"This Stuff Never Gets Old"

The title quote is from Carolina kicker John Kasay describing his feelings after kicking his 11th career game-winning field goal. I think it captures the moment in several interesting ways which should be clear to you by the end of this post.

Prior to Sunday's Saints-Panthers scrum, Menckles and I met up with r and Goldschmidt for brunch at the new L'il Dizzy's Cafe location on Poydras Street. For the few of you who aren't familiar, Li'l Dizzy's is the latest in a series of neighborhood restaurants operated by the Baquet family. Perhaps the most popular prior venues were Zachary's on Oak Street and, before that, Eddie's Restaurant in Gentilly.

Quick aside: New Orleans sports fans will no doubt remember the long and unfortunate advertising relationship that developed between Zachary's and then sports talk radio dude, Kaare Johnson. Johnson, who is currently one of the 13 clowns vying for the open City Council At-Large seat, is your typical New Orleans frat-boy son of privilege. His father, Phil, was best known as the editorialist and part owner of WWL Television. During my youth, each week, Phil would inflict his affected baritone gravitas on New Orleans as he talked generally about how naughty the local pols are and told that same stupid Gift of the Magi story every freaking Christmas. Anyway, since little Kaare needed something to do with himself after his six year bachelor's program at LSU, his daddy's friends allowed him to blabber on the radio... stupidly... about sports and, of course, Zachary's. It's impossible to reproduce in this format, but the experience of Kaare's grating, over-excited, extended syllable, speaking style ruminating on the greatness of Zachary's fried chicken became a never-ending source of humor for his listeners... particularly for r and myself. Once, while waiting in line for tickets at the Saints' practice facility, we happened to see Kaare and mockingly asked him if he had any Zachary's chicken on him. Apparently not getting the joke, Kaare told us in all seriousness, "Noooo. You gotta go to OOOOak Street." This is still a catch phrase we return to every so often. It's probably not as funny as we think... but... maybe you had to be there.

The new Lil Dizzy's on Poydras is part of the Whitney Bank Wyndham hotel conversion. On Sunday morning, they were majorly in the weeds due to what appeared to be an unholy combination of a short staff, a pre-game rush, and an attempt to serve a small banquet party in addition to the regular customers. So the staff was visibly nervous and shaken but fairly graceful even if they did forget to fill our mimosas a few times. But we're extremely low maintenance customers so it wasn't a problem. And the brunch was buffet style so we got fed. Oh and, yes, the fried chicken is indescribably good.

Aside Two: Lil Dizzy's owner Wayne Baquet can currently be seen on the teevee endorsing John Georges, of all people, for Governor.
Updated Aside: Oyster expounds upon this in comments

Well, since Georges poured in over $100k in support of Baquet's candidacy for State Senate in a special election of summer of '05, and offered to buy out at least one rival campaign, I'd say Baquet (former vice president at Georges company Imperial Trading) owes him a commercial or two. Derrick Shepherd eventaully won the race getting over 50% in the primary.

Toward the end of our meal the crowd in the cafe began to thin dramatically. This was partially due to Saints fans making their way over to the Superdome in time for kickoff. But the exodus may have been accelerated by the appearance of a four-piece... um... amateur brass band in the corner of the room. The band of pre-teens were either attempting to serenade the guests (poorly) or were just getting in a little Sunday morning practice... which they are in great need of. We suspect that the kids were related to the owners in some way. Our waitress actually offered an unprompted apology of sorts when she brought our check. It wasn't necessary, of course. We had already accepted the musical recital as a tone poem honoring the 2007 New Orleans Saints and were thoroughly enjoying the performance for its fittingly comedic lack of virtuosity. Fully prepped for the afternoon's entertainment by our morning balladeers, we headed over to the Dome for more follies.

Sunday Follies: (As always, game photos are shamelessly stolen from the T-P gallery)

• For the first time this season, the Saints were not physically manhandled by their opponent. The Saints offensive line (with one notable exception) played its best game to date providing adequate running room for a still-underperforming Reggie Bush and near perfect protection for one-armed Quarterback Drew Brees who managed nonetheless to thoroughly stink up the place. Even with ample time to throw, Brees repeatedly misfired throwing too high for or behind his receivers. Brees's inaccuracy was responsible for more incomplete passes than the combined number of drops (and there were many) committed by his receivers. He also threw one terrible interception on the first series where he appeared to badly underthrow an open Lance Moore. Brees's second interception was the result of a ball that Devery Henderson should have had but dropped into the hands of a Carolina defender. (More on Devery later) In 2006, Drew Brees was an MVP candidate and the NFC's starting quarterback in the Pro-Bowl. This season, he is rated 21st among NFL quarterbacks with one touchdown pass compared with nine interceptions. No other player's performance better captures the difference between the 2006 and 2007 Saints. And it's clear that Brees himself is every bit as responsible as his supporting cast for this year's failings.
  Brees (here cleaning up after his first pick Sunrday) looks like a better tackler than a passer this season



• There are rumors circulating about some mysterious injury to Brees's surgically repaired, bionic right shoulder that has limited him this season. I've been inclined to discount this kind of talk as it is more the result of fan speculation than concrete reporting. But after watching the Saints trot out the same "dink and dunk" passing game plan over the first four games, I'm beginning to wonder if there is something they're not telling us. The Saints are reluctant to throw the ball downfield. And when they do so, the results are decidedly ugly. This might be okay, if Deuce McAllister were still around to eat up yards on the ground, but the Saints are relying on a slot receiver to carry the rushing load for them this season so they'll need to find a way to move the ball besides throwing five yard outs and praying for more roughing-the-passer penalties. By the way, we're all getting a little tired of every running play featuring a fake end-around action. It's not fooling anyone.
  
  
  Bush displays his patented dive-for-the-sideline move. This tactic twice failed to move the chains on Sunday



• Like the offense, the Saints defense played its most physical game of the season. Hollis Thomas made his first start of 2007. Hollis must be back on his special asthma medication as his five tackles and two assists contributed to a staunch run defense which held the Panthers to a respectable 88 yards rushing. Will Smith got to David Carr for the Saints' first sack of the season. Smith took his frustration out on Carr when he got there knocking him out for much of the second quarter. After the game, Carr had this to say about the hit.

  "We came in here and started praying and started loosening it up," Carr said. "(I) took everything they had in the training room; swallowed it, shot it up, did everything. When I got out there, it started loosening up.
  
  "It was like someone had stabbed me in the back every time I threw the ball. But I had to do it for these guys. They work so hard, and the defense was playing great."
  
  Said Fox: "The fact that (Carr) came back is a tribute to the kind of player he is."

  A pill-popping faith-healer kind of player, then?
  
  
  Bless me, Father for I have allowed myself to be sacked by a Saint. Umm..... It won't happen again.



• Tackle Jamaal Brown continues to sucktastically jump offsides, hold, and negate big plays with his various penalties. Sunday, Brown killed an Aaron Stecker touchdown reception by lining up incorrectly. Coach Soupy briefly pulled him from the game. Last year, Soupy first caught our eye by physically abusing his players on the sideline. From what we could tell all Brown received Sunday was an earful. Maybe next time there will be some fun shoving. Although... if I were Soupy, I'm not so sure I'd want any part of that.
  
  
  Jamaal Brown, seen here doing his job for a change.



• Good Devery Henderson: Devery Henderson had, in some respects, his best game of the season Sunday. Devery is the team's fastest sprinter. This makes him its most dangerous playmaker... when he catches the ball. Devery made three spectacular plays Sunday. In the first quarter, Brees... catching the Panthers offsides, decided to take a rare chance at chucking one deep for Henderson who shook free for a 32 yard gain setting up a game-tying field goal. In the second quarter, Devery made a crucial third-down grab while falling backwards to keep another game-tying drive alive for the Saints. And finally, in the third quarter, Devery turned in one of the game's most spectacular plays taking in a pass from Brees, outrunning the Panther defense to the sideline where he made an outstanding move to break another tackle and very nearly scored. The play went for 56 of Henderson's 101 yards receiving.
  
  Bad Devery Henderson: Late in the game, Devery dropped a deep pass that fell into the waiting arms of Carolina defender Chris Harris for a drive killing interception. Although the Saints defense bailed him out by taking the ball back on the very next play, this was still a critical error and all too typical of the maddeningly inconsistent Henderson's play. After the game, he actually appeared to be on the verge of tears.
  
  
  Oh Noes!!
  
  While Devery Henderson is still useful, he just is not reliable enough to serve as a number one or two receiver. But since Marques Colston seems to be missing in action, and since numerous other Saints receivers have their own bouts with the dropsies (Yes, Copper dropped another two balls Sunday) Devery sees more action than he can actually handle. An over-the-hill Joe Horn would still be a better starter on this team. Meanwhile, Lance Moore continues to catch everything that gets thrown at him. He should probably start next week.



• In addition to not getting pushed around as much, the Saints D was dramatically improved against the pass. Sure they were torched once by Kerry Colbert for a 43 yard gain near the end of the first half and again by Steve Smith for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. But by and large, they kept the Panthers in check and even came up with a huge turnover that should have put the Saints in position to win late.
  
  
  Mike Mckenzie, NOT the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this year, makes a big interception in the fourth quarter.



• Uh oh, the kicker still sucks. Olindo Mare, who the Saints acquired specifically because of his strong leg, missed a 54 yard attempt wide to the left which would have put the Saints up by three with 2:19 remaining on the clock. Earlier Mare completed a 93 yard, and eleven minute, Saints drive by kicking a 20 yard attempt low and into the center of the Panthers rush. The 20 yarder took a lot of wind out of the Saints' sails and the long one just killed them. If you're counting at home, that makes three out of four losses that this site and its commenters have linked in some way to the fact that the kicker sucks.
  
  It should be noted that Mare is only the third player in Saints history to appear in a regular season game wearing uniform number 2. The previous owners of that number were Quarterback, author, honored literacy advocate, and maddening football enigma Aaron Brooks (2000-2005) and kicker Chip Lohmiller (1995) The Chip Lohmiller experience was one of the more surreal moments in Saints history. Lohmiller was brought on to replace longtime fan favorite and future Hall of Famer Morten Andersen who was dumped by the Saints during a particularly hard-headed contract dispute. (Andersen, who later signed with the hated Atlanta Falcons actually described the experience as being "ripped apart" and then "made whole again" by Atlanta.) Naturally, Lohmiller was a basket case and had to be replaced in mid-season. It's hard to watch Olindo Mare out there and not be reminded of Lohmiller. Luckily for the Saints, a far more consitent Doug Brien was waiting in the wings in 1995. This year the free agent pool includes... well... the guy in the post below this one.
  
  This just in: The Saints are trying out several kickers this week. You can read about it here.
  
  This also just in: Olindo Mare was found in his apartment last night after a botched suicide attempt. He had affixed a noose to his ceiling fan, placed it around his neck and attempted to kick the stool out from underneath himself. But... he missed.
  Rules to live by: Politicians should not allow themselves to be photographed with Ashley Morris and Saints players should not be assigned uniform number 2.

On the bike ride home from the Superdome, I passed a pickup truck sporting one of those "Winning is an Attitude" bumper stickers. It made me smile as I thought about the multiple modes of homeopathic cures and oddball theories Saints fans are sure to offer in the coming days and weeks to explain the team's "shocking" 0-4 record.

Football fans are a funny lot. This week, Saints fans are reexamining every aspect of their lives from their diet to their wardrobe to the way they fold their towels in the sad but charming hope that their personal habits might have some mystical effect on their team's performance. There are stories this week about the Saints themselves engaging in various arts and crafts projects such as exhuming their buried awards from last season and... Soupy's bizarre stunt with the wagon described here. Superstition is cute, I suppose, but ultimately I think it serves as a placebo cure for people who prefer not to see things as they actually are.

The phrase "Winning is an Attitude" derives from a similar mode of distracted scapegoating, thoughtlessness. People either perform or they don't. Management (in this case football management) has no business preaching to individual adults about "attitude". It is a paranoid resort to nebulous pop-psychology when a simple statement of the facts would suffice. I discussed this briefly with Wintermute in a previous comment thread. Quoting myself:

None of this has anything to do with "mental jinxes" or attitude or what is or is not buried behind the practice field. All of that is just... well... bullshit dreamed up by people who don't like to live in the real world.

You either block the guy in front of you or you don't. You either catch the ball or you don't. It's that simple.

It's also not the end of the world if you don't accomplish those things. One reason people get hung up on superstition or "attitude" is that they have trouble accepting failure. They should grow the fuck up. Stuff sucks sometimes.

When football coaches complain about "attitude" what they're really doing is engaging in a cowardly power struggle with their employees; bullying them into accepting a disproportionate share of the blame for a team failing. Fans who paste "Winning is an Attitude" sticker to their trucks are simply enabling this kind of snide intimidation.

I'd be more worried about the "attitude" of fans who place so much emphasis on winning that they too often deny themselves the opportunity to enjoy the experience of... well... being football fans. Sure, the Saints kind of suck this year. But so what? It's your team, New Orleans. Every week, large men in black leotards still wear your Fleur-de-Lis and run around in your Superdome colliding with one another at unhealthy speeds for your amusement. Regardless of the record, it's always worth the twelve dollar bloody mary. Plus, this is a team in the process of going from "worst" to "first" to "worster" in one of the more improbable roller coaster rides in sports history. This is some fascinating shit. Or, to quote John Kasay once more, "This Stuff Never Gets Old".

I'll be out of town during next week's game so I can't guarantee I'll get to see much of it. The Saints have a date with the Atlanta Falcons on October 21 in your Superdome. I hope to see all of you there.