To a good friend... I’ve never met

.Sometimes a person makes an impression. We don’t know who it may be. It could be a teacher, a coach, a boss, bus driver or even the person working the counter at your deli or convenience store. Someone, for some reason you connect to and it seems like everything you learn from them is profound.

For some of us that person may be someone that we have never had the chance to meet. A musician, an actor, a writer or even a sports star. For me one of those people has been Drew Brees.

Growing up I was a Jets fan (I know, I know), and around the 1-15 season for the Jets, I started to root for the Saints too. I would always keep tabs on the Saints after that but it wasn’t until I was finally brought to the beautiful city of New Orleans that I learned the true wonder of being a Saints fan.

The city embraced the Saints and loved them win or lose (and at the time there was a lot of losing). The attitude, the music, the parties and of course the food (true gumbo is heaven sent). These were my sports people and I knew it. I was hooked.

Now for those older school Saints fans, I’m talking about the pre-Drew, Rickey Williams and his weed, Joe Horn using a hidden cell phone in the end zone and Aaron Brooks showing the league he could throw down field with Manning and Brady. I adopted them or maybe I should say they adopted me. You see, Saints fans welcome you…. They embrace you. They lead you to the party cause “Win or lose, Saints fans are gonna booze.”

I decided it was time to move down to New Orleans myself but I never got the chance… Katrina. The devastation that hit the area was and still is mind boggling. A city that was so inviting, that rejoiced at every chance they got and was the liveliest city I have ever seen was suddenly silent and in dire straits. The sanctuary that was used for celebrations on Sundays, was now a refuge and a shelter. I’ve never seen the Superdome like this. This event cause so much chaos. I wasn’t sure if anyone or anything could bring them back to normalcy.

The Saints were in a transition at the time too. A new coach and a new quarterback. The quarterback that was chosen was coming off one of the worst shoulder injury surgeries imaginable and was already being questioned about his performance before the surgery. What Saints fans were about to see was the start of one of the greatest coach/quarterback combos of all time.

Their first year they did something magical… they gave the city hope. The second year they did something that almost everyone thought was impossible… they made the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl Champions. I was on Bourbon St. for the NFC championship game that year with my then girlfriend now wife. The entire games atmosphere was amazing. No one was on the streets, everyone was in a bar watching the game. When they won, the streets were as full as the busiest Mardi Gras day. The “Rebirth” of New Orleans was complete.

Drew and Sean were never able to recreate the success from that year. Bad defenses, Sean’s year suspension, the Minnesota Miracle (and mini miracle), the “No Call Pass Interference” (that was the worst) and last the Tom Brady experience. Through it all I was with them and Drew. His leadership was tremendous and the way he handled the team through the ups and downs was outstanding. Drew’s off the field charity work and dedication to New Orleans recovery was matched by none.

“If you love New Orleans, she’ll love you back” - Drew Brees

My admiration for him was complete when he broke the all-time passing yards record on a Monday Night Football game. I remember watching it like it was yesterday. After Drew broke the record and celebrated with his teammates on the field, he found his family on the sidelines. Hugging his kids he told them “I love you so much. You can accomplish anything in life if you’re willing to work for it. Nothing is given to you… everything’s earned.” After the game he was asked about that interaction with his family and he replied “It’s something that we say to the kids every night before bed.” Having 2 kids of my own, this hit home.

A great football player, a great leader, a great role model, a great man and now of course a great family man and father. WWDD (What Would Drew Do) would start to run through my mind in all situations. Trying to be even a little like him has always been an aspiration.

So this goes out to you Drew. Thank you for all you have done. Thank you for the championship. Thanks you for showing us how to act in defeat. Thank you for showing up and being a warrior these past few years. Thank you for being an amazing human and helping the city of New Orleans in its time of need. Finally, thank you for just being you. You may never know how much you mean to a lot of us but know that it’s a place in us that we will always cherish.

I selfishly never wanted you to stop playing until you got that second championship. You have always been the underdog. He’s too small, he can’t through the long ball anymore, or whatever garbage excuse they make up to convince themselves that you’re not as good as Manning, Brady, Rodgers or any of the others. But it was just that… garbage excuses. I always thought getting that second ring would have helped shut the naysayers up. They could then all see you for what you really are… a lot of peoples Hero.

Enjoy your retirement. I’ll be listening when you’re broadcasting on TV. If it ever get to meet you, after I stand there speechless for a little while, I am pre-apologizing for what may seem like an awkward hug to you. You see it may be an awkward to you but to me it would be like hugging a longtime friend. Who Dat!?!

Salary Cap Hell Is Not Loomis-ing

 

The off season may have started with that heart breaking loss to the TOMpa Bay Buc’s but the real off season work starts now that the superbowl is over. The New Orleans Saints are in “Salary cap hell” with the projected salary cap decreasing due to the Covid revenue reduction this season. The first prediction is that that Saints will be $109 Million dollars over the cap before free agency even starts. For most teams this would give their fans, players and front office nightmares…. but not the Saints.

You see the Saints have a secret weapon, their GM Mickey Loomis. He has been a wizard with the salary cap throughout the years, making salary cap changes so that the Saints had enough money to make the transactions need to in order to compete. The last few years have been all in for the Saints knowing that it’s the last few with Drew Brees. Now with Brees most likely to retire (although I personally wouldn’t be upset to see a healthy Drew give it one last year) there is a lot of question marks to see what the Saints do moving forward.

How in the world is Mickey Loomis going to reduce all that money without releasing the entire team you say? Just watch and learn from him this off season. I’m confident that not only will he reduce it but he will make room for pieces we do need. But just to put your mind at ease, here are some obvious and maybe not so obvious moves.

Drew Brees Salary Reduction: Drew has already showed his first sign of retirement. He has agreed to reduce his salary this year from $25 Million to the veteran minimum of $1.075. Meaning he basically has given back $23.925 million dollars of money the Saints were going to pay him for free. This is where it may get confusing for some but I will try and break this down. When you redo player’s contracts throughout their career you can push money you owe them down the line. So even with that reduction the Saints still owe Drew $22.65 Million. The loophole is if the Saints wait until after June 2^nd and put Drew on the leagues reserve/retired list they can split that money this year and next ($11.15 Million this year and $11.5 Million next year) Saving $35.075 Million this year.

Jared Cook: I don’t even want to start about this guy and my disgust. For anyone that for some reason is on the fence, here is your justification. The Saints drafted Adam Trautman and he has shined in the opportunities given to show he can catch and block at the TE position. Cheaper and in my opinion better option than Jared Cook. Saving $9.1 Million

Nick Easton: Nick has been a good piece helping out with any injury on the offensive line. But Nick has had a lot of injury’s (Concussions to be particular) over the last few years. His salary is too much to carry for an injury prone back up. Saving $6.5 Million

Kwon Alexander: Man I want this guy back. When the Saints traded for him from the 49ers it helped sure up that LB position but he gets hurt so often and his $13.4 Million to be justified. I reality hope they release and they resign him for something reasonable but releasing him is a must. Saving $13.4 Million

Janoris “Jack Rabbit” Jenkins: Jack Rabbit has been hit and miss for me but definitely does not warrant a $11.2 Million dollar salary. Even a release though does not free up his full salary because of guarantees. Saving $7 Million

Malcom Brown: not much to say here except $5 Million to save against the cap with his release when there are similar and younger players waiting to earn their spot. Saving $5 Million

Andrus Peat: Somehow this clown got a giant contract at the beginning of this year and I still don’t know how. I also have no idea how he makes the probowl every year. I honestly don’t think he’s that good. If the saints could can convince someone to take him I would do it in a heartbeat saving his entire salary. If not a restructure is needed converting a lot of his salary this year into a signing bonus. He can’t be released because his money is guaranteed through 2022. Saving $9 million

After all of these moves the Saints will still need to free up about $30 or so million more. This will have to be done with some restructures of current contracts (Cam Jordan, Michael Thomas, Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczk, Taysom Hill, etc) and possibly some unpopular releases of players (Emmanuel Sanders, Thomas Morstead, Latavius Murray). But where there is a will there is a way to get things done and in Loomis I trust.

UPDATE: since this was written, Jarad Cook, Josh Hill and Thomas Morstead have been released. As well as a restructure of Wil Lutz, David Oneyemata, Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis’s contract to free up some cap space

More than a punter

 The Saints have released their punter today.  Whats the big deal right. That happens all the time. He’s just a punter?!  But he’s so much more. 

For the past 12 years Thomas Morstead had been something special to Saints fans and New Orleans. It all started the magical year of the Saints Super Bowl run, when a then new Head coach asked a rookie punter who was handling kick offs to do the impossible.  Run “Ambush”. The onsides kick to start halftime of the Super Bowl. Morstead ran the play successfully. 30 football minutes and some NOLA magic later the Saints had their first Super Bowl. 

Ever since that day Thomas Morstead has done more and meant more to New Orleans.  Forget the fact he’s one of the greatest punters to play the game statistically.  But over the years he’s done what a lot of players haven’t been able to... he’s embraced and become New Orleans. 

From the parade antics in the French quarter to the “Business Trip” social media posts before games he’s been amazing. Embracing New Orleans. From fundraising to community work the man had been everywhere.  Becoming one of the faces of the Team and a captain for as long as I like to remember. 

He’s never not been there to help. Pretty much trained his replacement for next year. Helped the young “big nutz” Wil Lutz be one the best kickers in the league. Always seeming to be one of the most reliable weapons on the team. 

I understand this is a business but it sucks. And anyone else looking in is saying “he’s just a punter” but he isn’t.  He’s so much more.  Something non-Saints fans will never know. And that’s ok. Morstead was just for us Saints fans.  He is a special player and a special human.  Something we all got to experience for the past 12 years and I’m happy we did. 

Quick story... a few years ago I was tailgating at a preseason Jets/Saints game with my family and a friend. A car rolls up next to us and a couple get out of the car. They are wearing Thomas Morstead Jerseys. He was and still is my wife’s favorite player so I immediately point it out. I mean not only did a couple of Saints fans pull up next to us in New York, but they were fans of the punter!  We introduce ourselves and ask “you guys Morstead fans. We love Thomas Morstead!”  The woman says “oh we love him too.... he’s our son!”  In total disbelieve we say no way and she proceeds to pull out her id to show us she is in fact a Morstead and his mom. We hung out for a few minutes, shared season ticket info and some tailgate snacks and then they proceeded to leave for the gate. I never thought I would be star struck to meet someone’s parents. 

After the game Thomas came over to say hi to his parents and his kids (who were with them) and we happened to be a section over. 11 years in the league and I don’t know who was prouder, his parents of him of him of his parents and kids. 

I’m thankful for all you did. And grateful for the memories I have.  If you keep playing I hope you’re happy. If you decide to retire or when you decide to retire, I hope the team has a coaching spot ready for you. New Orleans is where you belong. We love you as much as you love us

Thomas Morstead ... all the feels. 

"I love this city and they've loved me back 100 times more."

- Thomas Morstead

Dilly Dilly Eli Manning... Pit Of Misery for McaDope

SERIOUSLY... no Seriously...... Geno Smith!!!! Geno "Howard the Duck' Smith.... No disrespect Geno but come on we all know what you are and what Eli Manning is.


Let me start off by saying I despise the Giants. Growing up a Jets Fan and eventually converting to the Saints their are only 3 things I liked about the Giants...  when they lose, when they beat the Patriots and Eli Manning.


I'm no dummy. I know Eli is having an awful year... but in all fairness, who isn/t having an awful year on a 2-9 Giant Team.  Wanting to see young QB's to evaluate the future of the position is fair and in the end can not be argued with since it is for the best of the team.  But that evaluation should be done n=by a coach and general manager that will be with the team next year.  And an evaluation is not what's happening here.


Ben McaDope has been successful in making the people in NY think that the Rich Kotite "Jet year" of 1-15 wasn't to bad... that's damn impressive. Every where he turns he makes an awful decision. He was afraid to reprimand his "Diva Wide Receiva" ODB, but whenever he could, took at shot at his 2 time superbowl winning and 2 time superbowl MVP QB.  His season went to hell in a hand basket and someone needed to take the fall so instead of saying he needed to do a better job as coach he benched his QB. A QB that is the backbone of this team, a QB that 2 days ago said on the radio he is playing to win every day and playing for peoples jobs. A QB that never threw you under the bus even though you did on a bi-weekly basis.  The cold, matter of fact way you decided to go about announcing this decision, with no remorse, no emotion is sickening. I felt bad for Eli listening to you say the garbage reasons you did for the decision you made... you fail in all aspects of Football.... PIT OF MISERY!!!


Jerry "Dumbass" Reese.... So you go into a season knowing you have an immobile QB who needs to stand in the pocket and throw the ball to be successful and you do nothing to fix what every knew was one of the worst offensive lines in the game and did nothing to improve the worst running game in the league.  Your Job as a general Manager is to assess your team and build it by putting that team in the best position to win.  You failed as well.... PIT OF MISERY!!!


John Mara, The entire Mara and Tish Family that is involved with football decisions in any way.  Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU ALL. in the end this all falls on you. McaDope can say he wants to change the QB to "evaluate talent" Reese could agree with him... but in the end it is your job, as the owner of what I have been told (but can't see) to be a classy franchise to say "This is not how Eli Manning's Story is going to end In NY Guys, No Dice.  Talk to me in the off season about releasing him and we can look at our options then".  You see that's what your Father Wellington would have done.  Actually, that's what he did when he stood up on the podium, crying when he let everyone know Phil Simms was no long going to be a Giant.  In the end none of this would come to be if you had a quarter of the heart your father did.  Shame on you... PIT OF MISERY!!!


Eli's time in NY was coming to an end. We can all agree on that but this is a guy that has done so much for this franchise.  He has came out for 210 games strait, hurt, knowing he was going to get hit, knowing he was could win, knowing he was could lose, it didn't matter. He came out to win the game in front of him and he did it with class, dignity and to the best of his ability (which was pretty good). Lets not make Eli out to be the best QB to ever play the game, but he was the best QB to ever play for the Giants and deserved some respect when being shown the door. His streak deserved some respect as well.  I personally hope he keeps playing. I know Jaxonvlle would be an even more dangerous team if they had a real QB on that team, his REAL head coach is calling the shots there and I would love to see Eli step on Tom Brady's Soul on his way to another superbowl appearance. Dilly Dilly to you Eli. Well deserved and thanks for giving me something on the Giants to not completely hate....


P.S. For the record (cause I got into this argument a few weeks ago) Eli is NOT better than Drew Brees. I don't care if he does have one more ring. Dilly Dilly!!!

No really....Citizen of the Year

How and the Hell does Colin Kaepernick with "citizen of the year"?  First let me get to this title. I am not familiar with GQ's protocol... have they always done a citizen of the year? was it man and woman of the year first and they just decided that for some reason that was too expensive or somehow insulting so they combined it? do they still do an man of the year, woman of the year and then a citizen of the year?  I don't get it.  But what I do get is that Gonzo... aka Kaepernick is NOT the Citizen of the year.


I'm sure you have all seen the posts and I usually don't jump on a popular opinion but when the people are right, they are right... Citizen of the damn year is JJ Watt. Hands Down.  Guy took has platform and instead of dividing the country, decided to so something that unit it in a time a tragedy.  He asked the American people for help.  Help with the devastating disaster that Hurricane Harvey had caused to the Houston Area.


JJ Wanted to Raise 500,000 hoping that people would be generous enough to open their hearts and their wallets with the assistance of the rebuilding efforts to the Houston Area... an area that he plays for and an area he has grown to love.  When all was said and done JJ Watt raised 37 Million Dollars for Disaster Relief efforts to that area of Houston.


Why is that so important not only to the Houston area but to the entire country?  Houston was not the only area devastated from natural disasters this year.  Florida and Puerto Rico were hit hard with Hurricanes, and California dealt with week long wild fires that left people without homes.  FEMA (the governments natural disaster relief division... in case you live under a rock) is spread thin with so many disasters happening around the same time.  This money assisted with FEMA being able to distribute its budgeted money to the other areas of need (like Puerto Rico that wants Billions of dollars to fix the entire country... don't get me started).


Kaepernick hasn't played football all year.... hasn't kneeled down all year.... hasn't been relevant until the President decided to weigh in and everyone turned his protest into a "I hate the president, he can't tell me what to do so I will do what he is telling me not to" protest. It's pretty pathetic that GQ needs publicity so bad that this is how they are going about it


If you're not going to give the citizen of the year to JJ maybe you should look at his teammate, Deshaun Watson.  Rookie QB of the team just recently torn his MCL and is out for the year. Was going to win rookie of the year.  Before he even got to start a game. He donated his entire first Paycheck to the cafeteria workers that serve them that were affected by Hurricane Harvey.  Kid is right out of college and the first paycheck he receives that finally gets him PAID, he gives the entire thing away.  Dilly Dilly!!!! JJ Watt, Dilly Dilly!!!! Deshaun Watson.... pit of misery for Colin Keapernick

Getting "Buck Showaltered" is now a thing!

Hey everyone... long time no Rant.... sorry After the Yankees lost I was pissed I didn't want to say anything that I would regret (Go suck an egg Altuve). But the Yankees decided to "Part Ways" with Joe Girardi and I was speechless. Yep I said that... No idea why they would let go of a guy that came 1 win from going to the world series with a team that wasn't supposed to win more than 83 games. 

I guess the Yankees thought that they had gone as far as they could with Girardi, or that 10 years was long enough and it was time to move on... or that he was too "robotic" and they wanted someone that was a little friendlier with the players, I don't Know. All I know is that I have seen this before.  In 1995 the Yankees were the first winner of the AL Wild Card and played in a playoff game for the first time since 1981. Buck Showalter was the manager. He had managed the Yankees for the past 4 years. He had taken them from a dysfunctional laughing stock to a respectable playoff contender. They lost that one game playoff and Buck was let go.  It was shocking and unexpected. No one knew why since the Yankees looked primed to be a playoff contender for years to come.

Within the next few weeks they hired Joe Torre, won 4 World Series Titles and in the next 12 years was in the playoffs every year under Mr. T.  Buck went on to be the first coach of  the Arizona Diamond backs. He was fired the year before they won the World Series too.  Then he moved onto to Texas Rangers.... they made (but lost) the World Series 2 years after he left.  The term "Being Buck Showaltered" was born.  Fire a guy right before you go on a championship run.  Girardi was just Buck Showaltered.

We can't predict if the Yankees will win anything the next few years... injuries happen, people do not hit or pitch like they did the year before.  All this is true but we all can see the Yankees have a lot of YOUNG Talent and when you have Young Talent yo are usually pretty good for a number of years.

So who will be the next Yankee manager?  No one knows.  Looks like they want a puppet that will go by the numbers, listen to the front office and do as told. A Younger manager that is more "relatable" to the younger player and less 'Robotic"   Kevin Long, Aaron Boone, Rob Thomson, Al Pedrique (Current AAA Manger) and John Flarhety have all come up. Jerry Harriston Jr. has been said to be a front runner too.  They have the a guy that is everything I just mentioned but he is too hatted by the organization and polarizing a character for them to admit and hire....... Alex Rodriguez!

Yeah that's right, Good Old AROD. Oh stop your eye rolling and "hes a cheater" crap.  If anyone has paid attention to him as an announcer you will know that he is very well prepared, knowledgeable and baseball smart. Like him or not he is one of the reasons DiDi, Castro, and Sanchez are hitting well at the big league level... When Sanchez was benched this year cause he couldn't catch a cold and also wasn't hitting, who did they call to have diner with him and discuss hitting... ARod. What did he do after that.. nothing but bat .320, with 20 or so HR's and like 50 more RBI's.. no biggie. Hes not a robot like Girardi.  He's player friendly.  He works off of the "analynics" as you will see from his announcing stats he pulls out and like him or not, he still considers himself a Yankee.  Biggest knock on ARod the Announcer is he says "we" whenever he mentions the Yankees. When asked he said he could never not consider himself part of the Yankees.

ARod should be your next Yankee Manager, but he won't be... cause they hate him.  They screwed him out the door and they won't give him a chance to do what he will eventually be doing anyway, Managing the game he loved so much he cheated even when he didn't need to just to be the best.  Thing is he would have been great even without the junk.  He is a terrific student of the game and has more knowledge about baseball then most of us could ever dream of.  I'm rooting for you AROD... DILLY DILLY

The Yankees Rule THE LAND

GOOOOOOODDD DAY Fine People. Ah today is a glorious day. Why yes... yes it is.  I decided to delay this weeks rant until AFTER the results of the Yankee/Cleveland (The Land) series.  Why did I wait you may have asked in your head? That Series determined the level of my Anger Rant and I,'ll tell you.


Over the past 10 years or so the NY Yankees have been Managed by Joe Girardi.  Some people like Joe's managing style, some people hate Joe's style. I have been indifferent. The entire time I have believed him to be a very good manager of talent, developer of young talent and dedicated to the focus of winning a World Series (He wears number 28 so he can look at the number every day reminding himself he needs to get the Yankees to their 28th World Series championship btw).  Joe is very much a by the number kind of guy.  Looks at match ups between people, does this guy hit that pitcher well, does this guy pitch better verse lefties, etc.  He manages to what he sees the numbers to be in his favor.  I get that and understand it. If your a baseball purist and hate all the numbers then you want him to manage more with his "gut" and probably hate his guts. Trust me I get that too.  To be clear though, just because you don't like someone's management style does not make them a bad manager


Last Friday, Joe WAS a bad manager.  It may be the first time I thought decisions that he made were illogical, out of character and at the time in my opinion would cost the Yankees the Series. I'm a passionate fan.  It was bad. What made it worse was at first he didn't want to admit he made a mistake.  That infuriated me.  Almost made a voodoo Girardi Doll... not gonna lie.


But than something happened I never could have guessed.  THEY WON THE WHOLE F#*CKING THING... well at least the series. His team never gave up on him. Winning 2 games at home and then coming back to "THE LAND" to beat this years (expected) Cy Young award winner, thats the best pitcher in the league award for those playing at home who don't know.  I have no words.  This team made up of mostly Young Kids with a few veterans sprinkled in surprised everyone.  They also won one for their coach. 


Joe is a very loyal coach. To a fault almost. He will stick with a guy through their troubles even when every sports announcer, analyst and fan is screaming for their head.  To the public his confidence in them never waivers. Even when he has to remove them from the line up or a roll they currently are in his answer is usually " We will get him right and get him back in there". It looks like the team showed that same confidence in him. They needed to play perfect baseball to rectify a mistake their coach made and they did.  Like him or not, that kind of leadership and loyalty is impressive.  Tip of the hat to you Joe.  Don't do it again though.... and keep on winning.


On a side note, in the soap opera that is the NFL. It looks like the owners may demand the players stand for the anthem, the players are making statements that they won't listen to it and I am at a point where I don't give a F#*K anymore.  Hey guy that gets paid a lot of money to play a game, if your boss says enough is enough you all stand... you stand.... or you will have now given someone else an opportunity to make a lot of money to play the game that will listen to their boss.  Don't worry, McDonalds is giving out like $15 an hour to say "do you want fries with that". I'm sure you can kneel all you want there.


Good luck to the Yankees in this upcoming series (sorry Houston) and I'm excited to see how much more destructive the NY Giants can be this season as this year moves along. Heard a rumor of Eli to Jaxonville.  That would be interesting. See ya next week sports fans!!!




PS - Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Mitch.  I know you read this. Have a cigar for me tonight.