Gumbo
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- Mar 19, 2019
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New Orleans may have embraced the draft, but New Orleans still hasn’t forgotten about the NFC Championship game.
Via Karen Swensen of WWL-TV, Jimmy Buffett took the stage at the New Orleans Jazz Festival as a blind NFL referee, complete with uniform, glasses, cane, and assistance from a pair of Saints cheerleaders.
Buffett sang the national anthem preceding the controversial playoff game that resulted in the Rams beating the Saints in overtime, after an extremely controversial non-call of pass interference late in regulation.
It’s not the first time a Jimmy Buffett performance in New Orleans made waves. Not long after the league suspended coach Sean Payton for a year under the trumped-up #Bountygate scandal in March 2012, Buffett wore a “Free Sean Payton” T-shirt during a performance that included Payton playing congas and bongos.
Saints fans are passionate about their team. It’s the kind of passion that the NFL wants its fan bases to have. And it’s the kind of passion that morphs into fury when there’s a perception/reality that the NFL is sticking it to the team about which a given fan base is passionate.
It’s a delicate spot for the league, but it’s all the more reason for the league to ensure that no fan base feels like it’s getting a raw deal. Maybe one of these days the league office will figure that out.