Nonetheless, Serpas has instituted a new wave of frequent "sobriety checkpoints" just about every weekend (but not always on the weekend) all over town. In addition to being subject to sobriety testing, perhaps even blood screening, drivers who encounter checkpoints are required to show proof of insurance and registration and have their vehicles in general compliance which means, among other things, displaying a current brake tag such as this black and gold edition I had issued for the Tercel around the start of last football season.
I don't know exactly how much positive influence the black and gold tags had on the 2009 season, but it's our policy to consider all the possibilities when it comes to matters of fashion and football so we are noting it for the record.
Anyway, Serpas may still be in his honeymoon phase as Chief and New Orleanians are still giving him the benefit of the doubt about a bunch of stuff. But this doesn't mean that they're necessarily going to take this checkpoint business lying down. The New Orleans drunk drivers have hoisted the flag, so to speak. Or at least they've taken to the internets and Tweeter Tubes and Facebooks and whatnot, which, we all know, is where revolutions are made each and every day.
In this case, the revolution being tweeterized involves the approximate time and location of each checkpoint which NOPD is required by law to release to the public in advance of its occurrence. A day or so ahead of each checkpoint, the NOPD sends out a press release announcing its hours along with a vague description of what part of the city it will happen in. And that press release is inevitably distributed via various internet sites and twitterers and such so that anyone who happens to have an eye out for that particular information, or who likes using his smart phone while drinking and driving, will have a halfway decent chance of avoiding the fuzz.
It's not perfect, though. For example, here's the announcement of a checkpoint that happened this week.
New Orleans LA,-As required by the Louisiana Supreme Court, the New Orleans Police Department is issuing a public advisory regarding a sobriety checkpoint that will be conducted.
The New Orleans Police Department’s Traffic Division will conduct a sobriety checkpoint on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, in the Gentilly area. The check point will begin at approximately 9:00 P.M. and will conclude at about 5:00 A.M. Motorists will experience minimal delays and should have the proper documentation, i.e., proof of insurance, driver’s license, etc., available if requested.
The New Orleans Police Department would like to, as always, remind motorists to drink responsibly and use a designated driver.
So that's all well and good. If you don't already have to go to "the Gentilly area" for anything, you're cool. But obviously, this isn't always the case. The Gentilly area, or the Algiers area, or the Uptown area, as these things are invariably written covers a lot of ground. What if your plans are such that you can't avoid driving through "the Gentilly area" that night? What if you live in Gentilly? Even with advanced knowledge of a sobriety checkpoint, drivers are far from safe. Sharing information is a helpful tool, but Player Protect, it ain't.
This hasn't stopped locals form availing themselves of the options they do have... nor has it stopped a few of them from getting a bit cocky about it from time to time. Still, it can't be making much of a dent in the checkpoints' overall effectiveness. As a percentage of the total population of people on the streets at night, the number of people drinking and driving while avoiding traffic stops because they were forewarned by the internet is certainly negligible, right? Not so say these bellyaching cops.
Social media networks like Facebook and Twitter are disrupting a common law enforcement technique against drunk driving, the sobriety checkpoint, authorities said Friday.
One such checkpoint at the intersection of Oak and Leake streets last Friday night netted eight DWI arrests, with 31 citations and 73 sobriety tests administered, said traffic division Lt. Melvin Howard at the New Orleans Police Department’s weekly departmental meeting Friday.
But a number of Friday night drivers had prior notice of the checkpoint — presumably enabling some to avoid it — via posts on Facebook, Howard told the rest of the department. Drivers were sending updates to their friends as they passed through, and word spread quickly while many were still at the bars.
“We’re also battling social media,” Howard said. “Just as we’re tracking DWI’s and bad motorists, they’re also tracking us.”
Nearly 500 vehicles passed through, and a third of them were checked, Howard said.
I don't know. 31 citations in one night seems like a pretty big haul to me. Maybe they've got a bigger quota to meet. We are in the middle of a budget crunch, after all. And these big new mega jails certainly aren't gonna build themselves. Maybe Serpas can take a cue from the Mayor's jail-planning staff and start making his "public announcements" in a more hush hush manner. Either way we're guessing we'll see more of these checkpoints in the future. And things will continue to be touch-and-go for New Orleans on the road.
In keeping with their much-celebrated idiom of embodying the spirit, the mood, the hopes and dreams, of the city they represent, the New Orleans Saints had a rough time on the road themselves on Monday night. Although they, like many of us lately, also managed to narrowly avoid disaster. Must be all the tweeting they do during the week.
Saints vs 49ers (Game photos stolen from Michael DeMocker's Times-Picayune galleries. Please do not tell the police.)
- Winning ugly: Unlike the opener vs Minnesota, which we thought was a very well played game, this one really does qualify as an "ugly" win for the Saints who were badly out-gained by the 49ers (417 total yards to 287), ran for an abysmal 2.1 yards per carry, were only 6 of 14 in 3rd down conversions, allowed 2 sacks (which is a lot for the Saints), missed tackles, missed open receivers, were penalized for 54 yards, and dropped a punt. It's tough on the road sometimes.
The good news is, this was an even uglier loss for the 49ers who began the game with an embarrassing overhead snap from center that went through the back of the endzone for a safety and ended it by allowing the Saints to drive 50 yards for the winning field goal. In addition to the botched snap, the 49ers turned the ball over 4 more times killing drives on the Saints' 27, 12, and 10 yard lines forfeiting at least 9 points. Also they dropped a punt a key point in the fourth quarter which led to a Saints field goal. Sure, it's tough on the road. But if you turn the ball over five times, it's tough at home too.
Whoops! Alex Smith contemplates subjecting center David Baas to a brethalyzer and/or on-the-spot bloodletting. - Drew Brees and the Blustery Day: It's hard to say Drew Brees looked "ugly" out there. Another day over 70% completions with 2 TDs and no interceptions will do just fine. But Brees did look frustrated at times with what the 49ers defense was showing him. On most plays, Brees ended up checking down to a second or third receiver. Of his 28 completions, 19 were to running backs or tight ends. One, he caught himself off of a deflection. The Niners' defense game planned pretty well for the Saints. A quarterback with less presence of mind than Brees probably would have turned the ball over once or twice.
There were a few times, however, when Saints receivers looked like they might have been open on deep patterns where Brees just missed them. It could have been the wind. In a lot of ways, this was reminiscent of the Saints-Bears NFC Championship game. Harsh weather can make it tough out on the road for a dome team like the Saints.
Brees is smooshed after finding no one to (Ser)pass the ball to. In 2009 Brees was sacked 20 times. To date, his highest total as a Saint. - I'm wondering if maybe Jeremy Shockey is about done: Since becoming a Saint, has there been any significant stretch of time when Poochie wasn't either out altogether or limping around fighting off one nagging injury or another? Shockey played Monday night but he looked to me like he could barely even run out there. Turns out he's hurt again. How much does this guy really have left?
- You drop a punt, we break a leg. Fair's fair, right? Right so Reggie Bush is going to miss another third of another season with probably the least career-threatening injury he's sustained so far. Should we worry about this? Probably not. Yeah the Saints have had a string of misfortune at tailback which has left the position thinly stocked. But Bush isn't really a running back anyway. His exit will just give the Saints even more of an excuse to try and get Chris "Ironbutt" Ivory (who actually is a running back although we aren't sure if he's much of one) involved in the offense and we know the fans have been waiting expectantly for that to happen.
It's kind of a shame that this happened at a point where we were starting to think things could come together for Bush a little bit. We were anxious to see if, by giving back the Heisman Trophy, Bush had also shed the dreaded Heisman jinx and was on the cusp of doing something really interesting as a pro. It could work out that way. Maybe now the time off will be good for him. Maybe, once healed, his leg will return with the proverbial freshness you hear so much about. Maybe he'll be less likely to break down later in the season. For his part, Reggie thinks he'll be back sooner than later. In the meantime, don't freak. Check out what Jeff Duncan says.New Orleans has been here before.
Reggie Bush missing a few games is just part of the natural cycle. And the Saints know how to cope with that.
In 2007.
In 2008.
In 2009.
The Saints have navigated this Reggie-less road and fared quite well, thank you.
In fact, it might surprise folks to know the Saints averaged more yards (430.7) and points (33.3) in the 12 games Bush missed the previous three seasons than they did in the 37 games with him (379.1 yards, 26.5 points)
Reggie Bush thinks it's tough out there on the road. Hey, good news! Now Saints fans can follow @Reggiebushleg on Twitter! - I looked at the opposing sideline and I saw Mike Singletary Former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight once famously remarked to a reporter after his team came from behind to beat LSU that at a point in the game when it wasn't looking so great, Knight "..was worried about losing until I looked down the floor and saw (buffoonish LSU coach) Dale Brown. Then I knew we had a chance" This is sort of how it felt for Saints fans being on the opposite side from 49ers head coach Mike Singletary all night. No matter how tough it got out there on the road, we could always look over and remember that the other team was coached by a buffoon and know that somehow things would work out. Wang wrote a bit about Singletary's odd management style last week. And we know he's got kooky eyes and all. But, more than anything, Singletary's tenure with the 49ers is comparable, appropriately enough, to his former coach Mike Ditka's with the Saints. The coach is an "intense" personality and bit of a media darling but also obviously quite crazy and not exactly running the smoothest operation from an organization standpoint. Ditka's Saints teams played aggressively, if not all that well, for the first few seasons before the bottom dropped out. Singletary's teams will probably go the same way sooner or later.
They're pretty much obliged to test Singletary every time they see him at the checkpoint. Drunk or otherwise, he's going to behave erratically. - Speaking of buffoonish coaches: LSU goes up against West Virginia Saturday night in Baton Rouge. We already know how ridiculous LSU's coach is, but have you seen the West Virginia fans' Fire Bill Stewart Facebook group yet? This will be some fun.
Actually, while we still want Les Miles fired, we have been impressed with the way the Tigers have looked on defense in recent weeks. That is insofar as we think Mississippi State and Vandy are valid measuring tools anyway. Also was Miles in charge of the Saints' timeouts at San Francisco this week? I know the wind was bad but what a dumb thing to waste timeouts worrying over. - 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis is one tough dude who delivers a lot of what Gregg Williams likes to call "remember me" hits. Willis laid into Bush especially hard Monday night in a photograph nobody took and which I, consequently, cannot steal. But if you'll think back to that moment, you, like me, may also wonder if Willis should have been flagged for helmet-to-helmet contact. Not that we're the sort to complain about that kind of stuff. Anyway it's tough on the road.
- In the clutch, who else? Morstead. In the later stages of the fourth quarter, the Saints were hanging on to a precarious 19-14 lead. Tracy Porter's interception had already saved this lead once. But the Saints' offense was sputtering and Bush had just been helped off the field minutes earlier when the Saints failed to convert a 3rd and 1 at their own 31 yard line. The 49ers have been steadily gaining confidence and were about to get another opportunity to take the lead.
Onto the field steps Thomas Morstead who boots a high 52 yard punt all the way to the San Francisco 17. The ball is fumbled by Phillip Adams and recovered by the Saints. It's their most dramatic gain in field position the entire day and it couldn't have come at a better time. The resulting field goal puts the Saints up 8, a lead they will relinquish on the next possession, but crucial points nonetheless.
Morstead watches as NFC Special Teams Player of the Week Garrett Hartley celebrates the game-winning field goal. Honestly, I still don't trust Hartley. - Brad Childress was not there: For the second week in a row, the Saints' defensive front got pushed around by a physical running attack. But unlike week one, when Brad Childress took the ball out of Adrian Peterson's hands, this time, the 49ers kept feeding Frank Gore and it almost won them the game. The Saints' D was sloppy. They fell down a lot. They missed tackles. They keep coming away with turnovers and God bless them for that but it's not always going to be that way.
After the game, Gore told reporters that he thought the 49ers got the better of the Saints' defense. "They're a good team but they couldn't handle us out there. They can't handle us." When T-P writer Jeff Duncan tweeted this quote, it prompted an indignant response from Saints linebacker Scott Shanle.Damn more talk! This team is all talk. Frank u lost the game. U are 0-2. Your entire team needs to shutup and just play
We'd like to think the Falcons won't have much worth talking about Sunday but the Saints need to play better on defense to make that happen.
And so, yes, it's still September and it's already Falcon week in New Orleans. Personally I prefer to see Atlanta come in to the Dome later in the season when there are more clear stakes involved one way or the other. Oh except for that one year when they came in early and it was awesome. Otherwise, I'd rather play the Falcons later, but we can't have everything.
The bad news is, we're getting word that the dreaded black pants are coming back out of mothballs for this one which is never good from either a football or a fashion standpoint. Worse than that, Menckles went out and got a new brake tag today and the color scheme is perhaps the most ominous thing imaginable.
The good news is, due to a minor collision some months back, my right headlight is currently held in place on the front of the Tercel by a slavishly maintained duct taping improvisation. Which means nobody's gonna give me one of those new tags until I get it fixed. Which means I'm still sporting the black and gold on my windshield for the forseeable future. Let's hope that's enough to outperform all the other contrary portents. In the meantime, if you see or hear of any NOPD checkpoints out there, be sure and tweet me out a clue.
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