TheWriter
10-28-2005, 04:29 AM
Water Cooler on Wheels: The Saints
Web Posted: 10/28/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
That drip, drip, drip you hear is the sound of the leaky logic that seems to have swamped the public debate on the Saints' situation. The discourse, which entered a new phase Thursday with Mayor Phil Hardberger's come-what-may rejection of a new stadium, has sprung so may leaks of late that it makes the 17th Street Levee look watertight. But leave it to the Water Cooler to bail you out:
BUCKET 1: THE NFL AS OXYGEN
The entire state of Louisiana, it seems, maintains that keeping the Saints in New Orleans is absolutely critical to rebuilding the city. What — does Deuce McAllister do dry wall on the side?
The NFL echoes that sentiment, sort of, contending that an NFL team is vital to the robust existence of any civilization and that, just like food and water, it would be inhuman to deprive New Orleans of its Saints. Well, if an NFL team is the ultimate relief necessity in time of disaster, league commissioner Paul Tagliabue should immediately place a team in Islamabad, another in Jakarta and maybe one in Cancun.
WC wonders how the Pilgrims found the will and determination to sail the great ocean with no guarantee that the New England Patriots would be waiting on the other shore.
BUCKET 2: AS THE TURNCOAT TURNS
National media types belatedly have jumped into the discussion, which Tagliabue surrogates finally decided required manipulation. So now the NFL is gushing forth thoughts and intentions.
And guess what? Just as Saints owner Tom Benson has tipped his interest in moving his team to San Antonio, Tagliabue is now on record (via his surrogates) as being firmly in favor of moving the Saints to Los Angeles.
Newsflash! Benson and Tagliabue are in agreement that New Orleans has no foreseeable economic viability. Yet, to most Louisianans, Benson is a criminal and Tagliabue a savior. And San Antonio is inhabited by vultures and Los Angeles by movie stars.
BUCKET 3: FOOLED ONCE, NOT TWICE
It's clear now that Benson is angling only for a deal that keeps the Saints in the Alamodome for the 2006 season — a deal that buys him time and allows other offers to materialize. Proof lies in the fact that Tagliabue surrogates, according to published reports, are conceding the 2006 season to San Antonio but vow there will be nothing for our city after that. In other words, we're the one-night stand.
Local leaders aren't yet willing to say that changes the equation — but it does — big time. No one can reasonably expect that San Antonians would gobble up 650,000 tickets (for 10 games in 2006) and shell out something close to $100 million if no credible pitch can be made that they're investing in something permanent. It's not going to happen. And it shouldn't happen.
BUCKET 4: BENSON OR BUST
Early chatter that the city has the chance to prove itself worthy of another NFL team — if the Saints slip through our fingers — no longer holds water. If the current circumstances don't lead to the Saints landing here, no set of circumstances will.
BUCKET 5: HARD FACTS FOR HARDBERGER
Having absorbed all that, reality knocks. The ball no longer is in Benson's court. It belongs to Hardberger.
The city now has but one means to prove itself NFL worthy — and it has nothing to do with ticket sales. The city (or some other taxing authority recruited by the city) will have to promise to build Benson a new stadium. Hardberger says the city isn't interested. Without that promise, any discussion about the Saints sticking around is moot.
The Alamodome is not long-term NFL quality. Any contention by Hardberger that a spruced-up Alamodome is any kind of a meaningful long-term solution may rank as the most perforated opinion anyone has offered so far.
A new stadium is the ante in this high-stakes game. If the mayor isn't prepared to say anything more than, "Yes, I'd like to marry you — but I'm not going to buy you a ring," San Antonio won't be walking down the aisle with the Saints.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/football/nfl/stories/MYSA102805.9C.FBNwatercooler.saints.2312335.html
Web Posted: 10/28/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
That drip, drip, drip you hear is the sound of the leaky logic that seems to have swamped the public debate on the Saints' situation. The discourse, which entered a new phase Thursday with Mayor Phil Hardberger's come-what-may rejection of a new stadium, has sprung so may leaks of late that it makes the 17th Street Levee look watertight. But leave it to the Water Cooler to bail you out:
BUCKET 1: THE NFL AS OXYGEN
The entire state of Louisiana, it seems, maintains that keeping the Saints in New Orleans is absolutely critical to rebuilding the city. What — does Deuce McAllister do dry wall on the side?
The NFL echoes that sentiment, sort of, contending that an NFL team is vital to the robust existence of any civilization and that, just like food and water, it would be inhuman to deprive New Orleans of its Saints. Well, if an NFL team is the ultimate relief necessity in time of disaster, league commissioner Paul Tagliabue should immediately place a team in Islamabad, another in Jakarta and maybe one in Cancun.
WC wonders how the Pilgrims found the will and determination to sail the great ocean with no guarantee that the New England Patriots would be waiting on the other shore.
BUCKET 2: AS THE TURNCOAT TURNS
National media types belatedly have jumped into the discussion, which Tagliabue surrogates finally decided required manipulation. So now the NFL is gushing forth thoughts and intentions.
And guess what? Just as Saints owner Tom Benson has tipped his interest in moving his team to San Antonio, Tagliabue is now on record (via his surrogates) as being firmly in favor of moving the Saints to Los Angeles.
Newsflash! Benson and Tagliabue are in agreement that New Orleans has no foreseeable economic viability. Yet, to most Louisianans, Benson is a criminal and Tagliabue a savior. And San Antonio is inhabited by vultures and Los Angeles by movie stars.
BUCKET 3: FOOLED ONCE, NOT TWICE
It's clear now that Benson is angling only for a deal that keeps the Saints in the Alamodome for the 2006 season — a deal that buys him time and allows other offers to materialize. Proof lies in the fact that Tagliabue surrogates, according to published reports, are conceding the 2006 season to San Antonio but vow there will be nothing for our city after that. In other words, we're the one-night stand.
Local leaders aren't yet willing to say that changes the equation — but it does — big time. No one can reasonably expect that San Antonians would gobble up 650,000 tickets (for 10 games in 2006) and shell out something close to $100 million if no credible pitch can be made that they're investing in something permanent. It's not going to happen. And it shouldn't happen.
BUCKET 4: BENSON OR BUST
Early chatter that the city has the chance to prove itself worthy of another NFL team — if the Saints slip through our fingers — no longer holds water. If the current circumstances don't lead to the Saints landing here, no set of circumstances will.
BUCKET 5: HARD FACTS FOR HARDBERGER
Having absorbed all that, reality knocks. The ball no longer is in Benson's court. It belongs to Hardberger.
The city now has but one means to prove itself NFL worthy — and it has nothing to do with ticket sales. The city (or some other taxing authority recruited by the city) will have to promise to build Benson a new stadium. Hardberger says the city isn't interested. Without that promise, any discussion about the Saints sticking around is moot.
The Alamodome is not long-term NFL quality. Any contention by Hardberger that a spruced-up Alamodome is any kind of a meaningful long-term solution may rank as the most perforated opinion anyone has offered so far.
A new stadium is the ante in this high-stakes game. If the mayor isn't prepared to say anything more than, "Yes, I'd like to marry you — but I'm not going to buy you a ring," San Antonio won't be walking down the aisle with the Saints.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/football/nfl/stories/MYSA102805.9C.FBNwatercooler.saints.2312335.html