Dear Mr. Goodell

BrownBaggin · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 5:08 pm Post subject: Dear Mr. Goodell

Dear Mr. Goodell,

I've been a fan of the Saints since I was a 5 year old kid living in New Orleans' Gentilly neighborhood. When I first started cheering for the Saints, I never really cared about wins, losses, stats or rankings. I was a New Orleans Saints fan because the Saints were my team.

As I grew older, I became more and more aware of how difficult it is to be a Saints fan. My father's job took us out of New Orleans and for the first time in my life that I could remember, none of the kids in my classes were Saints fans.

All throughout elementary and high school, I was the kid that watched everybody else's teams succeed and compete. I was always the easy target when classmates wanted to talk a little trash. But at the end of the day, all those laughs, all those losing seasons, all those empty January Sundays only made me love my Saints even more.

When Katrina hit, I was getting out of the Army and looking to start my college career. While others ran from the region and the media treated New Orleans like a Third World country, I decided to attend the University of New Orleans. When I made it to New Orleans, my childhood neighborhood was gone. Everything was gone. At the end of the day, the only thing that was left was my Saints.

During the years of 2005 and 2006, the NFL did everything they could to keep the Saints in New Orleans. The team's roster and talent might have been the only thing more devistating than the aftermath of Katrina.

Enter Coach Sean Payton.

While everyone ran from New Orleans, Coach Payton ran to New Orleans. He saved the franchise and the NFL owns him for that. Coach Payton took a team that was a liability to the league and, not only turned it into one of the most successful teams in the league, but also one of the biggest assets.

In 2005 ESPN ranked the New Orleans Saints as one of the bottom four franchises in the NFL. In 2010, ESPN ranked the New Orleans Saints as the top, yes #1, franchise in the NFL. You can thank Coach Sean Payton for that.

For the first time in my life, being associated with New Orleans no longer was tied to failure - only success. The taste of success does funny things to people. The taste of success saved our city and that's why so many people claim that the Saints rescued us.

If there was no Coach Payton, there would be no Drew Brees. If there was no Drew Brees, there would be no New Orleans Saints - as the world has come to know them these days. All that goes to say that your precious "Shield" has made a lot of money off of these New Orleans Saints.

I say all this not because I think my New Orleans Saints should get a free pass. I don't. I only explain all this because I want you to understand where you crossed the line.

The way I see it, our organization ignored your requests. "Bounties" have been publically talked about by numerous teams over the history of football and it's obvious that the Saints didn't take your threats seriously. Perhaps they lied to you. Because you are the authority figure in the league, that wasn't right of them to do.

But here is the kicker - during your handful of years as commissioner of the NFL, you have suspended players for violent crimes, rapes, and other felonies for a handful of games. Coaches have been caught cheating and, rightfully so, you fined them heavily. We have seen a reoccuring theme in your suspensions that the only time you suspend someone an entire year is if there is a contineous pattern of felonies.

By suspending Coach Payton for a year because "he lied to you," are you claiming that lying to you is worse than a pattern of violent crimes committed against the general public? I find it hard to believe that anyone is that arrogant.

In suspending Coach Payton for an entire year, you have made it clear to Saints fans that you want to decapitate the head of our franchise. I think that it's only right to let you know that by acting so arrogantly and harsh towards the very man that saved our team, you have made Coach Payton a martyr to Who Dat Nation. And by doing so, you have transformed the Who Dat Nation into the Who Dat Army.

Sincerely,

Andrew Brown
Private First Class in the Who Dat Army
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navysaintsfan · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 5:11 pm Post subject:

Sean Payton is being suspended for the same amount of time Donte Stallworth was. And Stallworth killed a man. Something ain't right.
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BrownBaggin · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 5:15 pm Post subject:

Porter22 · Joined: 13 Feb 2010 Posts: 2057 Location: Weyhe, Germany

Wow just wow!

SWATcha · Joined: 10 Sep 2008 Posts: 1596 Location: Sacto, CA.

Hey BB, long time no see. Hope all is well with you and your family. Thanks for the read. I've always enjoyed your writings Wink

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tylerdouglass · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 14168 Location: Bellingham, WA

SaintsBeast · Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 524

I completely enjoyed reading this, because i agree with it whole-heartedly. Maybe not the personal details, because everyone has a different life, but you get what i'm trying to say.

But my main point for this response is this:
I have the privilege of living in an extremely wealthy, well-to-do family. My entire family's life revolves around, pretty much, how much will that cost us. Through that attitude, my parents have become entirely successful (financially), and as a result, we happen to know some upper level employees in various stations throughout the NFL. Most prominent of these people (and i'm not naming names, have to respect the man's privacy) is a good friend of my dad's, who works in the NFL's department of player safety. I talked to him the other day, because he's a good family friend and his daughter is my age, and he was saying that even within the NFL organization itself that there is dissent between Goodell and most of the employees. Many people that my dad's friend works with agree that, while SP should serve a big punishment as an example, one year was ENTIRELY too much. There have apparently even been people bringing up the numbers about how, since this whole ordeal, that sales (jerseys, hoodies, etc.) are actually expected to DROP, because of how big the market that the Saints have created is....

Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, i doubt that we've heard the last of this. Cool

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2012 Adopt-A-Saint:
Martez Wilson, DE: 1 Sack, 6 Tackles, 1 FF, 1 Punt Block
Will Smith, DE: 2 Sacks, 22 Tackles, 0 FF

FLOODx · Joined: 26 Feb 2009 Posts: 5437 Location: ZOO ORLEANS

Awesome.
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Ramster on the sig
NFL- Saints
NBA- Pelicans/LeBron
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whodatworm23 · Joined: 23 Dec 2006 Posts: 2550 Location: Nawlins

Absolutely fantastic!!!

Could not agree more… Applause

Best post I've read in a while!

WHODAT
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk958n5n66o

sammymvpknight · Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 3298

Player safety is a top priority...now let's extend the regular season a few games.

Smile

Goodell is a hypocrite...and anyone who thinks that this isn't about money and Roger's pride is a fool.

BrownBaggin · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:13 am Post subject:

Smack · Joined: 06 Jun 2010 Posts: 526

joeybrowner47 · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 92 Location: forest lake,mn

yeah well it aint easy being a vikings fan either

Mad Mardigan · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 355 Location: San Jose, CA

You're looking for a continuous pattern? The organization was warned two years ago to stop bounties, they continued with bounties. I think that's a continuous pattern...

Shocked

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Canadian Saint · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 1536 Location: Canada!