The Power of Sports
The New Orleans Saints resumed play against the Atlanta Falcons in their newly renovated $200 million Superdome Monday night -- Extreme makeover, Dome edition.
Watching the joyful fans on Monday Night Football made you realize that sports really does have restorative, even healing, powers.
But you couldn't help but feel for the locals. Four hours of escapism then "they go back to their FEMA trailers," said filmmaker Spike Lee, who refused to get baited into a criticism of the Bush administration on national television, especially with the president's daddy in the house. Trust me, Lee's searing HBO documentary, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, is indictment enough.
Spike did say that New Orleans is far, far from done. A year after Katrina, many neighborhoods in the city still haven't been rebuilt. You have to wonder if the Dome was made a priority because its fits with the playground theme that developers reportedly are pushing for New Orleans to become -- the Las Vegas of the South.
posted by Annette John-Hall at 7:13 PM
4 Comments:
It definitely makes one wonder about the rebuilding of the Super Dome in such short time vs. the rest of the city but let's be real. Pro Sports are a top dollar draw and some of those businesses will feel the effects of having thousands of people that need a place to stay or a place to eat. New Orleans definitely has a long way to go but at least now they have something to make them feel like things are (sort of) getting back to normal...
As a state-owned facility, a large portion of the cost to repair the Superdome was covered by Louisiana's insurance policy. So the money was going to be spent anyways.....
And you simply cannot deny the energy last night! It was electrifying!!! My 65 year old, 9th ward resident cousin explained it as therapeutic for "most" New Orleanians. Home Sweet Dome!!
I think that it is great the dome was rebuilt so quickly. Let's get some revenue back into New Orleans so that the city can quickly rebuild. Now, lets get the residents back home...back to a new and improved New Orleans!!!
Looks like some of those state folks needs to teach a class in "Rebuilding for Dummies" or "Cutting Through the Red Tape" to the housing officials & city planners.
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