Post by hoyainspirit on Jan 28, 2013 7:54:46 GMT -5
I enjoyed the article.
Tagliabue didn't save New Orleans by himself but was major player
EXCERPT:
It was Aug. 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans the hardest. Fifty-three different levees were breached, 80 percent of the city was flooded and over 1,800 souls would be lost. It was in this mix of horror, heroes and chaos that a Georgetown lawyer and college basketball player would emerge as the man who would save one of New Orleans' most cherished resources: professional football.
The real heroes of the worst natural disaster in American history are the people of New Orleans who rebuilt the city using spit and stubbornness. They performed a construction miracle by rebuilding the Superdome in an impossibly fast time.
But it is not an understatement to say that the man who saved professional football in New Orleans, something that ranks in importance in that city just behind jazz and food, is former commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
It's possible that not only did Tagliabue's efforts keep the Saints in New Orleans, but that without him, the Super Bowl being played here this week might not exist, either.
"What some people forget is what things were like then," Tagliabue said in an interview with CBSSports.com. "There was a deep feeling this was the end of the city as we had known it.
"The leadership of the Saints was talking about leaving before Katrina. Then the storm hit. I wanted to make sure the team wasn't going anywhere."
Tagliabue didn't save New Orleans by himself but was major player
EXCERPT:
It was Aug. 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans the hardest. Fifty-three different levees were breached, 80 percent of the city was flooded and over 1,800 souls would be lost. It was in this mix of horror, heroes and chaos that a Georgetown lawyer and college basketball player would emerge as the man who would save one of New Orleans' most cherished resources: professional football.
The real heroes of the worst natural disaster in American history are the people of New Orleans who rebuilt the city using spit and stubbornness. They performed a construction miracle by rebuilding the Superdome in an impossibly fast time.
But it is not an understatement to say that the man who saved professional football in New Orleans, something that ranks in importance in that city just behind jazz and food, is former commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
It's possible that not only did Tagliabue's efforts keep the Saints in New Orleans, but that without him, the Super Bowl being played here this week might not exist, either.
"What some people forget is what things were like then," Tagliabue said in an interview with CBSSports.com. "There was a deep feeling this was the end of the city as we had known it.
"The leadership of the Saints was talking about leaving before Katrina. Then the storm hit. I wanted to make sure the team wasn't going anywhere."
