THE SAINTS

Long before Hurricane Katrina struck, patience was wearing thin in Louisiana with regard to the Saints. Team owner Tom Benson has been insistent on receiving an inordinate amount of state money and residents have been frustrated with little in return. The franchise stinks - period. I won't go into specifics, but they are marred by bad players, bad coaches, and even worse - a bad owner.

For those of you unfamiliar with the many issues, two years ago, Benson had threatened to move the team to San Antonio. His threat was loud enough that he received a huge chunk of state money. However, when Governor Blanco was elected, she quickly began questioning the deal and wondered (publicly - which is never a good thing) whether the state "could afford the Saints".

It would have been a political blunder of massive consequence if it weren't for the fact that - well - the Saints are horrible and there didn't (doesn't) seem to be any change in sight.

Unfazed (greedy), Benson continued his threats. He said he would be more than happy to re-work the deal with the state, but he needed a new stadium as a result. When Katrina struck, it looked like Benson would get his new stadium. However, no one thought it would be in San Antonio.

When the NFL announced plans to play in Baton Rouge, I was very interested in how the public would react. Would there be a rush on tickets? Would Baton Rouge residents rush out to beloved Tiger Stadium to watch NFL action on beautiful Sunday afternoons? And, most important, how would the Saints react to playing in Baton Rouge when everyone knows - they would rather be in San Antonio, Texas.

Well - the answer to the last question is clear. The Saints don't give a monkeys lip about playing in Baton Rouge and their lackluster marketing is proof. The Times-Picayune reports the marketing effort has been minimal, at best, in Baton Rouge. The Saints have bought no billboard advertising, few TV ads and ran the first print ad in The Advocate on Oct. 12. Sources tell the paper there has been little interest to market tickets in Baton Rouge. The Saints have sold about 40,000 tickets for the Oct. 30 game against the Miami Dolphins, which is a game featuring the return of former LSU head coach Nick Saban. To contrast, the Sains have sold out all games in San Antonio.

Why is this juicy? The Saints would much rather show NFL officials success in San Antonio and failure in Louisiana.

Only time will tell what will happen with the Saints. Louisiana is spending a ton of money on repairing the Superdome, which, in my opinion, is a complete waste of money.

First, they might not even have a team playing inside the dome, so what's the point?

Second, it's old and falling apart (even before the storm), so if you're gonna spend money on a "stadium", do it right and build a new one.

Third, too much happened there to just clean it up and start over.

I suggest, as does Mayor Nagin, the Cleveland plan. Cleveland lost an NFL franchise when the owner bolted for Baltimore. The NFL reassured Cleveland that when the league would expand, Cleveland would get a new franchise.

Let San Antonio keep the Saints, but don't take the colors or the nickname. Allow New Orleans the opportunity to get a new franchise (the new Saints) when the city is ready.

Let's just hope the NEW Saints have a NEW owner and a better crop of players.

Benson is trying to void his lease.

"I've heard reports that it was trashed," Wittmann said. "We've had an engineer walk the facility, and he's in the process of making a damage assessment. I assume somebody is going to come forward and take responsibility for the damages. We're not sure who's responsible for paying because nobody bothered to give us any written authorization to use the facility."