New Orleans Media Stirring It Up as Bears Fans Descend on Big Easy
Hello from New Orleans! That’s right, I’m down here with a bunch of my buddies – including staff writers Bart and DeCon – to take in the Bears vs Saints. Coming down to a place called “The Big Easy” you wouldn’t envision that you were heading into hostile territory, but thanks to the local media, that might be the case.
You see, the last time the Saints were in Chicago for the NFC Championship game back in January of 2007, some Bears fans were not exactly sensitive to the plight of New Orleans in a post-Katrina world with jeers like “Finish What Katrina Started.” The New Orleans Times Picayune wrote an article asking the question, How Will You Treat Bears Fans:
"If you were in Chicago in January 2007 and still remember the tasteless signs and poor treatment, is this your time to finally tell a Bears fan off when they play the Saints in the Superdome Sunday? Or will you take this opportunity to show them how a real fan base welcomes guests to their field?Maybe the Super Bowl XLIV win was enough to put the Bears fans in their place.While New Orleans is a happy town, even in bad times, there’s also a chance you’ve been waiting for the moment Bears fans had to come to Who Dat turf again. Sept. 18, 2011 is that day, and some Chicagoans will likely start trickling in on Thursday and Friday to spend the weekend in New Orleans.How will you treat the Bears fans?"
More after the jump.
I think that by asking the question, it’s stirring this up unnecessarily. My group has been here since late Thursday night and more than a few Saints fans have asked us about this angle. In fact, walking down Canal Street last night, a news crew for Fox 8 saw us in our Bears gear and stopped us to ask about this as well.
Since I was quickly nominated as group spokesman, I told them not to judge a whole fandom based on the actions of a few idiots with posterboards and magic markers. My case in point? Check this out:
This idiot couldn’t even spell defense right the first time through. Doesn’t that speak for itself? It’s time to put this behind us and focus on what looks to be a pretty damn good football game.