AlamoSpursFan
11-13-2005, 01:22 AM
Richard Oliver: Pain of being jilted by NFL's honchos leaves San Antonio sadder but wiser
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA111305.3C.COL.FBNoliver.saints.1eea3bb.html
Web Posted: 11/13/2005 12:00 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
So, they tell us it's over. Just like that.
We tease and titillate, entice and embrace, bat our baby browns and throw on some tight jeans, and where does that leave us today? Standing largely ignored in a corner of the bar, a lukewarm beer in one hand and our hearts in another.
Looking a tad desperate, by some accounts.
But we know better, and the NFL should, too.
While our quickie romance with the New Orleans Saints is reportedly on the ropes, far short of the altar, the city comes away as something other than despairing.
We find ourselves a little tougher, a lot wiser.
And more attractive because of it.
Indeed, if NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would give us a second glance, he'd discover what San Antonio already knows.
Far from an evil strumpet, we're the marrying kind.
But willing to wait for the right relationship.
New Orleans' displaced franchise may not be it, and the reality doesn't hurt as bad as expected. For one thing, it turns out Tom Benson doesn't look all that great in the morning light, anyway.
The city does, however, and that's the kind of reality it hopes will endure after the nastiness dies away.
If nothing else, this monthslong slow dance with the Saints has helped to introduce San Antonio as a vibrant, emerging community with aspirations beyond wooing tourists to the Alamo.
The city has been forced to examine where it is, and where it wants to be, on the national sports landscape. The public debate, from editorial pages to airwaves to coffee shops, has revealed a populace eager to be more than what it is perceived to be, and introduced the need to determine what it will take to get there.
In coming months, there will be feasibility studies to address that future, but there also will be introspection to address the recent past.
To be sure, the process has served to educate us about the fragile fabric that holds together such courtships.
With a stern Tagliabue looking on as the distant father figure, Benson has tripped over every raw nerve left exposed from Louisiana to Manhattan, and in some cases allowed a wide-eyed San Antonio to weather the angry retaliation.
Though the billionaire, by his actions, hasn't hidden his desire to relocate the franchise to South Texas, he has reinforced it by allowing San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger to step into the harsh spotlight, time and again, to pass along the message.
For those east of the Mississippi, where many still believe that tumbleweeds outnumber vehicles on our unpaved streets, it wouldn't have played worse had Hardberger jumped on Oprah's couch and gushed of his love for Benson.
In cheerfully admitting before the cameras that the city and team have scheduled relocation talks for after the season, the mayor accomplished little more than reinforcing Tagliabue's irritation at the unseemly public affection.
Yet, as with all breakups, time will heal a few wounds, and memory will cast the whole Saints' affair in the kind of soft, gentle light that nurtures forgiveness. History will show that when the stunned franchise rebounded from tragedy, a city opened its arms wide in welcome.
That love, however forbidden, blossomed afterward was simply the way of things. There was unexpected circumstance, there was a mutual need and there was the result of it, nothing more.
Now, as the old adage relates, in this world of change, nothing that comes stays and nothing that goes is lost.
The Saints will leave. Hope will remain.
Doubtless, the New Orleans franchise wishes it were different, and the reality of it will sink home in Los Angeles, or Baton Rouge, or whatever assigned burg is forced to adopt the displaced club next season and beyond.
San Antonio, for its part, will stay behind, jilted but so much smarter.
And far more attractive because of it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA111305.3C.COL.FBNoliver.saints.1eea3bb.html
Web Posted: 11/13/2005 12:00 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
So, they tell us it's over. Just like that.
We tease and titillate, entice and embrace, bat our baby browns and throw on some tight jeans, and where does that leave us today? Standing largely ignored in a corner of the bar, a lukewarm beer in one hand and our hearts in another.
Looking a tad desperate, by some accounts.
But we know better, and the NFL should, too.
While our quickie romance with the New Orleans Saints is reportedly on the ropes, far short of the altar, the city comes away as something other than despairing.
We find ourselves a little tougher, a lot wiser.
And more attractive because of it.
Indeed, if NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would give us a second glance, he'd discover what San Antonio already knows.
Far from an evil strumpet, we're the marrying kind.
But willing to wait for the right relationship.
New Orleans' displaced franchise may not be it, and the reality doesn't hurt as bad as expected. For one thing, it turns out Tom Benson doesn't look all that great in the morning light, anyway.
The city does, however, and that's the kind of reality it hopes will endure after the nastiness dies away.
If nothing else, this monthslong slow dance with the Saints has helped to introduce San Antonio as a vibrant, emerging community with aspirations beyond wooing tourists to the Alamo.
The city has been forced to examine where it is, and where it wants to be, on the national sports landscape. The public debate, from editorial pages to airwaves to coffee shops, has revealed a populace eager to be more than what it is perceived to be, and introduced the need to determine what it will take to get there.
In coming months, there will be feasibility studies to address that future, but there also will be introspection to address the recent past.
To be sure, the process has served to educate us about the fragile fabric that holds together such courtships.
With a stern Tagliabue looking on as the distant father figure, Benson has tripped over every raw nerve left exposed from Louisiana to Manhattan, and in some cases allowed a wide-eyed San Antonio to weather the angry retaliation.
Though the billionaire, by his actions, hasn't hidden his desire to relocate the franchise to South Texas, he has reinforced it by allowing San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger to step into the harsh spotlight, time and again, to pass along the message.
For those east of the Mississippi, where many still believe that tumbleweeds outnumber vehicles on our unpaved streets, it wouldn't have played worse had Hardberger jumped on Oprah's couch and gushed of his love for Benson.
In cheerfully admitting before the cameras that the city and team have scheduled relocation talks for after the season, the mayor accomplished little more than reinforcing Tagliabue's irritation at the unseemly public affection.
Yet, as with all breakups, time will heal a few wounds, and memory will cast the whole Saints' affair in the kind of soft, gentle light that nurtures forgiveness. History will show that when the stunned franchise rebounded from tragedy, a city opened its arms wide in welcome.
That love, however forbidden, blossomed afterward was simply the way of things. There was unexpected circumstance, there was a mutual need and there was the result of it, nothing more.
Now, as the old adage relates, in this world of change, nothing that comes stays and nothing that goes is lost.
The Saints will leave. Hope will remain.
Doubtless, the New Orleans franchise wishes it were different, and the reality of it will sink home in Los Angeles, or Baton Rouge, or whatever assigned burg is forced to adopt the displaced club next season and beyond.
San Antonio, for its part, will stay behind, jilted but so much smarter.
And far more attractive because of it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]