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A few excepts from that article about the players and playing in SA:
They moved their offices from New Orleans to San Antonio. They bus 20 minutes to practice, to high school fields, and one of the fields they use is mostly dirt. Their weight room is under a tent. Only two of the players and two of the coaches have moved their families to San Antonio. The others have their families scattered throughout Louisiana and the rest of the country.
Before playing at Green Bay in their fifth game of the season, the Saints tried to practice one day and could not get on the field because of a Special Olympics event. The next day, an ROTC group had first dibs, preventing practice.
On one occasion they were able to practice in the Alamodome in San Antonio and workers laid down the artificial turf. But there was no padding underneath. Just concrete. The players practiced on it, anyway, forgoing riding one more dreaded bus to practice.
Benson pretty basically up and moved everyone to SA and did nothing to help the team, The Mayor was too busy drooling over the idea of having a team to help straighten out the logistical problems.
I understand they will have no where for training camp in SA because the Women NCAA tourney of somekind will be in the Alamodome.
I am not knocking SA's ability to support an NFL team but Benson did stack the Deck, He gave out 8000 tickets to the first game, He is offering the discount I mentioned, He has purposely understaffed the BR ticket sales office... People have actually resigned over that, Then he basically goes Kenny Rodgers on a WWL reporter who KNEW TOM WELL, this reporter had interviewed him tons of times in NO. Vows never to come back to Tiger Staduim (we see how long that lasted) and claimed his life was in Danger...
However read this interview from the head of LSU Security:
LSU, anchor refute Benson's comments
November 4, 2005
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By Glenn Guilbeau
[email protected]
BATON ROUGE -- When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.
When New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson talks, people refute him -- lately his own people.
Benson said security at Tiger Stadium for the Saints-Miami Dolphins game on Sunday was "inadequate to nonexistent" and that he and members of his family "could have all been severely injured or killed," in an e-mail to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue early this week.
Benson also said he would not return to Baton Rouge for the remaining three Saints home games in Tiger Stadium this season or for however many Saints games are played in the stadium next season while the Louisiana Superdome is being rebuilt from Hurricane Katrina damage. The Saints "host" the Chicago Bears at 3:05 p.m. Sunday in Tiger Stadium.
An e-mail by Greg Bensel, the Saints director of media and public relations, to a member of LSU's athletic department on Wednesday said the Saints organization had no issues with LSU's security at the Saints game.
"He didn't mention Mr. Benson by name," said LSU police chief Ricky Adams, who has a copy of the same e-mail. "But he said they would handle the security issue with their own people themselves."
No other Saints "people" have complained or spoken of any security-related matter other than Benson, whom fans yelled obscenities at as he left Tiger Stadium late in his team's 21-6 loss to Miami along with his wife Gayle and grandchildren Rita Benson LeBlanc and Ryan LeBlanc, who both work for the Saints.
Benson was caught on camera by WWL-TV in New Orleans saying to one fan, "Come get me, I dare you."
The full article is available on the shreveport times link I posted earlier in this thread...
It just really gets under my skin that he is getting away with all of this, That we come here and try to explain that Benson is trying to over the State of Louisiana and I get called Liars whiners and s. I just though that was classless.
I have provided all the evidence needed. If you HONESTLY look at the evidence and read the articles that I have provided for you, you will come to the same conclusion.
I hope my state gets to keep the Saints, but I know that means we will be forced to keep benson.
I know your city wants a football team, Trust me you dont want Benson in SA. Go throw footballs into his car lots like someone suggested, and try to get yourselves a local group to buy him out if he is sucessful moving there.
But all I ask if that you know that he turned his back on the Region that made him so much money when they really needed him. He is an unscrupulus Unethic bas . I will be sad if/when the Saints leave. I will rejoyce the day Benson is gone.
