*sigh* The people in the city wouldn't approve public funds for a new stadium for the SAINTS cause the people in the city didn't want to get THE SAINTS this way. You are criticizing an entire city for the actions of one. Again, you must be fully on board with Nagin's Chocolate City comments and other ignorant remarks, I mean, since one person can rep an entire city. That's silly. Also, as I explained before, and sadly have to explain again, the Spurs were 9th in attendance out of 30 teams just on arena size They got beat out in average attendance and total attendance because other arenas are larger. That's it. Not cause of indifference. Seriously, why are you bothering? But we get to why later. I'll save it for last.

The Saints were never San Antonio's team, were losing, and for the fifth time, the PEOPLE of San Antonio DID NOT WANT the Saints to come in this manner. Seems simple.

Well, to let you know as someone else said, there's no other game in town in OK City. And they put themselves on the map with their support. When the Hornets went to New Orleans, "a new fan base," their attendance sucked. Also, the games in San Antonio sold out, but there were "empty seats" cause people chose not to go see the 2-12 Saints vs the 2-12 Lions on Christmas Eve. Way to mislead. I do have to correct my previous statement on this though caus I did use OK City as an example of a new fan base turning out and I used new Orleans as an example of a crappy team in the Hornets not getting support with a new fan base. Two separate examples.

This is really what it comes down to. I said in the last post you had a bias, and here it is. Sadly, you can't separate the actionsof one from the wants of many. SAN ANTONIO didn't try to steal the Saints, Benson tried to run with them and had Hardburglar as an accomplice. The PEOPLE OF SAN ANTONIO did not want a team this way. Your hatred for the people in San Antonio is misguided and should be directed at the people most involved with the attempt to take the team, and mainly Tom Benson. He WENT TO the mayors of San An and surrounding cities and whored the team. But you'd rather blame people who had nothing to do with it. That's ignorant. Wait, i'll apply the same logic. You live in New Orleans right? Then I blame you for all of Nagin's stupid comments, and for the fact the city is still in shambles 2 years after Katrina. I don't care if you do not share his feelings on "chocolate city" and I don't care if you WANT things to get back to normal. Yoru mayor did and said some stupid things, so I blame it all on you, no matter that federal and state aid didn't help either when it's come down to time to heal. Doesn't matter one bit. It's your fault and I hate you for New Orleans not being back to normal by now. Fair right? :rolleyes:

This was my most recent point on the Hornets and "a new fan base." The OK city comments were used to show how a city without a team can put themself on the map, like OK City did with the NBA, and like San An did with the NFL. Even Tags before he went out said San An proved itself as an option the should look at. But let's agree to disagree and move on.

Was there a point in all of that? Any? I said OK city put themselves on the map when they hosted the Hornets when making a point about San An putting themselves on the map, but I also said a slumping Hornets team suffered atrocious attendance in New Orleans, when making a point about the "empty seats" in San Antonio. See the difference? Probably not.

At any rate, it's funny you get to distance yourself from Nagin, yet you hold the people of San Antonio responsible for Hardburglar. Double standard much?

Also, who would know better how the people of San An felt about the Saints being here under those circumstances, someone who lives in San An, or someone who lives 600 miles away and hates the city cause of the actions of one?

So in the midst of all this, your best bet was questioning my loyalty? I didn;t become a Spurs fan when I moved to San An, I have been a Spurs fan for 20 years, even when I lived in New Orleans. As a matter of fact, I still have a Spurs starters jacket I got in HIGH SCHOOL at Kennedy with the old spurs colors before they went to straight silver and black. But what the blue hell does that have to do with you not being a Suns fan when you lived in Phoenix? What does being a Spurs fan have to do with being a Saints fan? Are you kidding here? In case you may be unaware, New Orleans did not have a basketball team, and I was too young to know about the Jazz. I don't even remember when they left. But I actually saw David Robinson play in a game in the Lakefront Arena when I was a kid, becase a fan of his, and when he was drafted by the Spurs, I became a Spurs fan. That was 1987. That has no bearing on my loyalty to New Orleans, and it's sad your lack of relevant points had to lead you down that path. You're making this seem as if I want the Saints to leave New Orleans, which I have made extremely clear is not wha I want. Hell, I am the one pushing for them to get a new stadium so there is no doubt. But it's really unfortunate people are putting out mistruths about San An not being a viable market for a team, and my main goal is to dispel that non-truth in the hopes others don't feel the same way, and disregard the threat, shoot down a new stadium, and have the team leave.

Lastly, while we are talking about media markets, New Orleans is ranked LOWER than San An, yet they support the Saints, and have for years, ya know how? Cause, well, let's see, there are more Saints fans than in just NEW ORLEANS in the area, just like there are more football fans then in just San Antonio. Take Austin for instance, about the same distance from NO that Baton Rouge is. And since the discussions about the team were between the mayors of Austin, San An, and Laredo, I guess you can count their markets together, just like you can count markets all along the gulf coast for the Saints. It's not a simple matter of "this city ranks..." cause that doesn't tell the whole story. Unless you want to leave it as San Antonio ranking much higer than New Orleans, even before Katrina, thus showing if New Orleans can do it, San An could do it right? Simply going by a ranking that is. Just move on.

Ok guys,this is getting far to political. Do we need to move it?

Just for the record, I was at all 3 Saints games and there were NOT plenty of seats open. If you want to talk about open seats in 05, take a good look at footage from Tiger Stadium. Sold out the first game. After that, it was a ghost town, especially the last game there. 2 of my best friends were there and called me from the game. It was really sad.

No one knew what would happen in New Orleans, if the team could go back. Did people want them here...yes. But, trust me, Benson wasn't mobbed by citizens and forced to think about a relocation. Most of the talk was very early on when no one knew IF New Orleans could be saved. We didn't take advantage of a natural disaster and try to steal the team. We offered them a home if theirs wasn't able to be fixed.

Well said.

Thank you.

I missed your responses. Thanks for your input in this thread. My sis works for ABC News in Houston. I may wander down for the game. She offered me SB tickets one year, but I would've had to miss a 3 week gig offshore. SBs are nice, but money is better. heh.

I wouldn't advise any La plates in TX these days. We aren't welcome. My sis suggested that I spread some mud on my plate, and damned if I wasn't pulled over for no reason during the wee hours. At least the trooper was polite, and sent us on our way. My sis lives in Sugarland, so I'm versed on the route to Reliant from there.

1) A lot of the fans couldn't even make the games in Baton Rouge due to the hurricanes.

2) The city of Baton Rouge treated the NFL and the Saints like the games were amateur ping pong matches. They refused to use the typical plans that they practice for College Football games. I didn't even want to attend the other games at Tiger Stadium after the way we were treated during the first game.

Not to mention the arrogant-ass Tiger fans that bought tickets to mock the Saints the entire time.


That city left a bad taste in my mouth. It's pathetic, but true. The State Capital of Louisiana isn't a Saints fan.

That's why they're the New Orleans Saints, guys. It's the only city that can truely love this team.