I don't know about you, but I am frankly sick and tired of hearing how the success of the New Orleans Saints is just what the Katrina ravaged community needs. These statements are blatantly false and frankly are a societal dodge of accepting responsibility for the hard work that needs to be done to revitalize a great American city.
All a Saints victory will do is fill the registers of sports bars and pubs in the French Quarter. It will make the reservation list at
Emeril's even longer. Not even a Super Bowl victory will replace homes, bring back residents or clear the debris that still dots the place. What New Orleans needs is for the
insurance companies to stop refusing claims because hurricane insurance does not cover flood damage. It needs a concerted federal, state and local effort to provide loans for homeowners, renters and small businesses.
New Orleans needs all of us to be accountable for each other. What would happen if Chicago went up in flames again? What about if San Francisco was ravaged by another earthquake? Surely as America is providing loans and money to rebuild Baghdad, we can find it is in our national interest to rebuild New Orleans.
"We're living a dream, but we're more than just a feel-good story," New Orleans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Smith said after the Saints beat the Eagles. "We're a legit team now, fighting our way to the Super Bowl."
The Saints are a great football story. A new coach, and surprise draft pick, a new quarterback. These are all great football stories. Not urban renewal stories.
The mere fact that the SuperDome was a high priority for reconstruction dollars says a lot about our society. No number of Saints victories will fix the over
$26 Billion in damage done to New Orleans. It's time to stop pretending like it will.
