Happy days are here again for the CrescentCity. After years of tough times and bad luck, everything seems to be turning around for New Orleans. For the first time in their 43-year history, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl giving citizens a huge boost in morale.
The fans in New Orleans deserve this celebration because they have shown the type of loyalty that is rare in professional sports. Despite a history of mostly losing seasons, the fans stayed loyal, delivering sell-out crowds every year.
Today, due to the amazing Super Bowl win, New Orleans is receiving millions of dollars worth of positive press from around the world. It will translate into more tourism and more money flowing into the city. It is a win-win situation for the team and the city. Over the next few months, there will be other benefits as New Orleans products will enjoy increased sales across the country. It has been a tough four years since Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans certainly deserves this economic boost and celebration.
With the pent-up emotion now flowing from every Saints fan, the stage is set for an unprecedented Saints parade and a magical Mardi Gras season. In the process, the people of New Orleans are showing the rest of the world how to enjoy a celebration. The post-Super Bowl party was almost violence free, except for one isolated incident. There were no riots, no looting and no cars set on fire. Instead, people of all ages and races came together peacefully to enjoy this historic occasion.
No other city has such a special bond with the fans. No other city would have 30,000 fans greet the team as they arrive home at the airport. The parade today will be an incredible spectacle with huge crowds of Saints fans showing their love for the team. It is a great tribute to a wonderful team and the best sports fans in the world.
This celebration is even sweeter considering that after Katrina, there was a real concern whether the team would be able to stay in New Orleans. Reports were circulating that owner Tom Benson was trying to move the team to San Antonio. Fortunately, the team was saved by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and former Saints Vice President Arnie Fielkow. Eventually, Governor Blanco and the legislature appropriated the necessary funds and the renovation of the Superdome was begun. The team returned in the 2006 season and made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game.
This year the team’s incredible journey of revival was completed and the Saints took home the first ever Super Bowl trophy. Now, the New Orleans Saints are among an elite group of teams who have won the big game.
The brand name of New Orleans is now no longer associated with the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina or the horrific statistics that place the city as the murder capital of the nation. Instead, New Orleans is known as home to the Super Bowl Champions. For a first class city with incomparable people, attractions and history, it is about time that the image of New Orleans matched the reality. The people of New Orleans can thank the New Orleans Saints for this long overdue image makeover.
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Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m.weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
I am pretty sure that the New York times isn't going to run a front page piece on some parking tickets down in New Orleans there Charlie. So much for the 'fears' of negative publicity. If I were you I would be more concerned with the misuse or abuse of taxpayer funds as they could be percieved on a national scale by Louisiana as a whole. Most folks in Louisiana know and understand that to go to New Orleans for any reason is 'at their own risk' anyways...... So what does it matter if you get hit for 20 bucks by the 'I bet I know where you got your shoes @' ruse or by a 'City Sanctioned and pursued' parking ticket ruse...???? A ruse is a ruse, and abuse is abuse.... Hey, you gonna be amongst the crowds next week scrambling for those plastic beads and fake doubloons in the gutters of New Orleans that were manufactured in China? Yeah, priorities, sure seems like some are sort of skewed.... Written by
on 2/12/2010
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That 'positive press' the city had Tuesday can easily be overshadowed if the Mayor doesn't quickly announce that all parking tickets issued during the day's celebration be forgiven.
Maybe new incoming Mayor Mitch can prevail on him this simply isn't going to help with future tourism efforts. Written by Charlie Stogner
on 2/10/2010
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Congratulations to Mitch Landrieu, another comeback kid who won big Feb. 6th. Written by David Quidd
on 2/10/2010
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The brand name of New Orleans is now no longer associated with the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina or the horrific statistics that place the city as the murder capital of the nation. Instead, New Orleans is known as home to the Super Bowl Champions..........???? - - - And as the triumphant General guided his chariot down and through the croweded streets of Rome upon his return from battle he was reminded by the slave riding at his side who grasping an olive wreath in wone hand, and the general's spear in the other whispered into the General's ear; "Savor the moment my leige, for today you are their God, but time marches forward into eternity....." Written by
on 2/9/2010
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Jeffy, the over and over again spin is already stale and cold, why not let your readers become more informed so that they understand the realities of life. Not everything can be stacked or rigged in Louisiana's favor..... For instance, consider........ BOOM, BUST, or BREAKEVEN______ Advantages?
Marcellus Formation - Haynesville Shale Formation …… Tit for tat with a nick nack patty wack give the dog a bone…………..
Natural Gas From the Haynesville Shale Formation Can Solve the U.S. Energy Crisis?
Reserve estimates for the field range from a low of about 30 trillion cubic feet to over 300 trillion cubic feet……. A portion of the Haynesville Shale Formation which was highly touted in the Bayou Buzz some months ago exists in a few parishes in North East Louisiana and extends into parts of Arkansas.... Now consider the Marcellus shale formation and Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom that is getting ready to kick off (incidentally, the first oil well was in Pennsylvania..... Anyways..... Per Wikipedia, the Marcellus Formation is believed to contain as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 10% of which may be recoverable using CURRENT technologies. The latest buzz in Northeastern Pennsylvania here in the last few months revolves around revised estimates of natural gas potential residing in the Marcellus Formation, which is a deep layer of black shale running throughout southern New York State, across Pennsylvania and into Ohio and West Virginia.......... Measured total organic content of the Marcellus Formation ranges from less than 1% in eastern New York, to over 11% in the central part of the state,and the shale may contain enough carbon to support combustion. In petroleum geology, these black shale’s are an important source rock that filled conventional petroleum reservoirs in overlying formations, are an unconventional shale gas reservoir, and are an impermeable seal that traps underlying conventional natural gas reservoirs. To the west the formation may produce liquid petroleum, but further east heating during deeper burial more than 240 million years ago cracked this oil into gas… The Marcellus is found throughout the Allegheny Plateau region of the northern Appalachian Basin of North America. In the United States, the Marcellus shale runs across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions of New York, in northern and western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, through western Maryland, and throughout most of West Virginia extending across the state line into extreme western Virginia.[21] The Marcellus bedrock in eastern Pennsylvania extends across the Delaware River into extreme western New Jersey. It also exists in the subsurface of a small portion of Kentucky and Tennessee. Below Lake Erie, it can be found crossing the border into Canada, where it stretches between Port Stanley and Long Point to St. Thomas in southern Ontario. So, perhaps the Haynesville formation is only the outer fringe extention of this deposit, much like Louisiana is the outer fringe extention of around 75% of the nations water shed.... Value, worth, knowing one's role.... It seems to escape folks with delusions or illusions of grandeur at times eh Nespah? Don't ya jus Luv the $17.98 High Noon Scenario... It isn't too difficult to look into the future, as long as one is focused...... Written by
on 2/9/2010
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Happy days are here again for the 
