FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell just announced that New Orleans will be the host city for Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
It will be New Orleans' 10th Super Bowl, which will tie it with Miami for the most ever. Miami will host its 10th in 2010.
"I think this is a great statement about the spirit of the people of New Orleans and the great relationship the NFL and the Saints have with that community," Goodell said.
The NFL will announce the site of the 2013 Super Bowl later Tuesday afternoon (reportedly around 4:30 PM ET) and word on the Tweet, at least according to Saints' owner Tom Benson via NFL Network's Scott Hanson, is that you can go right ahead and lock New Orleans in to host.
See, Hanson is on-scene at the owners meetings and even had breakfast with Benson, afterward quoting the Saints owner via tweet.
Benson, in addition to the Saints, also owns some new car dealerships. And a few times a season, Benson brings a few of the new cars up to the practice facility and stadium in hopes of luring a wandering eye over to the shiny new ride.
The problem is, a lot of his employees, including the players, hate this act, because he doesn't give them any sort of a deal. So, at least two players decided to cover a few of the new cars with feces. No, seriously. UPDATE: The Times-Picayune confirms the report.
When thinking about the big cities in our great country, the easy names pop in your head. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix. All are pretty enormous and all have multiple sports teams occupying the land. What you may not know is San Antonio is the seventh most populated city in the United States and only hosts one professional sports team, the Spurs.
"There's no question the growth is extraordinary here," Goodell said. "You see it as soon as you come into the city ... The vision the leaders have here to grow this community has been very positive. I think that will provide new opportunities.''
So, I'm driving around running some errands and decide to listen to the local sports talk radio. I live in Cincinnati now, so most of the talk is pretty bad. Fans are tired of talking about all the little reasons why the Bengals are bad. The main reason is something that cannot be fixed: owner Mike Brown.
Brown is one of those cheap owners who inherited his organization (from his legend of a father) but doesn't know how to organize it. The story keeps on going, but it just ends with him being a bad owner (just one winning season in the 16 full seasons he has owned the team). Even his Wikipedia page says he is one of the worst owners in professional sports.
On the radio today, they were discussing the sad fact that fans would actually be cheering Mike Brown dying and the team being run by someone else. What? You'd cheer a man's death just so your football team can be better?
It happens. Remember how fans booed during a moment of silence for Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz a year ago? Wirtz was very unpopular and fans viewed his death as a great moment for their hockey club.
Since Hurricane Katrina, the Saints have been rumored to be on the outs from New Orleans. Los Angeles, San Antonio, Berlin in the NFL Europa 2.0 league -- most people have been placing the future of the team in cities that aren't New Orleans (maybe that last one was made up).
Those rumors, in Katrina's wake, were justified -- and if insiders are to be believed, Tom Benson's plan to upheave the Saints to San Antonio was far more reality than rumor. Just google "New Orleans' crumbling economy can't meet the financial demands of a pro football team," and you'll get plenty of results arguing for relocation.
But those rumors haven't died even though the NFL, from the waaaay back days of Paul Tagliabue, has committed over and over to keeping the Saints in New Orleans for the long haul. When the specs were unveiled last month for the beautiful new stadium potentially coming to Los Angeles, some media reports had the Saints as potential tenants despite two consecutive season ticket sell-outs.
When word leaked that the NFL's 2008 foray into London would be the Saints vs. the Chargers, a lot of people (including one of our own) pointed out that the NFL is taking a home game away from the Saints at a time where the city can ill afford to lose any sort of economic influx. Granted, I was one of the detractors at first. And then I thought about it.
I know this hurts the Superdome employees, parking attendants, cab drivers, and other New Orleans residents who need the Saints. But what might mean a lot is a Super Bowl. It's been six years since the the Dome hosted one, and it'll be at least until 2012 before they have the possibility. They're expected to put a bid in for that year, and it wouldn't surprise me if they got the game as gratitude -- especially now that progress is being made on a long-term contract with the state, renovations to the Superdome, and eventually a new stadium. Trading a regular season game for a Super Bowl is a win for the city.
But what's most important to keep in mind is that, if nothing else, the Saints owe the NFL. When the team was playing the part of vagabonds in the wake of Katrina, Tom Benson was about to ruthlessly move the team to San Antonio permanently. It was the NFL that forced him to stay in New Orleans and commit to helping rebuild the city. If the Saints left New Orleans, it'd be far worse off than it is now. So instead of complaining about losing a home game, let's all consider what it would be like to not have any at all.
... Sean Payton had to get cute. And he gave the game away and with it a chance to stay competitive for a playoff spot. Forget genius. Saints fans would settle for a coach with common sense.
Huzzah. Who knew op-eds were the place for such vitriolic opinion? Saints owner Tom Benson caught wind of the Times-Picayune's anti-Payton editorial, and delivered a response from way on high.
I am shocked that you would use your valued editorial space to lambaste our head coach based on one play. Do the math. Sean has coached our team for 30 games since we hired him in 2006. These are the same plays that have defined his success in 2006 and 2007 and the same plays that your newspaper has deemed genius. ... He makes a decision in one game that our players are trained to execute and do not, but yet your newspaper vilifies him in the same editorial section reserved for the most corrupt of the corrupt who pollute our city.
Double huzzah. It's true that Payton has been celebrated for plays like that reverse. It's not the play that's the problem. It's the situation. The newspaper is right to call Payton out, and Benson is right to stick up for his coach.
Saints fans are a resilient bunch. Losing has been pretty much standard practice for the last 40 years. Plus, you know, that hurricane thing. So the sky isn't falling on the Crescent City just because of the team's 0-2 start. As a matter of fact, they're going old school ... high school, to be exact -- there will be a pep rally to support the team on Friday.
In response to a flood of phone calls from fans across the region who want to stage an event to show their support for the team, the New Orleans Saints are holding a fan rally on Friday, Sept. 21 at the club's training facility in Metairie, it was announced today by Owner Tom Benson.
"I must say this was both unexpected and I think you could say expected," said Owner Tom Benson. "We are all working to get a win for our fans and get them excited. And at the same time our fans always provide that enthusiasm when we need it the most, and all of the phone calls we've gotten here today have shown that again. The rally we have Friday will be for them, and for us."
You've got to give it Saints fans. Losing is bad, winning is great, but more than anything they're just happy to have the team no matter what. I mean, it's not hard to see that Saints fans handle things differently than others. It's sort of refreshing, actually.
Anyway, Debbie's parents are out of town, so the big post-rally kegger is at her place. I'm planning on making rum and coke road sodas. And if Principal White wants to stop me, he can go to hell. That old man's just a fascist who doesn't know how to have any fun.
The NFL did the city of New Orleans well by forcing Tom Benson to keep the Saints where they belong. But, as the city looks to prove capable of returning to its old form, the league has failed to award it a Super Bowl, despite the city's past success with it. To make up for it, could the league be preparing to give New Orleans the NFL draft?
The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation has sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell seeking not only to host the National Football League's draft, but also turn it into a weeklong carnival with special events and even a Mardi Gras-style parade leading up to the wildly popular two-day player lottery.
The draft has been in New York since 1965, but that doesn't mean the league is in love with the Big Apple. In 2005 and 2006, the NFL gave serious consideration to Philadelphia, Chicago, and Disney World as possible hosts.
I don't see any reason the draft wouldn't be a rousing success in New Orleans. The city has a great history with holding large, unique events and is pretty much universally loved by anyone who ever visits. Holding the draft there would show Saints fans, and others, that the league is serious about making sure the Saints are in town for the long haul, as well as produce another influx of capital into a city that still needs it. And, with the increased interest in the draft recently, expanding it to a week-long mega event seems like the next logical step for the league's future. Plus, beads always come in handy at the draft.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell just announced that New Orleans will be the host city for Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. 
The NFL will announce the site of the 2013 Super Bowl later Tuesday afternoon (reportedly around 4:30 PM ET) and word on the Tweet, at least according to Saints' owner Tom Benson via NFL Network's Scott Hanson, is that you can go right ahead and lock New Orleans in to host.
Here's a little story you probably never thought you'd be reading on a Sunday morning.
When thinking about the big cities in our great country, the easy names pop in your head. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix. All are pretty enormous and all have multiple sports teams occupying the land. What you may not know is San Antonio is the seventh most populated city in the United States and only hosts one professional sports team, the Spurs. 
So, I'm driving around running some errands and decide to listen to the local sports talk radio. I live in Cincinnati now, so most of the talk is pretty bad. Fans are tired of talking about all the little reasons why the Bengals are bad. The main reason is something that cannot be fixed: owner Mike Brown.
Since Hurricane Katrina, the Saints have been rumored to be on the outs from New Orleans. Los Angeles, San Antonio, Berlin in the NFL Europa 2.0 league -- most people have been placing the future of the team in cities that aren't New Orleans (maybe that last one was made up).
When word leaked that the NFL's 2008 foray into London would be the Saints vs. the Chargers, a lot of people (including one of our own) pointed out that the NFL is taking a home game away from the Saints at a time where the city can ill afford to lose any sort of economic influx. Granted, I was one of the detractors at first. And then I thought about it.
It's Thursday. NFL fans across the land are looking forward to their team's games this week. Well ... except for Saints fans. After the way the Saints lost last week to the Buccaneers -- a ridiculously perplexing reverse call that ended in a fumble -- they simply can't move on. Neither can the New Orleans media.
Saints fans are a resilient bunch. Losing has been pretty much standard practice for the last 40 years. Plus, you know, that hurricane thing. So the sky isn't falling on the Crescent City just because of the team's 0-2 start. As a matter of fact, they're going old school ... high school, to be exact -- there will be a pep rally to support the team on Friday.
The NFL did the city of New Orleans well by forcing Tom Benson to keep the Saints where they belong. But, as the city looks to prove capable of returning to its old form, the league has failed to award it a Super Bowl, despite the city's past success with it. To make up for it, could the league be preparing to give New Orleans the NFL draft?
