Wow, I never thought I would say that again after Aaron Brooks’ debacle on Monday Night Football, but take a look at what he had to say in an interview with Westwood One’s Jim Gray:
JG: Do you think that the league has dealt with the Saints fairly throughout this whole tragedy?
AB: No (pause), not at all. I feel that more should have been done. And if they want to put the burden on the owner, I think some needs to fall on the Commissioner, on the NFL. I think everybody’s involved in the situation. I felt like the Commissioner should have came down and spoke to us immediately after it happened – regardless if anyone, whether it was the coach or owner who denied him the right to come down, I thought he should have came down anyway. Because he’s first of all the Commissioner of the NFL. Everything goes through him and the owners and our team needed to be addressed from that standpoint. And I think a lot of it has been swept under the rug. I think it was more of a political platform than anything. And I say that because our first home game was in New York after we just finished traveling from Carolina and other places to play a home game in New York. And when we get there, we got the Commissioner, we got the President, we got all these politicians on the football field in our way so that we can’t warm up. So, I took it personally. I had had to cuss him out. I told him [NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue]: ‘Get the hell off the football field.’ And I thought that was [b.s] because it wasn’t about that. It was a great cause, and I hope all the money went to all the shelters that were needed but I just thought it was [b.s.] and I think that they (inaudible) enough to help us out in the situation. And for those who don’t understand, come down to San Antonio to see what our conditions are like and what we are going through, and see our facility is being shuffled from month to month. And, it’s just bad. And, it’s just uncalled for. The league is worth over billions of dollars and you can’t accommodate a football team that’s probably worth over $600 million better than what we’ve been treated. I just think it’s [b.s.], Jim.
JG: Aaron, how do you feel he (Benson) has handled the players and the circumstances?
AB: Well, yeah, that’s just another situation. For me, I’m quite sure he could have done a better job. I’m quite sure he could have done a better job. I don’t know exactly what he was dealt with, and I’m not trying to leave him out of it either. You know, if he sells his team, he walks away with 600 million. I don’t think a couple of million would hurt him to make his players feel very comfortable every week. So, I’m more than sure he could have done a lot more. I’m very sure he could have done a lot more. But hey, it’s over with and there ain’t nothing I can do about, nothing you can do about it. We just gotta wait on a decision that we will have no input on.
JG: Has he (Benson) addressed the team continuously and has he been involved in your guys’ lives?
AB: No, he hasn’t. No, he hasn’t, and neither has the GM. Nobody know what’s going on. We don’t know if we gotta let go of our leases or rent an apartment, rent homes. We don’t know whether the off-season programs are going to be here in San Antonio, back in New Orleans. We don’t know anything. The hurricane happened on August 29th, and we still have no answer on what’s gonna happen, where we’re gonna be, what’s going on. C’mon man, be for real.
I’m impresed that he actually yelled at Tagliabue and Bush before the Giants game. I think it takes more guts to heckle Tag than Bush, in fact, from Brooks’ position.
Read the full transcript here: saintsdoggle.com.
Aaron’s frustration mirrors what is taking place all over the city. New Orleans is being written off by the entire country. I hope Bush can live with his actions or more precisely, his inaction.
If you ignore something long enough, it will go away. That seems to be the country’s reaction to New Orleans. It’s shameful.
He’s been benched for Todd Bouman this week – I’d like to start a conspiracy theory, but unfortunately the reality is that Brooks is crap.
It does seem kind of lame that the Saints can’t stop bitching about thier conditions. They have it so much better than almost every other evacuee. So they are getting moved around, and they never know where they are going to practice…how does that compare to the stuff everyone else is going through? They could suck it up and be a rallying point for the city, or they could be big babies about it. Apparently they have chosen the latter.
I agree its crap, and they have it better off than the average Boudreaux in Louisiana. But they are being actively sabotaged by the ownership intent on taking advantage of the situation to move out of the city.
The Saints have given up. That’s sad. But really, their conditions are pretty darn crappy for an NFL team:
Here’s something from the Sporting News (http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=42961):
I’m trying to find pictures of the practices on the concrete floor, where they are all wearing sweatshirts with the hoods up because the heat wasn’t on in the Alamodome.
I think NO is being hosed by the Saints ownership and by the NFL – it’s obvious that they are going to be moved and the natural disaster was the perfect excuse.