The Deal is Done

Finally! Drew Brees has agreed to a 5 year, $100 million contract with the Saints. Man, that's a lot of Jimmy John's sandwiches. Congratulations to both Drew and the Saints, now, let's play some football.

The Future

The future sure does look bright for the Hornets - new owners, followed up by a great draft:

Oh, but it is New Orleans, and this has been the most newsworthy offseason in Big Easy sports history so you knew the shoe was going to drop soon. And it has with the Hornets' biggest star basically saying he doesn't want to play in New Orleans. First, he says his heart's in Phoenix and now he feels like the Suns are more committed to him than New Orleans.

The Hornets have made it clear that they want to build around Gordon, but somewhere along the way, he didn't receive the memo. The Hornets have done everything right since free agency started. They let him test the market and let the league decide his value. They had no reason to negotiate with him, since they could let someone else do the dirty work and simply can match whatever offer Gordon signs. But now that he is making it clear he wants to be with the Suns, what should New Orleans do? Do they let him walk? Of course not. The decision now is if they can work out a sign and trade before Gordon signs the Suns offer, which he can do on July 11, or if they just match the deal and try to patch up the relationship.

Gordon is worth building the team around. He's one of the top young shooting guards in the league and was the biggest asset acquired in the Chris Paul trade last year. He does have a injury history (he only played in nine games last year) and now could be a distraction in a very young locker room. The fans won't easily forgive him either. In New Orleans, one of the most important things fans want players to do is embrace the city. New Orleans is a unique place and the players who get it (Drew Brees) embrace it fully and become one of its native sons, but those who don't embrace it and talk "negatively" about playing here, have a hard time making up for it.

Needless to to say, the Hornets have a big decision to make and the next week or so should be very interesting.

Hornets Land #1 Pick!

After a tough season, including trading away Chris Paul and being laughed at for being owned by the NBA, the Hornets are finally having the last laugh. Local ownership has been brought in, there's talk of a rebrand and now  New Orleans is set up for the future after landing the top pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Good days are ahead Hornets (or Pelicans, Brass, Angels, Dukes, etc. whatever the new name turns out to be) fans.

NFL Releases 2012 Schedule

The NFL has released the 2012 schedule and like everything else the NFL does, it was big news. For the Saints, there are lots of interesting take-aways on this year's slate of games.

The first thing that pops out is that the Saints Bye week falls in Week 6. Was this a little "twisting of the knife" by Roger Goodell? What this means is that all the suspended parties (Mickey Loomis, Joe Vitt and players to be named) will have an extra week on their suspensions. The suspensions are for games, so Vitt's six game suspension will now conclude after Week 7 and Loomis' eight game one will conclude after Week 9.

Another interesting note is that even though they'll be playing without their head coach all year and there has been so much negative publicity surrounding the team that didn't stop the NFL from putting the Saints on primetime four times, including one Monday night and one Thursday night game (to be fair, every team gets a Thursday nighter this year).

The Saints open up with the Redskins, and potentially RGIII, at home and close with Carolina in the Superdome. There should be lots of fun game in between and Saints fans can't wait to see their team rise from these offseason ashes and silence all the haters.

Here's the Saints 2012 schedule:

Sun, September 9, Washington Redskins, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, September 16, at Carolina Panthers, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, September 23, Kansas City Chiefs, 12 noon, CBS

Sun, September 30, at Green Bay Packers, 3:15 p.m., FOX

Sun, October 7, San Diego Chargers, 7:30 p.m., NBC

Sun, October 14, BYE WEEK

Sun, October 21, at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, October 28, at Denver Broncos, 7:30 p.m., NBC

Mon, November 5, Philidelphia Eagles, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Sun, November 11, Atlanta Falcons, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, November 18, at Oakland Raiders, 3:05 p.m., FOX

Sun, November 25, San Francisco 49ers, 3:15 p.m., FOX

Thu, November 29, at Atlanta Falcons, 7:30 p.m., NFL Network

Sun, December 9, at New York Giants, 3:15 p.m., FOX

Sun, December 16, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, December 23, at Dallas Cowboys, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, December 30, Carolina Panthers, 12 noon, FOX

Bountygate penalties rock the Saints

The Saints have had lots of bad days in their franchise history, but none more uglier than today. The NFL has issued penalties for Bountygate, and they are severe:

• The New Orleans Saints are fined $500,000. In addition, because the violation involves a competitive rule, the Saints will forfeit their selections in the second round of the 2012 and 2013 NFL drafts.

• Saints Head Coach Sean Payton is suspended without pay for the 2012 NFL season, effective April 1.

• Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis is suspended without pay for the first eight regular-season games of the 2012 season.

• Former Saints (and current St. Louis Rams) defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is suspended indefinitely from the NFL, effective immediately. Commissioner Goodell will review Coach Williams’ status at the conclusion of the 2012 season and consider whether to reinstate him, and, if so, on what terms. Commissioner Goodell said he will give close attention to the extent to which Coach Williams cooperates with the NFL in any further proceedings.

• Saints assistant Head Coach Joe Vitt is suspended without pay for the first six regular-season games of the 2012 season.

• The Saints and the individuals disciplined today are expected to participate in efforts led by the league office to develop programs that will instruct players and coaches at all levels of the game on the need for respect for the game and those who participate in it, on principles of fair play, safety and sportsmanship, and to ensure that bounties will not be part of football at any level.

These penalties seem overly harsh, but Roger Goodell has always ruled with a strong hand when it comes to player safety. I feel like these penalties are extreme, but now the Saints have to deal with them.

Losing Coach Payton for the entire year is going to hurt the most. Effective April 1, he won't be around the team. The 2012 Saints will defiantly have a different look and feel than any Saints team we've seen the past few years.

Pete Carmicheal will call the shots on offense and new defensive coordinator (potentially the interim head coach) Steve Spagnuolo will run the defense. Joe Vitt was tabbed to be the interim head coach, but he got a six game suspension himself. It's unclear how Mickey Loomis' suspension will affect the team. Early indications are that he'll be able to run the draft, but no definite answer on that has been given. No matter what, this is a black eye for the franchise.

The issue here is that the Saints were out to hurt their opponents and when asked about the program, multiple people lied multiple times. The league vowed to stop bounty systems from happening again and these harsh penalties should do just that.

But that doesn't make this any easier for Saints fans to swallow.

Will Ferrell Intros Bulls/Hornets

The highlight of the Hornets season?