Success may not be quite what the doctor ordered for New Orleans

It is an age-old question that plagues every sports fan of historically bad teams: “What would you give up for a championship?” The answers normally range from the mundane, such as a week’s paycheck, to the extreme, such as a home or significant family member. The answer that New Orleans gave, it seems, was national sympathy, a sacrifice which could haunt the city in the years to come.

The cathartic nature of this championship, and in turn the national sentiment it receives, may work against New Orleans in the long run far more than it works to the city’s favor. Last week, Hullabaloo Sports Editor Nick Peruffo noted that, “One can’t help but get the impression that the talking heads at ESPN and CBS still equate the city with gutted shotgun shacks with giant red X’s on the doors.” While its understandable that pride and success may lead one to resent such a portrayal of the city, one stroll down Magnolia street or along the 17th Street Canal will clearly show that this idea is not all that far from the truth. Is bucking the imagery of a city in need of a nation’s support and assistance for one of arrogance and self-sustainability really in New Orleans’ best interest?

The bolstering and parading in which New Orleans indulged both during and after the Saints’ success was an expression of that resentment, a testament to telling the nation that the city had, in effect, moved past Katrina. The problem, however, is that the rest of the nation seems to have bought it. The images of Drew Brees as the King of Bacchus and Sean Payton hoisting the Lombardi Trophy conjure up a dangerous, and false, idea of, “All Better Now.” New Orleans has always been a city which has masked its deficiencies in a haze of alcohol-induced euphoria, but Katrina exposed many problems which forced the city and the nation to wake up and take notice. If we are not careful, the Super Bowl could rapidly lure New Orleans back into its dream-like stupor of subsistence, instead of thrusting it towards the progress and prosperity promised in September of 2006.

New Orleans could take a lesson from St. Louis, whose football and baseball teams were also burdened with the dreams of a depressed city looking for a spark. In 1999, when the Rams upended the Titans in Super Bowl XXIV, St. Louis could not have been riding higher, celebrating and rejoicing the victory of the former also-rans. In 2001, the Rams made the big game again, and as recently as 2006, the Cardinals won the World Series. Yet, in spite of all this athletic success, Anheuser–Busch, the city’s major source of pride, income, and identity, was sold to foreign investors in 2009.

That is not to say that one brewing company defines a city, and indeed, no matter what happens to New Orleans in the future, the “soul” of the city will remain vibrant. It is important to remember, however, that Super Bowls do not build hospitals, public housing, or schools. Yes, the tourism industry may benefit, and yes, hope and pride can be powerful sources of inspiration and motivation, but the economic and social realties don’t go away with a Peyton Manning interception. It is vital that New Orleans stays on track towards progress and not buy into the national rhetoric of “Mission Complete” now that Brees and boys have won the big game. On the same note, appealing to national sympathy may not be such a bad thing, and instead of flashing championship rings, it may be more beneficial for the city to flash some economic inequity or infrastructure problems in America’s face as well.

In spite of three championship contenders in a six-year period, St. Louis does not thrive, it merely subsists. Even fresh off the heels of a Super Bowl, New Orleans does not even come close to subsisting; instead it wastes, erodes, corrupts and falters. All of these problems were being addressed in full following the horrors of Katrina, but have been brushed aside or downright forgotten in the frenzy of Colston touchdowns and Bush acrobatics. The city is drunk on its own success — the Super Bowl being a week before Mardi Gras did not help matters — and in turn the national rhetoric will rapidly turn toward indifference, or even hatred. One look at Boston will be evidence enough of how continued athletic success brings with it a level of intolerable arrogance, and in turn, national disdain. The Who Dat Nation may be America’s darlings today, but don’t be surprised if in a week American columnists and bloggers long for the quiet, harmless New Orleans of 2007.

Success, as we all know, can be a powerful and addicting form of pain medication, but New Orleans needs to be especially careful that it avoids an overdose.