Narc!

The area at the top of the stairs is the social center of Section 617 in the Superdome. The little corner next to our seats has become a kind of commons area where folks seated in the near rows gather to discuss the game, beat on the wall, buy each other beer, and sing songs about Scott Fujita. Oh... and some of them occasionally smoke. And they've been getting away with it too so far this season. That is until halftime of yesterday's Saints-Ravens unpleasantness when somebody ratted.

It's unfortunate that the as yet undiscovered fan who objected to the smoking decided not to simply ask fellow Saints fans to be mindful of his or her sensitivity to it. I'm sure they could have worked it out without anonymously going to the authorities.

The authorities in this case were a particularly surly usher bearing a certain resemblance to Mr. Magoo tactlessly announcing the fact that he had a "description of a black man in a hat smoking up here" This led to a bit of (justifiable in my opinion) mouthing off to said authorities... ala Dangerblond perhaps... who retreated and returned with additional authorities this time in the form of a uniformed police officer. The reinforced authorities then escorted the offending hatted dark-skinned individual from the stands engendering an expression-of-solidarity walk-out by several of his friends.

Remember, folks. Always try just talking to people first. You can still go get the police if things turn ugly. Things will always turn ugly if you narc first.

The game:

• What can we say? The Saints didn't play very well. I remember using the phrase "We not doing so good" repeatedly throughout the day. This drove many around me to irritation... so.. I consider myself a success there at least. This game was full of the things every cliche-spewing football analyst says will get you beat every time. Penalties, turnovers, mental mistakes, a big fat narc in the stands. It all went very poorly for the home team. I can identify three immediate reasons for this unfortunate performance. (1) The infamous "bye-week rustiness" disrupted the Saints' "focus" or their "rhythm" or whatever it is that keeps you from jumping offsides on every third down. (2) r decided not to show up this week excusing her absence as a "protest against spending six dollars for beer" Feel free to blame as much of this on her as you see fit. (3) Baltimore native, Menckles, actually wore a purple sweater to the game. Anything you can't blame on r, you can probably blame on the sweater.



• Four interceptions. Okay so two of them came off of tipped or dropped balls. (Hey, Stecker, if you have to drop a pass, drop down not up!) and a third was the result, as Fitch N DarDar points out, of one of the dumbest play calls Payton has made this year.
  
  
  Saints reciever Reggie Bush attempts a pass into double coverage on the games most poorly thought out play.
  
  So Brees only screwed up once. Actually, he kept it together pretty well under the circumstances. And we still shudder to think about how Aaron Brooks would have handled a similar situation.



• Congratulations to Joe Horn on becoming the Saints all time leader in touchdown receptions. This record could not belong to a more deserving individual. Congrats as well to Marques Colston who continues to make the Stallworth trade look like a winner.
  
  
  TD Tally: Colston 6 Stallworth 2
  
  Without looking this up... I believe Colston is in danger of capturing the Saints rookie record for touchdowns in a season with 8? A record that belongs to ... Donte Stallworth.



• The Saints' defense was horrible against the pass this week .. especially on third down.



• Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the loss is that it spoiled the season debut of return specialist and everyone's favorite Saint Michael Lewis. Lewis recieved a large ovation during team introductions.. and managed a nice 46 yard kick return later in the game. It's a shame they couldn't win one for the Beerman.



• If Bush misses a game.. it won't hurt the Saints much. Lewis and Devery Henderson will be able to fill his (limited) role in the offense. (Minus the interceptions hopefully)

Finally, this week's major complaint concerns the absurd number of fans who exited the Superdome prior to the start of the fourth quarter. Haven't these people seen enough Saints games in their day to know that 15 minutes is more than enough time for a professional football team to blow a 20 point lead? Certainly they didn't expect this bunch to quit did they? Well they didn't quit. They even made the score look semi-respecatable before the day ended.

By deciding to attend a football game, a person is committing a certain block of his or her day to that activity. If the game had been close, the fans certainly would have remained in their seats for this allotted amount of time. What can they possibly be gaining by leaving early? Ten or fifteen additional minutes of... well time with nothing planned? It never makes sense. I hope they weren't trying to "beat the traffic" either. We stayed to the end.. when there was almost no traffic because everyone left early trying to beat the traffic. (Of course we're on bikes so traffic isn't as much of a concern.. but still)


Hello? Echo! I wonder if Payton will call out the fans this week

I think the best thing to say about the Saints this week is that I hope they learned something... that goes for the fans as well.

Note: All photos shamelessly stolen from the T-P galleries on Nola.com