famous Washington, a pharmacist, who grew up in New Orleans, sheltering 16 members of his extended family, from 9-months-old to 77-years-old.
In San Antonio, you also have Red (The Vulture) McCombs.
Millionaire McCombs, a longtime friend of Tom Benson, bought the Vikings a few years ago, and unloaded them, after failing to get a new stadium.
Now he’s saying, if Benson wants to make a permanent move to Alamo city, he’ll get the green light from the owners because, as McCombs puts it, “Tom sits on the management council and has a lot of clout.’’
What do I think?
In the post-Katrina world, I have little doubt Benson would like to relocate to San Antonio.
Forever.
But what about Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the NFL?
That’s the billion-dollar question.
Because a vote of the owners would stop a move, because the commissioner owns the ultimate clout, Tagliabue sits in an emperor’s chair.
A city that has been the crown jewel among Super Bowl hosts has suffered the greatest catastrophe in the history of this country, assuming you place what happened on 8/29 above 9/11.
All of which leaves the commissioner facing several questions:
How crucial, how fair to the future of the NFL, is it keeping the Saints in Louisiana over the short term, in New Orleans over the long haul?
If it turns out Katrina KO’d the Superdome as the Saints’ home, where can the team play on an interim basis while a new home is being built?
What part – financially – would the league play in a “new’’ Superdome?
Given the circumstances, what part might the federal government be willing to play in such a revival?
Looking down the road, waiting for a renovated Dome, or a new one, in New New Orleans, all sorts of options would face the gypsy Saints of, let’s say, 2006 and 2007.
Perhaps playing all home games in Tiger Stadium?
Perhaps scattering them among Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Mobile, Jackson, Miss.?
And San Antonio?
Keep in mind, while the (North) Carolina Panthers, who the Saints play Sunday, were waiting to move into their new home in Charlotte, their interim home was across the state line, in Clemson, S.C.
Who knows what the future holds.
In a long-term manner of speaking, Katrina has made it a moment of truth.
For Tom Benson.
For Paul Tagliabue.
For the moment, my message to Red (The Vulture) McCombs is simple: Stop doing the boogie on a fleur de lis grave.
It’s unbecoming.
Let’s see how it all plays out.
New Orleans is down.
But not out.
How do I know?
Well, Paul Prudhomme is planning to show up Friday, leading a caravan of trucks to his offices in Elmwood.
“We’ve got generators, food and trailers and we’ll be in a parking lot cooking for anyone who needs it,’’ he said. “We’re going home, baby."