Portents

Edit: In the original version of this post, I mention my continuing difficulty completing the trademark Yellow Blog game posts this year. I've gone back and rescued some of what this week's post would have said and re purposed it to flesh out this post a bit.

You really have to hand it to the NFL schedule makers. They know how to keep things interesting. That is, they know how to keep things interesting for fans of exceedingly mediocre football teams. Which is to say... they keep it interesting for fans of everybody except the Lions.

Let's face it. Beyond the fact that the Lions suck, there aren't many major points of distinction between the teams with the best records and those in the middle of the pack. The Saints, for example, trail division-leading Carolina by 3 games. Looking back at the Saints' schedule, that difference basically boils down to the kicking suckery of Martin Gramatica vs Denver and Minnesota and two untimely Drew Brees interceptions in the 4th quarter at Tampa.

Had those incidents worked out only slightly differently, the Saints and Panthers would be neck and neck with a showdown looming in the season finale at the Superdome. Failing that scenario, the well-crafted schedule still provides for the intriguing prospect of the Saints finding themselves mathematically eliminated by losing to the Bears in Chicago for the third consecutive season. Neat stuff.

Still, even though the 7-6 Saints could easily be 10-3, this is a fundamentally mediocre football team any way you look at it. The Saints can't play defense, can't (or won't) run the football, feature some conspicuously overrated players (Jammal Brown, Will Smith, Charles Grant, Reggie Bush) and are coached by an egomaniacal dick who puts his puts his personal need to prove himself right about his questionable offensive philosophy and personnel decisions above just winning football games.

Lucky for Coach Soupy, then, that most Saints fans are well-accomplished at finding ways to have fun at football games regardless of the score. It's the sort of skill that comes with years of practice. 2008 may have disappointed some fans but you really can't call it a "bad" season at this point. Whatever happens tonight, this season the Saints will have:

1) Won at least as many games as they've lost.

2) Played two of the most entertaining home Monday Night games in their history.

3) Beaten the crap out of Atlanta in the Superdome


Look, we all know the Saints have problems. They're not a great team but they are fun to watch. I know because I've got two "draft" posts full of jokes about it that I never got around to finishing.

But before we go any further with that, CLIO is reading the signs.

Plus it's r's birthday and we are going to ACME.

Saints by ten.

Update: Heh, Not so much! Here's your 2008 climactic moment, Saints fans. Just... Gahh


Photo by Michael Democker. Times-Picayune