Sanctifying disaster

Every once in a while, the nation's newspaper conglomerates, television networks and Internet, uh, folks, come across a story that just plain gets out of hand. Rarely has there been a better example of this than the uplifting fable of the New Orleans Saints football team.

I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. You've got a city (actually several cities and too many towns and parishes to count, but then no one's actually trying to) still reeling 17 months after a horrible disaster that tried not just the physical safety but also the heritage of its citizens. There is talk that New Orleans will never be able to rebuild, not really, and that we have lost a city unique in the world.

Then just like in the movies, a group of heroes emerges from the wasteland. A group of strong, charismatic men of many colors. A rainbow coalition of skill and athleticism. The Saints. As their city struggles against poverty, disease and destruction, so do Drew Brees and Reggie Bush struggle against their foes in the National Football Conference. Where once the Superdome was wind-thrashed and overflowing with a mass of suffering humanity, now it was filled with cheering fans, united behind their boys. People were whispering "Super Bowl." The city that care forgot was back.

It sounded great. Dozens of different narratives showing how beautifully the Saints' resurgence mirrored that of New Orleans hit the press, and it was gold. It was feel-good disaster coverage for the whole family.

The thing is, it wasn't true. New Orleans has been and remains a terrible mess. Many homes and businesses are still empty. Electricity remains unreliable in most of the outlying areas. And according to Adam Nossiter of The New York Times, well less than half of the city's pre-Katrina population of 444,000 are there now:

"Katrina may have brutally recalibrated the city's demographics, setting New Orleans firmly on the path that its underlying characteristics already had been leading it down: a city losing people at the rate of perhaps 1.5 percent a year before Katrina, with a stagnant economy, more than a quarter of the population living in poverty and a high rate of unemployment, in which as many as one in five were jobless or not seeking work."

To put it bluntly, New Orleans is just about screwed. You'd think that a world-famous, historically significant American city on the verge of going out of business would be an important political issue. But judging by Tuesday's State of the Union address, it isn't: The president did not mention the biggest domestic catastrophe since the Civil War even once.

Back to the Saints. I've always liked them as a football team, probably because when I was little, their old uniforms reminded me of knights. I think that the current tag team of running backs Bush and Deuce McAllister is one of the most exciting things going in the NFL. But are they the saviors of New Orleans? Do they represent its people? Let's see: Reggie Bush's six-year contract guarantees him $26.2 million no matter what happens, and he could pull as much as $51 million plus bonuses. When I was there last year, the average joe in New Orleans counted himself lucky if his apartment still had a roof on it.

Then the Saints lost and the whole story got messed up. Sportswriters don't know if they should applaud the team's mighty effort, mourn lost opportunities or leave the thing alone because, hey, disaster relief is a total downer.

At least they tried, though. I have to give "the media" credit for not letting the New Orleans story fade away, even if some of the angles they take on it are pretty goofy. It's a battle someone has to fight. Because even if rapper Kanye West was wrong and George Bush and company actually do care about black people, they sure don't seem to be doing much about the place where hundreds of thousands of them used to live.

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I'm 40-some years old now and man I don't care.?All I want now is just a comfortable chair.?And to sell all my stock.?And live on the coast.?I don't believe in heaven, but I still believe in mfarley@register-pajaronian.com.