Well, New Orleans Saints fans, it’s time to put the paper bags back over your heads.
Now, instead of fans putting the bags on for poor play, they should put them on for being ashamed of being fans of such an out-of-control organization. Right now, the Saints’ organization is just an embarrassment to their fans. The fans who have been through more hardships than most people could imagine are now stuck with an NFL team that seems it can’t follow any rules.
I was almost over the whole “Bountygate” thing. I put it on the back burner as one of those “everyone makes mistakes” kind of things. Heck, I’m a Patriots fan, so trust me; I understand.
But then news comes out that the Saints general manager, Mickey Loomis, had tampered with communication devices of opposing coaches. That means Loomis was able to spy on what other coaches said in private and then be able to relay that information to his coaching staff.
Just when it seemed like the Saints were able to move past the Bountygate scandal, another bullet comes out of nowhere. There is no place for spying in the NFL. I understand that and fully believe it. It takes out the pureness of the game and undermines the precedent of a level playing field.
Whenever I hear someone give me a hard time about the Patriots not winning a Super Bowl since “spygate,” my reply has always been, “Everyone does it; Bill just got caught.” This happening to the Saints helps to finally provide some evidence to my statement.
I believe things like this happen all around the league, but they need to stop right now. It’s immoral and shouldn’t have any place in football. The NFL needs to make drastic measures to take sure things like this don’t continue to happen.
I don’t feel bad for the Saints organization and personnel. They knew what they were doing was wrong and should be punished for it. I feel bad for the fans.
Longtime Saints fans in the New Orleans area have had to suffer through more hardship than the average NFL fans. First they went through seasons when they were absolutely horrible and at times had no business being on a football field. Then they had to go through Hurricane Katrina, which is something no person should have to go through. When New Orleans won the Super Bowl in 2010, I said no fan base deserved to win more than the Saints.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Saints lost some fans because of the horrible way the organization has handled itself lately. I’d have a hard time being a fan of a team that ran the way the Saints have. One example of this is my dad. He’s been a Chiefs fan for about as long as I can remember. This season I noticed I never saw his Chiefs flag flying on Sundays. I asked him why, and he said, “The organization is horrible. They can’t get a quarterback and are afraid to spend any money. I can’t support a team that is run so poorly.”
I totally understand this and don’t even blame him. I understand teams go through hard times, but at some point, enough has to be enough. The Saints organization needs to do something soon to improve its public image; it’s the least it could do for one of the most tested fan bases in the NFL.
Poor little Patriots fan trying to use his everybody-else-does-it excuse. Sorry, not gonna fly. First all, the allegations aren’t that he actually eavesdropped, just that he allegedly had the opportunity to eavesdrop. Secondly, the allegations are from a former disgruntled employee or contractor who was fired because he was found to have been improperly billing the team and for using Saints equipment for other projects. Thirdly, there would have been nothing gained by the eavesdropping since it would have been impossible to get the information out to the coaches and to the players on the field in time for the next play. Fourthly, there’s absolutely no credible evidence to support the allegations. Fifthly, Loomis would not have been able to use the information without letting his coaches in on the secret, and all of them have denied knowing anything about it. Sixthly, the Saints were 12-12 at home during this stretch from 2002-2004, contrasted to the 60% overall winning percentage for home teams in the NFL. They weren’t exactly getting much of a competitive advantage even if they were doing some eavesdropping, unlike your multiple world champion Patriots. By the time this is all said and done it will be an ESPN scandal for running the story in the first place rather than a Saints scandal.
Cody,
I am afraid that you are mistaken on a couple of points here. First, this story about an alleged eavesdropping by Mickey Loomis has more holes in it than a crawfish net. Have you noticed how ESPN.com went from having it plastered all over their website on Tuesday to having it completely absent by the end of the day Wednesday? As a journalist I am sure you know how important it is to have corroboration before going public. The ESPN reporter that went public with this “story”, John Barr, admittedly only had a single unnamed source who happened to be an ex-employee of the Saints. BIG red flag right there.
Secondly, Saints season ticket requests spiked in the weeks following the bountygate announcement with fans showing their support. Unfortunately for them the waiting list for season ticket stands at over 50,000 and continues to grow. That support has not waned one iota since that announcement and will not waiver regardless of what comes their way. There is no fan base in the league more closely tied to their franchise than the Saints fans.
As a fan since 1967, yes I am older than dirt, I can safely say that we in no way embarrassed of our Saints and will continue to proudly where the Black and Gold.