These guys never quit
 

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- One of the NFL's more inexplicable billionaires, Tom Benson, accumulated his fortune with automobile dealerships, banks and media outlets. There have been times, when Benson has sashayed around the Superdome under a colorfully decorated parasol, when people had to wonder if Benson was anything more than the green behind the Saints' machine.

In the wake of Monday's news that suspended coach Sean Payton is trying hard to anoint his own interim successor in close buddy Bill Parcells (forget those Parcells unconvincing denials), Benson's role -- or, perhaps, his weightlessness in the misguided flirtation -- comes under such scrutiny.

The whole ordeal is about as confounding as the stupefying fact that Benson's net worth includes nine zeroes following the numbers.

Unless there is some underlying initiative at work, or Benson has retained the ultimate veto power and is poised to exercise it should the peripatetic Parcells actually agree to return to the field, the Saints' owner is a willing party to craziness. Why in the world would a guy who made a fortune selling cars hand over the keys to his most expensive luxury vehicle to a guy who has driven the automobile over the cliff?

Sean Payton, even given his obligatory and hollow mea culpa here on Tuesday morning upon his arrival at the NFL annual meetings, makes Thelma and Louise look like candidates for the safe-driver discount. One would think that after so many years of stewarding auto dealerships, Benson would be able to discern a fast-talking flimflam by now. But, clearly, he's been mesmerized by the NFL equivalent of a used-car salesman.

Care for the weatherproof undercoating, too, Tom? Payton can get you a deal.

The fact of the matter is, Payton is Benson's best salesman on the lot. As noted a horse-manure huckster as Payton is, he has ingratiated himself to the owner and mesmerized him with banter and the belief he is special. And the owner apparently regards even a besmirched Payton as perhaps equal to the sainted Drew Brees as the countenance of a once-laughingstock franchise.

And that's too bad.

On the strength of one ballsy onside kick decision at the outset of the second half of Super Bowl XLI, Payton has not only built, but fashioned, a reputation. Morals be damned. The NFL has been an almost win-at-all-cost proposition. Some banks and financial institutions, and Benson can probably relate to this, have become too big to fail. By virtue of a Super Bowl title, and genius offensive play-calling (give the man his due), Payton has apparently become too big to fire.

Lose a game and you're in trouble. Forfeit your soul, or permit some runaway hubris to overtake your value system, and you don't always lose your job. Let's be honest here, something that Payton was not, at least on those occasions when he was summoned to Park Avenue to be interrogated by commissioner Roger Goodell: Payton is a prevaricator (the genteel term for "liar") of the highest order. So maybe he didn't quite toss his trusty lieutenants under the bus for their roles in masterminding the tawdry "Bountygate" scheme. But Payton was piloting the bus, perhaps with outdated license, and left some tread on a few people. He certainly didn't keep the bus between the lines, that's for sure.

How the man still has a job, even with a one-year hiatus, is puzzling enough. How he convinced Benson to permit him and general manager Mickey Loomis to approach Parcells, a man with more comebacks than Sinatra, is beyond perplexing. As noted by the Sports Xchange on Monday, Payton has essentially undermined all of the interim coach candidates on his staff by chasing after Parcells. And Parcells, as well, has to be a little goofy, too, by even considering the one-year caretaker role.

Neither man, though, is as loopy as Benson. And this time it has nothing to do with boogying around the Superdome.


Benson's trust in Payton might lead to poor Parcells decision - NFL - CBSSports.com News, Rumors, Scores, Stats, Fantasy

Its ok in the minds that make up the collective media to have politicians lie,get caught and still keep their jobs when they are sworn to serve the public. But what SP "did" was so aweful he should be fired?..who is this guy? is he half as business savy as Benson?
In the NFL a common saying about firing coaches is "Who are you going to get that is BETTER?"...Indeed...
Payton brought us a SB, NFL records, and a winning atmosphere(along with some bandwagon fans and lots of hatred from the commish..lol). Has he made some questionable calls? sure what coach hasn't? But after 6 seasons has he not earned some credit with Tom Benson?
Who the H@#$ is this guy to say who TB hires and fires or how mentally stable he is? PI$$ off toolbag

This is just going to keep coming. The Saints ruined Brett Favre's "historical exit" from the NFL, and in doing that, we inherited a huge target on our backs, from every sports writer in the world, that had the Vikings picked to win it all. This entire episode, is based around that fact, and that fact alone. NO WHERE have they produced any film footage of "killshots" as they call them, and no where, have they produced any evidence, other than heresay, that support this idea of cart offs, or game enders. But why report the truth, when it's much easier to make up your own? "Well, Goodell said this, and Williams, and Payton have come forward and admitted it!" Once again, I haven't seen anything on film, that makes me believe that there was EVER any malicious intent, or illegal hits, that weren't already dealt with by the officials, and the league itself. Payton has been painted the sacrificial lamb, and will be haunted by this bs, for the rest of his career. A sad but true fact. No one ever wanted to see this franchise succeed. Before this, many of these idiot fans, claimed that the NFL rigged the season, to let us win, because of Katrina! These are those same people jumping on with both feet now! They had no integrity then, so why should we, as sane people, give in validation to their outlandish claims now? Let them throw their tantrums, and scream out all they want. With their track records for biased journalism, and complete disregard for absolute truth, who cares what they think anyway?

Q: WHO IS THIS GUY?
http://sports.cbsimg.net//images/cbs...0x100/3708.png


A: THIS IS PETE PRISCO...
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/9922/prisco.jpg


THE SAME PRISCO IN THIS THREAD
http://blackandgold.com/saints/39912-pete-prisco.html


THIS IS WHAT PETE PRISCO OFFERS HIS READERS WEEKLY....
http://brainshavings.com/images/turd-meal.png



GET IT???

Any questions??

I read that it's "By Len Pasquarelli | The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com"

Either way, there is undeniable proof that Payton is indeed special:

it has to be the fool loss a bundle against the saints, its a no brainer. its hate mail

MY BAD... Len PassTheJelly!!!

http://images.tvrage.com/people/17/48814.jpg

He works in the same office as this moron.


http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/cbss...0x100/8690.png
Parcells-to-New Orleans isn't just wrong, it's stupid


Remember this thread?

http://blackandgold.com/saints/42705...onna-hate.html

national media :needle:

Roger "the princess" Goodell :needle:

I just realized that I'm insane by definition. I keep reading these articles thinking maybe there will be a different result.

A head coach always hires his own staff. And since Payton has not been fired and has been told he will be back next year, he SHOULD be involved in the decision as to who is the interim coach. Benson is an owner, few owners really know much about the game, they just know how to make profit from it. Why should we suddenly expect him to become an executive?

Get over yourself, Len.

People just need to chill out and read WHERE these articles are coming from. Most of them are coming from the same writers/networks who have an axe to grind. CBS has been really negative in their coverage of this mess, I'd say the worst of the three major networks. That's because the SAINTS are one of the top television network draws, in all of sports, and they "belong" to FOX, a competing network! CBS are targeting the Saints with negative coverage, because the Saints are a "property" of their rival network, and they sense they are vulnerable right now. It's the same thing as the Giants targeting the player on the 49ers who had a history of concussions, you target the enemy's weakness, except this is in the network ratings game, instead of on the football field. What CBS wants to accomplish with all this negative coverage, is for people in the "flyover" states or regional markets who don't have a team of their own, to be turned off by the "dirty Saints," and have them switch channels and watch an AFC game instead of watching the Saints on Sunday afternoon. That's what they are trying to do with all these negative articles and attacking Benson, Payton etc.

Everyone needs to take a chill pill before reading any of these articles. Heck, swig a half a bottle of them! It's going to take a thick skin to be a Saints fan from now on. Don't let this stuff bug you. It's mostly just about the ratings and trying to attack the hot property of the competitors' network when it's down.

:needle: whatever homo wrote this piece.

Halo, thats not a donut on your plate, is it?

Perhaps Benson's decisions are based on his feelings that holding a Lombardi high in the air makes a few mistakes take a back seat to winning. Just keep it classy from here on.......like we always have!:cool:(barring some alleged bounty stuff)