MNF Stroke Fest

(I Tivo'd the Monday Night Football game and it is currently half time. So, these impressions are based on the half time and don't include any of the pre-game festivities.)

I'm being driven crazy by the NFL and ESPN's attempt to portray New Orleans as a city that is once again shining. They keep talking about how happy everyone is that the team is back and how important the game is to the city. They keep talking about all the great things the NFL has done for New Orleans. It's a freaking stroke-fest! (More Inside)

It's as if the whole game and pomp are being orchestrated by the RNC, to make it look like the government has really done its part to respond to and bring back the city. They seem completely oblivious to the real conditions of the citizens of the city, still suffering and displaced throughout the country.

Thank goodness for the one sober moment during the Spike Lee interview. But ESPN clearly didn't want to hear it. Spike talked about the slow govern-mental response and the fact that after this four-hour game, the people will have to return to their FEMA trailers. But the commentators were clearly uncomfortable with this realist perspective and kept trying to keep Spike focused on the positive affect of the game.

And have I completely lost it or are you with me that the ESPN camera crew is searching the white-dominated crowd for African-Americans to put on the screen?

I tell you, corporate America controls and destroys football. I'm looking much more forward to the UEFA games tomorrow.

•  Look

  I hate FEMA and Bush and the pathetic government response as much as anyon.

  But that game was the most uplifting thing I have seen since Katrina struck.

  I cried watching the end of it.

  If you have ever lived in New Orleans, you would understand.

  by quaoar on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 10:21:12 PM PDT

  •  I'm gonna amplify that sentiment...

    ...if you don't mind.

    Well, maybe not all of it, still...I mean, I understand. Alotta folks in this city needed something to feel good about. Tonight, they got it.

    by luckydog on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 10:37:07 PM PDT

  •  I agree completely n/t

    by BarbinMD on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 11:02:57 PM PDT

•  and i hate mnf

  and everything else that airs on abc.

  by Turkana on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 10:44:07 PM PDT

  •  not ABC

    MNF isn't on ABC anymore, its on ESPN

    by Perdition on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 11:02:11 PM PDT

    •  disney/abc own espn

      i've quit them, too.

      by Turkana on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 11:11:24 PM PDT

•  exactly why

  am I supposed to be happy that this site of human misery, this symbol of the worst government can possibly muster, is now a place where they play sports again?

  Did they turn Japanese internment camps into soccer fields?

  I could now launch into a series of unbelievably politically incorrect bits about the Superdome, but I'll just do this one:

  "All right, let's give a big New Orleans Superdome welcome to your New Orleans Saints!"

  "We want help, we want help..."

  by dday on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 10:59:39 PM PDT

•  Quite Frankly

  Shortly after the MNF game Steven A. Smith on his show "Quite Frankly" went off about how New Orleans was still in the tank and how most people there couldn't even go to the game, so at least there was some remainder of reality afterwards.

  by fitchfan28 on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 11:01:41 PM PDT

  •  Only because they couldn't get tickets

    New Orleanians from all over the nation were in that Superdome in their hearts and souls.  I guess you have to be from New Orleans to understand.  It was a beautiful day!

    by doctorj2u on Sun Oct 01, 2006 at 09:11:49 AM PDT

•  I disagree completely

  I watched the coverage, starting at 7:00 (an hour and a half before kickoff).  They had Greenday singing a song (don't know the name) about the hurricane with a heartbreaking video montage of the devastation.  They had Joe Horn doing a tour of destroyed neighborhoods, they had a piece about Reggie Bush helping in the ninth ward.  They had video of the Superdome during the hurricane and the terrible days after.  They had video of people on roofs waving signs asking for help.  They said over and over that this part of New Orleans may be back but that it would be years for the rest of the city.  They talked about all that...not to mention the pre-game concert with U-2 and Greenday.  That song they wrote about New Orleans/Katrina was amazing.  

  The coverage was honest about what still had to be done, but what they said about the people there looking forward to, being proud, etc., of the Saints being back was dead-on.  And btw, for the first time in the 40 (or so) year history of the Saints, they've sold out with season tickets.

  by BarbinMD on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 11:02:08 PM PDT

  •  Oops

    It was the Goo Goo Dolls who did the first song I mentioned.

    by BarbinMD on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 12:09:57 AM PDT

    •  Why did ESPN choose the Goo Goo Dolls

      and not give some local New Orleans act some exposure? Snooks Eaglin, Koko Robicheau, Beausoliel, why not flip some of them guys some tv cash as long as their gonna talk about rebuilding the NOLA music scene?

      by frankzappatista on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 12:24:52 AM PDT

      •  The song that...

        ...ESPN featured, Better Days, was from a Katrina-relief recording.  It is/was hugely popular there.  And btw, they did a one hour set as a part of an outdoor concert that began in the afternoon and featured a lot of local talent.  Irma Thomas sang the Star Spangled Banner, there were local musicians playing with U-2 and Green Day.

        And btw, The Edge and the lead singer of Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, formed "Music Rising," to raise money to replace the instruments and equipment of local New Orleans musicians.

        Some pretty appropriate choices, IMO.

        by BarbinMD on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 12:45:06 AM PDT

        •  They being the Goo Goo Dolls n/t

          by BarbinMD on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 12:45:35 AM PDT

      •  Because the Goo Goo Dolls' song "Better Days"

        is the one that became representative of the hope of rebuilding the city -- you know, "Tonight's the night the world begins again."

        They used it as background music to illustrate news footage of the hurricane devastation and for several of the home rebuilding shows too -- on various networks. The song's been everywhere, and it has now taken on a New Orleans association.

        So, give 'em a break. The guys in the GGDs are blue-collar, working class Democrats from Buffalo, NY. (They played for several of Al Gore's campaign events too.)

        It's just too bad the event organizers didn't see fit to invite the Goos inside to play as well.

        by Brooke In Seattle on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 12:50:59 AM PDT

•  Greg, I had different impressions...

  I'm down here, and I was expecting over-shiny. I didn't see over-shiny.

  I don't think the coverage over-emphasized anything about the city shining. On the contrary, there were more clips of the destruction that still exists - more than clips of bright-and-shiny. The commentary also reflected that.

  There are lotsa people - maybe not everyone - lotsa people who are happy to have the team back. Last year's season was a debacle - what with, right after the storm, the local-born team owner, Tom Benson, publicly rejecting the city and looking for a new home for the team. You remember that "refrigerator graffiti" - the graffiti scrawled on trashed refrigerators thrown-out after the power had been off for weeks? My favorite was wrapped in duct tape and inscribed "Do Not Open - Tom Benson Inside". So, with the team back, yeah, there are people who are happy. It's a chance to get loose for a few hours, get immersed in something with your neighbors and friends, scream, drink a bit, have fun. Folks under stress need that opportunity.

  Does it substitute for a rebuilt city. Please - the folks of New Orleans are the last people who would buy that it's a substitute. Still, it'll give some folks something a bit brighter to talk about tomorrow, in the middle of going about their days in a city that's still broken.

  Did the broadcasters emphasize that folks are still intentionally disbursed all around the country - no, they did not. On the other hand, Poppy Bush came across like an oafish after-thought and a non-entity. Did the announcers talk about FEMA money being used to refurbish the Dome and that this didn't go over well with some folks? - yes, and they played-up the rebuilding tourism angle. Myself, I'm a person who believes in doing the bidnez rebuilding AND the community rebuilding - I believe that you can't make one without the other. On the other hand, I don't think that the announcers were uncomfortable with Spike Lee. Spike said something about it taking five days for the government to respond to the crisis, and one of them came back with something like "...and you would say that there's still not enough being done...". It was an opening, Spike could've hammered on it a bit - he didn't, tho' it was clear, at least to me, that the announcers like everyone else who comes to New Orleans, the announcers were struck at how devastated the city still is.

  One thing you might wanna watch for on the rest of the tivo, or rather I should say, listen to. The sound of the crowd. That's possibly the loudest crowd in the NFL. They are screaming loud for a reason. They need to scream loud.

  And I'm damned glad that they had a team to scream for, and a team that gave them a symbolic victory that they needed.

  I dunno, I would have scheduled a moment of silence for those who didn't make it, for those who suffered, for those still suffering. I didn't see that, if they did it. And I know that I would've ended the game with a gospel choir, a big, cover-the-field gospel choir, singing "When the Saints Go Marchin' In...".

  That's me, tho'.

  by luckydog on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 11:12:20 PM PDT

•  Sorry dude

  Thought it was a nice night and a great game.  Truthfully, I'll leave it up to the New Orleanians to tell us whether it was over the top or just right.  

  by douglasmintz on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 04:00:54 AM PDT