Today is a very cloudy day outside and I am nostalgic. I want desperately to be 12 years old today and play me a game of sandlot football in some old clothes. Just the thought of ant bites, the flu and ringworms makes me misty eyed. Oh well, can't do that today so I might as well waste some time and write down a few random ideas.

I appreciate the fact that Condelezza Rice is about to become the first black female secretary of state. This is a tremendous achievement. There is one problem however. I am not sure if she has the diplomacy skills to negotiate with any foreign leaders without starting World War 3. Powell was good for Bush because he looked at things a little differently than him and could play devil's advocate. Rice is just a mouthpiece for the president and won't have the same credibility.

I guess T.O. is Mandingo now. I knew he was going to apologize before anybody else did. I am not surprised the intro caused problems. I am also not surprised that Owens was involved but I don't think it was his fault or needed an apology. Maybe he needs to place himself under a two or three week gag order to let things calm down. This issue showed me one thing about America. Although we pretty much accept that black athletes and black men in general sometimes love, marry, and have sex with white women, we are not ready to see that on TV even as a joke. I kept asking myself how would I feel if Angela Bassett jumped into Brett Favre's arms after dropping her towel. The answer..............I would be complaining until I was 40. I guess we have allot of work to do.

I'm not looking forward to the Saints/Louisiana negotiations at all. A two month deadline is just too short to make that kind of agreement in this state. They will never find the money that fast even though they have been talking about this for years.
It's all about how the state views the Saints role in bringing money in and creating jobs. If Fielkow can make the case that the money we spend will be worth the return in revenue then the deal gets done easily. I don't think they have made that case effectively enough. Here is what bothers me. I understand in the mind of Blanco and some in the legislature that there are other priorities that need to come before a stadium or giving the Saints what they need. I will even acknowledge that most of the city's problems are self inflicted and I can understand why other areas of the state are not supporting a 500 million dollar plus project that doesn't even help change or fix the larger problems in New Orleans. The problem is that before the Saints asked for anything, the same problems were there and not enough has been done to try and change them. I would hate for the state to take a stand against the Saints because of all the other things that need to be done and then nothing else happens and we are in the same or worse situation without the team. If somebody could make the case that the money not given to the Saints will be used to make education better, reduce crime, and help produce more jobs then I would have no choice but to support not paying them. I just don't think that's where we are headed.