Sports Radio Service


		Saints express concern during practice By Ralph A Gora August 29, 2005

	SAN JOSE - The New Orleans Saints entire front office traveled to San Jose with its players, coaches, and personnel in preparation for Thursday night's exhibition game against the Oakland Raiders and evaluated the New Orleans area Sunday for Hurricane Katrina. "We decided to leave as soon as possible on Sunday to give everyone enough time to take came of their personal situation and to ensure that everyone's family was out of harm's way," Saints public relations director Greg Bensel said in a prepared speech. The Saints are trying to focus on practice which is being held at San Jose State University, and the team arrived Sunday at a Fremont hotel. "The team decided that it would be best to first consider the safety of our organization and our families," Bensel said. Although some of the players are relieved to have arrived safely in the Bay Area on Sunday, their thoughts are with the citizens, family members, friends and fans in New Orleans. New Orleans as of Monday night has reported massive flooding in the French Quarter, extensive damage in downtown New Orleans, including most of the front framework of the Hyatt Regency Hotel with its windows blown out. The Superdome, which is serving as a makeshift shelter, had leaks and holes along with about 20,000 inhabitants inside during Monday morning's storm, which arrived at around 3:30 AM CDT. People inside the Superdome have told members of the press that being inside the dome was still not 100% safe because they could hear howling from Katrina outside with wind currents as high as 150 MPH at its peak. The Saints, who have a home game at the Superdome September 18th against the New York Giants, question whether they'll be able to play at the facility and if New Orleans will be ready for football or focused on the damage of the surrounding area. New Orleans may not be ready for business as usual for a long time after something like this. Hurricane Katrina is listed as the worst Hurricane to hit New Orleans since Hurricane Betsy in 1965, which was a Category 4. Estimates in the city have listed the damage almost parallel to that hurricane. The last time an NFL team had to leave its home park to play at a neutral site was in 1989 after the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit San Francisco on Oct. 17, 1989 and damaged Candlestick Park, forcing the 49ers to play their games at Stanford Stadium. The Saints, who open their regular season schedule on the road against the Carolina Panthers, will be away from home for at least three weeks on the schedule. If the Superdome is heavily damaged, it will take three weeks to get it ready for the Sept. 18 game - if the city is up for football. If the Superdome has suffered too much damage from the hurricane, the Saints' other options are to play some of their games on the road until the repairs are done, or move its games to LSU or Southern's field as long as those facilities have no damage. The New York Giants, who face the Saints for the home opener, have a couple of their own players who have family living on the Gulf Coast. Quarterback Eli Manning's parents, who were living in New Orleans, have left the city to stay in Philadelphia, Miss. and Manning's two sisters have moved to Houston to stay with another sister. The Giants' Corey Webster experienced Hurricane Andrew in 1992. "Some people they've been through it a couple of times and it's never really hit directly, so a lot of people don't know the damage it could do," he said. "I don't know what makes somebody want to stay there and meet the hurricane head on. They have an evacuation program set up, and I think people should use it." Ralph Gora will be talking to the players and coaches of the Saints at San Jose State University in a press conference concerning the situation of the New Orleans Saints and the City of New Orleans as the Saints prepare to play the Oakland Raiders Thursday night at the Coliseum in week 3 in exhibition football.