GumboBC

Are the Saints on their way up, or on their way down? Or maybe stuck somewhere in-between?

Answer: Nobody knows!!!

But, everyone always has his or her “opinion� on the subject.

I’ve been a Saints fan all my life and I have heard it all when it comes to the Saints. Because everyone knows how big of a Saints fan I am, I usually get bombarded this time of year with folks telling me to just give up on the Saints or they tell me how I’m fooling myself to keep thinking the Saints will ever do anything. For me, there is no escaping these people. I once even got a phone call from an ex-girl friend after a Saints loss just so she could rub it in a little bit. Is there no mercy in the world?!?! It seems one man’s pain is another man’s (or woman’s) pleasure.

And when it comes to these folks, just telling me how pitiful the Saints are isn’t good enough. They want to tell me “why� the Saints are so pitiful. Then they want to hear why I expect the Saints to be any different.


Now, I’ll admit, I don’t have too much in the arsenal at my disposal to put up a good argument for the Saints. Up until a few years ago, I couldn’t even say we had won a single playoff game. The best I could do is talk about how other teams had come out of nowhere and gone on to the big dance. I’d tell ‘em about the guys we’d signed in the off-season and how much of an impact I thought they would make.

But, that argument would soon be shot down as nothing more than blind faith. I soon had to realize that “history� was not on my side.

And when I came to the realization that “history� was not on my side, that’s when I decided, right then and there, to become an optimist. I saw no reason to let them get me down. I’d been though everything when it came to the Saints and I saw no reason to give up hope now!

So, I quit trying to make my case for the Saints with “facts� or “history.� It was an impossible argument. - One that I couldn’t possibly win. - Every time they would tell me why the Saints were miserable, I’d say something optimistic- without going into any detail. Well, then it came. I got labeled as an “optimist.� Which at first seemed as bad as them talking trash about the Saints.

Inevitably the subject switched form the Saints to- “Why I was being so optimistic? I thought long and hard before answering. And finally said: Well, an optimist looks at something and hopes for a bright and shining future. But a pessimist has no desire to be hopeful, because they don't expect it to be any different than today. I told 'em I'd rather look at what "can" be. And all pessimists did was point out what :"could" have been


But after telling why I was an optimist, I was told I was being foolish and was told that a pessimist is an optimist with better information and as soon as I figured that out, the better off I'd be.

Well, I gave that thought some consideration and decided that wasn't in my best interest when it comes to the Saints. ;)

So far I haven’t been able to tell these folks that my optimism has paid off. But one day….. One day…..

JKool

Billy, there is an argument in the philosophy of science that I always found fun: the pessimistic induction. The idea is this: our first sciences were wrong (Aristotle and those guys), our next shot wasn\'t much better (Newton) and turned out to be false, then Einstien came along. Guess what? Also wrong. Quantum Mechanics - well, it\'ll be wrong too if history has any say (see the long list of people who were wrong already). Thus, any new science, according to history, will turn out to be wrong. Shouldn\'t we just give up on science then?

This kind of skeptical argument has always seemed very entertaining to me. It has a form that I hear frequently, but no one seems to believe it when you point out that it is ALSO true of science.

Optimism? I don\'t know. But I sure do think that there is reason to continue to search for the truth using science - don\'t you?

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks

swamee

all your life, huh billie bob? does that date back to the first game in tulane stadium as mine does? i\'m 49 now...........
not trying to prove anything, just wanting to know how long................
i\'ve made my predictions for this yr. division champs with a little luck, wildcard if not.
pull up this answer at the end of the season.........if the saints take care of seattle, we are division champs..............
i don\'t go by heart anymore.........haslett has the players to take us there....
will it be far enough is the question?
the red pill or the blue one?
this is the yr.............................swamee

GumboBC

swamee -

I haven\'t been a fan quite that long. I\'m 36 and I\'ve been watching since I was 4 or 5 years old.

Oh, I don\'t let my heart tell me that we will go to the super bowl every year. I just don\'t let it tell me we won\'t.

On that note, I\'ll pick the blue pill. :P

kenpersons

This could very quickly turn into a makeshift AA meeting, no?

\"Hi, my name is Ken Persons, I\'m 28 years old, and I\'m a Saints fan. It all started as a child, watching Richard Todd and Kenny Stabler and Earl Campbell finish up their careers as has beens in gold helmets\"

You know why they\'re going to win it all this year? It\'s f\'ng time.

There is no science to predicting the future. You can add a PHD to any guess and it\'s still a guess.

We\'ve been good enough since Mueller and Haslett took over, and found every way possible since to throw it away.

After Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl the same year we swept them, I wanted every member of the Saints organization drug out and shot.

This is the year opportunity is seized by the throat and we walk away champions.

I believe that. Every year prior to this I have hoped, wished, and dreamt about Saint success. This year I believe, and you can doubt all you want, but you\'re only making yourself miserable. Enjoy the ride. It\'s going to be sweet.

It\'s not a question of whether or not the Saints will win the Super Bowl this year. It\'s a question of which Saint will be the MVP of the game.

What do you mean I\'m not supposed to snort the granola?

GumboBC

That\'s pretty funny. :P

Hi, Ken. My name is Billy. Did you just take a bite out of my granola bar??





[Edited on 2/7/2004 by GumboBC]

[Edited on 2/7/2004 by GumboBC]

JKool

Did someone say Granola...

GumboBC

Find your own granola. Go hug a tree... :P

JKool

:P

WhoDat

Well, as the resident \"expert\" on \"pessimism\" I\'ll throw in my two cents. I go into every season hopeful that this will be the year. I go into every game believing that the Saints CAN win. I shout just as loud as the rest of you. I have as many jersey (maybe not as many as BnB) and I\'ve broken the remote or my foot off in some Falcon fans\' arses a few too many times.

However, I am able to separate what I want to happen by what I think actually will. I\'m not by any means suggesting that Billy or anyone else is any different. And yes, I admit that I get overly down on this team ocassionally and am probably too hard on certain people and players. That said, I try to be realistic about things without letting my emotions get in the way. When the 1-5 Saints visit the 5-1 [insert team name here] I don\'t doubt that there is a possibility that the Saints can win. I might be slightly skeptical that they will.

I happen not to believe strongly in our coaching staff right now. It has nothing to do with them personally, it\'s an opinion I formed as a result of watching them, reading about them, and seeing their results for four years. I think that they affect the entire team. As a result, I am hesitant and question the team\'s ability to succeed. If that makes me a pessimist, so be it. Hey, I thought the same thing about our QB and he is slowly but surely changing my mind. If he can do it, hopefully Haz and Co. can too.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse


\"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"