If Only For A Moment

Jubilation, exuberance, elation, hysteria; are just a few words to describe how Saints fans felt the moment Garrett Hartley’s kick sent the New Orleans Saints franchise to their first ever Super Bowl appearance. The moment the kick went in; people jumped for joy, high fived strangers, and had to pinch themselves because they couldn’t believe it. The French Quarter streets filled quickly with fans celebrating what they always believed to be impossible. I heard one play-by-play announcer state that pigs were flying and that hell had just frozen over. It was an unbelievable moment in that franchises history. The city was happy again. But take a think back a few years when New Orleans sounded and looked a lot different.

We all remember the summer of 2005. Hurricane Katrina clobbered New Orleans, causing the levees to fail and flood most of the city, including the entire Lower Ninth Ward. The Superdome at the time looked entirely different from a few Sunday’s ago. Instead of joy and excitement, heartache, anguish, and anger filled the stadium. The stadium was being used as a “shelter of last resort” since everything in the city was destroyed. And, if it couldn’t get any worse, the “shelter of last resort” was no more shelter, as a portion of the stadiums roof ripped off and rain began to pour on the people inside. It was horrific to view on TV. Over 1500 people lost there lives during this disaster.

The team however reopened the Superdome in 2006, and since, this franchise has put this city on their backs in hopes of reviving the spirit. Well… Mission Accomplished, if only for a moment. But when I think about New Orleans, I can’t help but think about the City of Detroit. Now in no way am I comparing what Detroit has been through to what New Orleans went through with Katrina, but let’s take a look at what we’ve been through.

The nationwide recession has been harder on us than any other city in the nation. From 2007-2009 the automotive industry recorded record setting losses. The ‘Big Three’ let go of hundreds of thousands of employees due to the ‘SUV Craze’ ending because of rising oil prices. Chrysler and GM both filed for bankruptcy. The city’s political system was dirty, the Mayor went to jail, we had a city council member indicted, and not to mention the many FBI investigations. In 2009, the city’s unemployment rate rose to a record high 28.9% and was marked by a plethora of foreclosures. In many neighborhoods there may have been only one occupied house on a block. Let us not forget what the school system went through as well. In February of ’09 the US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that “he loses sleep over the ‘poor quality of education’ Detroit students are receiving”. In 2003 – 2004, a study showed that the districts graduation rate was a staggering 24.9%. And, in the midst of all this, the Lions went 0-16. This city is in desperate need of a boost.

Imagine if the Detroit Lions made it to their very first Super Bowl…no really imagine it! Do you think the citizens would be thinking about the unemployment rates, or corrupt politicians? I think not! It would be the breath of fresh air we need; something of great value to hold onto, if only for a moment. Sure, New Orleans issues were not solved by one kick, but they were forgotten. Detroit needs that one kick … if only for a moment.