The special Monday Night Football game on Sept. 19 was supposed to be a unifying display of goodwill. Instead, it turned out to be a sham.
After Hurricane Katrina badly damaged the Superdome, leaving the New Orleans Saints with no home field to play on, the National Football League decided to move the team's first "home" game against the New York Giants to the Meadowlands. The entire game was to be dedicated to the victims of Katrina, complete with star players - both current and former - answering phone calls for donations. In that respect, the event was a success; the league raised $5 million for hurricane victims.
However, the sham occurred when the league tried to pass this spectacle off as a home game for the Saints.
When was the last time the "home" team had to play in the opposing team's stadium, use the visitor's locker room and put up with hostile crowd noise? Even the referees did not know which team was which - they had the Saints call the opening coin toss, which is normally the privilege of the visiting team.
Saints coach Jim Haslett spoke out about the subject last Tuesday.
"It wasn't a home game," Haslett said. "I look up at the scoreboard, and there are signs, 'Let's Go Giants.' [...] The crowd noise we had to deal with; we never had to do a silent count at home."
Quarterback Aaron Brooks also spoke to reporters about his frustration with the league's treatment of the game, "Try not to patronize us next time, traveling us to New York, saying we're playing a home game."
Well then, what should have been done? Since the game obviously couldn't be played in New Orleans, it should have been played on a neutral field, rather than a decidedly hostile one.
As Haslett explained, "They could have done that [the game] anywhere. [...] They could have played that game in Baton Rouge [La.]. They could have played it in San Antonio and could have done the same thing."
Well, if other neutral fields were readily available, why would the league choose to haul the entire team to New Jersey to play? The answer to this question is the same answer given for many other seemingly difficult questions in the world of sports. In fact, it's the same answer to the question of why Ball State University opened its season against the likes of Iowa and Auburn.
Money.
Let's see, I know that New York is the largest television market in the country. Therefore, the NFL would have a vested interest in seeing a team like the Giants make the playoffs.
One way to help that happen +â-¡- other than transforming Eli Manning into his older brother - is to give the Giants an advantage the rest of the league's teams won't receive ... such as an extra home game. Not only did the NFL cash in on the added revenue from the extra game in New York, if the Giants make the playoffs, that's at least another week's worth of ticket sales, concessions and television commercials.
The important thing to note is that Haslett and the Saints haven't blamed their loss on where they played, but they did call the NFL out on its deception.
With this game, the league did do a lot of good for hurricane victims, but at the same time the NFL padded its own pockets and left the New Orleans Saints out to dry.
Write to Steve at
nawarainthedn@hotmail.com
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