New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Saints turn up as tormentor of Bucs

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/sp_co...397675,00.html

NFL: Tom Hanson ... Saints turn up as tormentor of Bucs

By TOM HANSON, tahanson@naplesnews.com
November 3, 2003

TAMPA -- The Red Sox have the Yankees.

The Georgia Bulldogs have the Florida Gators.

David Gest allegedly has Liza Minelli.

And the Tampa Bay Buccanners have the New Orleans Saints.

What do all the first mentioned have in common?

They always take a beating from the second mentioned.

By defeating Tampa Bay, 17-14, on a last-second John Carney field goal, the Saints once again did the improbable. Sort of like Julia Roberts marrying Lyle Lovett.

But then again, Lovett looks much better than the Bucs did Sunday.

Here's another brainteaser: What do the Bears, Falcons, Texans and the Bucs have in common?

They've all lost to the Saints this season.

And the way things are going, they're all going to miss the playoffs.

At this point, New Orleans, which improves to 4-5, has a better shot of making the playoffs than Tampa. A reason why: another guaranteed victory against the Bucs, in New Orleans, on Dec 7.

The Saints will have to be prohibitive favorites since they now own a 16-7 edge in the series.

And of late, every game between the Saints and the Bucs has been as crazy as a shirt-raising, bead-throwing Mardi Gras night.

En route to the Super Bowl last year, the Bucs only had four losses -- but two of those them came at the hands of the Bourbon Street Bruisers. And all three games were decided by less than seven points.

"Maybe the Saints have a curse on us?" Bucs wide out Keyshawn Johnson said. "Maybe it's in the water? Maybe it's in the bayou?"

It's as if the Bucs have an allergic reaction at the sight of Fleur de lis -- the Saints' symbol. How else do you explain the six turnovers Sunday?

Maybe the black and gold uniforms make them nauseous. Surely, the 65,542 Bucs' fans wanted to throw up when the self-proclaimed "Greatest Defense in the History of the NFL" couldn't stop a Saints' attack that is so desperate that Ki-Jana Carter has found a home.

"Maybe the problem is Raymond James. What are we 0-3 at home?" Said Johnson who somehow forgot the Bucs actually beat the Cowboys at home just a week ago.

See what losing to the Saints will do to you?

Center John Wade said this is his first loss to the Saints, but he experienced a similar situation while playing with Jaguars.

"When I was at Jacksonville we had the same problem with Tennessee," Wade said. "No matter what we did we couldn't beat them. Maybe that got into our heads, which is even worse."

Whether it's in their heads or just one of those fluke things in life, the Bucs better lobby for the Saints to be switched to the AFC. Then they would only have to lose once every four years.