Nearsighted Sports Guy?

Waldini:

Read this article first before you read my soapbox rant....

See, here's the thing about downtown New Orleans: It's ready for us again. It has been ready for a while. For all intent and purpose, it looks the same. Bourbon Street looks the same. The Superdome looks the same. So does the Convention Center. So do Harrah's and Pat O'Brien's and Cafe du Monde. So do the waterfront and Canal Street and all the hotels. You could go back to New Orleans. You could have fun there. You could do all the same things you did before. Unfortunately, you don't want to go back.

I like the Sports Guy, think he's one of the better sportswriters out there but he like so many other people have not truly grasped how bad of a state New Orleans is in. He alluded to other areas around the French Quarter, mentioning how it has come back. Anyone from that area knows in comparison to places like 9th ward, FQ was in great shape. A lot of areas in New Orleans still have no power, debris is still everywhere, does not look a worker has seen any part of it, etc. Beyond depressing and a stark contrast to some of the positive comments that certain people try to play up. The government has spent time fixing up areas (ie cash cow areas) that they believe needs fixing and to the naked eye it looks like New Orleans is back. In fact if you drive from the airport to downtown New Orleans along I-10, the city does look better. But drive past downtown to the Uptown areas and it's literally night and day. And of course no one is going to drive up there because they do not need to, regardless if the game was there or not.

Fortunately he's not completely delusional and recognizes work needs to be done. I was just bothered by statement about different the FQ area was considering that part did not suffer as nearly as much as other parts of New Orleans.

I know we joke on the blog a lot but reading his article made me think of a conversation between myself and one of my MBA classmates a few years back when Katrina had just happened. He asked "Why didn't those people just leave?" We had a very long conversation after that.......

Gangsta D:

When my mom went to New Orleans on a recruiting trip, she went to the 9th ward. She said things were so bad that she couldn't even bring herself to take pictures. She literally broke into tears, because it was so depressing. Unfortunately, Sports Guy is as nearsighted on this issue as most of the media. Pardon my French, but shit is still fucked up! lol

Da Realist:

I agree with you both here, but I think New Orleans needs tourist dollars. If people like Bill Simmons continue to write (exaggerate) the state of the city, it'll bring in more tourist dollars that will go into rebuilding.