Super Bowl Musings

Unless you've been living under a rock the since Sunday night, you are more than aware that the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. Those are words I thought I'd never say/type, but sure enough, it happened. Congratulations are in order for them.

Living down here in south Louisiana, you can imagine I've gotten more than an oversaturation of hearing about them. However, there have been a bit less of them than I expected.

Let me talk about halftime for a second. The Who were awesome, don't get me wrong, but who are they? I mean, let's face it, much of the audience that watches the game (myself included) wasn't around when they were in their heyday. I'm not saying it was a bad choice, but I just think they could have found someone a bit more relevant.

I realize that the whole Janet Jackson thing a few years back has the NFL shaking in their boots to let a modern artist perform at halftime, but they need grow a pair. I'm not saying they need to get Lil' Wayne, Adam Lambert, or some other controversial act, but what about Alicia Keys, Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Kings of Leon, Beyonce, or something along those lines? Those are all modern artists who I think would be a good choice. Maybe its just me, though.

Also, 30 minutes for halftime! For the coaches and the performers this isn't bad, but put yourself in the player's heads, especially the ones that are on a hot streak, or the team that is losing. They're ready to get back out there, and having to sit in the locker room for 30 minutes is just making them ansy, kinda like having to wait 2 weeks to play the game. Of course, nothing is gonna be done about this since its all about the money and ratings, and the players don't matter.

My disdain for the Saints aside, the game wasn't half bad, but the let down had to have been the commercials. Yes, I said the commercials.

Face it people, alot of us tune in to watch the commercials just as much as the game. I know that this is one of the few times of the year, if not the only time, that I actually don't flip through the channels during the commercials.

Usually, though, there is some commercial that sticks in your mind, but this year, it was a bit of a letdown. Sure there were some good ones, but a month from now, I seriously doubt that I'll remember what commercials were shown.

That just isn't right. I feel kind of robbed! I expect to see something that I'll remember! lol

So, it wasn't a good Sunday for me. The freakin' Saints won (which literally made me sick to my stomach) and there weren't any memorable commercials. Ugh! Oh, and to top it off, football season is over now, so now it's on to total boredom until March Madness and the NBA Finals (the only thing that comes even close to keeping my attention until the season starts back) lol

At least I'm not the only that lives down here that isn't brainwashed

Living in Louisiana, especially south Louisiana, the past couple of weeks has been painful to say the least. I seriously considered taking time off and go visit my friend in West Texas until after the Super Bowl.

Why, you mask? Well, the New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl, and as I've mentioned in a previous entry, from the moment they punched their ticket to the big game, people have been jumping on the bandwagon and saying they deserve to win it for the city.

Look, I'm all for New Orleans. I love the city, but those hurricanes happened 5 yrs ago, get over it. Saying they deserve it is like saying the NY Giants or NY Jets deserve it because of 9/11, even though that was 9 yrs ago. Disasters happen, you take time to heal, then get over it.

For whatever reason, they won't let it go, and remind folks about it every chance they get. It's really annoying. However, that's not the point of this blog.

Read this:

A Louisiana high school student says he was sent home for wearing an Indianapolis Colts jersey Friday - the day the principal encouraged students to wear New Orleans Saints black and gold as the teams get ready to face off in the Super Bowl.

``If they tell other students to support their team, why can't I support mine?'' Brandon Frost, 17, told The Associated Press. The senior at Maurepas High School moved three years ago from Indianapolis to the rural town 30 miles from Baton Rouge.

A Livingston Parish School Board member said Frost wasn't sent home, but was told he couldn't wear the blue jersey at school. Keith Martin, whose district includes Maurepas, said the school uniform had been relaxed only for black and gold.

He said he planned to ask school system attorneys whether that violated Frost's right to free speech, as the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana contends.

State ACLU director Marjorie Esman sent a letter to Principal Steven Vampran, asking him to wipe Frost's record of any discipline stemming from the incident.

Vampran declined to comment.

Martin said he had talked with both Vampran and Frost's father, Larry Frost.

``I think we got things worked out,'' Martin said.

According to Martin, a friend of Brandon Frost's had asked Vampran on Thursday whether Brandon could wear a Colts jersey, and had been told ``no.''

During a class on Thursday, Frost said, he talked about his plans to wear his jersey rather than Saints colors. He said the teacher warned him he'd get in trouble.

Larry Frost said he didn't know about that when Brandon asked Thursday whether he could wear the jersey. He said he told his son to come home if he was hassled too much.

The Colts and Saints play Sunday in the Super Bowl, and emotions have run high in Louisiana as fans celebrate the first Super Bowl appearance for the beleaguered franchise.

Brandon Frost said Vampran called him out of his first class Friday and told him, ``I don't recall saying you could wear a Colts jersey on Black-and-Gold Day.''

He said he told the principal that his father had given him permission to go home if it was a problem.

``He started to get angry with me,'' Frost said. ``I thought I remember him saying, 'If you like Indiana so much, why don't you go back?'''

Vampran has acknowledged that he should not have said that, Martin said. He said no one sent Frost home - but no one kept him from leaving rather than changing shirts.

Larry Frost said he called the ACLU rather than the school because he was too angry.

``Louisiana would be proud of him anyway,'' Larry Frost said. ``He wore Joseph Addai's jersey.''

The Colts running back is a graduate of Louisiana State University.

Yeah, you read right. They sent the kid home for wearing a Colts jersey. Apparently, that's some sort of crime. Heaven forbid you're not a Saints fan. They can say what they want and try to spin it into saying that it wasn't about him not wearing a Saints jersey, but we all know that's what this is truly about.

My point of view here is that this does violate some free speech law, especially when the principal said they can wear Saints stuff, but what about Colts fans?

A few years ago, when the Saints lost to the Bears, the school I was working for literally set up counseling sessions for the "bereaved". As if that wasn't bad enough, I had a student was was a die hard Patriots fan, and was totally devastated that they lost to the Colts. She went to the counselors and was turned away. WTF?!?

As I said before, its like it is a crime to be a fan of any other team down here. It is ridiculous.

Personally, I hope this kid gets to sue the school and wins. It's one thing for a principal to say wear your school shirt (assuming they don't already wear uniforms) or something, and quite another to say wear LSU, or wear the Saints. Not everyone, contrary to popular belief down here, likes them. Some people downright loathe them.

As much as I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game, I'll be glad when its over, one way or the other.

There is justice

All football season I've been listening to New Orleans Saints this and Who DAt, and other sayings regarding the Saints. This would be fine and dandy except I'm a DALLAS COWBOYS fan.

Yeah, I'm a Cowboys fan living in Louisiana....south La. on top of that! Anyway, so tonight the two teams played.

All day long I was thinking what would I say if the 'Boys won and how many people are gonna plaster something if the 'Aints win.

Well, the Cowboys won, and guess what? Folks are already making excuses on facebook. The most common one is "...a regular season loss is nothing compared to a Super Bowl win."

The biggest surprise to me is how quiet they are when every other week they don't shut up about the Saints. I bet if they would've won, they'd have plastered it all over the site!

Oh well, at least for the week I can enjoy the Cowboys victory (and rub it in)!

A sad span of time in the sports world

Every now and then, there comes a span of time where everything seems to go wrong in the sports world in terms of bad publicity. We've had one of those spans.

First, there was legendary Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden retirement. Nothing wrong with that, except that it seems as if he was forced out. Yeah, I said it! The man was forced out because they school thinks they're entitled to win, rather than giving the man the respect he deserves and let him go out on his own terms, when he is truly ready. Yeah, sure he chose to retire, but this was after a meeting with the powers that be, where they told him that he could come back with less power.

Having said that, I should also mention that the coach in waiting, Jimbo Fisher, who is a good friend of Bowden and his wife, has to be put in a tough position with all this. They push Bowden out, and the pressure is on him. Yeah, he's supposed to be ready for this, and all, but I can't help but feel sorry for both men...Bowden for the way he was treated on his way out and Fisher for the ridiculous amount of pressure that will be on him.

The next thing, just broke this morning. Apparently, Tiger Woods did have a madam. He gave this big long spiel this morning saying how he was sorry for his transgression, a disappointment to his friends and fans...blah, blah, blah. The usual stuff we've heard from politicians and other sports stars in similar situations. The thing is that, and I hate to make this comparison, but like no one thought O. J. could have killed his wife (allegedly), it is inconceivable that an upstanding man such as Tiger would do such a thing, but I suppose each man has a weakness, and the women he was with aren't too shabby. Not condoning what he did, just saying.

One thing that Tiger said in his statement that needs to be said more often is that his private life should be his private life. As I said in a blog before, this story should not have been covered like 9/11 or if the man died. The amount of coverage it received has been ridiculous, especially since this happened on his own property. Personally, I could care less what he does in his personal life, and I'm sure there are more than a few people in the world that agree with me, but for some reason the media seems to think this was worthy of oversaturation. When will they learn to leave people alone? They've already killed Princess Di. Is it going to take another death to get them to back off?

*AHEM* sorry about that. Also in the sports world atrocity category, is the fact the the overrated New Orleans Saints are undefeated. I can't tell you how tired I am of hearing about these guys. As bad as you think you have it, unless you live in Louisiana, like I do, you don't have it as bad as I do.

What makes it worse is that since Katrina, people seem to think that the Saints and the city of New Orleans are entitled to a championship because the city was nearly destroyed. Look, I'm all for a fee good story and all, but these people need to get real. They need to earn it just like teams from Dallas, Miami, Denver, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, etc. That's just how I see it.

So, what do you guys think?