Super Bowl Victory Means More To New Orleans?

New Orleans won the Super Bowl on Sunday (congratulations by the way), and the victory will mean more than just an NFL championship for the Saints ... Of course it did! It will mean that Drew Brees and perhaps others of the players will receive lucrative endorsement contracts. It will mean that the NFL, owner Tom Benson, and the players will make some money on t-shirts, hats, and replica jersey sales. It will mean that Archie Manning, who was drafted by the Saints in 1971 and played with them for ten years will be both happy that his former team has finally won the ultimate prize, and sad that they had to beat a team quarterbacked by his son to do it. 


Unlike what has been posited by many in the media however, it will not mean all that much to the city of New Orleans itself. Oh sure, it will allow the citizens to feel good about themselves for something that 'they' didn't accomplish; and perhaps (at least according to bleeding hearts trying to find a story to sell) that is all that's important. It will not however, change the fact that New Orleans still has the highest per capita murder rate in the country. It won't change the fact that it's municipal government has taken corruption to a level seldom seen in this country. It won't change the fact that vast stretches of the city are still uninhabitable. It certainly won't change the fact that most of the city is still below sea level and as a consequence is likely to suffer damage again in the next hurricane-caused flood. 


This is not as much an indictment of New Orleans, a city that I have visited more than once and truly enjoyed regardless of its flaws (or maybe because of them). It is an indictment however of those only content when seeking the deeper meaning of even such things as a football game, or any who think that the world continues to owe them something because once a bad thing happened to them. I understand that hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. I would like to believe that I have concept of the devastation that it created for its residents and some sympathy for the plight of those living there. 


I likewise understand that billions of dollars have already been expended in an effort to provide succor, support, and rebuilding efforts for the area. I also understand that this is not the only area of the country that has faced disaster in recent history. Cedar Rapids, Iowa suffered an equally devastating flood, upper Michigan faced a category five storm (only it was a blizzard), and the parts of southern California that weren't burned away in brush fires seem to be sliding down the side of a hill in a wave of mud. Why is it that only New Orleans is deserving of deeper meaning, a positive message, and an additional wave of sympathy? 


And while I understand that the mainstream media would like to make far more of these stories of greater meaning in their evil search for something to stop their own hemmoraging profits, no part of this sporting competition has anything to do with making any part of the New Orleans situation any better. I wish therefore, that they would stop trying to tell me that this was more than just another sports championship game. I believe that that residents of New Orleans are better than this and that most have already moved on with their lives. I believe also that they are justifiably proud of the Saints winning the Super Bowl, after being in the NFL for forty-one years. 


Those of you who will not be content until you can find a greater meaning from Super Bowl XLIV however, might take a message often given to the players on the field during the game. When you get hit hard and it hurts like hell ... get up, dust yourself off, rub a little dirt on the wounds, and get back into the game.