Living in Indiana, surrounded by fans of a truly classy franchise, I couldn’t and didn’t root against the Colts; but I couldn’t bring myself to root against the Saints, either, and I’m very happy for their fans. They really had this one coming; if there’s any fanbase that’s had to put up with more garbage than Seattle fans, it’s New Orleans fans.
This all brings to mind Daniel Henninger’s recent column in the Wall Street Journal on American Needle Inc. v. National Football League, a case currently before the Supreme Court:
Most people would rather be a happy fan than anything else. Otherwise, there would not be so many fans for so many sports all over the world. This is irrefutable.
A friend recently emailed me that he didn’t think there was any such thing as a truly happy progressive. This is false. If an American progressive’s baseball team wins the Word Series, he is happy, if only briefly. A former colleague, a cricket fan, used to seek out late-night TV broadcasts in obscure bars in Queens, N.Y. It made him very happy.
Long ago, then-NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle figured out this greatest of all human truths, that the only value most people have in common, other than life itself, is the desire for a competitive home team. Family members who would sink a dinner fork into each other over Barack Obama’s health-care plan will do high fives in the living room later if the Cleveland Browns beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Rozelle got the league’s teams to distribute TV-broadcast revenue equally, so that no team would be permanently in the dumpster. Basketball and hockey did the same thing. Baseball has not, and it is well established that Chicago Cubs fans do not believe happiness exists.
lol, I enjoyed that. Almost as much as I enjoyed the game. 🙂
It's a much needed boost for New Orleans, and the rest of Louisiana too. Speaking as one who is one. ROFL!
Yeah, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a place that needed the boost more. (Though Michigan's in pretty sad shape, too.)
I've never been to New Orleans, or anywhere in the true South. (South Texas doesn't count–that's its own world.) I might wind up making it down there in April, if everything works out; it should be an interesting time, if it happens.
Down to New Orleans? You'll have a good time, it's quite an interesting city. Lots to see, and EAT. Mmm. lol
If you're up in the NW corner, around Shreveport, hollah! I'll grab my husband and we'll take y'all out to supper. 🙂