5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles: Just stop it. I was in L.A. in April and conducted my own unscientific poll at an Irish pub (the L.A. Red Sox bar) in Santa Monica: Do you want an NFL team here? Now, most of the people in there were twentysomethings on their fourth Harp or Red Hook, but I didn't hear one enthusiastic response. And that's half of the demographic the NFL wants. The other half -- the big-moneyed -- will support a franchise. But I don't think the populace will. And the NFL hasn't been hurt by it since the Raiders and Rams left.

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk: Allow players to purchase the number they wish for $250,000. One-time fee. That $250,000, which players could write off, would go into a pool to benefit 10 charities to be agreed upon by the players' association and the league. And once a year, the league would cut an equal check to each charity. So imagine a player changes teams, or a draft choice comes on a new team, and he wants to wear an odd number. Reggie Bush with number 5, for instance. Imagine you've got 20 of those guys per year. And new commissioner Roger Goodell appears in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to hand a check for $500,000 to Habitat for Humanity, which guarantees to build 100 homes in 30 days with the money. Gee, the more I write about this, the more I like it.

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years: Make this a "for the good of the game" issue. It's ludicrous to think of kicking a city when it's so down. Now's the time to be a good neighbor and a loyal corporate partner, not greedy.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ner/index.html

These little bits are taken from Peter King's "Commissioner for a Day" article on si.com, he sounds like he's turning into a big media advocate for the Saints.

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles: Just stop it. I was in L.A. in April and conducted my own unscientific poll at an Irish pub (the L.A. Red Sox bar) in Santa Monica: Do you want an NFL team here? Now, most of the people in there were twentysomethings on their fourth Harp or Red Hook, but I didn't hear one enthusiastic response. And that's half of the demographic the NFL wants. The other half -- the big-moneyed -- will support a franchise. But I don't think the populace will. And the NFL hasn't been hurt by it since the Raiders and Rams left.

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk: Allow players to purchase the number they wish for $250,000. One-time fee. That $250,000, which players could write off, would go into a pool to benefit 10 charities to be agreed upon by the players' association and the league. And once a year, the league would cut an equal check to each charity. So imagine a player changes teams, or a draft choice comes on a new team, and he wants to wear an odd number. Reggie Bush with number 5, for instance. Imagine you've got 20 of those guys per year. And new commissioner Roger Goodell appears in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to hand a check for $500,000 to Habitat for Humanity, which guarantees to build 100 homes in 30 days with the money. Gee, the more I write about this, the more I like it.

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years: Make this a "for the good of the game" issue. It's ludicrous to think of kicking a city when it's so down. Now's the time to be a good neighbor and a loyal corporate partner, not greedy.

Sounds like Peter King is in our corner.

Originally Posted by BrooksMustGo

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ner/index.html

These little bits are taken from Peter King's "Commissioner for a Day" article on si.com, he sounds like he's turning into a big media advocate for the Saints.

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles: Just stop it. I was in L.A. in April and conducted my own unscientific poll at an Irish pub (the L.A. Red Sox bar) in Santa Monica: Do you want an NFL team here? Now, most of the people in there were twentysomethings on their fourth Harp or Red Hook, but I didn't hear one enthusiastic response. And that's half of the demographic the NFL wants. The other half -- the big-moneyed -- will support a franchise. But I don't think the populace will. And the NFL hasn't been hurt by it since the Raiders and Rams left.

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk: Allow players to purchase the number they wish for $250,000. One-time fee. That $250,000, which players could write off, would go into a pool to benefit 10 charities to be agreed upon by the players' association and the league. And once a year, the league would cut an equal check to each charity. So imagine a player changes teams, or a draft choice comes on a new team, and he wants to wear an odd number. Reggie Bush with number 5, for instance. Imagine you've got 20 of those guys per year. And new commissioner Roger Goodell appears in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to hand a check for $500,000 to Habitat for Humanity, which guarantees to build 100 homes in 30 days with the money. Gee, the more I write about this, the more I like it.

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years: Make this a "for the good of the game" issue. It's ludicrous to think of kicking a city when it's so down. Now's the time to be a good neighbor and a loyal corporate partner, not greedy.

Sounds like Peter King is in our corner.

It's called the Katrina Crash. What happened was the rest of the country got a hard up front look at the Big Easy as it was sadly on their TV's everyday for months and still remains there. New Orleans and the whole state was up close and personal with the rest of the world.

Now the Saints get a pass where they never got a pass before. New Orleans seems to me more than a place called Bourbon Street and a shoot location for Girls Gone Wild. Now people see that New Orleans isn't a little country town with a sheriff and it wields it's own unique brand of culture unseen in nearly any city in this country and the world. New Orleans now has some very nice people as our own has moved away and behaved kindly as they do and the city isn't seen as the home of death and murder. Everyone knows New Orleans as a diverse place of many races, colors and shades of colors all mixed into one.

Katrina brought the spotlight to the city, we can only hope it brings more than football sympathy; she needs business growth. And if Louisiana is not to go bankrupt and prosper she will feed New Orleans all the gas she need to climb up to the top. The only challenge that faces the city is whether the levee system will withstand the storms this year. I say it will and they will be reinforced and more people will move back home and bring some of their new friends and family o help rebuild the city better than it ever was before.


Peace.

Speaking of Girls Gone Wild , I saw the uncensored video today, it ROCKS!!