Katrina is Off Limits When Trash Talking

I want to post this before the end of tonight’s Saints game because how I feel has nothing to do with if they win or lose. After waiting my whole life to see the Saints just make the Super Bowl I had very realistic expectations going into the season. These days it’s difficult to repeat. A lot of teams barely have winning records after making it all the way. I figured as long as we didn’t fall on our face and stayed in the hunt all season it was a good year. I watched every game intently but I didn’t have the same stress and paranoia. As far as I was concerned it had been a good year. I was enjoying the legitimacy. Even the great season by our biggest rival the Atlanta Falcons didn’t bother me as much as it would have in other years. They are pretty solid team and their record is legitimate. Besides, no matter what happens we will have always won a championship first. I’m good with that.

Leading up to this game Roddy White had to go and make everything personal with his insensitive and ignorant tweets. I guess the NFL made him apologize after the New Orleans folks went all out crazy on the internet. Today I read an article on SB Nation Atlanta about how Saints fans are looking for sympathy because of Katrina. That might not be the exact context because the coward took the article down so I couldn’t read again when I got home.

I don’t like when people from my city do or say ignorant things. If there’s anyone that can use a change of image it’s us. However, if anybody references the K-word to take shots at us then whatever is said is fair game. Don’t people understand that people died during the storm? Don’t they know people suffered? Don’t they know that Saints fans passion for the team has nothing to do with rebounding from Katrina? That’s two separate things all together. It’s not like the Saints won the Super Bowl and the recovery sped up. It’s not like the Saints won the Super Bowl and we suddenly got category 5 levee protection. It’s not like the Saints got rid of all the crime and challenges. Our love for the Saints has nothing to do with Katrina. I would never belittle what happened during the storm by associating it with a football team.

Of course the NFL will do that. The fact that the Saints are still here in New Orleans and thriving is a major achievement for their league. I’m not mad at them for that. I’m not mad at the players who feel that way either because the majority of them arrived in town when things were still in really bad shape. They should take pride in what they accomplished since then. I’m just a fan and a lifelong resident. I love the Saints and if they would have won the championship ten years ago my reaction would have been the same. I was home and rebuilding before we even thought about a Super Bowl ring. I lost family in the storm so I don’t know how to look at an attempt at being a witty writer as just playful trash talk. Call us the Aints if you want to. Make fun of the fact we stole some Atlanta rappers’ song and made it our theme song. That’s all fair in trash talking. When you talk about Katrina that transcends football with me and it makes me want to hate you even when there isn’t a game. Besides, Steven Godfrey doesn’t write well enough to make being an asshole entertaining.

P.S.

The next time you put that much work into talking about something leave it up there and stand by it.