The Shreveport Saints and the Baton Rouge Hornets

Obviously, the relocation of the New Orleans Saints and Hornets is way, way down on the list of things to do along the Gulf Coast these days - but since this is a sports blog, and in part because I feel helpless when watching the coverage of this horrific situation, I'll address one of the few sports-related issues of Hurricane Katrina here.

Nobody's yet talking about where the Saints will play in 2005, but it seems quite apparent that they won't be anywhere in New Orleans for at least the first half, and probably not again until 2006. Even if they could fix the Superdome, it's probably not a good idea to stay where the governor and mayor are evacuating everyone due to health and safety concerns.

So where to? I'd like to think that the NFL and the Saints franchise can find a way to play their games in Louisiana, if for no other reason than to preserve state pride in the team, in a state that desperately needs whatever forms of comfort it can find (commentary on the 2005 Saints' ability to provide such comfort, let alone wins, is not necessary here). Baton Rouge is certainly the closest urban area in the state to The Big Easy, but I don't know whether the NFL and Louisiana St. University want to address situations in which both LSU and the Saints have home games on successive days. They're pretty passionate about their Tiger football down there, and besides, it might not be possible to have the field in proper condition for a Saints game less than 24 hours after LSU plays there.

A better choice might be Shreveport, up in the northwest corner of Louisiana. There's a football stadium up there big enough to host an annual bowl game, and whatever school is there can't be as big as LSU. It's farther from New Orleans, but it might make more sense to send the Saints there to avoid conflicts with LSU. The same problems might arise with whatever team calls that stadium home, but it's got to be easier to shuffle around a school that isn't a member of the SEC.

As for the Hornets, it's probably not as big a deal to share a basketball stadium as it is to share a football one. One game doesn't cause the damage to the court the way a football game does to the gridiron. I'd send the Hornets to Baton Rouge to play at LSU.

Either way, what's most important is that the people of New Orleans and the whole region be made safe and healthy, and that the area can be rebuilt as soon as possible so that whatever will pass as "normalcy" can be restored in a city that will never be the same.