It is a good day for the city of New Orleans. The Louisiana Superdome re-opens tonight for Monday Night Football featuring the Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints, just a year after the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. A remarkable accomplishment in such a short period of time. As I am watching the pre-game festivities, I realized the last time I saw the Superdome on TV was during the days following the hurricane when thousands of people were stranded there. Quite a dichotomy indeed.

Please read this great article from ESPN on the story of the Superdome during Katrina and the story of a family that sought shelter there. It must not be forgotten that it will take years for the city to be rebuilt and most of the devastated areas along the Gulf coast still are just that, devastated.

I’ll never forget last year watching the Saints play soon after Katrina. I’ll never forget it because I watched it with a large number of Katrina evacuees in a Texas shelter. Even though I was just a volunteer from Chicago, I became a Saints fan that day. The game was won by the Saints on a last second field goal and gave the people in that shelter a 3 hour distraction from the reality of losing homes and not knowing the fate of missing family members. They we able to cheer for their team, smile and celebrate for a very brief moment. Tonight they can cheer smile and celebrate that their Saints are home again.

Update: The Saints won 23-3 in a dominating performance. The atmosphere was like a Super Bowl. Congrats New Orleans!

You don’t think I’d go more than three weeks in the NFL season and not mention the Chicago Bears do you?!

The Bears won 19-16 today on their last drive at the end of the game versus the Minnesota Vikings. Albeit an ugly game for the most part, it was a fourth quarter come from behind win, their first under head coach Lovie Smith.

The Bears are now 3-0, and even more importantly 3-0 in their division. This gives them a huge advantage for the remainder of this long season. They only have 6 games versus the division and do not play the division again until December. To be that dominant so early in the season puts them in the driver’s seat for the division championship if they remain healthy. This is also the first time they have gone 3-0 since 1991. I like what I see so far.

Even though they gave up 16 points, the defense did not give up a touchdown and grabbed 2 key turnovers, the most important being late in fourth quarter. The offense did not run the ball nearly as much as I expected. They left a couple TD’s on the field, but when it mattered they got a field goal and a TD in the 4th to win. And I forgot to mention how bad the referee’s were against both teams. Horrible!

Elite teams find a way to win despite bad ref’s and an ugly played game. They have proven themselves as elite in the NFL so far this season. Da Bearssss!

I work in corporate America for a large firm, which will remain unnamed for the purposes of this post. As with most large firms, we have an internal main news page that we view daily for internal news/announcements/info. As the anniversary of 9/11 was this past Monday, I expected to see a brief statement acknowledging that horrible day in America that none of us will forget (or so I thought). I checked several times that day and literally no mention of 9/11 at all. Not a peep.

Of course I realize that in the politically correct (PC) corporate world they fear offending people to the point of being unreasonable. It seemed to me that there was no reason or excuse for my company to not write a simple, brief note of reflection about 9/11 on a day that affected all of its employees. In a way it didn’t surprise me at all, since their actions have been similarly ignorant in the past. However in my opinion they hit a new low with ignoring this day.

I submitted feedback to the internal communications department of my firm (responsible for the content of our news page) expressing my disappointment and inquiring why they did not acknowledge that day. I have not received a response and probably never will which is a shame.

I can speculate as to why it was not mentioned, from a simple oversight/technical problem (very hard to believe) to fear of “offending” someone. The latter seems a bit over the top, but it would not surprise me if that was partially true. Who would they offend? Good question.

Here is video from CNN on 9/11/2001, live (time condensed) video as it happened that day.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Thanks to HotAir

The horrific, evil attacks on this day five years ago should never be forgotten. Even more so the sacrifice and heroic efforts of those on Flight 93, NYFD, NYPD, PAPD, all Armed Forces at The Pentagon, and civilians in NY and D.C.

The still photographs in this video I found on YouTube captured some of that day and immediate days afterward. Most of these images I distinctly remember from 9/11.

I recently visited Joshua Tree National Park in California and have posted a few photos on my Flickr photostream. I was impressed with the beauty in the desert there. It may seem that the two don’t go hand in hand, but in this case they do quite well.