I know this is a political blog dedicated to electing better Democrats, but it is Friday night and it's time to blow off some steam.
On Facebook there is a group called We Dat Nation. It is a group for Minnesota Vikings fans whose name plays on the New Orleans Saints "Who Dat" saying. If you click on the link, you will see an image of Hurricane Katrina with a silhouette of the Minnesota Vikings logo as the eye of the storm and the text "Expected Landfall, 1/24/2010, 5:40 CDT".
This is just the latest case of invoking Katrina for the upcoming NFC Championship game. For most of the week, my News Feed has been filled with Status Updates that read:
**WEATHER ALERT** People of the state of Louisiana, you have a TWO day notice to vacate your houses and head inland. Hurricane Brett is coming and is going to hit land January 24th. (Who dat? It's the Vikings and we're coming to pillage!) Copy and post as your status, let's keep this going!!!!
and:
The National Weather Service has issued a ** HURRICANE WARNING ** for New Orleans! Hurricane "BRETT" is expected to make landfall on Sunday the 24th. It appears that the Supedome is most likely to get hit the hardest! After hurricane "BRETT" has left the area, watch the skies above New Orleans as they turn different sh...ades of Purple and Gold. Please stay tuned for further developments .......
Don't get me wrong, I love the Vikings and I want to see them win on Sunday, but to invoke images of Katrina crosses a line. As I say in the hurricane photo comment thread, "This is like invoking images of 9/11 if we were about to play the Giants or Jets."
It is completely classless and is a show of very poor sportsmanship that makes Minnesotans and Vikings fans across the country look bad.
Feel free to rant away in the comments.
Skol Vikings!