Saturday, December 31, 2005

The Saints Go Marching Home...

Those of us keenly interested in the recovery of New Orleans are always on the look-out for every scrap of good news. We got some yesterday.

Tom Benson announced that the Saints would return to New Orleans next season.

Immediately after the city was flooded there was widespread belief that Benson would move his franchise to San Antonio or some other city. He's not known for having much loyalty to the Big Easy.

I suspect that the NFL put some pressure on Benson to keep the franchise in New Orleans. It would have been a crime to have moved the team after the loyalty of the fans for all these years.

I've always been a Saints fan. Back in the late Sixties I regularly joined another 100,000 fans in the old Tulane Stadium to watch the team play. They almost never won but the cheap beer and Al Hirt's trumpet made for an unforgetable experience!

The Superdome will be getting a $100 million face-lift and is expected to be ready for play by mid-September.