Note: Game photos (i.e. the ones that don't link to my Flickr account) are, as always, shamelessly stolen from Times-Picayune photographer Michael DeMocker's NOLA.com galleries.
- This week's Dome complaint: Yes, of course, the concession prices are up again. When we got into the stadium, Menckles and I ordered two Miller Lites and something called a "walking taco" which is a bag of Doritos opened sideways and adorned with various toppings; beans, sour cream, peppers, cheese, possibly Nutella... I was too grossed out to pay close attention. We were out twenty bucks and I think a supplemental insurance premium right off the bat. So not only are the prices going up in the Dome this season, the food is getting stranger.
- This week's Dome/Square Paradox:When the Saints announced their plan to create the new Champions Square "urban tailgating" space at the Superdome, we were concerned that they were dangerously flaunting the rules of geometry, let alone decency. How can we have a Square in the same place that we already have a Dome? What sort of con are the Bensons running now? With their sweetheart office tower deals and their spherical cubes and walking tacos and whatnot, one can't help but be a little suspicious.
But that's not the weird part. You see, long ago, we observed what we took to be an ironclad law of nature which stated that beer prices naturally decrease at the same rate as one's proximity to the Superdome. A man selling cans out of an ice chest to fans on the corner of Poydras and Lasalle will be asking at least a dollar more per can than the guy on Poydras and S. Rampart. It was an undisputed universal principle. Until Thursday. Walking up Girod Street near the Macy's tunnel, we were a little offended to find a guy trying to sell light beer to passing fans for $7.50 each. Usually the street guys get between 2 and 5 dollars depending on location but, I suppose, these days $7.50 still qualifies as a deal compared to what they're getting in the dome. Still it seemed a little high. But that's not the weird part either.
The weird part came when we got to Champions Square itself and dutifully noted the many items we were restricted from carrying with us there.
As we walked up the ramp overlooking the square, maybe it was a trick of the light or something, or maybe I was regretting having left my service animal at home, but I swear I saw a booth selling beer for $5.50. That's a $5.50 directly between an absurd $7.50 from a street vendor and the obscene $8.00 inside. What property does the Dome/Square space possess that bends the laws of nature like this? More study is necessary. - This week's other Dome complaint: I'm willing to look past the poorly planned, comical banner-dropping ceremony. Saints fans who grew up on ostrich races and questionably certified pyrotechnics were probably expecting a little more than a poorly balanced Harry Connick trying to belt out at least one line of "When the Saints go Marching In" before falling off of his float. (Maybe if they'd made a game of this activity... I don't know.) Anyway it was very sudden and sort of haphazard looking. Still the banner stayed up. And the Saints didn't lose the Bruschi Bowl so I guess they got to keep it.
I am not willing to look past, however, the NFL's decision to put the end of the Dave Matthews/Taylor Swift Jackson Square embarrassment up on the jumbotron for the benefit of Saints fans who thought they had avoided the travesty by going to the Dome instead. I think of all the complaints about the NFL's phony opening festivities (and there are many) the one I keep coming back to is, what does any of this have to do with football? I mean, isn't that supposed to be what these TV programs are about in the first place? It's a football game. Why do we need Taylor Swift for that? In fact, why do we need a pre-game concert at all? Who is all this stuff for? What it says to me is that the NFL doesn't think its fans are really all that into football. And, if true, that would be bad from their point of view, but I can't see how tween idol music shows are the remedy for that. - They won the freaking Super Bowl. What more do you want? Many Saints fans came away from the opener saying it was an "ugly win." we have no idea what they were talking about. The Saints committed no turnovers. They were penalized only three times for 20 yards. They outgained the Vikings 308 yards to 253. Also earlier this year they won the Super Bowl.
Aside from a few (but not an obscene number of) dropped passes, the Saints were fairly efficient against one of the NFL's tougher defenses. Drew Brees was 27 of 36 for 237 yards and a touchdown. That's another 75% completion day that could have been better had it not been for the drops. He also made two outstanding plays in this game. One was the touchdown pass to Devery Henderson while scrambling to his right. The other was recovering from a bobbled snap near his own goal line and finding a way to turn the play into a big gain.
Nothing ugly in Super Bowl 44 MVP Brees' performance
Defensively there was little to complain about either. I'm having trouble finding the "ugly" in holding Adrian Peterson under 100 yards, Brett Favre to 171 yards and a pick, and... well any NFL team under 10 points. Admittedly some of this can be explained by the Vikings' injury problems and their "rusty" old man quarterback. Still more of it can be traced back to coaching. (More on that in a minute) But either way, there's nothing there we're ready to label "ugly". Overall, the Saints played a pretty tight football game. They just didn't score a gagillion points in the process. (Although, they should have had 20... more on that in a bit as well)
Also the Saints are the reigning Super Bowl champions. - Despite the early reports, this is not 2008: One of our concerns going into this season (if you can say we had any.. the Saints are the Super Bowl Champions after all) was that the Saints would have trouble maintaining their commitment to offensive balance without Lynell Hamilton or Mike Bell on the roster. And for one half of one game, it didn't look too good. The Saints attempted 3 rushing plays and 22 passes during the first half. The Tweeter Tubes were going crazy with complaints from the press box.
As if to drive the point home, the Saints opened the second half running the ball on 7 of 11 plays culminating in a touchdown by Frenchy Thomas. That drive was the game's turning point. The Saints didn't score again, but they remained in firm control of the game from that point on. On the one hand, we're encouraged by Payton's willingness to see what's going wrong and make adjustments to his strategy. On the other hand, we're wondering if he would have gone back to the ground game had he been down by more than two points at halftime.
Pierre Thomas was allowed to play football in the second half - Brad Childress is no genius: At the same time that the Saints were putting the ball in Thomas' hands, the Vikings were taking it out of Peterson's. Peterson, who ran hard and with some success against the Saints in the first half, only carried six times in the second half and, in fact, had zero rushing attempts during the fourth quarter. The Vikings never trailed by more than a touchdown. Why would Childress take the ball away from his most productive offensive player?
During the offseason, Childress continually made headlines complaining about the Saints' rough defensive play in the NFC Championship game. So called expert football analysts suggested that Childress was slyly anticipating that his comments could either "work the refs" ensuring favorable treatment in the season opener or "psych out" Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams perhaps making him less likely to pull the trigger on as many blitzes as the Vikings saw in the championship game.
Williams basically called the bluff. By backing off the blitz and sitting back in coverage, the Saints ended up confusing the fresh-off-the-playground Favre more than they would have by spearing his ankle or hiding his pain pills or whatever they've been doing in his nightmares for six months now. Thanks to Childress, the Vikings were coming into this game fighting the last war. After a lifetime of watching the Saints get out-coached in ways similar to this, I'm finding these days most enjoyable. Also the Saints are Super Bowl champions still. - This week's fan complaint: Sad to say, the long day of "urban tailgating" took its toll on Saints fans. One gentleman in our section noticed a group of Vikings fans take their seats near us just prior to kickoff and immediately jumped on their case. At first we thought he was joking around but after five minutes of red-faced pointing and shouting, people began to get uncomfortable. Some of us tried to help the visitors laugh it off. "I don't mean to jump to conclusions but some of these Saints fans probably shouldn't be driving later." It didn't help. The guy kept going and people kept getting more and more worried.
Inevitably stadium security intervened and escorted the red-faced man away. And there was much rejoicing. For a little while anyway since, much to everyone's disbelief, the man was allowed to return to his seat five minutes later. What's more, he was markedly unbowed by his experience and continued antagonizing the Vikings fans sitting behind him this time photographing each of them and threatening legal action for THEIR HARASSMENT OF HIM.
I know the NFL has a draconian Code of Fan Conduct in place that is supposed to discourage this behavior but the enforcement of these rules is baffling. In recent years, I've watched Superdome security threaten to eject Saints fans for banging on the wall and making general fan noise. The very fan in question here has been known to shoot dirty looks toward people using colorful language near his children. But somehow, this guy is free to be as nasty as he wanna be toward visiting fans. I don't get it. I don't get any of it.
Other Saints fans were observed peeing into trash cans near the bathroom line and getting into sloppy fistfights in front of the "walking taco" table Thursday night. It was not their finest hour overall. - Uh Oh the kicker sucks: Garrett Hartley missed two field goals any professional should be expected to make. It's the reason the 14-9 perceived "ugly win" wasn't a 20-9 dominant opening performance. The truth is, the kid has never really established that he's the guy for this job. Sure he happened to be in the right place to make one very important kick that any professional should be expected to make last year. But that doesn't mean he's a made guy. And that's true despite the fact that the Saints are the reigning Super Bowl champions.
I wouldn't get too comfortable, either, 5. - Second guessing Reggie Bush... because that's just what we do:
Actually Bush played well against the Vikings. He didn't do anything dumb. He led the team in rushing during the first half. (One carry. Eight yards.) He didn't drop any punts. Despite all of the off-field attention he's gotten lately, Bush has never looked more comfortable in uniform.
Still, he shouldn't have given the trophy back. The circumstances under which he forfeited it are the NCAA's problem primarily, and USC's problem to a certain extent. We can sort of understand the temptation to "move forward" and all, but in reality, by giving up the trophy, Bush is mostly just pussing out. Sure he got in a few passive aggressive comments during the announcement, but if he really wanted the hypocrites embarrassed, he would have kept the thing and let the story fester. I would have been tempted to start wearing it around my neck. - We're exhausted with this "Who Dat" controversy. No one is ready for Round 2, but there it is. Earlier this week I received a mass emailing from Senator Vitter regarding this matter and... Actually, you know what? Let's worry about this later and watch videos instead. Remember, the Saints are Super Bowl Champions.
Looking forward to tonight's game in San Francisco. It's still funny to me that people can call a Saints-49ers matchup a "trap" game or say that it's an opponent the Saints may overlook. Not too long ago, this was a serious divisional rivalry. Well, a frustrating one anyway. Here is the series history on Monday Night Football:
1989 SF 31 NO 13That ain't no good, but of course all that stuff happened before the Saints became Super Bowl champions. See Wang for more on the matchup. Short version: Mike Singletary is a nutty coach and the 49ers "do in fact blow". I agree. Expect a new outcome tonight.
1990 SF 13 NO 12
1993 SF 42 NO 7
1994 SF 35 NO 14
*Post title, not surprisingly for most, lifted from a Classic GBV track.** But also, seriously, we gotta get back on track with these. Will try to do better next week.
**On tour this fall
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